If you’ve cut the cord and are looking for a cheap way to stay informed on current events, you may have a new option worth considering.
Level News is a new live TV streaming subscription service that launched in November 2022. It focuses solely on channels that provide news and current events coverage, such as CSPAN.
The mission? The founder says: “Providing affordable access to high-quality, balanced perspectives.”
Is it worth signing up for? That probably depends on a few factors in your streaming strategy that I’ll discuss in this article. Let’s look a little closer at what Level News has to offer.
Level News: What You Need To Know
Let’s walk through the basics of this new streaming service so you can make a decision on whether it’s worth a try.
Pricing
Level News costs $5.99 per month. This includes access to 10 news channels.
There is a seven-day free trial available to new customers. There are no annual prices or discounts available at this time.
This price point is much lower than your standard live TV streaming service. It actually is much closer to what you might pay for a popular video streaming service like Disney+ or Apple TV+.
The price is slightly cheaper than Frndly TV‘s lowest subscription level. If you’re not familiar with Frndly TV, it takes an almost opposite approach to livestreaming by skipping on the news and sports channels to provide 40 channels of movies and entertainment.
Because of this, it could be an intriguing option for some value streamers to pair Level News and Frndly TV to create a “budget bundle” of live TV.
Channels
At launch, Level News has only 10 channels:
- C-SPAN
- C-SPAN2
- C-SPAN3
- NewsNation
- Bloomberg TV
- Bloomberg Quicktake
- Law & Crime
- NHK World Japan
- France 24
- Euronews
The initial news release for this product indicated that more news channels will be added soon.
You’ll notice that many of the well-known news and opinion channels, such as CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, are not included with this subscription. That is by design.
Level News touts that its news channels are “credible, not-easily-available, and not politically aligned.”
Skipping on those big brands likely also cuts costs pretty significantly. That should make keeping this service cheap for consumers more viable in the long term.
Device Compatibility
Level News has both a mobile and a TV app available for download.
You can get the mobile app in either Apple’s App Store or the Google Play Store for Android devices.
The TV app is available for Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Roku devices.
You also can watch the content on your laptop or other device via web browser access to the Level News website.
Final Thoughts: Should You Sign Up for Level News?
(Note: Team Clark has not yet tested Level News.)
If you’re looking for a cheap way to get some quality news content, Level News may be worth your consideration. But you should probably examine other options before dropping money on this new service.
Take a few minutes to do the following.
First, assess what you’re already paying for. Do you have a cable subscription or a live TV streaming subscription that provides some of these channels?
Next, I’d look at some of the free streaming TV options available. No-cost services such as Pluto TV and Tubi TV offer a variety of news channels, including CBS News and NBC News Now. You also may find that there are name-brand news streams emerging on free platforms like YouTube.
Finally, you need to remember that this service is not a solution for local news channels. The good news is that most people can access local news broadcasts for free with an antenna.
If you find that neither your paid services nor the free ones available are providing you the quality of news coverage you crave, then you may consider moving forward with a Level News free trial try to see if you like it.
Do you plan on giving Level News a try? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this new streaming service in the Clark.com community.
