I created a guide two years ago to give college football fans, like myself, all the knowledge necessary to be able to watch as much college football as they want while getting rid of their expensive cable/satellite/telco subscription. While unfortunately, this may not be possible for everyone, if you’re a fan of a Power 5 team, more options exist than ever to be able to watch your favorite team/conference on Saturdays this fall (or Thursday or Friday as well). The guide has been revamped to be easier to read & updated for the 2019 College Football (CFB) season, so go below for the various options that exist to get your college football fix for as cheap as possible.
DISCLAIMER: This work was put together using data from
various sources. As such, if you come
across something that is inaccurate, please feel free to reach out to me to
correct it via email realcordcutters@outlook.com
or Twitter: @RealCordCutters
or by leaving a comment below. My goal
is to make a comprehensive and accurate guide that can help people quickly
& easily decide how to watch as much college football as they want for the
cheapest possible method. Unlike other
cord cutting websites, we welcome and encourage reader feedback, both positive
and negative. For updates, please
look for the ► sign (alt + 16 to type it) with a date following it; these
indicate changes, additions, corrections, etc.
First, I’m going to give a brief summary of some of the
changes for the upcoming 2019 season.
Then I’ll give an overview of the various options that currently exist
regarding CFB broadcasts including defining some terms. Please note that this guide will focus
primarily on the Power 5 conferences (ACC, B1G, Big 12, Pac-12 & SEC). If you’re already familiar with these terms,
services, etc. please feel free to jump down below to the conferences section.
CHANGES FOR THE 2019 SEASON
*The ACC Network debuts as a linear tv channel (Note that
ACC teams will still have games on RSNs & ACC Network Extra)
*Related to the above, ACC Network Extra games will now
require a subscription to ACC Network (rather than just an ESPN subscription)
in order to view them
*All the major streaming providers have raised their
prices since last season, including ATT&T TV NOW (DIRECTV NOW) which also cut back from 4
packages to 2
*ESPN+ now has more CFB than previously as it will air
Big 12 & American Athletic Conference games
*NFL Network will now air CFB games as Conference USA
signed a deal to air some games after dropping beIN Sports as a tv provider
*Games on FOX/FS1/FS2/BTN need to be viewed through the
FOX Sports App; the Fox Sports Go app is only for Fox Sports RSNs and the BTN2GO
app has been changed to the BTNPlus App
KEY TERMS TO
KNOW
Designated Market Area (DMA) – a geographic
region, defined by Nielsen Media Research that receives the same (or similar)
television stations. The DMA that you
are located in determines which local broadcast stations you receive, although
cable companies are free to carry channels from outside the DMA without any
type of waiver. To see a map of all US
DMAs from 2015-16, click
here.
Regional & National Broadcasts – College football
games can either be a regional or national broadcast. A national broadcast shows one game over the
entire country on a given channel while a regional broadcast will have different
games showing on a given channel in different parts of the country. For most, but not all, regional broadcasts,
the game not shown on the primary channel is aired on an alternate TV channel. The most common example of a regional
broadcast is the 3:30 PM ET ABC/ESPN2 broadcast window. Some part of the country receives Game A on
ABC and Game B on ESPN2 while the rest of the country receives Game B on ABC
and Game A on ESPN2. Some of the
conference networks (BTN, SECN, etc.) also do this when there are multiple
games airing at the same time by using alternate overflow channels. When there is a regional broadcast and the
alternate game is not shown on another TV channel or the provider does not
carry the alternate channels, the extra game(s) will then be streamed online.
Tier 1/2/3 Media Rights – Tier 1 media rights generally
refer to games broadcast on over-the-air (OTA) broadcast networks such as FOX,
ABC, CBS, etc. Tier 2 media rights
generally refer to games aired on cable television stations such as ESPN/2, FOX
Sports 1, etc. Tier 3 media rights are
the rights to games that are institutionally controlled. The Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC control these
Tier 3 rights for all their member institutions and air these games on their respective
conference networks. The ACC has sold
these rights to Raycom for syndication but is re-purchasing them in advanced of
the launch of the ACC Network in 2019.
The Big 12 allows each member institution to control one home game and
the institution can then choose how & who to sell the broadcast rights to
that game to.
Regional Sports Networks – FOX (FOX Sports
<channel>), Comcast (NBC Sports <channel> and NBC Sports
<channel>), and AT&T (AT&T SportsNet <channel> own the most
common regional sports networks (RSNs) that air college football games. Currently, they air games featuring ACC &
Big 12 teams in addition to games featuring teams outside of the Power 5
conferences and FCS teams. The coverage
can vary by channel due to other programming commitments such as professional
baseball, basketball and hockey; thus, even if a game is designated to be
carried by FOX Sports RSNs, your local FOX Sports RSN may not carry it. Note that FOX sold their RSNs to Disney but
Disney was forced to sell them as approval for their acquisition of other FOX
assets. Sinclair has agreed to purchase
the FOX Sports RSNs but so far nothing has changed in terms of names or
branding for them.
