Pausing the live streaming

Today is the day of the conference championships -- well, the rest of them, since Utah won the Pac-12 and Texas-San Antionio won the MAC last night -- and that means a pause to college football. Okay, the Army-Navy game is next week, but that won't figure into my plans. Not that I'm not going to watch -- Go Army! -- but that it's not applicable for today's topic.

While some games are on ABC, CBS, Fox, or NBC -- all of which I can pick up via an antenna -- most games are on ESPN or another cable service that I can't get via an antenna. And that's why I will subscribe to a streaming service -- Sling TV, YouTube TV, Vidgo, Fubo TV, Hulu+Live TV, or DirecTV Stream -- that carries those sports programming channels.

During the rest of the year, I don't have any use for a service such as that. And, I stop my subscription during most of the year. Generally, I'll subscribe to a service -- most often Sling TV, since it's the cheapest -- for 30 days, and let it expire. Then, when the next weekend rolls around, I'll subscribe again for 30 days and let it expire. Then again.

Why letting it expire and not just let the service continue? Well, I don't use the services during that time. For example, if I subscribe for Week 1, and let it run for 30 days, that covers through Week 5. Look at a calendar and see what I mean. If Saturday is Day 1, then Day 30 is five weeks later, covering 5 Saturdays.

Since I'm usually not interested in things until the following weekend, I can let the service expire and not use it for Monday through Friday of the next week. So the new Day 1 is on Week 6, and the new Day 30 is on Week 10. Then I do it again, and that brings me through Week 15.

Oh, and since there is actually a Week 0 that I usually want to watch, everything shifts one week, meaning that subscription schedule takes me through Week 14 (this weekend). So 15 weekends of football for three 30-day subscriptions, with pauses between each subscription.

Next weekend's game is on CBS, meaning I can watch it via an antenna, so I'm good to go.

The bowls will start up in a couple of weeks or so, but another 30-day subscription from the first bowl I want to watch will take me through the national championship game. So, in a year, four subscriptions of a live streaming service let me watch all my college football games. And that's the only thing I need a live streaming service for.

Of course, if I were to want to watch other cable channels throughout the year, I can do something similar. And, I can probably do it cheaper. While Sling TV is the cheapest service with sports programming, it is not the cheapest service overall. Philo is $25/month. And Frndly TV is only $7/month. While they don't have sports programming, for the cable channels I may want to watch on occasion, one of those will do the job. So I can subscribe for 30 days to one of those, if I feel I need to. But usually I don't.

Look at your viewing habits. Do you really watch those channels that much all year long? Have you looked into the content on free ad-supported television (FAST) services? Might those work for most of the year?

If you do give it a look, you may find you can spend a little time balancing your subscriptions and save a lot of money in the process. It's what I do, and makes my Streaming Life more affordable.

Watching college football games this weekend: the final games

College football season in now in at the end of the season.There are two regular season games left -- a makeup of a postponement, and Army-Navy -- and a shipload of conference championship games. This weekend will set the college football playoffs.

The three remaining unbeaten teams can secure playoff spots with wins, but if chaos reigns, then the playoff committee will have some decisions to make on Sunday, and there will be plenty that won't like their team being left out.

If you want to watch all of the games this weekend, you need access to several networks, which can get expensive. Of course, you might not want to be able to watch all the games. All the conference championship games are available streaming on major networks. One game -- Valparaiso at New Mexico State -- is on FloSports streaming service.

Here are the networks carrying games:

• ABC
• CBS
• CBS Sports Network
• ESPN
• ESPN+
• Fox
• FloSports

Here is how to watch these networks listed. Note the prices reflect the announced price increases for Sling TV:

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.

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, $40/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $55/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.

FloSports

• FloSports app, $13/month.

That list of networks covers all the games airing this weekend, and next weekend (Army-Navy).

To watch all these 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 $65 for YouTube TV, along with $7 for ESPN+, and $13 for FloSports.

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.

Roku Channel adds more channels

Last month, Roku announced that their free ad-supported television (FAST) service, Roku Channel, had added a number of new channels. I missed the announcement when it happened, but did get around to checking it out.

For the longest time, I wasn't impressed with Roku Channel. The idea of it at first was okay, but the implementation was lacking. It paled in comparison to Pluto TV.

Of course, the Pluto TV interface was buggy in the beginning. Specifically, the "Favorites" functionality didn't work. Once they fixed that, though, it became one of my favorite apps/services.

Roku Channel came along later, and took a bit to build up its content, but now it's a pretty darn good service. And it keeps getting better. A blog announcement from mid-November told about the 35 new channels they added:

We're bringing you endless content from your favorite food & lifestyle icons Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse with two all-new Roku owned channels, with library content as well as their Roku Original series.

We’re also bringing you a stacked lineup of all your favorite content from The Great British Baking Show universe. Gear up for our upcoming Roku Original special The Great American Baking Show Celebrity Holiday Special by streaming The Great British Baking Show, Celebrity Baking Show, Baking Show: An Extra Slice, and more on this all- new channel.

