You don’t need a full-priced pay TV package to get local channels and sports anymore. While YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV cost upwards of $83 per month, new skinny bundles from DirecTV, Fubo, Sling TV, and even Comcast offer live sports for less. New standalone options from ESPN and Fox present even more ways to save money. But depending on what you want to watch, some of these bundles will work better than others. The situation reminds me a bit of cord-cutting’s early years, in which every live TV streaming service came with some notable omissions. Below, I’ll help you sort through them all to find the best sports bundle for your needs. Streaming sports packages compared Here’s a chart with all of the sports bundles available as of September 2025: Jared Newman / Foundry You can also view a Google Sheets version of this chart. I took some liberties with which services to include in the chart, most notably omitting full-size pay TV packages such as YouTube TV ($83 per month), Hulu + Live TV (also $83 per month), Fubo’s standard packages (starting at $98 per month after regional sports fees), and DirecTV’s Signature packages (starting at $85 per month). Those packages include a broader mix of entertainment channels, so one of them would be a better choice if you’re trying to fully replicate a cable bundle. For the services I did include, it’s helpful to think of them in terms of what each one is missing. For instance: DirecTV MyNews: Offers local channels, but no other sports channels. DirecTV MySports: No Tennis channel. Fubo Sports: No NBC or other Comcast-owned channels, and nothing from Warner Bros. Discovery (such as TNT and TBS). Xfinity Sports & News: No league-specific channels. Sling TV Select: Only works for sports if the local channels it carries are available in your particular market. ESPN Unlimited bundles: Missing at least two of the big four local channels and many less-popular sports channels. Note that with DirecTV’s skinny bundles and Sling Select, local channels aren’t available in every market, and Fubo is only selling its Sports bundle in select markets for now. In all cases, you’ll need to check their websites for availability in your area. As for Xfinity’s Sports & News bundle, it’s only available in Comcast’s cable markets, although it doesn’t require a cable box. You can also access it via the Xfinity Stream app on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung TVs, and LG TVs. If you’re wondering why most of these sports-focused bundles also include cable news, that’s a whole other story. Fox has reportedly been unwilling to uncouple Fox News from its broadcast and sports channels, so there’s likely some reluctance by other programmers to unbundle as well. Which is the best sports bundle? The great thing about these new packages is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer as to which one is best. If you’re only trying to watch your local NFL team and can’t pick up the broadcast with one of our favorite antennas, for instance, DirecTV MyNews will be your cheapest option. Conversely, antenna users might use ESPN Unlimited’s bundles to supplement what they can get for free over-the-air. Fubo Sports’ lack of NBC could also be fine if you can do without Sunday Night Football, while DirecTV MySports comes closest to meeting all your sports needs (albeit at a higher price). What each of these services provide is a modicum of choice and flexibility in an industry that’s long been bereft of it. As such, they’ve recalibrated how much you’ll need to spend to watch both your local broadcast channels and live sports. Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice. Read...

Peter V`landys gives a cheeky response to the AFL`s grand final entertainment after the NRL landed Teddy Swims. Read...

The NRL has announced Teddy Swims will headline the 2025 grand final entertainment. Read...

American soul and country singer Teddy Swims will perform at the 2025 NRL and NRLW grand finals. Read...