Conference Networks – Several conferences (Big
Ten, Pac-12, SEC, ACC) have created conference networks to exclusively air Tier
3 content in addition to other college sports programming. These conference networks vary in their
structure and also in the number of subscribers each has. The Big Ten conference launched the Big Ten
Network (BTN) back in 2007 while the Pac-12 started the Pac-12 Network (P12N)
in 2011 and the SEC started the SEC Network (SECN) in 2014. The ACC Network (ACCN) will debut as a linear
television channel on August 22, 2019.
TV CHANNELS
ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPNEWS/ESPN GOAL LINE – The
Disney family of channels (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS) carry games multiple
days a week. In addition to Saturdays,
these stations also carry games on Thursday & Friday nights (most weeks),
Tuesday & Wednesday nights (usually only October-November) and the first
Sunday of the season. They also carry most
of the bowl games, including the College Football Playoff, except for a
handful. ESPN GOAL LINE runs only on
Saturdays and switches between various games on the ESPN networks similar to
how the Red Zone channel works for the NFL.
ESPN3 – ESPN3 is an online streaming channel that
airs many sporting events, including college football games, and does not
require login authentication. To view
ESPN3 events, one must either have a participating Internet Service Provider or
a cable/satellite/streaming service subscription which includes it though. For example, Sling TV & PlayStation Vue
both include ESPN3 access with their subscriptions. The list of ESPN3 participating providers can
be found here. All games aired on ABC in your region are also
available to watch online via ESPN3. ESPN3 also airs additional camera views
for important games although mostly for bowl and College Football Playoff (CFP)
games. For example, the most recent CFP
National Championship Game had 8 different feeds available on ESPN3 including
Sounds of the Game, Pylon Cam, Hometown Radio feeds, Spider Cam and others. Thus, some games that are aired on ESPN cable
channels can also be viewed via ESPN3 and do not require a subscription to
ESPN, ESPN2, etc. in order to watch them.
One other thing to be aware of regarding ESPN3 is that the ESPN app
requires an ESPN video subscription (i.e. credentials) in order to view ESPN3
content via a connected device such as Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, or
PlayStation 4. In other words, if you do
not have a subscription to a service that includes ESPN (but do have ESPN3
access through your ISP) and try to watch ESPN3 content through the ESPN app on
a Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, etc., you will receive an error. The only way to watch ESPN3 content without
an ESPN video subscription is via a computer web browser (www.watchespn.com) or the ESPN app on
mobile devices such as phones and tablets.
For more information on this, please see here.
ESPN+ – ESPN+ is an online streaming service which launched in April 2018 and will air college football games from the AAC, Big 12, Conference USA, the MAC, and Sun Belt this season. For more information on it, see the section on ESPN+ below under “STREAMING SERVICES”.
FOX/FOX SPORTS 1/FOX SPORTS 2 – FOX Sports carries
games on the FOX broadcast channel, FOX Sports 1 (FS1), and FOX Sports Regional
Sports Networks (for more information on these see Regional Sports Networks
below). Fox Sports 2 (FS2) traditionally
has only been used as an overflow channel when games run late but it has aired Big
12 games in their entirety the past two years.
FS1 has games every Saturday, most Thursdays, and occasional
Fridays. FOX generally has games on
Saturdays only but not every Saturday due to other sports commitments (NASCAR,
MLB Playoffs, etc.). One bowl game will
be broadcast on FOX and one game will be broadcast on FS1 this season.
CBS/CBS SPORTS NETWORK – CBS Sports carries games
on both the CBS broadcast channel and CBS Sports Network (CBSSN). The CBS broadcast channel typically carries
one game involving an SEC team per week on Saturdays while also having several doubleheader
days where it carries two games. CBSSN
typically carries multiple games on Saturdays in addition to games on Thursdays
& Fridays most weeks. CBS will carry
one bowl game and CBSSN will carry two bowl games this season.
NBC/NBC SPORTS NETWORK – NBC Sports carries games
on the NBC broadcast channel, NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), and regional sports
networks such as NBC Sports (NBCS) <channel (for more information on these
see Regional Sports Networks below). NBC
usually only broadcasts Notre Dame home games on Saturdays while NBCSN carries
FCS games; it also broadcast one Notre Dame game in 2017 but does not have any
scheduled for 2019.
Regional Sports Networks – The two most common
types of Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) are FOX Sports RSNs and NBCS RSNs. There are also four RSNs owned by AT&T
called AT&T SportsNet <channel> and one RSN owned primarily by the
Seattle Mariners, Root Sports Northwest, that carry the FOX Sports RSN games,
in addition to some other games.
However, none of these channels are currently available on any national streaming
service except for AT&T SportsNet Southwest which is carried by FuboTV. Additionally, some other RSNs like NESN,
Prime Ticket, SportsTime Ohio and MASN carry games as well.
Big Ten Network – BTN is a conference network
owned by FOX and the Big Ten Conference that airs programming from all sports
featuring Big Ten teams. It usually
shows 2-5 games featuring Big Ten teams each Saturday with occasional games on
the first Thursday & Friday of the season.
