In 2023, you don’t need to have a cable or satellite subscription to watch live TV. You can watch streaming TV on most of your devices — all you need is an internet connection. A live TV streaming service will allow you to watch your favorite channels like major networks, live local channels, and live sports on ESPN and Fox Sports.
Most services offer a Free Trial, so you can test them out to see which you prefer. Another benefit is that a live TV streaming service is paid month-to-month, with no penalty for cancellation. You also don’t need a cable box. Most smart TVs are able to access these services, though some people prefer the interface of a small streaming device like a Roku, Fire Stick, or Apple TV.
These live TV streaming services are very customizable, so you can choose how much you pay. Do you need a lot of channels or just a few? Do you need live sports? What kind of DVR do you need? Those questions will narrow down your decision and help you to save money.
Which is the Best Streaming TV Service to Watch Live TV?
After testing the six live TV streaming services for thousands of hours, we found that each service is great for different reasons.
Most of the streaming TV services interfaces are well designed, they nearly all offer a DVR and shows on demand, and have minimal buffering with a good internet connection.
Depending on if you want locals (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC), sports, entertainment, or news — we think there is a great pick for you. If you want to find the best streaming TV service based on the channel lineups you prefer, try our Channel Finder.
You can try DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Philo, and YouTube TV each with up to a 7 day free trial depending on the service. Hulu Live TV no longer offers a free trial, but now includes The Disney Bundle as part of your subscription. Sling TV also no longer offers a free trial, but frequently offers a discounted first month.
Our Service Matchmaker will make sure you’re getting the right service with all the channels you need.
The Philo ($25) base plan is the cheapest option to get a wide variety of high quality entertainment content. While it doesn’t come with locals or sports channels, you will get access to A&E, AMC, BET, Comedy Central, Discovery, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, and MTV and other channels at a fraction of the cost.
Hulu Live TV ($69.99) is the cheapest bundle that includes locals, regional sports, national sports (ESPN, FS1) and top cable channels from A+E, Discovery (Discovery, Food Network, HGTV), Disney (Disney Channel, FX, & Freeform), NBC (Bravo, E!, MSNBC), Warner Media (TNT, TBS, CNN, Adult Swim), and Fox (Fox News). It also includes The Disney Bundle (Disney+ & ESPN+) at no extra charge.
fuboTV ($85.98) has 25 of the Top 35 Cable Channels. You won’t have access to A&E Networks (A+E, History, & Lifetime), AMC Networks (AMC, BBC America, WE tv), Turner-owned channels (TNT, TBS, CNN, etc.). They have some hard-to-get Regional Sports Networks like MSG in New York, NESN in Boston, Altitude in Denver, AT&T Sportsnet Southwest in Houston, and ROOT Sports Northwest in Seattle. fuboTV will be adding Bally Sports RSNs in 2023.
Sling TV’s is a great option for budget streamers, as it includes up to 24 top cable channels Top Cable Channels for just ($40+) a month. This is a great option for those who want a good sampling of sports, news, and entertainment content for a low price.
YouTube TV ($72.99) offer 32 Top Cable Channels. At $72.99, it is fairly comprehensive for the price, but they don’t carry A&E, History, Lifetime, or RSNs in most markets.
DIRECTV STREAM is in most cases more expensive than the others ($74.99+), but includes 34 of the Top 35 Cable Channels. The biggest reason to subscribe is that they have many hard-to-get Regional Sports Networks (Bally Sports RSNs, AT&T SportsNet, Altitude, MASN, ROOT Sports) that aren’t available on other services as part of their Choice Plan ($99.99)
If you want to see if a specific TV Show or movie is available on a streaming service, you can use our TV Show Finder or Movie Finder tools.
Almost every service lets you stream content to at least 2 devices at the same time. “Sling Orange” is the one exception; it only lets you stream on 1 device.
Every service offers a cloud DVR, which lets you record streaming content to watch at a later time.
Each has slightly different restrictions on what can be recorded and when the recording will start. For instance, some will let you record from the beginning of the episode even when you tune in after it starts. Others will let you watch while the episode is still recording.
With all services, you can fast-forward through shows that you recorded to the DVR (unlike most on-demand content) with some exceptions.
Recording Capacity
• DTV STREAM
Unlimited
9 months
• Fubo
1000 hours
• Hulu
Unlimited
9 months
• Philo
Unlimited
12 months
• Sling
50 hours
• YouTube
Unlimited
9 months
Most services now include an Unlimited DVR with the service.
Fubo includes 1,000 hours of storage as part of their new base plan. Sling TV now includes 50 hours of recording space, but offers a $5/month upgrade to 200 hours of storage.
While both of these services have storage limits, the DVR content never expires, so you can keep it on the service as long as you have available space.
Oddly, Fubo and Sling TV are the only services that offer a way to record a single episode. Every other service makes you create a “series” recording, in which every episode of a show will be recorded.
Simultaneous Viewing
All of the services allow you to have at least 2 simultaneous viewers, with the exception of the Sling TV’s “Orange” $40+ plan (it only allows a single stream).
YouTube TV allows 3 simultaneous streams, with YouTube TV offering “Family Profiles” so up to six users can have a personal account.
Some offer the ability to add an additional viewer to your plan.
Hulu Live TV includes 2 viewers, but offers a $10/month “Unlimited Screens” upgrade, which allows unlimited devices to stream on your home network or 3 devices outside your home.