As England prepare to face Serbia on Tuesday, BBC Sport`s Phil McNulty looks at why there is often a lack of entertainment in World Cup qualifiers. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Big touchpad Large, clear 16-inch display with 120Hz refresh rate Lots of connectivity including USB4, Wi-Fi 7 Good CPU performance for the price Cons Keyboard with numpad can feel a bit cramped Modest integrated graphics performance Battery life is good, but some Snapdragon alternatives last longer Our Verdict The Acer Aspire 16 AI delivers solid CPU performance, a big screen, and a long list of features at a low price. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Acer Aspire 16 AI Retailer Price $799.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips are often a solid choice for a budget laptop, as they deliver good-enough performance and solid battery life at a low price. Most systems, though, have smaller displays. The Acer Aspire 16 AI adds an appealing big-screen option that is packed with features including USB4, Windows Hello facial recognition, and a plus-sized touchpad, among other things. Acer Aspire 16 AI: Specs and features The Acer Aspire 16 AI has Qualcomm’s entry-level Snapdragon X chip with eight cores and a maximum multi-core speed of 3GHz. It also ships with 16GB of memory and a 512GB solid-state drive. These are typical specifications for an entry-level Snapdragon X laptop. Model number: A16-11MT-X669 CPU: Snapdragon X1P-26-100 Memory: 16GB LPDDR5X-8448 Graphics/GPU: Qualcomm Adreno NPU: Qualcomm NPU up to 45 TOPs Display: 16-inch 1920×1200 120Hz IPS-LCD Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD Webcam: 1080p 30fps Connectivity: 2x USB-C 4 up to 40Gbps with Power Delivery and DisplayPort, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (one with charging), 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio. MicroSD card reader Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 Biometrics: Facial recognition Battery capacity: 65 watt-hours Dimensions: 14 x 9.85 x 0.63 inches Weight: 3.42 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Home Price: $729.99 MSRP The Acer Aspire 16 currently comes in just one configuration and is listed at an MSRP of $729.99. Some retailers actually list it higher at $799.99. The lack of configuration options makes shopping for the laptop simple—just buy from the retailer with the lowest price you can find. The Acer Aspire 16 AI is a solid choice for shoppers looking to buy an inexpensive Windows laptop with a 16-inch display. Acer Aspire 16 AI: Design and build quality IDG / Matthew Smith Acer’s Aspire is among the more affordable Windows laptops, and while that’s obvious in the laptop’s design, it’s less obvious in the build quality. First up, design. There’s not much to remark on. The Aspire 16 AI is a simple silver-gray plastic slab with a low-key Acer badge. It’s thin at just 0.63 inches in profile (though note that number doesn’t appear to include the rubber feet on the bottom). It’s also light at 3.42 pounds, which isn’t much for a laptop with a 16-inch display. What about build quality? The Aspire 16 AI isn’t luxurious, as the laptop uses plastic for both the interior and exterior. However, the materials offered look and feel fine for a budget machine. It’s rigid, too, as the display lid and lower chassis allow only a hint of flex in use. I also noticed the display hinge can rotate up to 180 degrees, meaning it’s possible to open the laptop such that the screen lies entirely flat on a table. That provides some extra possibilities in your setup if you plan to use the laptop as a second screen with an external keyboard and mouse. Acer Aspire 16 AI: Keyboard, trackpad, mouse IDG / Matthew Smith The Acer Aspire 16 AI squeezes in both a keyboard and numpad. That, of course. means you have a numpad, which even many 16-inch laptops lack. However, it also means the keyboard layout isn’t as spacious as most 16-inch laptops and shifted towards the left (to make room for the numpad). The touchpad also moves left to keep it centered under the spacebar, which makes the left palm rest area tight. Key feel is fine. There’s fair key travel and each key activates with a defined bottoming action, but it’s not as crisp as I would like. This, however, is definitely a nitpick, and I had no problem typing several thousand words on the laptop. The touchpad is large at roughly six inches wide and 3.5 inches deep. While there are some more expensive laptops with bigger touchpads, like the MacBook Pro 16 and Razer Blade 18, this is an above-average size for a laptop in this price bracket, and the extra space is appreciated. Multi-touch gestures felt responsive and more comfortable than on competitors with smaller touchpad surfaces. Acer Aspire 16 AI: Display, audio IDG / Matthew Smith Acer ships the Aspire 16 AI with a 16-inch 1920×1200 IPS-LCD display. That’s standard for a budget laptop, but the Aspire goes the extra mile and delivers a 120Hz refresh rate. The Aspire isn’t a gaming laptop, so that’s of limited use in entertainment, but it does help Windows feel smoother and snappier than on the typical budget machine. The display is bright and has a semi-gloss finish. Reflections are still noticeable in a very bright room, but the display remains usable. Outdoors use is dicey, though. On the other hand, the display’s contrast and color performance are mediocre. It’s not terrible, but with OLED laptops now often available for well under $1,000, IPS-LCD displays are becoming less attractive even in budget machines. Audio performance is decent. The dual-speaker system