It owns the Tier 3 rights to all games that Big Ten teams own the rights
to. BTN Plus is online streaming network
offered by BTN for an additional cost, but it does NOT air any CFB games on it. Starting this year, BTN content is only able
to be viewed via FOX Sports app.
SEC Network – SECN is a conference network owned exclusively
by ESPN (Disney) which shows all sports of SEC teams. It usually airs 2-5 SEC games on Saturdays in
addition to games on the first Thursday & Friday of the season. SECN owns the Tier 3 rights to all games that
SEC teams have the rights to. SECN+ is
an online channel that airs extra events and can only be viewed with
authenticated credentials (i.e. it requires a subscription to SECN) via the
ESPN app and the ESPN website. SECN+
generally does not air any CFB games except for rare circumstances.
Pac-12 Network – P12N is a conference network
owned exclusively by the Pac-12 conferences that airs Pac-12 sporting
events. It usually shows 2-5 Pac-12
games on Saturdays only. P12N owns the
Tier 3 rights to all games that Pac-12 teams own the rights to. The network has 1 national feed and 6
regional feeds (Arizona, Bay Area, Los Angeles, Mountain, Oregon, and
Washington) with each regional feed covering two teams. Most CFB games are aired on the national feed
and the regional feed(s) of the team(s) participating in the game.
ACC Network/ACC Network Extra – The linear ACCN cable
channel is scheduled to launch on August 22, 2019. The ACC also usually one airs RSN game each
Saturday at various times, although several weeks two of these games are shown. These RSN games are also available outside of
the airing markets on ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) which is an online channel that
can only be viewed with authenticated credentials (i.e. it requires a
subscription to a service which has ACCN, which is new this year) via the ESPN
app or the ESPN website. What
this means is that if a RSN in your DMA is airing the ACC game, you can only
watch the game on that network; however, if there is no RSN airing the game
within your DMA, then you are able to watch it online with proper ACCN-authenticated
credentials via the ESPN app. This is important to note because if the
game is airing on an RSN that your service does not carry (ex. NESN, AT&T
SportsNet Pittsburgh, etc.), it means you will not be able to watch the game
because you do not receive the station that is airing it in your market
and it will be blacked out on the ESPN app.
ACCNX also airs games exclusively online and will
air 5 total games in 2019 (see here). Prior
to 2016 these ACCNX games were aired on ESPN3 while prior to this year
all games airing on ACCNX only required an ESPN subscription. However, going forward you must have a
subscription to ACCN in order to see games that are airing online via ACCNX. ACCNX also airs other sporting events for ACC
teams that do not require authentication.
Longhorn Network –Longhorn Network (LHN) is an ESPN-owned network that focuses solely on University of Texas athletic events and programming. It generally airs two home Texas football games per year, one non-conference game and one conference game. The conference game also airs on additional platforms in the home market of the visiting conference team. It is generally carried as a regional, not national, channel by most providers and is streamed via the ESPN app and the ESPN website.
Longhorn Network –Longhorn Network (LHN) is an ESPN-owned network that focuses solely on University of Texas athletic events and programming. It generally airs two home Texas football games per year, one non-conference game and one conference game. The conference game also airs on additional platforms in the home market of the visiting conference team. It is generally carried as a regional, not national, channel by most providers and is streamed via the ESPN app and the ESPN website.
Stadium – Stadium (STADIUM) is a 24/7 sports channel
which airs some games on multiple venues including free Twitter & Facebook
live streams and an OTA channel which was previously known as American Sports
Network. They carry games hosted by
Conference USA, Mountain West Conference, and Sun Belt Conference teams. The current list of OTA affiliates can be
found here and the OTA
channel can also be viewed on their website,
FuboTV in the Sports Plus add-on pack, Twitch, PlutoTV, and via their app which
is available for Apple & Android products. Games airing on Twitter can be viewed here, while games
airing on Facebook can be viewed here.
NFL Network – NFL Network (NFLN) is an NFL focused
network that will air 10 Conference USA games on Saturdays in addition to its
regular NFL programming. It is streamed
via the NFL Mobile App.
TV Everywhere Apps – Many cable channels now have
a live stream of their channel available to watch online for authenticated
subscribers. ESPN makes all of its
programming, including ACCN, SECN, SECN+, LHN, ESPN3 & ESPN+ events, available
via the ESPN app while FOX uses the FOX Sports app for FOX broadcast channel sporting
events & FOX Sports RSNs. BTN also uses
the Fox Sports App while P12N uses the Pac-12 Now app. CBS & CBSSN both
streams their games through the CBS Sports App (no authentication required for
CBS games while authentication is required for CBSSN) but only on phones &
tablets. NBC & NBCSN & NBCS RSNs
all stream their content through the NBC Sports App. STADIUM streams via the Stadium App while
NFLN streams via the NFL Mobile App.
