1. Compare Prices For Streaming Tv
2. Internet Tv Providers
3. Online Tv Streaming Services Comparison
4. Best Internet And Tv Services

Ah, online TV. What did we ever do without it? TV streaming services these days offer giant online libraries tailored to all kinds of tastes, with the competitive pricing and easy streaming to make the jump to an online subscription a no-brainer.

Let us know what criteria you look for in TV service, how you compare TV packages, and what you’ve come to expect from the major TV providers. Leave us a comment below and let us know what you’d like us to review in future posts or which TV brands we should add to our comparison. The Best TV Streaming Services. For most people, streaming is now the best way to watch TV. There are more than 200 streaming services available in the U.S. Right now — a number that keeps rising as behemoths like Disney and Apple launch their own services — and we watch 8 billion hours of TV on them every month. But all that choice also breeds confusion.

You still get traditional broadcasters and cable companies bringing out certain shows out over live television first – such as Star Trek: Discovery on CBS, or Killing Eve on the BBC – but the convenience of having so much content at your fingertips, much of it now skipping TV broadcasts entirely, is understandable seeing viewers sign up to the likes of Netflix and Hulu in their droves.

It's no longer just one or two TV streaming services to choose from, though – and it's getting progressively harder to divide our attention, as well as our budgets, between the lot of them.

You've got the market leader Netflix, which has become the default streaming service for many. There's also the Amazon Prime Video service that comes as part of an Amazon Prime subscription, HBO Now for shows like Game of Thrones or Westworld, and the likes of Hulu, YouTube TV and Sling for getting live TV without the hefty monthly bills.

The big news in streaming services is that Disney is set to shake up the scene soon with Disney+. The new Disney owned subscription service will be sure to host a big helping of Marvel, Star Wars and a host of other content.

To help you choose from the best TV streaming services out there, we've put together this guide to the essentials and how to finally cut the cords to your TV and go completely online with your streaming.

UPDATE: On November 29, 2019 it's Black Friday. That means if you're looking to get yourself a brand new TV, we recommend you check out our guides to the best Black Friday and best Cyber Monday deals that we know are coming (and those we can expect) to help you save cash next month.

Best TV streaming service 2019 overview:

1. Netflix
2. Amazon Prime Video
3. Hulu
4. PlayStation Vue
5. YouTube TV
6. HBO Now and HBO Go
7. Sling TV
8. Crunchyroll
9. Twitch
10. iTunes / Google Play Store
11. Crackle

Best TV streaming service 2019:

1. Netflix

The best of the best when it comes to online TV streaming

Compatible devices: Android, Apple, Windows, Roku, PlayStation, Xbox, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Smart TVs | Free trial: 1 month | Simultaneous streams: 1-4

If you're a connoisseur of movies and/or TV, there's only one must-have player in town and that's Netflix. It is, unequivocally, the biggest and best streaming service, despite not always stocking its digital shelves with must-have new movies and TV; that said, this is the staple streamer you need to own if you ever plan on cutting the cord and surviving without it.

These days, most smart TVs have Netflix apps and finding a streaming box without it is the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack. The quality of the movies and TV we tried – mostly streamed in Ultra HD – on both TV and on tablets is exquisite.

Since launching its own content in 2013, Netflix's originals library has swelled to an enormous size, boasting dozens of award-winning shows including Stranger Things, Orange is the New Black, The Crown, Master of None, House of Cards and a bunch of Marvel shows like Luke Cage, Daredevil and Jessica Jones - you can see our pick of the best Netflix series in the US.

The impending launch of Disney+ looks set to take a good chunk of Disney-owned properties off the service, though – Disney own LucasFilm, Marvel, and Pixar, after all – so the library might start feeling less colorful pretty soon.

Subscription costs have just gone up by $1-2 a month, with the basic plan at $9, HD plan at $13, and 4K Premium plan at $16. But don't forget you can also give Netflix a spin with the 1-month free trial to see if it's worth your money.

Verdict: 5/5

2. Amazon Prime video

Compatible devices: Android, Apple, Windows, Roku, PlayStation, Xbox, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Smart TVs | Free trials: 1 month | Simultaneous streams: 3

Amazon and Netflix are two sides of the same coin. That's not to say they're identical – they're not – but the differences are few and far between.

Like Netflix, Amazon Prime video has its own set of original series - Transparent, The Man in the High Castle, and Mr Robot among others - but, generally speaking, they don't receive the same fanfare as their Netflix-bred brethren.

Although Netflix is as guilty as dud programming as the rest of them, it's worth mentioning Amazon Prime does get some pretty terrible new additions from time to time. So always check out guide to the best Amazon Prime TV shows before you dive in head-first.

The two big differentiators between the services are the fact that access to Amazon's streaming service comes standard with a subscription to Amazon Prime – meaning access to Amazon Music and premium delivery services – and Amazon has its own proprietary set-top box, the $69 Amazon Fire TV.

As far as its cost, a subscription to Amazon Prime will run up around $10.99 per month, just under Netflix's basic plan, though there's also a 30-day free trial so you don't have to pony up any money when you first start.

Prime Instant Video is available for PC and Mac, the Kindle Fire HD, iPad, Xbox One, PS4, internet-enabled TVs and Blu-ray players, Sony's Home Cinema system, Sony's Network Media Player and myriad other minor devices that will go unmentioned.