is downward firing, so audio presentation will vary depending on where the laptop is placed. Still, it provides respectable volume and decent clarity. I wouldn’t recommend the laptop for movies or for listening to your favorite album, but it’s fine if you want to throw on some chill beats while you study or work. Acer Aspire 16 AI: Webcam, microphone, biometrics IDG / Matthew Smith The Acer Aspire 16 AI has a 1080p webcam that includes a physical privacy shutter. The camera’s sharpness and color reproduction are respectable. It’s a similar story for the dual-array microphone, which picked up my voice with decent volume and clarity. The webcam and microphone are average for the category, but they do the job. Windows Hello facial recognition is supported for logging in to the laptop. It’s generally reliable and provides a quick, easy way to log into the laptop. While this feature has come down in price lately, most budget laptops still don’t include it—so it’s great to see it here. Acer Aspire 16 AI: Connectivity IDG / Matthew Smith Connectivity is definitely a strength for the Acer Aspire 16 AI. It has two USB-C 4 ports, both of which support DisplayPort and Power Delivery, as well as two USB-A ports, a microSD card reader, a full-sized HDMI port, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. This is a wide range of connectivity for any Windows laptop sold in 2025, so it’s great to see all these ports included in a laptop that costs just $700. The USB-C 4 ports are a particular advantage as budget laptops sometimes stick to USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 speeds. Acer also delivers on wireless connectivity as the Aspire 16 AI supports Wi-Fi 7, the latest version of the standard. It pairs that with Bluetooth 5.3, which is a step behind the latest 5.4 standard. While many Windows laptops now support Wi-Fi 7, it’s still not included with some budget machines (like the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 and HP OmniBook 5 14), so this is another feature win for the Aspire 16 AI. Acer Aspire 16 AI: Performance The Snapdragon X X1P-26-100 is Qualcomm’s entry-level chip with eight cores and a maximum multi-core speed of 3GHz. It also has a stripped-down version of Qualcomm Adreno. The NPU is the same, however, as it quotes performance at 45 TOPS across all Snapdragon X chips. IDG / Matthew Smith Despite its entry-level Snapdragon X chip, the Acer Aspire 16 AI did well in Cinebench 2024, a heavily multi-threaded CPU test. The laptop did better than several other Qualcomm-powered systems and also beat the Intel-powered Dell 16 Plus. It’s interesting to note, too, that the Snapdragon X doesn’t seem to give up much when compared to the Snapdragon X Plus, which sits a notch above in the product stack. While the latter has a higher maximum clock speed, they have the same core count. Because of that, the two chips trade blows depending on the laptop. IDG / Matthew Smith As mentioned, all Snapdragon X chips have Qualcomm Adreno graphics, but they’re not all created equal. The best Snapdragon X Elite chip quotes IGP performance up to 4.6 TFLOPS, but the version in the Acer Aspire 16 AI only quotes performance up to 1.7 TFLOPS. That leads to barebones performance in graphics tests. With that said—and as the graph shows—this isn’t unexpected for a budget laptop. Most Intel and AMD chips in this price bracket also lack the best versions of each company’s integrated graphics and suffer similarly modest performance. This is also an area where spending a little bit more can snag you a huge gain. The Dell 16 Plus, for example, can be purchased for as little as $750 when on sale. The Dell is a bit heavier and doesn’t last quite as long on a charge, but it’s a superior choice if you need passable 3D graphics performance. Acer Aspire 16 AI: Battery life and portability The Acer Aspire 16 AI ships with a 65 watt-hour battery. It powered the laptop to roughly 15 hours and 30 minutes of battery life in our standard battery test, which loops a 4K trailer of the short film Tears of Steel with the laptop’s display brightness set to roughly 200 nits. IDG / Matthew Smith This is a good result, or a mediocre result, depending on your perspective. Many laptops can achieve similar battery life, and the Snapdragon laptops with the longest battery life leave the Aspire 16 AI in the dust. On the other hand, the Aspire 16 AI is a large laptop, and most large Windows laptops lag a bit in battery life. This is often because they pair the larger display with better performance, but the Aspire 16 AI’s miserly Snapdragon chip isn’t too demanding. Personally, I think 15 hours is a good result for a laptop of this size, and it’s likely to be more than enough for most people who use it. Just be aware that you can have even better battery life if you opt for a smaller, optimized alternative like the HP OmniBook 5 14. The Acer Aspire 16 AI ships with a USB-C charger that provides 65 watts of power. It’s towards the larger side for a 65-watt adapter. Aspire 16 AI owners may want to look into a 65-watt GaN charger to improve portability. The laptop doesn’t have a fast charging mode. Acer Aspire 16 AI: Conclusion The Acer Aspire 16 AI is a solid choice for shoppers looking to buy an inexpensive Windows laptop with a 16-inch display. While it lacks a headline feature that would make it stand out, it has an edge in several areas. It has USB4, Wi-Fi 7, a display with a 120Hz refresh rate, Windows Hello facial recognition, and a large touchpad. Many budget laptops can check off a few of these boxes, but the Aspire 16 AI checks them all. Read...

