Charter announced today that they will be launching a new streaming service called Spectrum TV Essentials for just $15 a month. The OTT service will include 60+ live lifestyle, entertainment and news channels, as well as on demand content. The service is boosted by programming partnerships with Viacom, Discovery, A&E, AMC, and Hallmark and will include their local Spectrum News stations in certain markets. A full channel line-up is below.
For the most part, the bundle of channels are identical to the Philo, except it includes The Weather Channel, Bloomberg, and some of those in the Philo Plus tier ($20) like American Heroes, Cooking Channel, and Destination America.
The biggest difference to Philo and AT&T WatchTV is that Spectrum TV Essentials is available exclusively or Spectrum Internet customers. The streaming video service will be available by the end of March.
Tom Rutledge, Charter Chairman & CEO:
“Spectrum TV Essentials is an OTT offering designed to provide Spectrum Internet-only customers a new low-price, high-value video option, As we began to assemble the rights for this new video service, we received great enthusiasm and encouragement from these key programming partners, who share our view and embrace creating an innovative video offering we believe will resonate with our internet customers.”
Spectrum TV Essentials will be available through the Spectrum TV App on Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Xbox, Samsung Smart TVs, iOS, Android, and Web. It is expected that Charter will add a Cloud DVR service, likely for an additional fee, to the Spectrum TV App.
Spectrum TV Essentials vs. Philo vs. AT&T WatchTV
All three services have 25 of the same channels in their package including A&E, AMC, Comedy Central, Discovery, Food Network, HGTV, and History.
- Spectrum is missing Turner Channels like TBS, TNT, CNN, and HLN.
- Philo is missing Turner Channels like TBS, TNT, CNN, and HLN.
- AT&T WatchTV is missing channels like MTV, Nickelodeon, and Travel Channel.