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Many cable or satellite TV subscribers are looking to live TV streaming as a way to cut their monthly bills in 2024.
And it’s a great idea! Services such as YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV and Sling TV offer many of the channels that you watch on cable for a fraction of the price.
But how do you choose which live TV streaming service is best for you?
Team Clark believes there are three key factors to consider: price, channels and features.
In this article, I’ll help you reach a smart decision by analyzing the best live TV streaming services on the market with those three factors in mind. Read our full methodology here.
Other live TV streaming options to consider that are not included in this roundup: Vidgo TV and Frndly TV.
This article was updated in April 2024 and I review it every three months. Detailed notes on all updates can be found here.
DIRECTV STREAM – Choice Package | Fubo – Pro | Hulu + Live TV | Philo | Sling Orange + Blue | YouTube TV | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Price | $108.99 | $79.99 | $76.99 | $25.00 | $55.00 | $72.99 |
Free Trial | 5 Days | 7 Days | None | 7 Days | None | Up to 21 Days |
Local Channels Included | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Simultaneous Streams | 20 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
User Profiles Allowed | 1 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 6 |
Cloud DVR Hours | Unlimited | 1000 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 50 | Unlimited |
Number of Channels | 131 | 141 | 105 | 110 | 48 | 131 |
As you’re making your decision on which live TV streaming service to try, you may want to review the information available on our comparison chart with the three factors listed below in mind.
For many cord-cutters, price is going to be the most important factor.
If you’re on a budget, live TV streaming services can offer you a reprieve from the stacks of fees that come with cable or satellite TV.
Most of the services reviewed here offer flat-rate subscriptions, so you’ll know what your bill is going to be each month. And they don’t require contracts, so you can easily switch or cancel services with no penalty.
Getting a great deal on price is nice, but what is it really worth if you don’t have access to the channels you enjoy most?
Many people who want to cut the cord don’t because they’re afraid of losing out on their favorite TV channels included in their cable or satellite package.
We’re here to help ease those fears. Use our comprehensive channel guide to make sure the service you’re signing up for has the channels you need.
Features may come in third place when it comes to concerns for potential cord-cutters, but you’d be wise not to ignore these as part of your decision process.
How much storage your cloud DVR offers and how many concurrent streams you can have are details that some cable and satellite users may take for granted.
But they can potentially make or break the streaming experience for your household. So pay close attention to the details on features provided on the comparison chart.
Monthly Price: $72.99 Channels: 131 (Full list) Free Trial: Up to 21 Days (Sign up) Cloud DVR Hours: Unlimited Simultaneous Streams: 3 Local Channels: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC Regional Sports: NBC Sports channels only Supported Streaming Devices: Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Apple TV and select smart TVs (Full list) |
The $73 monthly price point seems high, but that’s an all-inclusive rate for all features and non-premium channels. There’s no sorting between packages to find the best mix of what you want. By and large, it’s all here.
Team Clark thinks YouTube TV offers the best overall experience in live TV streaming thanks to its combination of mainstream channel availability, DVR functionality and overall ease of access and use.
Money expert Clark Howard is a YouTube TV subscriber.
“What interests me about YouTube TV is the unlimited DVR and the versatility with how many people can be watching at the same time and how many individual accounts you can have,” Clark says.
Later in the article, we’ll have more from Clark on how he landed on YouTube TV as his household’s live TV streaming choice.
Monthly Price: $76.99 Channels: 105 (Full list) Free Trial: None (Sign up) Cloud DVR Hours: Unlimited Simultaneous Streams: 2 Local Channels: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC Regional Sports: NBC Sports channels only Supported Streaming Devices: Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Apple TV and select smart TVs (Full list) |
Hulu + Live TV carries a slightly higher monthly price tag than YouTube TV and there are some slight differences between the services.
While YouTube TV has great DVR capacity, Hulu + Live TV offers an extensive on-demand library to provide its value. That on-demand library is even deeper now that Disney+ and ESPN+ are included.
“What makes Hulu + Live TV interesting to me is that it’s a combo of Hulu on-demand programming and Hulu Live, which is basically like traditional pay TV,” Clark says.
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There are a few different subscription options for Sling, and they’re all cheaper than YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV.
If you don’t need a ton of channels, you may find Sling to be a top-value option for your household — especially if either Orange or Blue alone fits your needs.
“Sling TV offers a comparative advantage in pricing over YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV,” Clark says, “particularly if you’re good with just the Orange or the Blue package. It would save you quite a bit of money over the course of a year.”