Hisense secured nine IFA Innovation Awards 2025 across home entertainment, appliances, and design, while extending its FIFA World Cup sponsorship to 2026. Read...

No professional sport has been more savvy and enthusiastic about offering new ways to present football games to fans. There are more options than ever for watching–and streaming–NFL games in 2025. Our in-depth guide will show you all the ways you can watch every game of the season without needing to pay for an expensive cable or satellite TV subscription. Watch football with an over-the-air antenna Unlike the NBA, NHL, or MLB, the NFL plays a simple 17-game schedule, with each team playing one game a week. That lends itself to predictable TV programming. The league splits the Sunday afternoon telecasts by conference: generally, AFC games air on CBS, and Fox televises the NFC games. NBC hosts the popular Sunday Night Football broadcast. Those games generally kick off each week at 8:20 p.m. ET. ABC broadcasts many Monday Night Football at 8:00 p.m. ET, but you’ll need access to ESPN to see every Monday-night game. So, if you have an over-the-air TV antenna and reasonable proximity to a broadcast tower, you should be able to watch most of the NFL action for free. We can help you find the right antenna for your needs. When I want to know which game is on which channel, I consult either 506Sports.com or Sports Media Watch. I suggest you bookmark one or the other for easy access. Amazon Prime Video will stream all Thursday Night Football games for the 2023 NFL season. Streaming services offering NFL games Even if you don’t have a cable subscription or a TV antenna, you still have plenty of options for catching all the pro pigskin action. Streaming options continue to expand each season, and you need only a smart TV or a media streamer and a subscription to access them. These are our top picks in streaming devices If you don’t already have one. Verizon is once again offering a free season of NFL Sunday Ticket to new and existing subscribers who are willing to jump through some hoops, but Sling TV offers the least-expensive means of watching NFL games if you can’t use an antenna. Its new short-term “passes” deliver access to its Orange channel bundle, which includes ESPN. A $4.99 Day Pass provides 24 hours of access, a $9.99 Weekend Pass is good Friday through Sunday, and $14.99 Week Pass covers you for seven consecutive days. Unfortunately, ESPN owner Disney has filed a lawsuit to stop Sling from including ESPN in these passes. Stay tuned. Sling also offers a more complete TV offering with its Orange and Blue packages, which include local broadcast channels (ABC, Fox, and NBC, but not CBS) in some markets. Subscribe to both for $60.99 per month, and you’ll also get ESPN and the NFL Network, while its Sports Extra add-on ($11 a month) includes NFL RedZone. I’ll cover the streaming services that compete with Sling in a moment. NBC-owned Peacock streams Sunday Night Football on its Premium ($10.99/mo) or Premium Plus ($16.99/mo) service tiers if you can’t use an antenna to receive those broadcasts. Prime Video is the home of Thursday Night Football (TNF). Amazon will stream 15 games, including the Black Friday game (Eagles vs. the Bears, in Chicago, November 28) and the Christmas night game (Broncos vs. the Chiefs, in Kansas City, December 25). You’ll need to be an Amazon Prime subscriber to watch those matches. While only the hardest of hardcore football fans will sign up solely for NFL games, membership does offer lots of other benefits, starting with free expedited shipping on Amazon purchases; Amazon music, movies, and TV shows; video games; and a Grubhub+ subscription. Subscriptions cost $14.99 per month or $139 per year. Netflix, now in the second year of its three-year Christmas deal, will exclusively stream two games on December 25: The Dallas Cowboys at the Washington Commanders at 1:00 p.m. ET, and the Detroit Lions at the Minnesota Vikings at 4:30 p.m. ET. Netflix subscriptions range from $7.99 per month for the ad-supported tier to $24.99 per month for 4K resolution and spatial audio. Together with the evening game on Prime Video, this creates a Christmas tripleheader. DirectTVStream offers CBS, NBC, Fox, and ESPN in its $84.99-per-month Entertainment package. New subscriptions come with a $35 discount for a month, before reverting to whatever the current monthly price is. Sling TV’s Day, Weekend, and Week Passes give you access to its Orange channel