More price increases: Apple TV+

More price increases make the news. This time, it's Apple's service, Apple TV+, which is going up.

While it's not a large amount that it's going up, it is a large percentage that it is going up.

Previously, Apple TV+ was $5/month. It's now $7/month. You might think that a $2/month increase isn't that much, and it's not. $2/month is not really all that much. But, considering the total monthly cost was only $5, that makes it a 40% increase! That's quite the price hike, when you look at it like that.

And, for Apple subscribers, it's more than Apple TV+ that's going up. Nearly all major subscriptions are increasing, according to 9to5 Mac:

This translates to increases of $1 to $2 per service, with Apple One tiers going up about $3 at the same time. Here’s the full pricing breakdown for the United States:

Apple Music

• Individual: $10.99 per month (from $9.99)
• Family: $16.99 per month (from $14.99)
• Individual Annual: $109 per year (from $99)

Apple TV+

• Monthly: $6.99 per month (from $4.99)
• Annual: $69 per year (from $49.99)

Apple One

• Individual: $16.95 per month (from $14.95)
• Family: $22.95 per month (from $19.95)
• Premier: $32.95 per month (from $29.95)

If you are in an International market, you should also expect to see proportionally similar price increases go into effect beginning today. Current subscribers will receive notifications of the planned price increases 30 days prior to the service renewing at the higher price.

What will be the next price increase to impact your Streaming Life? I'm worried it won't be all that long before we find out.

Dish raising prices

With the focus here on streaming, it may seem out of place that I'm commenting on an increase in prices for a satellite service.

No, I'm not going to turn that news into another reason to go with streaming rather than satellite or cable. I think there are plenty of reasons to stream over usage of those older, traditional services.

And, yes, those older pay TV services do go up in price from time to time, but so do streaming services. So, a price increase in a satellite service isn't exactly a new reason to switch.

Rather, I think it's a sign of things to come with streaming. The reason is that this price increase that was announced last week is for Dish Network. And that impacts streaming because Dish owns Sling TV.

You may already know that Dish owns Sling, but not everyone knows that. Yes, traditional pay TV services are in the streaming business as well. Comcast, one of the largest cable TV services, owns Peacock TV, the streaming service. And of course satellite TV service DirecTV owns DirecTV Stream.

But back to Dish. The company announced last week that prices will be going up in November:

At DISH, we continue to invest in your service and technology to make improvements and provide you with the best TV viewing experience at the best value. However, the price that we pay for programming continues to rise. In fact, the fastest growing cost we and all other TV providers have is driven by the cost we pay the programmers. We will continue to work hard for fair deals with these programmers to keep channel costs and the price you pay as low as possible. Unfortunately, you may have observed some channel interruptions because of this.

Due to these rising costs, we will be increasing the cost of our package offerings beginning 11/17/22.

This is bad news for streamers. That bit about "channel interruptions?" One of those happened recently, and impacted Dish ... and Sling TV.

So, with Dish raising its prices, I'm expecting Dish to do the same, as the settling of that outage led to the price increase for the satellite TV service, and the same company owns Sling, who was impacted as well.

Could Sling go without a price increase? Sure. But I expect Sling TV will up prices soon. And people will get mad at Sling TV, when they should get mad at Disney instead. After all, if there is a price hike in your Streaming Life soon, House of Mouse would be to blame.

Privacy phone, part 8: Testing impacted

A while back, I decided to test three different privacy phone setups. I later added a fourth to the mix, but have ruled that fourth one out. I left it out initially for a reason, then rethought things. After a bit, I came to realize that I was right to omit to initially.

So, I'm down to three, right?

No, I ruled out the first one I tried pretty quickly. The Pine 64 phone running Linux is a no-go. It's just not user friendly. Whether or not it's the hardware or the software, the net result is an experience similar to that of the BlackBerry 10. If you don't remember that, you are a fortunate soul indeed. It was awful. And the Linux phone experience has been awful. So this one is a no-go.

I tried a Teracube 2e running /e/OS. I liked it.

I tried a Google Pixel 4a running Lineage OS. I liked it.

In fact, I've been using the Google Pixel running Lineage as my primary phone for a while. So much so that if I stopped carrying it, I'd feel wrong. Which means I've not had the opportunity to go back to the Teracube 2e.

If I could simply pop out the SIM card from the Pixel phone and put it in the Teracube, I would. But there are issues with the Teracube running that SIM. Not sure if it's the carrier (I think it might be) or the phone (I also think it might be).

The net result is that the Teracube isn't getting any use right now. I'd really like to use it. The interface is good, I like the phone, but I don't like the issues with using certain carriers. The Google Pixel has no carrier issues. So, Pixel will probably win.