Verdict: 5/5

3. Hulu

Compatible devices: Apple, Android, Windows, Roku, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Smart TVs | Free trials: 1 month | Simultaneous streams: 1

Video streaming service Hulu offers big-name titles like The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, and South Park alongside a huge number of titles from NBC, FOX and Comedy Central. It's also the only streaming service app on the Nintendo Switch aside from the newly-included Youtube app.

Hulu comes in two flavors: the standard on-demand streaming service you've always known and loved, and the new Hulu with Live TV -to learn more you can read our full Hulu review here.

The former works well and is well worth its cost of entry – especially since Hulu's price cut brought the monthly subscription to only $5.99. Sure, it'll air with a few advertisements, but it's nothing you're not used to coming from traditional cable. On the homepage you'll find highlighted shows based on your past visits to the site as well as curated content from Hulu HQ. This includes game trailers, new movie trailers, popular clips from last week's new episodes as well as a few themed playlists. You can sign up for a free trial on its website.

The other option on the table is Hulu with Live TV, a cable alternative that will run you around $40 a month – which is, unfortunately, limited to the US. The service lives up to its name by offering you a bevy of live TV channels and 50 hours cloud DVR service and two simultaneous screens. This is a bit less than the next contender on our list – YouTube TV – which offers more screens and unlimited DVR space.

The biggest problem with Hulu is that it lets users run head first into the paywall, keeping you from the content you're most apt to pay for.

Some call this good business. Some call it extortion. Wherever you stand on the subject the fact that you get so much free content upfront means that the old adage of 'you get what you pay for' definitely does not apply here.

Verdict: 4/5

4. PlayStation Vue

Compatible devices: PS4, PS3, Roku players, Amazon Fire stick, Apple TV, Android TV, Chrome, Safari, FireFox, Android, iOS, Google Chromecast | Free trials: 5 days | Simultaneous streams: 5

Unlike some of the other options on this list, PlayStation isn't exactly synonymous with TV streaming. But the giant of gaming has stepped out of its comfort zone and taken a leap into the world of TV, quite successfully we might add.

Launching PlayStation Vue way back in 2015, PlayStation has been trying to compete with the big names of streaming like Netflix and Hulu for a few years now but until recently, the service hasn't had much to offer.

Jump forward to 2019 and PlayStation Vue has become a competing force in the cord-cutting scene. Offering a range of packages from basic live TV to premium channels including HBO, Showtime and NFL Redzone. And not just for PlayStation owners, either.

PlayStation Vue is one of the more fluid options on this list in terms of devices you can use, allowing for up to five simultaneous streams on a huge variety of platforms. It combines this with one of the best interfaces available and a huge variety of channels. But unfortunately with all these features comes a price tag on the higher end of TV streaming services.

Verdict 4/5

5. YouTube TV

Compatible devices: Apple, Android, Windows, Roku, Xbox, Google Chromecast, Apple TV, Smart TVs | Free trials: 7-30 days | Simultaneous streams: 6

Ask someone what they think was the biggest internet revolution of the 21st century and they'll probably say it was YouTube. And with good reason – the user-generated video-blogging site has changed the online landscape forever.

It lets anyone, however well known they are (or not), whatever the quality of their content and wherever they hail from, upload their weird and wonderful videos for anyone around the world to watch at their convenience. The beauty of YouTube is that in the blink of an eye it's taken the broadcasting power from the bigwigs and placed it right in our hands.

OK, so it might not have stopped people wanting to watch a high quality, professionally made production in their living room TVs, but it's an insight into how TV might be produced in the future. After all with YouTube you don't need a big budget – or indeed any budget at all – to produce your own TV series and establish a massive following.

While the free portion of YouTube will always remain the most popular (the latest statistic says that a whopping eight years' worth of content is uploaded each and every day to the site), but if you're looking for quality content, YouTube TV is also an excellent option worth considering.

A subscription to YouTube TV is on the expensive side at $40 a month, but you're treated to a fair amount of content – around 60 channels replete with cloud DVR functionality. The service is available only in the US for now, however, and even here it's only available in around 100 markets around the country. Still, if you're lucky enough to be in one of those areas, it's the best live TV streaming service out there right now.

Verdict: 4/5

6. HBO Now and HBO Go

Game of Thrones, The Wire, Silicon Valley - what's not to love?

Compatible devices: Apple, Android, Windows, Roku, Xbox, Google Chromecast, Apple TV, Android TV, Smart TVs | Free trials: 7 days | Simultaneous streams: 3

As a streaming service with ties to more traditional broadcasting models, HBO Go requires you to have a paid cable subscription to access its content. If you've got one of those, subscribing to HBO Go is an absolute no-brainer – it's free for you! Go on, download it right now and put our word to the test.

If borrowing mom and dad's cable account info isn't in the cards and the ominous cable bill is too threatening to even consider, there's HBO Now, a $15 per month service that gives you access to HBO's entire content library.

Alongside the new shows of Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley and West World you'll also find heaps of big-budget films, new and old, and the stable of HBO classics like The Sopranos, Deadwood, Oz, True Blood, Sex in the City, Rome and The Pacific. The service doesn't get as many updates as say, Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon do, but episodes are typically added within hours of them airing on cable.

HBO is a bit more selective about which device it interfaces with than Netflix and YouTube, but so far you can find it on Amazon Fire TV, Android/iOS, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and the whole line of Samsung Smart TVs.