bundle, which includes ESPN.Sling Fubo will give you CBS, FOX, and NBC for all Sunday games, as well as ESPN for Monday Night Football and the NFL Network as part of its Pro package, which costs $84.99 per month. Currently, it’s offering $30 off the first month. For an additional $10.99 per month, you can also get NFL RedZone via the service’s Sports Plus add-on. Hosted by Scott Hanson and existing only for about a seven-hour window each Sunday, RedZone airs nothing but the day’s highlights (mostly touchdowns, as the name suggests) at a frenetic pace that perfectly evokes the adrenaline rush of a game-winning drive. Here’s an easy guide to signing up for NFL RedZone. Both Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV include ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, and NFL Network in their subscriptions for $82.99 per month each. Currently, New YouTube TV customers can get the first three months for $49.99 before the rate reverts to the regular price. YouTube TV also offers NFL RedZone as part of its Sports Plus add-on for an additional $10.99 a month. YouTube also offers NFL Sunday Ticket, which lets you stream every out-of-market NFL game on Sundays. Returning NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers can add it to their YouTube TV subscription for an additional $47.25 per month for the eight months of the regular season ($378 in total). New subscribers who sign up before September 30, however, will pay $34.50 per month for those eight months ($276 in total). If you don’t want to pay for YouTube TV, returning NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers can sign up via YouTube PrimeTime Channels for $60 per month ($480 for the season). Here again, new subscribers get a break, paying $34.50 per month ($276 for the season). Just be aware that neither of these options can be cancelled and there are no refunds. Netflix, which created the popular Quarterback documentary, has deepened its ties with the NFL through a three-year deal to host the league’s Christmas package. This year, that includes the Cowboys at Commanders at 1 p.m. ET and the Lions at Vikings at 4:30 p.m. ET. Netflix offers three paid plans: Standard with ads ($7.99 a month), Standard ($17.99 a month), and Premium ($24.99 a month), with perks such as additional device support, the ability to add members, and spatial audio tacked on as you move up the tiers. Paramount+ streams CBS’s NFL telecasts to subscribers of its $7.99-per-month Essential plan. We have another story that provides even more details about watching NFL games on Paramount+. Peacock will exclusively carry a Week 17 primetime matchup on December 27, 2025, as part of its “Peacock Holiday Exclusive.” It will also stream all NBC Sunday Night Football games, including the playoffs, and the Football Night in America studio show. A Peacock Premium plan costs $10.99 a month; a Premium Plus Plan, $16.99 per month, removes ads and enables you to download and watch select titles offline. What’s included with an NFL+ subscription? NFL+ is the NFL’s own streaming service, which replaced its popular subscription package, NFL Game Pass. A $6.99-per-month ($49.99 per season) NFL+ subscription allows you to watch local and primetime games live on your mobile devices. It also includes access to live out-of-market preseason games, live game audio, and the NFL Network. If you level up to an NFL+ Premium plan, which costs $14.99 per month ($99.99 per season), you’ll get everything in the standard NFL+ plan; plus, NFL Red Zone and the ability to replay every regular-season game after its conclusion in either full or condensed versions. The NFL+ Premium plan also gives you access to the NFL Pro platform. Targeting the league’s most rabid fans, this offering allows subscribers to dive into the games’ minutiae via the ability to search through the All-22 coaches film, which lets you watch games from different angles to analyze plays in detail. You also gain access to player and performance metrics via NFL Next Gen Stats, which uses sensors and RFID tags to collect data on everything from ball movement to player speed, acceleration, and location. It’s worth noting that you don’t need to purchase a separate subscription to get on-the-go access to live games, as that’s offered with many of the services listed above. NFL+ replaces the league’s NFL Game Pass subscription streaming service. With it, you can stream out-of-market pre-season games live on any