STREAMING
SERVICES
Sling TV
·
Plans:
o
Orange ($25/month), Orange Sports Add-on ($10/month)
o
Blue ($25/month), Blue Sports Add-on ($10/month)
o
Orange + Blue ($40/month), Orange + Blue +
Sports Add-on ($50/month)
·
Channels:
o
Orange - ESPN/ESPN2, STADIUM
o
Orange Sports Add-on - ESPNU,ESPNNEWS,ESPN GOAL
LINE,SECN,P12N*,
o
Blue - FOX,FS1,FS2,NBC,NBCSN,NBCS RSN,STADIUM,NFLN
o
Blue Sports Add-on - P12N*
§
*P12N includes the 6 regional feeds only; the national
feed is not included
·
# of Streams: Orange (1 stream); Blue (3
streams)
·
Devices: Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV + most common
devices
Summary: Sling TV (Sling) is a decent option for college
football fans and still the cheapest way to get just the ESPN channels. Plus, it is the only service that carries
P12N, STADIUM &
ESPN (► 9/14/19) and added ACCN on Thursday 8/29 right before the Clemson-GT
game kicked off (see here). However, it
doesn’t carry BTN or CBSSN or FOX SPORTS RSNs (as of July 2019) and last year
blacked out certain Big Ten games on FS1, see here
for more info; while it’s Orange + Blue package ($40) is similar in price to
other services that doesn’t include networks such as ESPNU or SECN. Plus, its coverage of local channels is the
smallest compared to the other services so if an antenna isn’t feasible at your
location, it’s best to look elsewhere if you need to see games on FOX or NBC. Lastly, the ESPN channels are limited to 1
simultaneous stream, which is the lowest of any service, although you can use
the ESPN app to watch additional streams.
Best For: ACC/SEC/Pac-12
Fans, Conference USA Fans, People who can get OTA stations via antenna
Worst For: Big 10
Fans, Fans who cannot get their local OTA stations via antenna
PlayStation Vue (► 11/14/19) Sony will be shutting down PlayStation Vue effective January 30, 2020. It is no longer accepting new subscriptions. For more information, see here.
·
Plans:
o Access
($50/month), Core ($55/month), Sports Pack ($10/month), Elite ($65/month),
Ultra ($85/month)
·
Channels:
o Access
- ABC,CBS,FOX,NBC,ESPN,ESPN2,FS1,FS2,NBCSN
o Core
- Access Channels + ESPNU,ESPNNEWS,SECN,BTN,CBSSN,LHN*,NBCS RSN,FOX SPORTS RSN,ACCN,NFLN
o Elite
– Core Channels + STADIUM
o Sports
Pack - Core Channels + ESPN GOAL LINE,LHN*
§ *LHN
is available on the Core plan within select in-market states; other states
require the Core plan + the Sports Pack add-on
·
# of Streams: 5 (3 at signup + 2 additional
available, in-home only, after a home device is set)
o Limited
to a max of one PS3, one PS4, and three mobile/web-based devices at all times
·
Devices: Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV + most common
devices
Summary: The price
increase that PlayStation Vue (Vue) instituted in June 2019 makes it less
attractive to college football fans; the most desirable package, Core at $55/month,
is now $5-10/month more than comparable packages from Sling, Hulu & YouTube
TV, since those services base packages have the exact same networks as Vue
except for LHN. The inclusion of LHN
(those who are out-of-market and want to receive it must order the Sports Pack
as well, bringing the total to $65/month) is one positive aspect of Vue in
addition to the fact that it offers the highest number of in-home streams (5),
except for Hulu + Unlimited Screens, but that requires an extra $10/month.
Best For: People
who want to have multiple (> 3) games playing at once, Texas Longhorn fans,
ACC Fans
Worst For: Pac-12
Fans
AT&T TV NOW (DIRECTV NOW) ►(Effective 9/26/19 all references to DIRECTV NOW
have been updated to AT&T TV NOW) (Note: DIRECTV NOW will be renamed
AT&T TV NOW at some point in the near future – see here)
·
Plans:
o Plus
($50 $65/month), Max ($70 $80/month) (
§ AT&T TV NOW introduced the above plans in March 2019 but current subscribers were able
to keep the grandfathered plans (Live a Little, Just Right, Go Big, Gotta Have
It)
·
Channels:
o Plus
- ABC,CBS,FOX,NBC,ESPN,ESPN2,FS1,NBCSN
o Max
– Plus Channels + ESPNU,ESPNNEWS,SECN,BTN,CBSSN,FS2,LHN*,NBCS RSN,FOX SPORTS
RSN, ACCN
§ *LHN
is only available in select markets
·
# of Streams: 2 with the option of purchasing an
additional stream for $5/month
·
Devices: Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV + most common
devices
Summary: AT&T TV NOW’s (ATT NOW) package changes in March
2019 made it much less attractive than other options because its most basic
plan is now priced similarly to most of the other options but lacks many
networks such as ESPNU, BTN, FS2, CBSSN, SECN, and any local RSNs. To receive those channels requires another (►11/19/19) $20 $30/month
($70 $80/month total!). However, ATT NOW
does offer LHN (in-market only). Otherwise
though, there’s nothing that makes ATT NOW particularly compelling given its
higher price, lower number of simultaneous streams, and lack of specialty
channels (i.e. no P12N or NFLN or STADIUM or ESPN GOAL LINE).
