Former Sling TV Exec Launches Frndly TV with 12 Live Channels Including Hallmark, GSN, & The Weather Channel Starting At Just $5.99

When a new streaming service launches with well known channels, at a low price, it often brings out the skeptics of whether it’s legal.

But, when it comes to Frndly TV, a new Live TV Streaming Service that bundles 12 live channels including Hallmark, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, [Hallmark Drama], Game Show Network, and The Weather Channel for just $5.99 — those fears should be put to the side.

The Denver-based company comes from veteran of the media industry, Bassil El-Khatib, who spent 12 years at Dish Network & Sling TV — who felt streaming bundles were getting just too big. In building Frndly TV, which has been a year in the making, he wanted to create a service that includes just family friendly programming targeted at Middle America. Frndly TV has carriage agreements directly with the various channels including Hallmark, which confirmed to The Streamable that they are a distribution partner of the streaming upstart.

El-Khatib says that the other vMVPDs are “addressing the masses, really trying to go after everyone.” In building Frndly TV, he realized that there are segments of consumers “that might not want that, and want something a little bit more targeted, a little more focused on their interests.”

While most Live TV Streaming Services now cost $50+, with some like Sling TV and Philo offering a skinny bundle at half that price, Frndly TV offers a unique set of channels at a fraction of the cost. While the service has soft-launched, and is available to subscribers, they are still working out the kinks. The company expects to officially roll-out in 2-3 weeks.

Plans & Pricing

The service has three plans — Basic ($5.99 a month), Classic ($7.99), and Premium ($9.99) — with a 15% discount when you subscribe to an annual plan. If you subscribe to the monthly plan, there are no contracts so you can cancel at anytime.

While all plans offer Live TV and On-Demand — only the two higher price plan include HD streams and DVR. The Classic plan includes 2 simultaneous streams and Premium plan includes 4 simultaneous streams.

These aren’t just teaser prices either. El-Khatib said that “our price point is such a key element and we’re doing everything in our power to maintain that price point.”

Available Channels

It might not have locals or sports, but their channel line-up combines some of the channels from Philo and Sling TV Heartland Extra Pack, at a much lower price point. They also carry QVC and Light TV, which are available OTA, but until now had yet to appear on a streaming service.

The company shared that they are looking to add more channels to the line-up, but would look to do it “while maintaining the price point.” El-Khatib said customers have asked for channels like HGTV and DIY, which usually can only be carried as part of a fatter bundle. He says some of the channels “we’ll be able to get, others we won’t”, but that to add channels they have to come at a price “that makes sense.”

Supported Devices & Apps

The service can be streamed on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, iOS, and Android. There currently aren’t streaming apps for Apple TV or Android TV — which the company says is on the roadmap, but isn’t expected to be available this year.

Features

Stream Quality

While the Basic ($5.99) plans offers SD streaming — the Classic ($7.99) and Premium ($9.99) plans include HD Streaming at 720p/30 fps. This is similar to what you see on Philo, but not the 720p/60fps that you might see on services like Hulu Live TV and fuboTV. Since there are no live sports, the fact that it is in 30fps is less of an issue.

Grid Guide

After signing up, when you launch the app, you’re brought to what may be the best designed grid guide of any of the Live TV Streaming Service. It includes 10 days of guide data, so you can easily see what’s on now or set a recording in the future.

When you tap on a show, it will bring up an overlay with more details on the episode, as well as the ability to Watch Live, Start Over, or Record.

If you are watching a show and come back to the guide, Frndly TV shows a live thumbnail so you continue to watch while looking for your next show.

Unlimited DVR

The Classic ($7.99) and Premium ($9.99) plans include an Unlimited DVR. The Classic plan will keep your recordings for 30 days, while the Premium plan can save the shows for up to 90 days.

You will be able to fast-forward in all recordings, but you won’t be able to while watching on-demand content. In both the Recordings and On-Demand section of the apps — it will show recently viewed and recorded shows first.

One nice feature is that when you set a recording it will ask if you wan to Record This Episode or Record All New and Repeat Episodes. For now, you can’t set it to record All New Episodes.

Look Back

Like many other Live TV Streaming Services, Frndly TV offers Look Back support, so you can watch any show that aired in the last 72-hours — even if you didn’t record it. However, like other on-demand content, there will be unskippable ads.

TV Everywhere

Unlike other Live TV Streaming Services, you can’t log-in to TV Everywhere apps with your Frndly TV credentials.

Search

The app makes search very accessible — while it’s not perfect — it doesn’t automatically display results as you type, it does offer search suggestions. When you select one, it will display both live, recorded, and on-demand content.