While subscribers to DIRECTV STREAM includes 3 viewers while traveling (Unlimited on your home network), those on legacy DIRECTV NOW plans can add a third simultaneous for $5/month.
Fubo includes 3 viewers, but will allow you 10 simultaneous viewers on your home network as part of their base plan.
Both Hulu + Live TV and fuboTV, won’t allow you to stream to multiple TV devices outside your home network at the same time. You can however use a TV device and a mobile device (which can be Cast or AirPlay to the TV).
Concurrent Devices
More is better.
DTV STREAM
20 streams
Fubo
3 streams
Philo
3 streams
Sling “Blue”
3 streams
YouTube
3 streams
Hulu
2 streams
Sling “Orange”
1 stream
On Demand
All of the services offer video on demand (VOD), but require you to watch commercials (usually 5 minutes per half hour) during playback.
Hulu Live TV, Fubo, and YouTube TV make it the easiest to search for and watch on demand content. They have great show detail pages, which bundle the live, upcoming, and on demand episodes in one place.
Sling TV has improved their on demand experience, but sometimes their guide data will be inaccurate for on demand content. There are sometimes issues playing on demand content from DIRECTV STREAM. Videos will sometimes fail to start or spontaneously freeze during playback.
DIRECTV STREAM and Fubo also offer a “catch-up” feature, giving access to show episodes that aired within the last 3 days—that may not normally be available on-demand.
TV Everywhere
Similar to traditional cable and satellite subscriptions, these cord cutting services provide “TV Everywhere” logins to certain channels’ apps (e.g.: AMC, CNBC, FX, WatchESPN, etc.).
fuboTV and DIRECTV STREAM connect to the most channel apps, with access for up to 51 and 37 channel apps, respectively. Other services offer access to roughly 30 channels.
For example, Hulu Live TV subscribers get access to The Disney Bundle (Disney+ and ESPN+), as well as the entire Hulu streaming library, including full seasons of many TV shows, movies, and its original shows like “The Handmaid’s Tale”. For an additional $6/month, you can watch their streaming library without commercials.
Xbox Hulu is the only service that supports Xbox 360. Sling TV supports Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and all Xbox One models.
Nintendo Switch
If you have a Nintendo Switch, you should consider Hulu Live TV because it’s the only service that works on that device.
Smartphones & Tablets
You will be able to live stream from your mobile device on iOS and Android using the streaming service’s app. Generally, you will need at least iOS 9+ or Android 4.4+, but check your specific service.
Web Browsers
You can stream via web using Chrome with every service. Some offer streaming in Safari and Firefox.
Other Live Streaming Services
While there are strictly on-demand services like Netflix and HBO Max, there are other services offering live TV viewing beyond the major providers.
Paramount Plus is a streaming service that offers live NFL games, along with original shows like “Star Trek: Discovery,” “1883,” and “The Good Fight.” The service’s “premium” plan offers live CBS viewing.
Bally Sports+ is a sports streaming service that gives in-market access to Bally Sports RSNs. It is a good option for local sports if your team plays on a Bally Sports channel and you don’t get it with your live TV streaming service.
ESPN+ is a live sports streaming service that offers thousands of live events from UFC Fight Nights and PPV events, NHL, MLS, FA Cup, MLB, Grand Slam tennis, PGA TOUR LIVE, LaLiga, Top Rank Boxing, and more. Plus, a variety of college sports, including football, basketball, baseball, and lacrosse, from 20+ conferences.
One of everyone’s favorite college basketball apps for the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament is NCAA March Madness Live. It lets you track your brackets, follow stats, scores, highlights, and stream all 67 March Madness games.
XFINITY Instant TV is a live TV streaming service for Xfinity Internet Subscribers. It allows you to add channel packages that can be watched from the Xfinity App, even if you don’t have cable.
Apple TV+ is a subscription streaming service that includes high-quality originals shows and movies. While the library is more limited than some competitors, Apple TV+ plans to add additional content every single month. You’ll also see some live MLB games.
Peacock is a subscription streaming service that gives access to on-demand content from NBC, Bravo, E!, but with additional original shows, movies, and a library of classic shows like “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” and “Law & Order.” Peacock is the exclusive home of English Premier League soccer and many WWE events like WrestleMania.
PlayStation Vue
PlayStation Vue was a live TV streaming service that offered local TV, sports, news, and entertainment content. While it was previously our top pick for sports fans, Sony shut down the service in January 2020. You can learn more about PlayStation Vue here.
Free Live TV Streaming Services
In addition to the premium services that include major networks and cable channels, there are many free live TV streaming services. These services are called “FAST” — Free Ad-Supported Television, and they are a nice way to supplement any paid services you may have.
This service from Paramount Global provides more than 250 channels of live TV and thousands of on demand movies and TV shows. You’ll find channels dedicated to reruns of specific shows, like “Star Trek,” “Survivor,” or “Baywatch,” alongside live CBS News, Bloomberg Television, and Sky News.
You’ll find more than 200 live ad-supported channels on Tubi, alongside an impressive 45,000+ movies and television shows available on demand. Tubi’s ad breaks are less frequent and less repetitive than some other FAST services.
Although Peacock offers premium paid content, it also offers several free channels, including some local NBC affiliate news, old “Saturday Night Live” clips, “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” and WWE events.
Check out 250+ channels and 50,000 free on-demand titles with Plex. The service also allows you to watch and share media from your computer with friends or family. It also allows you to create a unified watchlist that launches other streaming services as needed.