The only reason I'm not declaring Pixel running Lineage OS as the winner is because I really want to use the Teracube /e/OS device some more. And I'll get around to that. Some time.

For now, I think my phone going forward will be the Pixel running Lineage OS. I'm almost certain of it.

Watching college football games this weekend: Week 8

College football season continues, with this week featuring a single game between ranked unbeaten teams. The ACC has the lone battle of the unbeatens this week.

There are five games featuring matchups of ranked teams, all games between conference opponents. The Big 12 has two such matchups, while the ACC (the unbeatens), SEC, and Pac 12 each have conference games between two ranked teams.

If you want to watch all of the games this season, you need access to most of the networks, which can get expensive. Of course, you might not want to be able to watch all the games.

This weekend, only one game will not be on these networks. Here are the networks carrying games:

• ABC
• ACC Network
• Big Ten
• Big 12 Network (No games this week)
• CBS
• CBS Sports Network
• ESPN
• ESPN 2
• ESPN 3
• ESPN U
• SEC Network
• ESPN+
• Fox
• Fox Sports 1
• Longhorn Network (No games this week)
• NBC
• NFL Network
• Pac 12 Network
• Peacock

Here is how to watch these networks:

ABC

• Antenna, over the air, free.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ACC Network

• Sling Orange, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.

Big Ten Network

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.

Big 12 Network

Big 12 Network games are available through ESPN+.

CBS

• Antenna, over the air, free.
• Paramount+ Premium, $10/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

CBS Sports Network

• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Ultimate, $105/month.

ESPN

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ESPN2

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ESPN U

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.
• Fubo TV Elite, $80/month.

ESPN3

ESPN3 is usually included with a service that carries standard ESPN/ESPN2.

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ESPN+

ESPN+ is a standalone sports programming service. It is not the same thing as regular ESPN that you get with cable or one of the live streaming services. Some content from ESPN, ESPN2, or other ESPN networks may be available on ESPN+, but often, it's content that is only available on ESPN+.

• ESPN+, $7/month.
• Disney Bundle, $14/month.

Fox

• Antenna, over the air, free.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

Fox Sports 1

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

Longhorn Network

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.

NBC

• Antenna, over the air, free.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

NFL Network

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.

Pac 12 Network

• Sling Blue, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• Fubo TV Pro, with Fubo Extra, $78/month.
• Fubo TV Elite, $80/month.

Peacock TV

Peacock is a standalone streaming service that carries NBCUniversal programming, including much sports from NBC as well as exclusive sports programming. Peacock Premium is $5/month, but is included with Xfinity Internet plans.

SEC Network

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.
• Fubo TV Ultimate, $100/month.

This list of networks covers all the games airing today. It also covers games next week through Friday, as the early games next week are all on one of these networks.

NOTE: Longhorn Network and Big 12 Network are not needed this weekend.

To watch all the games, having an antenna won't really matter, as in order to get all the networks carrying games, the services also carry the OTA stations. So, how much to watch them all?

The services necessary will cost $85. That's $78 for Fubo TV Pro +Fubo Extra, along with $7 for ESPN+.

If you want college football in your Streaming Life, you have options, though it can get expensive depending just how many games you want to watch.

For MST3K/RiffTrax fans only

If, like me, you're a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, you're probably also a fan of RiffTrax. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, well, MSTies such as me just shake our heads at how unfortunate you are to have missed out on this.

If you're not familiar, there was a TV show back in the 1990s called Mystery Science Theater 3000. The premise is that mad scientists sent a janitor into space to watch bad movies in a scheme to take over the world. He built two robots as companions, and they watched the moves together, humorously commenting throughout the film. The whole thing was simply a reason to show bad movies and poke fun at them.

And, MST3K did exactly that for ten full seasons on three different networks. Later, it was brought back by Netflix for two more seasons. And, currently, it's in its 13th season, with this one financed by a Kickstarter campaign. Yes, I contributed.

After MST3K was canceled, the three main cast members that made fun of the movies -- which by then were Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett -- got back into riffing on movies with The Film Crew (for four movies) and finally RiffTrax (which continues today).

And with that background -- more than you wanted to know, to be sure -- here is the main thing: RiffTrax has an app! Yes, there is an app for Roku and Fire TV platforms. You can watch some RiffTrax content, in addition to content you purchased. And, if you have a subscription, you can watch it all.

Yes, I'm trying it out. It's $6/month, and I'll do that for a while. Maybe I'll watch everything they have. Maybe not. I've enjoyed everything they've done, but that's not really a surprise. I loved MST3K and love RiffTrax.

If you're a MSTie, or think you might want to become one, then the RiffTrax app is something you should consider adding to your Streaming Life.