Streaming and TV Options

fugawe09

IMPORTANT – If you have not used the ESPN App in a while, it probably signed itself out. It may be wise to double check ahead of game time what you are subscribed to and sign in. Nothing like missing kickoff because you are trying to enter a password one character at a time with a TV remote! Will try to update this if something changes.

Some services have discounts or promotions for new subscribers, certain credit cards, cell phone plans, or employer perks. Your mileage may vary.

Notes
*1 – ACC Network Xtra is a streaming-only channel within the ESPN app that shows overflow content from the ACC Network linear channel. It is only viewable in the ESPN App and will not appear as a channel with your cable provider. To view it within the ESPN app, you must have rights to view the regular ACC Network, either through your cable provider or through a standalone subscription or bundle that includes ESPN Unlimited.

*2 – Might not be visible IN the Hulu app. May need to access through the ESPN app using your Disney login.

*3 – YouTube TV now includes ESPN Unlimited. This is in process of being integrated into the YouTube app, but initially you may need to link YouTube TV to the ESPN app and view some content in the ESPN app.

*4 – If you don’t otherwise have or want linear TV bundle or ESPN Unlimited package, this is the closest thing to a pay per view. The EWU game on ESPN2 would be viewable within the Sling app. For the SMU game, you would do Sling Orange plus Sports Extra, then go to the ESPN app and choose Sling as your TV provider to view the ACCNX content in ESPN app. In theory this should work with the day pass, but haven’t tried it.

*5 – Depending on whether you shop the bundle from the ESPN, Hulu, or Disney+ landing page the packages offered are different and kind of confusing. If you have an existing subscription, you really need to check if it includes ESPN Select or Unlimited.

*6 – Fubo TV now includes ESPN Unlimited. You may need to link your Fubo account to the ESPN app and view some content via the ESPN app.

*7 – In addition to ESPN+, the Montana game will also be broadcast on Scripps Sports, basically so that sports bars in Montana have a local broadcast channel to tune into rather than ESPN+. This means the camera quality may be better (not as good as ESPN broadcast), but we will likely be subject to whatever homer that Montana hires for the call because Davis has historically just fed the Scripps broadcast into ESPN+.

DrMike

i tested my ESPN+ last night with a short viewing of Central Arkansas vs. somebody. All set for tomorrow!

BlueGoldAg

This may be of interest for those of you who pay for a separate ESPN TV account in order to see the Aggies on ESPN3 and also have YouTube TV as your provider.

I have YouTube TV and I also have ESPN Select subscription which automatically renews annually and it is due to renew on August 30th. ESPN Select is the rebranded name of ESPN+ and ESPN+ is what many of us originally subscribed to in order to watch Aggie sports.

However, YouTube TV recently added ESPN Unlimited to its subscription lineup and ESPN Unlimited includes everything ESPN has to offer including ESPN3. This means I don't need to pay for ESPN Select separately in order to see the Aggies on ESPN3 anymore but you need to link your ESPN account to your YouTube TV account to get things up an running.

1. Go to your YouTube TV account on your smart tv, computer or mobile device.
2. Select sports and then select connect to ESPN and it will show that you are connected.
3. I had to then go into my Disney+/ESPN account and select YouTube TV as my provider.

After you have linked YouTube TV with ESPN and you have a Roku or other streaming device like I do:

1. Open the ESPN App on your streaming device and go to the settings menu and select YouTube TV as your provider and you should be good to go.

You now will have access to ESPN Unlimited included with your YouTube TV subscription but you will still need to use the ESPN app to access the ESPN Unlimited programming for now. I guess YouTube TV will have everything integrated into their platform later this fall so you won't have to jump through these hoops.

The good thing is that I don't have to pay $119.99 anymore for ESPN Select (the rebranded ESPN+) in order just to watch the Aggies.

fugawe09

↪BlueGoldAg

Correct, YouTubeTV, Fubo, and Spectrum are all starting to offer ESPN Unlimited as an inclusion even if the sign-in is clunky. This was the armistice agreement last year in the Disney/Hulu vs YouTube and Spectrum carriage dispute but has just started to implement in the last few weeks. Basically, the cable companies can offer ESPN Unlimited as long as they carry ABC and don't interfere with Disney's direct-to-consumer ambitions.

ucdboyd

Sweet, I just signed up again for youtube tv and I didn't even know ESPN unlimited was going to be part of it. I did the sports package for $44.99 a month for up to 6 months. I don't know if it was a special for returning customers or for everyone but i think it had been $59.99 when i looked before.

I have signed up for youtube tv during the college football season for many years and it has worked great for me. One click and it records every college football game. The $44.99 sports package seemed like a much better deal then the $83 for the regular package, since I rotate other streaming services.

And one tip is to look for streaming deals around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Last year I signed up for HBO Max for $2.99 a month for 12 months.

BlueGoldAg

↪ucdboyd

It's hard to keep track of all the mergers between service providers and various bundles of premium channels along with name changes like ESPN3 being rebranded into ESPN Select. Then add in streaming deals and bundle packages and price increases...makes my head spin!

ucdboyd

↪BlueGoldAg

Yep, I get youtube tv every fall, but after that I'm always looking for good deals to bounce around to, and I never know who owns what.

The ESPN+ access worked right away. Time to watch some Villanova vs William & Mary- ha.

BlueGoldAg

↪ucdboyd

I've got the William & Mary at Nova game on also....looking forward to watching Idaho at Poly tonight.

Sailorgabe

Get a superbox. Google it. You are welcome.