Best For: Texas
Longhorn fans (in-market only)
Worst For: General
Fans, Fans who want to watch multiple games at once, Pac-12 Fans
Hulu Live
·
Plans:
o Base
Plan ($45 $55/month)
·
Channels:
o ABC,CBS,FOX,NBC,ESPN,ESPN2,
ESPNU,ESPNNEWS,SECN,FS1,FS2,BTN,NBCSN, NBCS RSN,FOX SPORTS RSN,CBSSN, ACCN
·
# of Streams:
o 2
with the option of purchasing “unlimited” streams for an extra $10/month
o Unlimited
streams includes unlimited streams at home and max 3 streams outside of home
·
Devices: Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV + most common
devices
Summary: Hulu Live is an excellent choice for most
college football fans as it offers a wide range of channels at the lowest base
package price which also includes locals in most areas. Thus, it features the best overall combination
of channels, available devices, and price although YouTube TV is supposed to be
returning to Fire TV devices soon. The
one main downside is the fact that its base package only includes 2 streams
although the option for “unlimited streams” does exist. Hulu Live is a good option for fans who want
to want a bunch of games, including locals, for the cheapest price.
Best For: General Fan, ACC/B1G/B12/SEC Fans, Fans who
want to watch >3 games at once (for an extra fee)
Worst For: Pac-12
Fans
YouTube TV
·
Plans:
o Base
Plan ($50/month)
·
Channels:
o ABC,CBS,FOX,NBC,ESPN,ESPN2,
ESPNU,ESPNNEWS,SECN,FS1,FS2,BTN,NBCSN, NBCS RSN,FOX SPORTS RSN,CBSSN,ACCN
·
# of Streams:
o 3
·
Devices: Roku, Apple TV (not Fire TV) + some
other devices
Summary: YouTube TV(YTTV) is another very good choice for
most college football fans although its price increase to $50/month in March
2019 made it a bit less desirable. It is
currently not available to watch on Fire TV devices although that is supposed
to change in the coming months with Google & Amazon having reached an
agreement. It’s very similar to Hulu
Live but its unlimited DVR space and extra stream (3), compared to Hulu Live
(2), may make it a better option for some fans even with the higher cost. (►11/14/19) YTTV was at a slight disadvantage to some of the other services because it was no longer authorized to play ESPN3 content as of mid-August (see here), but it has since restored access to ESPN3 events and this was confirmed by them via Reddit in mid-October (see here).
Best For: General Fans, ACC/B1G/B12/SEC Fans, Fans who
plan to record many hours of college football
Worst For: Pac-12
Fans
FuboTV
·
Plans:
o Base
Plan ($55/month), Extra Plan ($60/month), Sports Plus ($9/month)
·
Channels:
o Base
Plan - CBS,FOX,NBC,BTN,FS1,FS2,NBCSN,CBSSN,P12N*,NBCS RSN,FOX SPORTS RSN,NFLN
§ The
Extra Plan has 15 additional channels compared to the Base Plan but none are
college football related
o Sports
Plus – Base Plan + STADIUM, P12N*
§ *The
P12N national feed is included with the Base Plan while the 6 regionals feeds
are included with the Sports Plus add-on
·
# of Streams: 2 with the option of purchasing an
additional stream (Family Share Add-On) for $6/month
·
Devices: Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV + most common
devices
Summary: FuboTV is an overall poor choice for most
college football fans due to its lack of ESPN channels, since every single
conference has a tv deal with ESPN. However,
it is the only current streaming service that offers BTN & P12N so if you
are a fan of Big Ten and Pac-12 teams
that are frequently featured on their conference networks, it may be worth
it. However, it’s lack of ESPN channels
makes it virtually unusable for ACC & SEC fans and its price ($55/month)
coupled with only 2 streams, make it probably the least desirable option for
most fans.
Best For: Certain Big Ten & Pac-12 Fans, College
Football Fans who have other sports interests (soccer)
Worst For: ACC/SEC
Fans
ESPN+
·
Plans:
o Base
Plan ($5/month or $50/year)
·
Channels:
o Base
Plan – ESPN+ only
·
# of Streams: 5
·
Devices: Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV + most common
devices
Summary: ESPN+ will feature games from the AAC, Big 12, Conference
USA, MAC, and Sun Belt in 2019. The Big
12 deal is new and will feature 4 teams in 2019 with 4 additional teams joining
in 2020 (Texas & Oklahoma will not have any home games aired as part of the
deal). Click here
for more info. Although the cost of
ESPN+ is relatively modest, it is a bit disappointing that fans now to have pay
to watch games that were previously available via ESPN3, which is generally
included with your ISP and/or a cable/satellite tv subscription. The only real reason to purchase an ESPN+
subscription is if you’re a hardcore college football fan (not that there’s
anything wrong with that), a fan of one of the three specific conferences that
will be on it, or there is other content (MLS, etc.) that you’re already
deciding to subscribe to it for.
Best For: Fans of certain Big 12 teams, Fans of AAC/Conference
USA/MAC/Sun Belt teams, Hardcore College Football Fans
Worst For: Pretty much everyone else
THINGS TO KNOW
There are a lot of nuances and caveats regarding some of
these services and channels so please read the following items before you
decide to purchase anything.