Verdict: 4/5

7. Sling TV

More affordable than YouTube TV but not as good

Compatible devices: Apple, Android, Windows, Roku, Xbox, Google Chromecast, Apple TV, Android TV, Smart TVs | Free trials: 7 days | Simultaneous streams: 3

Sling TV is a kind of cure-all for the cord-cutting generation, something that we knew we needed but no company stepped up to make. That said, it's everything cable's not. It's affordable. It's no-obligation. And there are absolutely zero sales reps trying to stop you from cancelling your contract. Best of all, you won't have to give up some of the perks cable provided in the last few years like the ability to pause live TV or watch something that aired up to 72 hours ago.

We've spoken at length about Sling TV in our review but in case you missed it, here's what you need to know: Sling TV is live TV streaming from DISH whenever and wherever. But unlike traditional cable or satellite, there's no contracts, no equipment and no costly bill at the end of the month.

But let's get down to brass tacks. $20 a month gets you a TON of cable channels - ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Travel Channel, CNN, Cartoon Network, ABC Family, Disney Channel and AMC, and many, many more.

If the included channels aren't enough, Sling TV sells nine add-on packages for $5 a month that add around five channels each and focus on a particular theme (International News, Latino Programming, etc...) . Sling TV makes it in to our best sports streaming sites guide, too.

Sling TV is available on iOS, Android,Amazon Fire TV andAmazon Fire TV Stick,Xbox One and Roku TV, plus select LG and Samsung smart TVs and on PC and Mac via the website portal.

It's not without limitations, however. The standard Sling TV package, called Sling TV Orange, while available on a plethora of mobile and living room gadgets, will only work on one device at a time and, admittedly, at $20 per month doesn't present the same content-to-dollar ratio that Netflix or Prime Instant Video provide.

Verdict: 3.5/5

8. Crunchyroll

Compatible devices: Apple, Android, Windows, Roku, Xbox, Google Chromecast, Apple TV, Android TV, Smart TVs | Free trials: 7 days | Simultaneous streams: 3-4

Call us crazy but there's something endearing about a streaming service that knows exactly what its audience wants. Crunchyroll is the streaming service any anime, manga or East-Asian cinema fan in your life has always wanted and never knew about.

Founded by Berkeley graduates back in 2006, Crunchyroll started as a bootleg website of sorts where users uploaded their favorite shows without permission of the original owners. Not the humblest of beginnings. Fast-forward to 2015 where the service has over five million community members, 200 series available on tap and is worth, when last checked, $100 million.

While you won't find genre staples like Dragon Ball Z, Digimon or Pokémon around, most of the site's 200-plus series are available to watch for free in SD, typically prefaced with a 20-second advert. Watching any content in full 1080p HD requires a $6.95 monthly subscription to the service, just be sure to check out the 14-day free trial before you begin.

Besides the slick web interface, Crunchyroll is available on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Chromecast, Apple TV, Roku, Google TV and Samsung and Panasonic's line of Smart TVs.

Verdict: 3.5/5

9. Twitch

Free streaming of game playthroughs, musicians and so much more

Compatible devices: Apple, Android, Windows, Xbox, Google Chromecast, Apple, Nvidia Shield | Free trials: N/A | Simultaneous streams: Unlimited

Compare Prices For Streaming Tv

For a certain crowd, Twitch (formerly known as Justin.tv) is about the best invention since sliced bread. Essentially it's a livestreaming platform that focuses primarily on videogames where you can find everything from world tournament coverage to someone muddling their way through that indie darling you had your eye on buying.

It's not traditional by any means, but you'll find plenty to see and do on Twitch. Best of all the app is free on almost any platform you can think of: iOS, Android, Xbox One, PS4, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV … you name it, it probably has a Twitch app. You can read more about Twitch here.

Twitch may be limited to a niche audiences of gamers at the moment, but the platform clearly shows promise. Amazon bought the service wholesale in December of last year for a cool $970 million. Whether you count it as real TV programming, however, is another question.

Verdict: 3/5

10. iTunes / Google Play Store

Commitment-free streaming of the best TV and movies

Compatible devices: Apple, Android, Windows, Chromecast, Android TV | Free trials: N/A | Simultaneous streams: 10

Second-to-last on our list are iTunes and its Android counterpart, the Google Play Store.

Every other entry on this list has one factor going for it – it's either free or offers a buffet-style, all-you-can-stream option. Apple and Google's primary storefronts don't offer that.

Payment is always done per title – which makes sense when you want to stream, say, the latest movie once per month – but is one of the most illogical ways to consume media if you plan on binge-watching anything.

That said, they're not all bad. In fact, there's no better way to own a digital copy of your favorite film or TV series than to buy it off one of these. Its ability to transfer any movies or TV shows straight to your mobile device makes these two of the slickest staples in the streaming world. Didn't have time to finish that movie on your desktop last night? Save it to your iPad and watch the rest of it on the way to work the following morning. Easy.

iTunes isn't perfect, we'll admit. It's a little bit clunky and slow at times, while Windows aficionados will baulk at the need to install Apple software just to get access to something you want to watch. Conversely, the Google Play Store will have you shelling out $3.99 for an SD version of a film that came out years ago, even if it's available elsewhere for free.

But that's the real Marmite bit of these e-commerce services. You pay to play or you can take your business elsewhere.

