If you no longer want to pay for a cable or satellite TV bill, a live TV streaming service might be the best option for you. If you’re going to binge-watch TV series and movies, you’ll be satisfied with an on-demand service. Our list consists of three live TV streaming services (fuboTV, YouTube TV, and Sling TV) and two on-demand streaming services (Netflix and Hulu). Do you want live channels and some on-demand content, or would you like a big library of on-demand content that you can stream whenever you’d like? Can’t we do both? To find the best streaming service, we evaluated price, channels, on-demand content, user interface, and DVR storage–and boy, it was tough. Our top five streaming services are all great options, but one (or multiple) may better suit you for what you need. And we’re here to help you make that decision. Let’s dive into the details to find the best service for you. For example, Sling TV is the best for money-savers, YouTube TV is average pricing, and fuboTV is the most expensive. With that, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck. Sling TV will have the least number of channels while fuboTV will have the most (and make sure you get a variety you like). As of right now, the average DVR storage space for live streaming services is about 500 hours. You might not need this much space and you might find Sling TV’s 50-hour storage space as insufficient. When choosing an on-demand streaming service, you’ll also want to get the most with your money. Netflix is the priciest on-demand service when you upgrade, but you’ll have access to 5,500 titles. You also have to make sure the on-demand streaming service has a decent variety of content, such as network TV shows, Original series, movies, and Original films. That means you’ll get various channels for news, sports, lifestyle, kids, and entertainment. But one part that makes fuboTV stand out is the number of sports channels you’ll get access to. With the Pro plan, you’ll get 35 sports channels, and with Elite and Ultimate, you’ll get a whopping total of 50. That’s the highest number of sports channels you can get with any TV provider out there. Here’s a sneak peek of the channel lineups to understand better which one is best for you. fuboTV’s Pro package includes the following channels: First, when you open up your home page, you’ll find six tabs at the top to get you to what you want within seconds. Other services usually just have three. The Sports tab recommends featured sports shows and events. As you scroll down, you’ll find a mini guide of events happening today (or you can change the date). The guide has a drop-down menu on the left to change the date. Choose a genre of channels you’d like to browse, and use the search bar at the top to get to your favorite TV network with a few taps. One of those great changes was increasing the Cloud DVR storage. fuboTV raised its DVR storage to 1,000 hours of storage from 30 hours. Instead of just recording 15 TV shows and about six movies, you can now record at least 75 TV episodes and nearly 30 films. So even though it’s not unlimited, this service still provides more storage than you might know what to do with. And YouTube TV also comes out on top for the NBA fans. If you’re a diehard Boston Celtics fan, we suggest ordering YouTube TV because it has all of the channels you’ll need for the NBA regular season and postseason games. View Plans | Read Full fuboTV Review Although it’s $10 less than fuboTV’s Pro package (which has about 20 more channels), YouTube TV is the only live TV streaming service that offers NFL Network, MLB Network, and NBA TV in its lineup for $65 per month. And if you’re an NBA fantasy player, we recommend ordering YouTube TV so you can see if the Golden State Warriors defend their championship. YouTube TV is the best for streaming all NBA games. If you’re a pro league sports watcher, YouTube TV might be the best option for you. And of course, this service has channels for the kiddos and for the roommate who loves reality TV. Check out the full YouTube TV channel lineup to see if it has the channels you and the house can enjoy, but here’s a sneak peak: Only YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV give you an unlimited DVR storage space, and your recordings will save for nine months. You can record all episodes from The Office and Friends on your smart TV, as well as all the movies your heart desires. The DVR comes in handy during game season too. You can record a great NFL football game one season, save it, and watch it again during the summer when you’re missing the gridiron action. But if you do go the YouTube TV route, we have some solutions:
The Roku Channel and Pluto TV can help those who need their HISTORY Channel content. Find more information about these two services in our best free streaming services review. On the other hand, access to the Tennis Channel and PAC-12 Network is a bit tricky. You can stream all Wimbledon games through ESPN+, but you’ll have to sign in with your TV provider (i.e., DISH, Xfinity, Sling TV, etc.). Sign in with your provider on Pac-12.com/live to watch your Trojans take on the University of Utah Utes.