Issues with local coverage
·
Local stations sometimes air a different game
than is advertised
o There
are times where you may not be able to watch a game (or must use the
appropriate app to view a game) even though it has been designated to be
carried by one of your local channels because the local channel is instead
airing other programming such as professional sports or even a different
college football game.
For example, in the Pittsburgh
market, WTAE ABC (4.1) is the station which has the rights to the OTA ACCN Game
of the Week each Saturday @ 12:20 PM ET (Note: This issue will note exist
starting in 2019 going forward because of the creation of the ACCN). However, ABC usually airs a national or
regional college football broadcast starting at 12:00 PM ET. Thus, the ACCN Game of the Week usually ends
up being shown on This TV (4.2), the digital sub channel of WTAE. However, when
the ACCN Game of the Week features Pittsburgh, that game is aired on WTAE and
the ABC regional/national game is bumped to This TV. On November 5, 2016, Pitt played at Miami
starting at 12:30 PM ET; this game was shown on WTAE which forced
Northwestern-Wisconsin (ABC national broadcast starting at 12:00 PM ET) to be
shown on This TV. Thus, if you
subscribed to a streaming service which carried ABC (WTAE), you would not have
seen the Wisconsin-Northwestern game.
Instead the only way you could have watched it would have been to use
the ESPN app or to use an antenna to receive This TV. It should be noted that all ABC games are
available via ESPN3 so this example would not have required a television
subscription to view the game, only ESPN3 access.
Similar issues can happen with
RSNs as well. On September 24, 2016, San
Jose State at Iowa State was distributed by FOX Sports RSNs starting at 12:00 PM
ET. However, FOX Sports Detroit chose to
air the ACCN RSN Game of the Week, Central Michigan at Virginia, starting at
12:30 PM ET on its main channel. Thus,
the San Jose State-Iowa State game was aired on FOX Sports Detroit+. Again, if you had a subscription to a
streaming service that does not carry FOX Sports Detroit+, which is essentially
an overflow channel, you would have needed to go to the FOX Sports Go app to be
able to watch that game. Please note
that the issues described above are not unique to streaming services, but they
are things to keep in mind.
Overflow channels
·
Conference Networks
o As
mentioned earlier, conference networks will frequently air multiple games at
the same time with the primary game for your region usually determined by
geography. This means that if you are
interested in watching the secondary game, you must either find the alternate
channel for the network or find the online stream of the game via the networks
app.
For example, on September 17,
2016, BTN aired both Georgia Sate at Wisconsin & Temple at Penn State
starting at 12 PM ET. If you lived in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the main BTN channel showed the Temple-Penn State
game while Georgia State-Wisconsin was carried on one of BTN’s overflow channels. However, not all streaming services carry the
overflow channels for networks that have them.
So if you used a streaming service that did not carry all of BTN’s overflow channels, you would have had to
login to the BTN2GO app, using your provider credentials, in order to watch
Georgia State-Wisconsin. It’s similar
for the SECN, except that you would use the ESPN app. Again, this issue is not necessarily unique
to streaming services, because some cable providers do not carry all the overflow
channels (compared to satellite providers who generally do), but it is
something to be aware of.
Game windows
·
Game running late into the start of the next
game
o Most
college football games are scheduled for 3.5-hour windows; however, games
frequently last longer than 3.5 hours, especially when there are weather
delays, which end up delaying the start of the next scheduled game on the same
channel. It also frequently happens with
the channels that air the ACCN Game of the Week since that game starts at 12:20
PM ET and thus, only has 3 hours and 10 minutes until the 3:30 PM ET games
start. When these situations happen, the
next game is usually started on an alternate network, or if none is available,
streamed online via the ESPN or FOX Sports apps. For games on the ESPN channels, ESPNU &
ESPNEWS are usually used as overflow channels, although the SECN alternate
channel has been used occasionally as well for SEC games. If there are no overflow channels available,
the next game will usually be made available to be streamed on ESPN3. For games
on the FOX channels, FOX Sports 2 and Fox Business Network are usually used as
the main overflow channel, although there was once instance where a game
(Oklahoma-Texas Tech) was moved to FOX News Channel because the World Series
was set to air on FOX that night. Although
each network usually stays with the current game until its conclusion, there
are cases where the network will leave a current game to show the start of the
next game; this usually happens with networks that are located in the broadcast
area for one of the teams that is playing in the next game. For example, in 2013 there was an ACC Game of
the Week between Louisiana Tech and NC State that started at 12:30 PM ET on
WTAE (ABC) in Pittsburgh. However, the
game was not over by 3:30 PM ET when ABC was scheduled to air Penn
State-Syracuse as part of its 3:30 PM ET regional coverage. WTAE left the ACCN game and started airing
the Penn State game on time since Pittsburgh is considered part of the Penn
State viewing area. However, for most games, especially those on
cable channels, unless the game is a large blowout the network will stay with
it until its conclusion. This is
something to keep in mind if you decide to subscribe to a streaming service as
there may be channels you do not anticipate needing to watch but may
occasionally air part of a game you’re interested in because the game before
yours ran late, pushing the start of your game to an alternate channel
temporarily.