Verdict: 2.5/5

• For a less committed option, head over to the Google Play Store or to iTunes

11. Crackle

A free streaming service with a rotating hit or miss collection of films

Compatible devices: Apple, Android, Windows, Chromecast, Android TV, Amazon Firestick, Google Chromecast, Xbox, Playstation, Blu-ray players | Free trials: N/A | Simultaneous streams: unlimited

While creating this list, we gave some serious thought to leaving Crackle off completely. With a poor selection and even poorer streaming quality you'd be forgiven for never knowing about Sony Pictures Entertainment's unfortunate streaming offshoot.

Crackle offers a rotating selection of a few dozen films from motion picture studios' archives that focus on six categories: action, comedy, crime, drama, horror and sci-fi. One month you might see a kitsch classic like Ghostbusters, while the next you won't be as fortunate and will only find a few throw-away films from the '90s. Warning: Each film is streamed in standard definition, and a tiny ad floats at the bottom of the screen throughout the entirety of your stay.

What helped it make the cut? Its price. Streaming any one of the few dozen movies and TV shows found on Crackle's website is completely free, no strings attached. Keep in mind that advertisements pop up before each movie starts, and expect a few intermittently throughout the film.

Should you choose to endure it, Crackle is available on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Nook, Kindle, Roku, PlayStation TV, Chromecast, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, most Blu-ray players, smart TVs, game consoles including the PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PlayStation Vita, online and T-Mobile TV.

Verdict: 1.5/5

• Best set-top box: the top six streaming media players for 4K and HD TV reviewed
• More interested in sport? Check out our pick of the best sports streaming sites
• Watch your favorite TV from anywhere with our guide to the best VPN

How We Found the Best TV Streaming Services

20 Hours of TV Watched

The Best TV Streaming Services

For most people, streaming is now the best way to watch TV.

There are more than 200 streaming services available in the U.S. right now — a number that keeps rising as behemoths like Disney and Apple launch their own services — and we watch 8 billion hours of TV on them every month.

But all that choice also breeds confusion. Amid routine price raises, constantly fluctuating libraries and channel lineups, and new options sprouting up daily, streaming TV has never felt more mainstream or more overwhelming.

Our goal was to simplify that process and help you build your perfect replacement for (or supplement to) cable. We focused on two main categories for this review: live TV streaming services that stream cable channels through your internet connection and on-demand services like Netflix and Hulu that let you watch programs when you want them. After 130 hours of research (and more TV-watching than we ever dreamed we’d get paid for), we found the best TV streaming services for every situation.

The 10 Best TV Streaming Services

• Hulu + Live TV -

  Best Live TV Streaming

• PlayStation Vue -

  Best Sports Streaming

• YouTube TV -

  Best User Experience

• AT&T Watch TV -

  Best Skinny Bundle

• Pluto TV -

  Best Free TV Streaming

• Netflix -

  Best On-Demand Library

• Hulu -

  Best for Network Shows

• Amazon Prime Video -

  Best Perks

• HBO NOW -

  Best for Original Shows

• The Criterion Channel -

  Best for Classic Films

How We Chose the Best Live TV Streaming Services

Overall channel selection

Companies that stream live TV often promote the raw number of channels in their lineups, but more isn’t necessarily better. PlayStation Vue’s 98 channels sounds impressive until you realize that you’re paying for eccentricities like the Law & Crime Trial Network (“live court video, high-profile criminal trials, crazy crime, celebrity justice, and smart legal analysis”) and BabyTV (“the first 24/7 channel for kids, babies and toddlers”).

Cable subscribers know this dilemma well: According to research from Nielsen, Americans pay for 205.9 channels on average, but only watch 20.9 of them. Some “filler” options are inevitable — since Turner owns TNT and TBS, you’ll never be able to get one without the other, for example — but we wanted to give the most weight to the channels that people actually want.

To gauge a channel’s desirability, we turned to TiVo’s 2017 Q4 Trends Report, which asked over 3,000 American and Canadian adults, “Which channels would you be interested in including in your TV package?” We used those responses to assign a score to each channel: The higher the percentage of viewers who wanted the channel, the higher its score. Then we added up the number of points each package received for the channels it offered.

Availability by location

Big networks like ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC are essential channels for most people who want to stream live TV, but each service’s exact offerings may change depending on where you live. The same goes for regional sports networks, which broadcast your local team’s MLB, NBA, and NHL games. We ran ZIP codes for Seattle, Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles, and Boston and found that Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV NOW, Playstation Vue, and YouTube TV all had the big four networks in these regions, while our other finalists offered patchier coverage.

Using that information, we gave extra points to the services that had the widest coverage for these local networks. Still, companies are engaged in a streaming arms race right now, each one constantly bidding on the rights to stream local feeds, so coverage is improving every day.

Quality of sports channels

To find the best deal for sports fans, we turned to the Harris Poll’s survey of 2,252 American adults to find out which sports were most beloved. First, we assigned scores to each league — the NFL, MLB, NCAA football, car racing, NBA, NHL, men’s soccer, NCAA basketball, and PGA Golf — based on how many people watched it. The larger the viewership, the higher the score. Then we gave a corresponding amount of points to channels that aired live games for those leagues. Finally, we tallied up the total number of in-demand channels offered by each provider.

Device compatibility

While price and channel selection are the most important considerations when choosing a live TV streaming service, it’s also important that you actually be able to play your service. Fortunately, at this point, most of the services we tested work with pretty much any streaming device. The most glaring exception is YouTube TV’s incompatibility with Amazon Fire TV. While a YouTube TV app is scheduled to be released on Fire TV sometime in 2019, it’s currently still unavailable.