View Plan | Read Full YouTube TV Review Some popular Original series you’ve likely heard of include: Ozark, The Great British Baking Show, and Stranger Things. Some current, fantastic Netflix Originals you can binge this weekend include:
Wednesday The Lincoln Lawyer Emily In Paris Harry & Meghan Peaky Blinders The Crown Virgin River
Grab your popcorn because you’ll also get to enjoy stellar movies like Glass Onion, Me Time, The School for Good and Evil, White Noise, Trolls, and Bullet Train. You’ll have hours upon hours of content to watch while you wind down for the day. On top of the friendly interface and the fact that we can find ourselves stuck streaming in bed, Netflix’s parental controls are on point. This is why we named it the best streaming service for kids. You can create a kids profile and a PIN so your little ones can’t access mature TV shows and movies. The Basic with ads plan is perfect for those who want cheap access to Netflix and don’t care about ads or access to Netflix’s entire library. The Basic plan will get you access to unlimited TV shows and movies in standard high definition (HD). Like the with ads plan, you’ll only be able to stream on one device at a time. But hey, no ads! The Standard plan’s price isn’t too hard to swallow. When you upgrade to this plan, you can stream on two devices (so you can probably share your password with your roommate or significant other). Like the Standard plan, you’ll get to watch your content in HD, but you’ll also get 4K viewing with the Premium plan. Netflix’s Premium plan is the most expensive on-demand plan, but it might be worth upgrading from the Standard plan if you and your family will likely stream on four devices at once. For $4 more, you won’t have to worry about getting booted off your account when watching Schitt’s Creek. View Plans | Read Full Netflix Review For example, when The Bachelor/ Bachelorette airs on ABC Monday night, it will become available by 9 a.m. (ET) the next morning. (Or you could sign up for Hulu Live TV to stream episodes the night they premier.) Now that’s great timing. Mostly for us impatient people who don’t want to see any spoilers on Twitter or Instagram. Other next-day available TV shows include Good Trouble, Snowfall, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Grown-ish. This unique feature is what makes Hulu one of the best for cord-cutters. No one wants to watch two ad breaks every 30-minutes. So, you might find yourself upgrading to the $15 per month plan. Keep in mind that Hulu only lets you stream on two devices at once with both plans. That’s nice for those who want the $8 per month plan, but this can become a problem for large families. View Plans | Read Full Hulu Review Sling Orange and Sling Blue are each $40 per month, which is an excellent price as the average price of live TV streaming services is double that. The difference is in the channels. Sling Orange has about 31 channels, including Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, Freeform, and Food Network. Sling Blue has about 41, including FOX News, MSNBC, Nick Jr., TBS, and USA. So we encourage you to check out the channel lineups of both to find out which package is the best for you and your family. The Orange + Blue plan, on the other hand, gives you all of the channels in Sling Orange and Sling Blue in one package for $15 more. But keep in mind, Sling TV is NOT ideal for sports fans. With the most expensive plan, you get only seven sports channels (if you include TNT for NBA games). If you are willing to spend $15—$20 more, you can get access to 16 sports channels with YouTube TV or over 20 with fuboTV. A DVR with 50 hours can fill up quicker than you think, especially if you’re sharing with the fam. And you’ll have to add $5 to your monthly bill for the 200-hour DVR storage space. If you choose to keep the 50-hour DVR storage, just remember, your older recordings will automatically delete so the DVR can find storage space for your new recordings. No other live TV streaming service has this low capacity for their DVR service, but you get what you pay for. Hulu + Live TV used to offer 50 hours, as well, but recently they upgraded their service to offer unlimited hours of storage. At least Sling TV has an excuse because this service is on the inexpensive side. View Plans | Read Full Sling TV Review We chose the best streaming services that have a variety that everyone in the family can enjoy. Our top-rated live TV streaming services have channels ranging from news to sports to kids, while on-demand streaming services have a library filled with many genres. The next thing we look at to determine the best streaming service is the amount of on-demand content or live TV channels. The price has to be fair in relation to the assortment and the bulk of content and channels. For example, Apple TV+ has one of the smallest (but fantastic) on-demand libraries, and it’s reflected in its pricing at $5 per month. And lastly, when looking for a live TV streaming service, we take into consideration of the DVR storage space and add-ons. You’ll want to make sure your next service has the add-ons you constantly use, like SHOWTIME, the NFL RedZone Channel, and Acorn. The best live TV streaming service is fuboTV because it gives you over 100 channels, has the best dollar-to-channel ratio, and gives you 1,000 hours of DVR storage space.