Plus, get a head start on your holiday shopping and learn about the latest steals and deals from fan-favorites QVC and HSN.

By my county, this brings the total of channels available on Roku Channel up to 383. Last time I counted Pluto TV, it was not that many. And, it's now kinda hard to count the number on Pluto TV, because the same channel will appear multiple times, each time with a different channel number.

I could be wrong, but I think Roku Channel has now passed Pluto TV in number of offerings. And if I am wrong, I'd be right in saying that the gap has been closed insofar as offering quality content. Both are excellent options for a FAST service. The only edge Pluto TV has is that it's available on more platforms. Roku Channel is available on Roku (of course) and Amazon Fire TV. I'm hoping it will become available on Apple TV and Google TV soon.

In the meantime, if you use Roku or Fire TV, you can use the free Roku Channel app and service to watch a lot of quality content. It's a worthwhile addition to your Streaming Life.

Turning the antenna

Some of us that are older will occasionally tell of the days of "turning the antenna." If you are older, you probably know what I'm talking about.

Back in the days before cable but after the dinosaurs, the only way to watch something on TV was with an antenna. And, depending on how far you lived from the various TV towers, you could find yourself in a situation where turning the antenna was required.

We lived in an area where we could pick up TV signals from both Savannah, Georgia and Jacksonville, Florida. And, if you look at a map, you'll see there's nowhere that exists that can point an antenna at both places and pick up the stations. They're too far apart to allow that.

That meant that a decision had to be made where to point the antenna. Since Savannah was closer, the antenna was pointed to Savannah.

Every now and then, we'd turn the antenna to Jacksonville. Sometimes Savannah would have local programming that pre-empted the network programming. Or the opposite, where Jacksonville had some local programming that we did want to see. Either way, that meant turning the antenna.

But there was another time we had to turn the antenna. After a large storm, the high winds would sometimes have caused the antenna to be pointing in a bad direction. Sometimes the wind would be so strong from a certain direction that enough tension was placed on the antenna where it would either cause the pole to turn, or bend the elements of the antenna. And if one of those were to happen, the preferred thing was for the pole to turn. As troublesome as it was, that is much preferred to a damaged antenna.

The thing is, if as part of your Streaming Life, you have a large outdoor antenna, you'll want to keep in mind that a strong wind can turn the pole, causing the antenna to point away from the TV towers slightly. Depending on how far you are from the towers, that can cause one to lose signal.

So, this bit of advice if you have a large outdoor antenna: if one of the stations suddenly is no longer being received, check the direction of your antenna. You may need to turn it. Just like us old folks had to do during the late Cretaceous.

Comcast price hikes

Comcast TV customers will be hit with an increase in costs soon, according to reports. The TV giant is raising the overall cost of cable TV by nearly 4% nationwide. From the reports, it appears the increase won't be uniform, with some places getting hit harder than others.

Additionally, the price increases will impact other lines of business, including Xfinity Internet, although the increase for that isn't clear.

Cable TV appears to be the hardest hit, with the Broadcast Fees going up by various amounts, including over $7 in one market:

In a letter sent last week to the city of Taunton, Massachusetts, Comcast said the Broadcast TV fee would rise from $18.65 a month to $26 a month, effective December 20, 2022. (Comcast says the Broadcast TV fee is based on the cost of providing local stations in your market.)

In addition, Taunton subscribers will see anywhere from $2 a month to $5 a month increase in various video plans, including Choice TV Select and the Digital Preferred Tier plan. Set-top rental prices are also increasing there by $1.50 a month from $8.50 a month to $10 a month. Most Internet plans are also rising from $2 a month to $7 a month.

Despite the increase for Xfinity Internet customers, the price increases will be hardest on cable TV subscribers.

If you are a cable subscriber, this may be a time to look at cutting cable, or at least cutting back. In particular, it may be time to invest in a TV antenna. Don't rush into something like that, however, as in many places, not just any antenna will do. You'll want to do some research first. I'm just asking you to be prepared to look into that.

This isn't the only price increase for TV and Internet, for cable, satellite, or streaming, in the past two years. Comcast says their price increase, on average, isn't as bad as other price increases.

Comcast this evening confirmed to The TV Answer Man that the price increase is nationwide. Here is the statement from a Comcast spokesperson who said the average increase in all markets combined will be 3.8 percent.

"TV networks and other video programmers continue to raise their prices, with broadcast television and sports being the biggest drivers of increases in customers’ bills. We’re continuing to work hard to manage these costs for our customers while investing in our broadband network to provide the best, most reliable Internet service in the country and to give our customers more low-cost choices in video and connectivity so they can find a package that fits their lifestyle and budget. Our national average increase of 3.8% is about half of the most recent rate of inflation."

What he's saying is true, so these increases shouldn't really be a surprise. Although I'm not a cable TV subscriber, the price increase will impact me, as I'm an Xfinity Internet customer.

Once again, trying to watch TV, even as part of your Streaming Life, but especially as part of a traditional cable TV setup, will cost you more. Just like almost every aspect of your life for the past two years.