device. You can watch live regular-season games on your smartphone or tablet.Michael Brown/Foundry What’s next for NFL streaming? Super Bowl LIX, drew more than 123 million viewers across all platforms, once again ranking as the most-watched broadcast in U.S. television history. That record audience proves fans are willing to follow the league wherever it goes. The bigger question is how far the NFL will push exclusive streaming in future seasons. With multiple platforms now claiming pieces of the schedule, fans already face juggling subscriptions—and rising costs—if they want to see every game. If the league continues down this path, it could reshape how we experience live sports in the 21st century as profoundly as the shift to broadcast television did in the 20th. Read...

Did you know that, between 1976 and 1978, Microsoft developed its own version of the BASIC programming language? It was initially called Altair BASIC before becoming Microsoft BASIC, and it was designed for the 6502 (a microprocessor used in the Apple II, Atari 2600, VIC-20, Commodore 64, and Nintendo Entertainment System). As of yesterday, Microsoft has released the version 1.1 source code of “Microsoft BASIC for 6502 Microprocessor” on GitHub, which means you can freely view the assembly code and even download it if you want to. Why did Microsoft publish this code? Because it has historical significance and was one of the pillars of modern software: This source code represents the foundation upon which the modern software industry was built. The techniques, patterns, and business models pioneered in this BASIC interpreter directly influenced: The development of MS-DOS and subsequent Microsoft operating systems The standardization of programming language implementations The establishment of software licensing as a business model The democratization of computer programming Microsoft’s version of BASIC was one of the first programming languages that the general public came into contact with, making it an important milestone in computer history. While Microsoft BASIC is no longer used in earnest, its spirit lives on with Visual Basic .NET. Read...

Illegal sports TV streams are popular all around the world—so much so that they’re among the most popular IPTV offerings alongside classic streaming content from Netflix, Prime Video, etc. Unsurprisingly, these streams are also a huge thorn in the sides of authorities. But yesterday, sports piracy took a huge blow after Egyptian police successfully took down Streameast, the largest known provider of illegal sports streaming content. According to the US-based Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), Streameast (and its 80+ related domains) were recently taken offline. With around 1.6 billion visitors per year and content offerings from around the globe—including Champions League matches to Formula 1 races to MMA fights to other sports like the NFL, NBA, and NHL—Streameast was the most iconic provider of pirated sports streams. The operators of Streameast were reportedly tracked down in a large-scale operation on August 24th. Two men from Cairo, who were arrested by police, were apparently responsible for running the sites and have been operating for around 15 years. They also apparently invested a large part of their income in bogus companies and property. It isn’t yet known whether revenue from the streaming portals or material assets were confiscated in the process. All existing Streameast domains will now be redirected to an ACE information page that highlights 140+ legal providers of streaming content and live broadcasts. More action against illegal providers Authorities around the world are increasingly taking action against providers of illegal streaming services, and more and more operators have been arrested in recent years. As a rule, they operate professionally and disguise their operations by distributing offers to potential users via numerous intermediaries and splitting them across several domains. However, users of such sites should be careful because piracy sites can be attack vectors for viruses and other malware. In some jurisdictions, use of illegal streams can result in steep fines and claims for damages. Even if it’s unlikely that the authorities will be able to trace every single user, the providers and their intermediaries usually keep logs of user activity and their associated payment methods, which can then be used to prosecute users after a service takedown. Read...