Away Games
·
The TV partners of the home team determine who
airs each game. Generally, the home team
has the broadcast rights to each game and thus, one of the channels of those
partners will be the one that airs the game.
In the case of a neutral site game, the contract for the game usually
designates one of the teams as the “home team” for both uniform and
broadcasting purposes. This is important
because even if your favorite team is in a conference who home and/or
conference games are only aired on certain channels, they may play a road game
(or games) which is aired on other channels because the team(s) they are
playing has a different media partner. Therefore,
when deciding which streaming service best fits your needs, you should make
sure to research any away games for your favorite team(s) to see which channels
you may need to subscribe to in order to watch those road games as there may be
a game on a network such as CBSSN or P12N that your favorite team normally
would not air on.
CONFERENCE
& CHANNEL CHARTS
Below are several charts to assist with your decision to
cut the cord and/or sign up for an online streaming service. The first one shows the channels which have
the Tier 1, 2, and 3 media (i.e. TV) rights for each of the Power 5 conferences. The second one shows the television partners
for the other 5 FBS conferences, aka the Group of 5. The third one shows the most common channels
which carry college football and the level of package (if available) on each
streaming service.
MEDIA RIGHTS BY CONFERENCE (POWER 5
CONFERENCES)
Tier 1
|
Tier 2
|
Tier 3
|
Conf Champ Game
|
|
ACC
|
ABC
|
ESPN/2/U/NEWS
|
ACCN &
RSN (RSNs vary
by market)
|
ABC/ESPN/2
|
Big Ten
|
ABC & FOX
|
ESPN/2/U/NEWS
& FS1/FS2
|
BTN
|
FOX
|
Big 12
|
ABC & FOX
|
ESPN/2/U/NEWS
& FS1/FS2
|
*Varies by team
– Longhorn Network (Texas) & ESPN+
|
ABC/ESPN/2
|
Pac-12
|
ABC & FOX
|
ESPN/2/U/NEWS
& FS1/FS2
|
P12N
|
**FOX &
ABC/ESPN/2
|
SEC
|
CBS
|
ESPN/2/U/NEWS
|
SECN
|
CBS
|
*Each team is given one game for institutional control
which they can then sell the rights to for broadcasting although 4 of these
games will air on ESPN+ in 2019 with 4 more (8 total) airing in 2020.
**This game is split between FOX (even years) and ESPN channels
(odd years).
Notre Dame – NBC Sports owns the rights to all
Notre Dame home games. All 2019 home
games are scheduled to be aired on the NBC broadcast channel. Their five away games will air on networks
determined by the broadcast partners of the teams they are facing.
BYU – ESPN has the rights of first selection to
all BYU home games or neutral site games where BYU is the designated home
team. This includes a minimum of 3 games
to air on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 and at least one game to air on ESPNU. Any home games that ESPN does not televise
can be aired on BYUtv, which is a TV channel founded and run by the
university. BYUtv general airs one BYU
football game per year and is currently not available as part of any streaming
service.
MEDIA RIGHTS BY CONFERENCE (GROUP OF 5
CONFERENCES)
Partner 1
|
Partner 2
|
Partner 3
|
Partner 4
|
Partner 5
|
|
AAC
|
ESPN
|
CBSSN*
|
ESPN+
|
-------------------------
|
--------------------
|
Conf USA
|
ESPN
|
CBSSN
|
NFLN
|
Stadium
|
ESPN+
|
MAC
|
ESPN
|
CBSSN*
|
ESPN+
|
-------------------------
|
--------------------
|
MWC
|
ESPN
|
CBSSN
|
Campus
Insiders**/
Stadium
|
TheMWC.com**
|
--------------------
|
Sun Belt
|
ESPN
|
Stadium
|
ESPN+
|
-------------------------
|
--------------------
|
*These
games are sublicensed from ESPN which controls the initial rights to
them.
**These games are streamed online only.
CFB CHANNEL INPUT SPREADSHEET
Below is an Excel spreadsheet that will allow you to input
up to 15 channels and will return all streaming service options which carry
that group of channels, including highlighting the cheapest available option.
Please read the instructions (located on the 2nd tab in the file) before
using but it is fairly straightforward. You simply enter in the name of
each channel (it has to match the name I've assigned to it in the Channel Key
in the file) and the spreadsheet will automatically update to show all
available packages which carry the channel(s). There's also an Out of
Market filter which is only used for receiving LHN on certain services.
To download a copy of it (it's a zip file which you must
save & unzip to access the Excel file), click here.