DVR storage and simultaneous streams

Finally, we evaluated the supplemental perks that each live TV streaming service offers. Cloud DVR storage allows you to record any programs on TV and watch them at your own leisure. PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV, and Philo all offer unlimited cloud DVR storage, each places a different limit on how long you can store videos. Simultaneous streams refers to how many devices you can use to watch the service at the same time, a nice perk for anyone living in a house with diverse TV preferences.

The Best Live TV Streaming Services

Why we chose it

Best channel lineup

Hulu + Live TV is the best live TV streaming service for a simple reason: It has more of the channels that people actually want to watch. In TiVo’s survey of the most desired channels in a TV package, Hulu was the only one to include every channel in the top 10. In fact, no other service offered more than eight. You’ll get all the local channels — ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox — plus popular cable networks like Discovery Channel, History, and A&E. No other live TV streaming service can say the same.

Comes with Hulu on-demand

Included in Hulu + Live TV is Hulu’s on-demand library, which we named the best on-demand streaming service for network shows, a $5.99 per month value (more on that below). That’s almost 3,000 shows and movies available anytime you want, including Hulu’s critically acclaimed originals like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and shows from ABC, Fox, and NBC the day after they air on TV. You can also upgrade to the $51 plan if you want Hulu on-demand without ads.

Carries most live sports

For most sports fans, Hulu + Live TV carries every channel you need. With every local network, plus ESPN, FS1, TBS, and TNT, you’ll get every major sporting event in the U.S. With Fox Sports and NBC Sports, it also has solid coverage for regional sports networks for your local MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS teams. The only area hardcore sports fans might find Hulu lacking? It doesn’t have any of the league-run channels from the NFL, MLB, NBA, or NHL. If you’re a diehard fan of one of those leagues, it might be worth upgrading to PlayStation Vue.

50 hours of DVR storage

Hulu’s DVR plan is one of the more generous around. You’ll get 50 hours of space, and it never expires as long as you subscribe. While Philo and PlayStation Vue both offer unlimited space, they’ll only keep your programs for about a month. The only service that tops Hulu is YouTube TV, which provides unlimited space and keeps recordings for nine months. Hulu also offers an upgrade to 200 hours of storage for an extra $10 a month.

Points to consider

Frustrating interface

If you’ve used Hulu’s on-demand service before, you know that it can be a bit of a headache to navigate. The same goes for Hulu + Live TV. The channel guide was especially disappointing. If you’re watching on a streaming device and want to see what else is on: The guide takes up the entire screen, so you can’t channel-surf and watch at the same time. Every other service we tested — and every cable TV guide we’ve used in the past decade — keeps part of the screen on the channel you’re watching. The guide itself only showed about four programs at a time, too, so you often have to do a lot of clicking to find something to watch.

On a laptop, Hulu’s guide takes up half the screen, but on a streaming device, it blocks everything.

For its part, Hulu knows it needs to fix some things. On a recent podcast, CEO Randy Freer admitted, “We built a consumer experience that probably was where things may end up, or where we get to, but it wasn’t as intuitive as we probably should have built.” We’d expect positive changes to happen in the near future.

Only two simultaneous streams

Hulu + Live TV only lets you stream on two devices at once, one of the stingier numbers around. You can upgrade to unlimited screens for an extra $10 a month, but we would have liked to see more streams allowed in its base package.

Why we chose it

Nationally televised games

No matter which sports you follow, PlayStation Vue meets or exceeds the coverage of its rivals. The Core package (plus all of PlayStation’s higher pricing tiers) has every channel you’d need to watch live sports from the NFL, MLB, NBA, PGA Golf, and NASCAR. And while it didn’t include every possible channel for NCAA basketball and football (the Pac-12 and ACC networks are missing), it’s still more than any of the competition’s packages.

Regional sports networks

Aside from the NFL, any local teams you follow probably broadcast their games on a regional sports network. Again, PlayStation Vue has you covered. It carries the most extensive lineup of regional sports networks that we saw, so you can still catch your local MLB, NBA, and NHL teams when they’re not on national TV. You should always run your ZIP code through the provider’s website to verify before signing up, but PlayStation Vue had all the regional sports networks we looked for in our test runs.

Extra perks

PlayStation Vue goes above and beyond with the supplemental features it provides in its live TV streaming service. You’ll get unlimited storage with the cloud DVR, something that was only matched by YouTube TV and Philo. Your recordings will delete after 28 days, but Vue also has a substantial on-demand library where you can catch shows after they air.

Points to consider

Not the best option for casual sports fans

While we thought that PlayStation Vue was by far the best option for sports fans, people who want a more well-rounded streaming experience might find it missing some key channels. The most glaring omissions were History, A&E, Comedy Central, Lifetime, and The CW, which all landed in the top 30 most desired channels in TiVo’s survey. If you don’t need to catch every game, Hulu + Live TV carries most live sports and offers a better overall channel selection.

Why we chose it

Intuitive interface and navigation

YouTube TV is an absolute pleasure to use. Most live TV streaming services stick to a fairly similar gamplan: dark backgrounds, cable TV-style channel scrolling, and a smattering of on-demand recommendations. With its clean white interface and bold bold, easy-to-read black lettering, YouTube TV explodes that playbook.