Monthly Price: $79.99 Channels: 141 (Full list) Free Trial: 7 Days (Sign up) Cloud DVR Hours: 1000 Simultaneous Streams: 10 Local Channels: ABC, FOX and NBC in most markets. Limited CBS availability. Regional Sports: Bally Sports, AT&T SportsNet and NBC Sports channels Supported Streaming Devices: Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Apple TV and select smart TVs (Full list) |
If you have a couple of sports nuts in your house, you may be able to satisfy them (and everyone else) with the large channel list offered in Fubo’s basic package.
But at $75 per month (plus additional RSN fees), Fubo is more expensive than YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV. So you’ll want to take a close look at what each offers before making a final choice. You may find that the DVR storage on YouTube TV or the inclusion of on-demand content with Hulu + Live TV is more desirable.
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If your household has no need for sports channels and you’re comfortable getting your local news elsewhere, you could save a good amount of money on your live TV streaming by choosing Philo.
T-Mobile customers, in particular, are in a position to gain access to many of the top cable TV channels for a small monthly investment without a long-term obligation.
“For people who don’t care anything about sports, I love Philo as a live TV streaming option,” Clark says.
Monthly Price: $108.99 Channels: 131 (Full list) Free Trial: 5 Days (Sign up) Cloud DVR Hours: Unlimited Simultaneous Streams: 20 Local Channels: ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC included Regional Sports: Bally Sports, AT&T SportsNet and NBC Sports channels Supported Streaming Devices: Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Apple TV and select smart TVs (Full list) |
For most people, the answer is simply, “No.” DIRECTV STREAM offers some premium packages that will give you tons of content, but you’ll pay dearly for it. And the prices are even higher for most packages with a price hike that was implemented in January 2023.
You’re likely to find a much cheaper solution that carries most of the channels you like elsewhere on this list.
But if you want access to your regional sports networks AND to cut the cord, this is your only option available at the moment.
If you’ve reached this part of the article and are wondering why I left out services like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, now is a good time to talk about them.
These types of streaming services are often referred to as video-on-demand (VOD) streaming services.
The major difference between live TV streaming and video-on-demand streaming is the type of content available.
The live TV streaming services in this article carry what many would consider traditional cable or satellite TV networks as their primary sources of content.
A VOD streaming service has a library of content that is available at all times to paying subscribers. So you can binge seasons of a show or watch movies whenever you please.
The VOD services carry much cheaper monthly subscription prices. For example, Disney+ is available for just $7.99 per month.
Team Clark has a separate review for the best video-on-demand streaming services.
Clark says access to modern live TV streaming services is both a blessing and a struggle.
After years of television conglomerates telling us exactly what we’d watch and how much we’d pay, streaming puts the power in the consumer’s hands.
“It used to be very simple: ‘This is what you get and this is what you pay,'” Clark says. “Streaming offers a lot more choice but with a lot more confusion. So as a consumer, you have to weigh the plusses and minuses of each service because they’re NOT one size fits all.”
Clark suggests that you take inventory of your content consumption habits to evaluate what type of content is most important to you.
Once you have a good idea of what you really want from a content perspective, he wants you to make the choice that is most financially responsible.
And with changes in pricing and channel availability occurring often in this industry, you’ll also need to check your subscription(s) periodically to make sure you’re getting what you pay for and paying for what you actually want.
“The beauty of this is that you can build a bundle that fits your life,” Clark says.
“The ugly of it is that the industry keeps changing. And if you’re not careful, you’ll blow a hole in your wallet.”
Clark Howard subscribes to YouTube TV, but it’s not necessarily because it’s his favorite streaming service.
Like most of us with multiple TV consumers in the household, Clark is looking for harmony in his streaming TV choice. And his family found it with YouTube TV thanks to the channel selection and DVR functionality.
“We’re using YouTube TV, but it’s under great protest from me because of the monthly price,” Clark says.
Clark says, if the decision were his alone, he would take advantage of the cost savings that a Sling TV package could offer.
For the purposes of this review, Team Clark determined that the top three things customers care about when it comes to live TV streaming are price, channel selection and features.
Members of our staff tried out each of these popular live TV streaming services to get a feel for their functionality. We have individual reviews of those services available on the website.
We used analysis of the following characteristics when determining the “best” options for each category:
Each cord-cutting household is a little bit different when it comes to standards for satisfaction from a live TV streaming service.
But ultimately, the conclusions are usually drawn from some formula weighing price, channel availability and features.
So in order to pick the right live TV streaming service, you’ll probably want to set personal parameters for each factor and then use the information we’ve provided here to make your choice.
Since most of these services offer some form of free trial and don’t require long-term commitments, you may be best served by “auditioning” a couple of them before committing to one for the long haul.
Team Clark likes YouTube TV as a general choice for most streamers, but a budget-conscious streamer may get better mileage out of either Sling TV or Philo.
What’s your favorite live TV streaming service? Share your opinion in our Clark.com Community!
This post was last modified on April 29, 2024 7:06 pm
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