The Best Live TV Streaming Services for Cord Cutters in 2020
Updated on
Live TV Streaming Services Comparison
All the cool kids are getting rid of their cable and satellite subscriptions and replacing them with an online live TV streaming service.
We did the most comprehensive review of live streaming services to find the best live TV streaming subscription. If you’ve decided to cut the cord and stream TV online, this review is for you.
While some people find that Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video are good enough, sometimes you just can’t give up watching major networks, live locals, or live sports on ESPN and Fox Sports. The good news is that you can now watch streaming TV, so you won’t have to miss your favorite live shows or movies.
We compare live streaming services and pick the best service for you. Learn how to stream live TV including your favorite shows and sports online without a cable subscription.
We’ll give our top picks and show how to get up to a 7-day Free Trial on each service.
Streaming video services are a great cable alternative, but with the benefit that they’re month-to-month (with free cancellation), no cable box is required, and that you’ll save a lot of money.
Which is the Best Live TV Streaming Service?
After ongoing testing the seven live TV streaming services thousands of hours, we found that each service is great for different reasons.
Most of the 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, sports, entertainment, or news — we think there is a great pick for you.
If you want to find the best service based on the channels you watch, try out our Channel Finder.
Sling TV is currently offering $10 OFF your first month, so you can get Sling Blue or Orange for just $25. Alternatively, you can choose to get a free Roku Express ($30 value) if you prepay for 2 months of service.
The Philo ($20) 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, you will get channels like A&E, AMC, BET, HGTV, Hallmark, MTV, Discovery, Comedy Central, & Nickelodeon at a fraction of the cost.
Hulu Live TV ($55) is the cheapest bundle that includes locals, regional sports, national sports (ESPN, FS1, NBCSN) and top cable channels from A+E, Discovery (Food Network, HGTV), Disney (Disney Channel, FX, & Freeform), NBC (Bravo, E!, MSNBC), Warner Media (TNT, TBS, CNN, Adult Swim), and Fox (Fox News).
fuboTV ($55) recently added Discovery and Viacom channels including Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and VH1. If you can live without ESPN, with the new channels they will have 31 of the Top 35 Cable channels, more than any other service.
The YouTube TV ($50) and AT&T TV NOW PLUS Plan ($65) have the weakest selection of cable channels.
Every service offers a cloud DVR, which lets you record streaming content to watch at a later time. Sling TV is the most limited which includes 10 hours of recording capacity, or 50 hours with a $5/month upgrade.
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.
While most services offer a DVR, each one has slightly different restrictions on what can be recorded, when the recording will start, and whether commercials can be skipped.
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.
Recording Capacity
• AT&T NOW
20 hours
30 days
• fuboTV
30 hours
• Hulu
50 hours
• Philo
Unlimited
30 days
• PS Vue
Unlimited
28 days
• Sling
10 hours
• YouTube
Unlimited
9 months
You can generally fast-forward through shows that you recorded to the DVR (unlike most on demand content) with some exceptions.
Hulu Live TV requires you to upgrade to the $10/month “Enhanced Cloud DVR” if you want to skip commercials and to upgrade to 200 hours of recording space.
fuboTV includes 30 hours of recording space, but offers a $10/month upgrade for 500 hours of storage.
For example, until recently while YouTube TV offered unlimited DVR storage, it didn’t allow you to skip commercials on shows on some local channels.
Oddly enough, Sling TV is the only service that offers 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” $25 plan (it only allows a single stream).
YouTube TV allows 3 simultaneous viewers and even lets you create “Family Profiles” so each user 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 $15/month “Unlimited Viewers” upgrade, which allows unlimited devices to stream on your home network or 3 devices outside your home.
fuboTV includes 2 viewers, but will allow you to add a third simultaneous viewer for $6/month.
PlayStation Vue is the most generous: allowing up to 5 viewers, but limits it to a single PS4 game console and 3 mobile devices.
Concurrent Devices
More is better.
PS Vue
5 streams
Philo
3 streams
Sling “Blue”
3 streams
YouTube
3 streams
AT&T NOW
2 streams
fuboTV
2 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 2–3 minutes) during playback.
Hulu Live TV, PlayStation Vue, 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.
We have lots of issues playing on demand content from AT&T TV NOW. Videos will often fail to start or spontaneously freeze during playback.
AT&T TV NOW, fuboTV, and PlayStation Vue 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, Fox Sports Go, FX, WatchESPN, etc.).
PlayStation Vue and DIRECTV NOW connect to the most channel apps, with access for up to 56 and 37 channel apps, respectively. The other services offer access to about 30 channels.
Some of the services include additional content that is only available to their subscribers.
For example, Hulu Live TV subscribers get access to 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 $4/month, you can watch their streaming library without commercials.
YouTube TV subscribers get access to YouTube Premium original shows. DIRECTV NOW subscribers can watch AT&T original shows like Stephen King’s Mr/ Mercedes.
Xbox
On Xbox One, you can use . Hulu is the only service that supports Xbox 360.
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. Depending on the service you will need to install Microsoft Silverlight or Flash.
Other Streaming Services
CBS All Access
CBS All Access is a streaming service that offers original shows like Star Trek: Discovery, The Twilight Zone, The Good Fight, and live streaming of your local CBS affiliate for news, college football, and NFL.
Hulu is a video streaming service that gives access to thousands of full seasons of exclusive series, hit movies, kids shows, and Hulu Originals like The Handmaid’s Tale.
Disney+ is a streaming service which includes new original and classic shows and movies from Walt Disney Studios, Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geopgrahic, and the entire Disney Vault.
CuriosityStream is a subscription streaming service that offers 1,800+ documentaries and series on science, space, technology, nature, history, health, and more.
ESPN+ is a live sports streaming service which offers a daily out-of-market game from MLB and NHL, live MLS games, college sports, as well as exclusive ESPN original series.
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+
Apple TV+ is a subscription streaming service that includes high-quality originals shows and movies. While the quantity of content is limited for now, the service plans to add additional content every single month.
HBO Max
HBO Max is a subscription streaming service that gives access to content on HBO, but with additional original shows, movies, and a library of classic shows like Friends, The Big Bang Theory, and The West Wing.