Its guide also did something we didn’t see anywhere else. When you stop on a channel while you’re scrolling, you can see a preview of what’s currently playing without actually opening it up. Still halftime on the game you want to watch? Your show in the middle of a commercial? YouTube TV lets you check in on each program’s status at a glance without fully committing.

Unlimited DVR storage

YouTube TV has the best cloud DVR plan of any streaming service. You’ll get unlimited space and it will keep your recordings for a full nine months. Save as much as you like, and never worry about it deleting that show you’re definitely getting around to soon.

Great for live sports

After PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV is the second-best option for sports fans. It carries all the same local channels and regional sports networks, so you’ll get the same combination of national sports and your local teams’ games. It’s only missing one major sports channel: the NFL Network. That means you’ll miss about seven national NFL games per year. If that’s a dealbreaker for you, PlayStation Vue might be worth the upgrade.

Points to consider

Average channel selection overall

While we loved YouTube TV’s user experience, its overall channel lineup is fairly mediocre. It graded out in the middle of the pack in our evaluation, ahead of Sling Orange + Blue (but $10 more a month) and DIRECTV NOW, but behind Hulu + Live TV, PlayStation Vue, and fubo TV ($5 more a month). YouTube TV is missing big names like History, A&E, Comedy Central, Lifetime, Hallmark Channel, and Nick, but its exceptional interface and navigation could be more important for some people.

Not compatible with Fire TV or PlayStation

As of right now, YouTube TV is compatible with the fewest number of streaming devices of any service, including Amazon’s Fire TV and PlayStation game consoles. YouTube has said that it would be coming to Fire TV in late 2019, but there’s currently no word on when exactly that will happen.

Why we chose it

Inexpensive

Internet Tv Providers

AT&T Watch’s greatest appeal is its price tag: $15 a month, the cheapest live TV streaming service around. That price is more akin to a Netflix or Spotify subscription than a cable bill. That’s not to say it doesn’t carry any substance — its 43 channels are mostly recognizable names — but WatchTV is clearly designed for channel-surfing on a budget.

Includes five of the 10 most popular channels

We were surprised how many popular channels WatchTV fit into its $15 a month budget. You’ll get five of the 10 channels consumers said they wanted the most — Discovery Channel, History, A&E, TNT, and TBS — a combination it shares with only Hulu and Sling. For comparison, DIRECTV NOW has seven of the top 10 channels, and it costs $40 more per month.

Points to consider

No local channels or sports

WatchTV is able to keep prices so low because it skips the TV that’s most expensive to carry, namely local and sports channels. Because they air things like awards shows, news, and sporting events that must be viewed live, networks can charge the most for them. If you go with WatchTV, you can still access ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC through a TV antenna or Locast.org.

No DVR or simultaneous streams

Unsurprisingly given its cheap price point, WatchTV doesn’t offer any cloud DVR storage or simultaneous streams. If these are a must for you, Philo offers a slightly worse channel selection, but unlimited DVR storage and three simultaneous streams for $20 a month.

Why we chose it

13 news channels

If you love politics but hate your cable bill, check out Pluto TV. It has 13 channels devoted to covering current events, including versions of name brands like CNN, CBS, and NBC. While it doesn’t always carry the same programming as their pay-TV versions, it does overlap a surprising amount. If you just want to catch major press conferences or breaking stories, Pluto TV has several good options for live news.

Old shows from MTV, Nick, and BET

Because of Pluto’s partnership with Viacom, it has a wealth of shows from the company’s cable channels: five versions of MTV, two Comedy Centrals, two Nicks, one CMT, and one BET. Most of the programming is from the late 90s/early 2000s era (including an entire channel devoted to MTV’s “The Hills”), but that might be a plus for certain nostalgia-minded millennials.

Several popular sports channels

We were surprised to find several sports channels in Pluto TV’s lineup that you usually have to pay for. Sports news channels like Fox Sports 1 and Stadium are included, and you can even catch live games from the MLS and NCAA’s Big Sky Conference. If you don’t want to pay the estimated $9 a month it costs to add ESPN to your cable package, Pluto TV is a worthy alternative.

Points to consider

Few recognizable cable channels

While it has plenty of names you’ll recognize, don’t expect Pluto to deliver the same shows and movies you get out of a paid service. Networks generally use it as a place to house older shows and movies that aren’t as in demand as their core programming.

Inopportune commercial breaks

Unlike paid TV, Pluto hasn’t quite figured out how to insert its ads into the flow of the program. When we were watching its news channels, the anchors would often be cut off mid-sentence as Pluto went to commercial. This was annoying, to be sure, but it’s hard to complain about a service you’re not paying for.

How We Chose the Best On-Demand TV Streaming Service

Large content budget

One of the appeals of on-demand streaming services is their reputation for high-quality content — both original and licensed. Shows like 'Stranger Things' and 'Orange Is the New Black' have turned into such massive successes that they’ve drawn bigger audiences than traditional cable network programming like 'The Bachelor'. To evaluate our three contenders, we first wanted to find out how committed they were to continuing this trend.

Unfortunately, each streaming service is incredibly cagey about its data. They don’t willingly share ratings, exact library volume (and when it changes), or subscriber numbers. But we do have some idea of how much money they’re investing. And while spending the most money obviously isn’t a guarantee of the best shows and movies, if you’re only going to subscribe to one service, it’s reasonable to pick the one that will reinvest more of your monthly fee back into content.