NCagalum

↪Sailorgabe

seems appropriate if your team is like East Carolina (pirates)

abridge

So I checked out ESPN to make sure things were working/. I brought up the Idaho v Cal Poly game. Wow - great picture! Either Poly has really upgraded their video (I hope we do as well) or ESPN is pumping up the bandwidth this year.

agalum

For me, going straight to my espn app, i got an error message every time for the poly game. Every other game loaded fine. Finally i relogged in to my directtv account and the poly game loaded. Never had that happen before.

fugawe09

↪agalum

if you subscribe to DirectTV and ESPN Select, this is expected behavior. The Poly game was televised on ESPN linear channel, so the app was basically saying you can watch this on the app platform but we have to check to make sure you still have viewing rights based on your DirectTV subscription. Same scenario will apply for EWU and SMU games.

@abridge - the Poly game was produced by ESPN with national TV level equipment because it was broadcast on a linear network. We can expect similar for the EWU game on ESPN2. All of the ESPN+ games are produced by the host school and uploaded to ESPN+. While ESPN enforces some level of minimum standards, they don’t own the production and most schools can afford equipment closer to local news quality.

agalum

↪fugawe09

Ok, thanks for that. For me it was youtubetv not dierctv but the same principle must apply. I’m not very techy so all these tips help!

fugawe09

↪agalum

in your case, new this season, YouTubeTV includes a subscription to ESPN Unlimited, which includes all ESPN content. This means it is no longer necessary to pay ESPN separately. Eventually ESPN content will be integrated more fully into the YouTubeTV app. But for now to take advantage you basically have to tell both apps to sign into each other and view in the ESPN app. This should stick after the first time but sometimes if the app updates it can sign out.

Fan4Life

I have Hulu as my primary TV. I have a bundle with ESPN+ and Disney +.
Hulu shows most of the ESPN channels. There is a "SPORTS" menu that shows every sport available, including ESPN+. It is very easy to use, and you can watch on unlimited devices for a small extra fee.

Riveraggie

↪Fan4Life

I have the Disney+, Hulu, ESPN unlimited bundle. Hulu and ESPN show as sub menus. My menus may differ from yours maybe because I have espn under Disney, alongside Hulu. Whereas you seem to have Hulu at top level
I still have and use the separate ESPN standalone app because the ESPN sub menu under Disney does not have navigation to the big sky conference content and doesn’t show all the espn+ on demand games sorted by the conferences

Akiltopmack99

I wonder why all the other FBS games I’ve been watching has great ESPN coverage but the UC Davis game had the janky big sky coverage.

NCagalum

↪Akiltopmack99

it’s the local Hillsborough facilities and feed. It has always been weird there.

Akiltopmack99

Ok thank you. Hopefully all other games will be better.

fugawe09

The SMU game will be streamed on ACC Network Xtra (ACCNX) - this is the streaming-only overflow from the ACC Network cable channel (which is owned by ESPN). It will be available to stream in the ESPN app in these conditions--

ESPN Unlimited package - YES, will appear in your normal list of games
YoutubeTV, Hulu+LiveTV, or FuboTV - YES, will appear in the same place you've watched the last two games
Old-fashioned cable/satellite that includes ACC Network - YES, you will need to log into the ESPN app with your cable credentials so the app links your cable subscription.

If you ONLY have the ESPN Select streaming package, this game is not included.

If you aren't sure if you have access to ACCNX, give it a shot this week to make sure. There are random soccer and volleyball games throughout the week.

MTBAggie

What I've been doing for games like this is paying for Sling for one day. I think it's around $5. I just need to make sure the SMU game is something I can get with Sling.

CA Forever

↪MTBAggie

I don't believe ACC network is through the 1 day orange pass unfortunately. I think it's a separate add on if I had to guess. I think you can do a free trial through fubo and it might have it, but don't quote me on that.

eastbayaggie

Figuring out how to watch future Aggie games seem to be too much of a burden. Is there a sports bar at Davis or in the bay area that is guaranteed to show this game? That seems to be an easier solution for me.

Zander

↪eastbayaggie

I would hazard a guess Woodstocks in downtown Davis will, I can't recall it ever not showing a game in recent years.

I will just warn you (as someone who's followed a MWC before), brace yourself for even more complexity if/when Davis moves to the MWC in football. I just resigned myself to the costs and got Hulu+Live TV which has pretty much everything years ago and let that be that.

Jdur

↪Zander

Doesnt the MW have an independent streaming service?

BlueGoldAg

↪Jdur

Yes, MW+. https://watch.themw.com

Zander

↪Jdur

The problem is it's only covering conference and home games not picked up by any of the three broadcast partners. In hoops, not much of a problem, most games will be on MW+.

In FB though, something like 0 to only half of the games will be on MW+ depending on how the broadcast partners feel about our schedule. So you have to be subscribed to both MW+ and something that has up to six different channels to be sure, maybe more if you want to catch away noncon games.

Edit: For example, NDSU this year has its conference games on CBSSN, FS1, the CW, and MW+, and that's theoretically much less than it could have been because Fox, FS2, and CBS were also on the table

fugawe09

↪Zander

IMO we fortunate that all of our games, and in fact most of FCS, resides in the ESPN universe because, as you point out, some of those other networks are kind of expensive for occasional use. Perhaps what is confusing is Disney’s choice of nomenclature - “ESPN+” used to refer to the streaming platform in general and now it refers to one type of content included in various ESPN streaming packages. I think the package stratification got muddied coming out of the carriage dispute.

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