Sling TV
|
Vue
|
AT&T TV NOW
|
FuboTV
|
Hulu Live
|
YouTube TV
|
|
ABC
|
No
|
Access*
(or higher)
|
Plus*
(or higher)
|
No
|
Yes*
|
Yes
|
ESPN
|
Orange
|
Access
(or higher)
|
Plus
(or higher)
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
ESPN2
|
Orange
|
Access
(or higher)
|
Plus
(or higher)
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
ESPNU
|
Sports Extra
(Orange)
|
Core
(or higher)
|
Max
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
ESPNEWS
|
Sports Extra
(Orange)
|
Core
(or higher)
|
Max
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
ESPN GOAL LINE
|
Sports Extra
(Orange)
|
Core +
Sports Pack
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
SECN
|
Sports Extra
(Orange)
|
Core
(or higher)
|
Max
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
BTN
|
No
|
Core
(or higher)
|
Max
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
FOX
|
Blue*
|
Access*
(or higher)
|
Plus*
(or higher)
|
Yes*
|
Yes*
|
Yes
|
FS1
|
Blue
|
Access
(or higher)
|
Plus
(or higher)
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
FS2
|
Blue
|
Access
(or higher)
|
Max
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
CBS
|
No
|
Access*
(or higher)
|
Plus*
(or higher)
|
Yes*
|
Yes*
|
Yes
|
CBSSN
|
No
|
Core
(or higher)
|
Max
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
NBC
|
Blue*
|
Access*
(or higher)
|
Plus*
(or higher)
|
Yes*
|
Yes*
|
Yes
|
NBCSN
|
Blue
|
Access
(or higher)
|
Plus
(or higher)
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
P12N
|
Sports Extra (Orange/Blue)**
|
No
|
No
|
Yes***
& Sports
Plus***
|
No
|
No
|
ACCN
|
Sports Extra
(Orange)
|
Core
(or higher)?
|
Max*****
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
LHN
|
Sports Extra
(Orange)
|
Core****
(or higher)
|
Max*
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
FOX Sports RSNs
|
No
|
Core*
(or higher)
|
Max*
|
Yes*
|
Yes*
|
Yes
|
NBC Sports RSNs
|
Blue*
|
Core*
(or higher)
|
Max*
|
Yes*
|
Yes*
|
Yes
|
STADIUM
|
Orange or Blue
|
Elite
(or higher)
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
ESPN3
|
Orange
|
Access(?)
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
ESPN APP
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
---------
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
BTN2GO APP
|
---------
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
FOX SPORTS APP
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
PAC-12 Now APP
|
No
|
---------
|
---------
|
No
|
---------
|
---------
|
NBCSports.com/ NBCS
App-ND FB
|
Yes/
Yes
|
Yes/
Yes
|
Yes/
Yes
|
Yes/
Yes
|
Yes/
Yes
|
No/
Yes
|
CBSSports.com/ CBSS App-CBSSN
|
---------
|
Yes/
Yes
|
Yes/
Yes
|
Yes/
Yes
|
Yes/
Yes
|
Yes/
Yes
|
*Available in select markets only
**Includes
all P12N regional feeds only, does not include the national feed.
***Base & Extra packages
include the P12N national feed while the Sports Plus add-on includes the 6 regional
feeds
****Available in select
markets as part of Core; in other markets, requires Core or higher subscription
+ Sports Pack ($10/month)
*****ACCN went live 9/25/19 but there has been no indication which package is required and/or if it is carried nationally or regionally
To see the chart above as a PDF file, click here.*****ACCN went live 9/25/19 but there has been no indication which package is required and/or if it is carried nationally or regionally
POSTSEASON
GAMES
All bowl games
will air on ESPN except for the ones listed below.
Game
|
Date
|
Time
|
Channel
|
Celebration Bowl
|
12/21/2019
|
12:00 PM ET
|
ABC
|
Cure Bowl
|
12/21/2019
|
2:30 PM ET
|
CBSSN
|
Boca Raton Bowl
|
12/21/2019
|
3:30 PM ET
|
ABC
|
Las Vegas Bowl
|
12/21/2019
|
7:30 PM ET
|
ABC
|
Holiday Bowl
|
12/27/2019
|
8:00 PM ET
|
FS1
|
Camping World Bowl
|
12/28/2019
|
12:00 PM ET
|
ABC
|
Redbox Bowl
|
12/30/2019
|
4:00 PM ET
|
FOX
|
Sun Bowl
|
12/31/2019
|
2:00 PM ET
|
CBS
|
Arizona Bowl
|
12/31/2019
|
4:30 PM ET
|
CBSSN
|
Citrus Bowl
|
1/1/2020
|
1:00 PM ET
|
ABC
|
2019-20
Postseason Bowl Game Chart (posted 12/16/19) - click here
SOURCES &
REFERENCES:
The information in the chart above and this entire post came
from a variety of sources. Some websites
that are very useful for CFB TV listings are Matt Sarz Sports, FBSCHEDULES.com,
and LSUFootball.net.
College Football Game Broadcast Schedules
Matt’s College
Sports on TV Website - Has CFB & CBB TV listings for each week in
addition to archived listings dating back to 2006-07
FBSCHEDULES.com
– Has future & past schedules for every team including TV information
LSUFootball.net
– Has CFB TV listings for each week for & a schedule of upcoming game
replays; also includes archived TV listings back to 2004
2019 College Football TV Schedule Releases
ESPN
Sling TV
PlayStation Vue
AT&T TV NOW
FuboTV
Hulu Live
YouTube TV
MISC
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