Watching College Football in 2023: The services that you need

If you're a huge college football fan, you may want to watch every game. If you are a streamer, how do you go about doing that?

That's easy. You subscribe to the necessary streaming services.

That brings up the question: What are the necessary streaming services?

The answer should be: it depends.

On what, you may ask. No, really, go ahead and ask. I'll wait.

Since you asked, it depends on whether or not you have an antenna. You see, if you have an antenna, and can pick up ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, then you don't need a streaming service to watch the games those networks carry. But what about the other games?

Notice that I said that the answer "should be" that it depends. But it doesn't. Why is that? Why does it not matter if you have an antenna or not? It should, right?

Well, yes, it should. But it doesn't. And here's why.

Over the season, these are the networks that will be broadcasting the games:

• ABC
• ACC Network
• Big Ten Network
• CBS
• CBS Sports Network
• CW
• ESPN
• ESPN2
• ESPNU
• ESPN+
• Fox
• Fox Sports 1
• Longhorn Network
• NBC
• NFL Network
• Pac 12 Network
• Peacock
• SEC Network

There may even be another network or two that carries games, but these are the ones that are confirmed as the season begins. Here's how to get all the networks:

ABC

• Antenna (free)
• Sling TV (8 markets only) ($45/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($80/month)

ACC Network

• Sling TV (Orange + Sports Extra) ($51/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue + Sports Extra) ($66/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Choice) ($114/month)

Big Ten Network

• Sling TV (Blue + Sports Extra) ($51/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue + Sports Extra) ($66/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Choice) ($114/month)

CBS

• Antenna (free)
• Paramount Plus (Premium) $12/month
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($80/month)

CBS Sports Network

• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Ultimate) ($139/month)

CW

• Antenna (free)
• Not available streaming.

ESPN, ESPN2

• Sling TV (Orange) ($40/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue) ($55/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($80/month)

ESPN+

• ESPN+ (standalone) ($10/month)
• Disney Bundle ($15/month)

ESPNU

• Sling TV (Orange + Sports Extra) ($51/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue + Sports Extra) ($66/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro + Fubo Extra) ($83/month)
• DirecTV (Choice) ($114/month)

Fox

• Antenna (free)
• Sling TV (18 markets only) ($45/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($80/month)

Fox Sports 1

• Sling TV (Blue + Sports Extra) ($51/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue + Sports Extra) ($66/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($80/month)

Longhorn Network

• Sling TV (Orange + Sports Extra) ($51/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue + Sports Extra) ($66/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• DirecTV (Choice) ($114/month)

NBC

• Antenna (free)
• Peacock (Plus) ($12/month)
• Sling TV (11 markets only) ($45/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Entertainment) ($80/month)

NFL Network

• Sling TV (Blue) ($40/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue) ($55/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Choice) ($114/month)

Pac 12 Network

• Sling TV (Orange + Sports Extra) ($51/month)
• Sling TV (Blue + Sports Extra) ($51/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue + Sports Extra) ($66/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)

Peacock

• Peacock is its own service, and can be used to watch NBC live programming with the $12/month plan.

SEC Network

• Sling TV (Orange) ($40/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue) ($55/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Choice) ($114/month)

If you only want to watch some games, then you may be able to get by with a cheaper setup that doesn't carry local broadcast channels. But, if you want to be able to watch every game that is broadcast, you'll need a streaming service -- more than one, actually -- that carries the other services. And when you subscribe to those, you'll find the over the air channels are carried anyway. So it doesn't really matter if you have an antenna, if you want to be able to watch all the games.

So, what is the cheapest setup? Well, a couple of the networks are only available on their own services. ESPN+ is a subscription service, so you'll need that. It's $10/month. Peacock has its own service, and it's $12/month for the Plus plan that gets you their games. So, right off the bat, you're spending $22/month for two services, and still don't have most of the big games.

Most of the other services carry the sports channels you want. The hard to get ones are: CBS Sports Network (don't confuse that with CBS Sports programming on the CBS broadcast network; they aren't the same thing); Longhorn Network (last year for that, as it goes away when Texas joins the SEC next season; Pac 12 Network (probably going away if the Pac 12 goes away, as expected). Those are essentially niche networks, and only no services carries all three. The services that carry them are:

CBS Sports Network

• Hulu+Live TV ($70/month, $77/month after October 12, 2023)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)
• DirecTV (Ultimate) ($139/month)

Longhorn Network

• Sling TV (Orange + Sports Extra) ($51/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue + Sports Extra) ($66/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• DirecTV (Choice) ($114/month)

Pac 12 Network

• Sling TV (Orange + Sports Extra) ($51/month)
• Sling TV (Blue + Sports Extra) ($51/month)
• Sling TV (Orange+Blue + Sports Extra) ($66/month)
• Vidgo (Plus) ($70/month)
• Fubo (Pro) ($75/month)

As you can see, none carry all three. That means two of those services would be needed, running the total cost up quite a bit. So what is the cheapest that carries all three?

YouTube TV ($73/month) and Sling TV (Orange + Sports Extra) ($51/month) will cover that. That brings the total cost of being able to watch every game to $146:

• ESPN+ (standalone) ($10/month)
• Peacock (Plus) ($12/month)
• Sling TV (Orange or Blue + Sports Extra) ($51/month)
• YouTube TV ($73/month)

That's a lot of money. I like college football, but not that much. My Streaming Life doesn't run anywhere near that much. I can watch the games I care about a lot cheaper. But, if you want to watch them all, you can.