High-quality original programming

As behemoths like Disney begin to pull their catalogues from streaming services in order to promote their own platforms (essentially going the HBO route), original content will become more and more important for TV streaming providers as a way to attract and keep customers. But we wanted to make sure we weren’t recommending junk. For every 'Stranger Things', there’s a 'Girlboss' or 'The Get Down,' both cancelled after just one season. So, for every piece of original content that Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu produced, we evaluated the response. We aggregated critic ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, audience ratings from IMDb, and nominations and wins in Golden Globes, Oscars, and Emmys to figure out what kind of quality, on average, each on-demand TV streaming service offered.

Licensed TV shows and movies

While original content is important — and will only continue to grow in importance as ore companies launch their own services — we also wanted to evaluate each service’s library as a whole. After all, while Netflix touts its originals, data from Nielsen shows that 72% of viewing minutes on the service is spent on licensed shows and movies. With that in mind, we used IMDb’s list of the top 250 shows and movies and scored how many titles each service offers.

The Best On-Demand TV Streaming Services

Why we chose it

Best selection of popular shows and movies

By every metric we looked at, Netflix came out on top as the TV streaming service with the most shows and movies that people want to watch. Of IMDb’s top 250 TV series, Netflix has 73 in its library, nine more than next-best Hulu. What’s more, the names at the top, like “The Office” and “Friends” aren’t available on any other service.

It was the same story when we looked at movies. Netflix had the most in IMDb’s top 250 with 38, while The Criterion Channel came in a distant second with 30. If you want to watch the most popular titles out there, Netflix is clearly the best option.

Original content

Since each service keeps its ratings extremely close to the vest, it’s impossible to tell which shows are being watched the most. But it’s safe to say that Netflix has dominated the streaming conversation with its original series. Shows like “Stranger Things,” “Narcos,” and “Orange Is the New Black” have all been enormous hits, while Hulu and Amazon have struggled to produce anything that’s resonated on the same level.

In Emmys for original series, Netflix has racked up 135 nominations and 24 wins since 2015, while Amazon has only received 21 nominations and 12 wins, and Hulu just 19 nominations and five wins over the same period. 2018 marked a changing of the guard at the Emmys, with Netflix receiving more nominations than HBO for the first time ever.

Investment in content

In the fierce competition for your entertainment budget, Netflix consistently spends more on original and licensed TV shows and movies than Amazon, Hulu, and HBO. In 2018, Netflix spent $12 billion on content, with $15 billion projected for 2019. By comparison, Amazon’s 2018 content budget was $5 billion, Hulu’s was $2.5 billion, and HBO’s was $1.5 billion. Spending the most money obviously isn’t a guarantee of the best shows and movies, but if you’re only going to subscribe to one service, it’s a safe bet that Netflix is going to reinvest more of your monthly fee back into content than Amazon, Hulu, and HBO.

Family programming

If you’re a parent with younger kids, Netflix is by far the best choice for content the whole family can enjoy. It has 81 original shows and movies for kids, compared to only 22 for Amazon, 13 for HBO Now, and two for Hulu. It also has a bunch of 90s classics like “Goosebumps” and “The Magic School Bus” that parents might enjoy, too.

Points to consider

Fewer network shows

If keeping up with your favorite cable shows is your top priority, you might find Netflix lacking. It doesn’t have much in the way of network shows, and when it does, it doesn’t put them up until a few months after the season ends. Hulu On Demand has more content from the major networks than either Netflix or Amazon, and it puts them up the day after they’re aired on cable. As it’s owned by Disney (and by extension ABC and Fox), and NBC, Hulu is essentially the platform of choice for streaming content from major networks. It’s the only on-demand service where you can find hit shows like 'Empire', 'Modern Family', and 'This Is Us.' In fact, of the 10 highest-rated TV shows of 2018, the only one Netflix has is “NCIS,” and the most recent episode aired on TV more than a year ago.

More expensive than competitors

While we thought it was the best on-demand streaming service by far, you’ll pay a little more for Netflix than Amazon Prime Video or Hulu. It costs $9 per month for standard-definition streaming, but high-definition is a necessity for most viewers these days. (For reference, TV shows stopped airing in SD in 2014.) Netflix in HD runs $13 per month for HD streaming and two simultaneous streams and $16 for 4K streaming and four simultaneous streams. For comparison, Hulu and Amazon start at about $6 and $9 per month for HD, respectively.

Why we chose it

Network shows

Hulu has more shows from cable and network TV than any other TV streaming service. Because it’s owned by the duo of Disney (which owns ABC and Fox) and NBC, it covers the vast majority of TV’s most popular shows. Of the top nine most-watched series of 2018, Hulu has four of them in its library, compared to only one for Netflix and zero for Amazon.

Shows available the day after they air

Hulu typically puts up episodes of shows up the morning after they air on prime time TV, while Netflix waits until the entire season is finished, and then adds an extra few months. If you want to keep up with network shows without a cable subscription, Hulu is the only on-demand streaming service that gives you this option.

Ad-supported plan

We appreciated that Hulu gives you some options with its pricing. Its HD ad-supported plan costs $6 per month, less than half the price of Netflix’s HD plan. We didn’t find the commercials to be too much of an annoyance, either — about three 90-second blocks of ads for every half hour TV show. If you’d rather bypass commercials altogether, you can upgrade to the ad-free plan at $12 a month.

Points to consider

Less original content

While Hulu leads the pack when it comes to shows that originally air on TV, it’s had less success with its original content. It’s only produced 51 of its own shows and movies, compared to 161 for Amazon, and 832 for Netflix. It has had one major success with “The Handmaid’s Tale,” but outside of that, its original library is fairly thin.

Weak movie library

Hulu currently only has 1,469 movies in its library, compared to 3,922 for Netflix and 19,382 for Amazon Prime Video. That smaller selection doesn’t translate to better quality, either. Of IMDb’s Top 250 movies, Hulu only had nine overall, and only one in the top 30. Hulu’s library clearly favors TV shows instead of movies. If movies are more your thing, Netflix and The Criterion Channel are much better options.

Why we chose it

Amazon Prime benefits

You can subscribe to Prime Video on its own for $9 a month, but most people get it as a part of their Amazon Prime membership ($119 a year), where it’s just one of the many perks. If you subscribe to Prime, you’ll also get free two-day shipping on Amazon orders, unlimited photo storage, membership to Prime Music, and one free e-book a month.

Enormous library

Prime Video dwarfs the competition when it comes to the sheer number of titles in its library: 19,382 movies and 1,646 TV shows, more than Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and The Criterion Channel combined. However, even with all those titles, Prime Video still doesn’t have as many of the most popular movies and shows. Out of IMDb’s top 250 TV shows, it only has 53, fewer than both Netflix and Hulu. Of the top 250 movies, it also came in third behind Netflix and The Criterion Channel, with 28.

HBO back catalogue

Aside from HBO Now, Prime Video is the only way you can stream titles from HBO’s back catalogue. It includes a number of classic TV shows like “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” and “Sex and the City.” Unfortunately, you won’t get any newer shows like “Game of Thrones,” but it’s still a nice bonus.

Points to consider

No new network shows

Prime Video doesn’t carry many shows that are currently airing on network TV. If you want to watch ABC, CBS, Fox, or NBC shows without a cable subscription, Hulu carries three out of the big four networks, and usually puts episodes up the day after they air on TV.

Weak original content

Amazon has failed to make much of a splash when it comes to original content, even though it’s spending an estimated $6 billion this year to make its own shows and movies. It has only 21 Emmy nominations and 12 wins over the past four years — half of what Netflix has received. While it’s had a handful of critical darlings like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Prime Video’s 77% average Rotten Tomatoes critic score for originals was lower than HBO’s, Netflix’s, and Hulu’s.

Amazon did have the edge on movies with a 73% Rotten Tomatoes critic score compared to Netflix’s 72%. But with ten times fewer original movies in its library, that was a less impressive feat.

Why we chose it

Hit shows

More than any other streaming service, HBO Now houses the shows that get people talking. From “The Sopranos” to “Game of Thrones,” the premium network seems to always have at least one show that’s a must-have for viewers. You can see this clearly in Emmy wins and nominations over the years, too, where HBO has completely dominated the competition. In the past four years alone, it has six out of eight Emmys for Best Drama and Best Comedy — the highest honors in TV.

Great selection of documentaries

HBO’s original documentaries are in a class of their own. It currently has 251 feature-length documentaries on HBO Now, and they’ve received an average Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 91%. The next closest streaming service is Netflix with 93 titles and a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Points to consider

Fewer titles overall

If you’re searching for specific movies on HBO Now, you’ll more often than not come up empty. With fewer than 1,000 titles available to stream, HBO Now isn’t close to Amazon, Netflix, or Hulu in terms of sheer breadth of movies and shows. HBO would probably spin this as a positive — unlike Netflix’s “try everything” approach, HBO’s seal of approval signifies quality — but there’s no denying that you’re getting a lot less for your money with HBO Now. It’s banking on the “must-see” appeal of a handful of shows, not its library as a whole.

Expensive

Even though HBO spent $10 billion less in 2018 than Netflix — and has more than 3,000 fewer titles — it still charges $2 more per month for its HD plan. At $15 per month, it’s the most expensive on-demand streaming service on our list, and is understandably hard to justify for a lot of people. If you want HBO without paying the full price, one option is to replace your cable package with DIRECTV NOW, a live TV streaming service that includes HBO (and by extension, HBO Go) in all of its plans, which start at $50 a month.

Why we chose it

Classic films

A subscription to The Criterion Channel is like a course in film history: It has more than 1,600 “important classic and contemporary films” in its catalogue, from some of the first movies ever made to more recent Cannes darlings. Of IMDb’s top 250 movies, The Criterion Channel had 30 of them, second only to Netflix’s 38.

That was impressive, but when you shift the focus to critics’ lists, it absolutely dominates. We used Sight and Sound’s top 100 list, which polls 846 critics, programmers, academics and distributors every 10 years, and which Roger Ebert called, “by far the most respected of the countless polls of great movies — the only one most serious movie people take seriously.” On the most recent 2012 list, The Criterion Channel had 52 films; the next closest was Amazon with six. If you’re looking for classic, arthouse, and foreign films, Criterion has a library you won’t find streaming anywhere else.

Bonus features

Most of the films in The Criterion Channel’s library come with supplemental videos that go behind the scenes with iconic filmmakers, actors, and movie critics. We especially loved their curated collections like “Killer Couples” and “Columbia Noir.” If you want to go deep on a specific subject, The Criterion Channel is a wonderful guide.

Four simultaneous streams

The Criterion Channel allows you to stream on up to four devices at the same time, more than any other on-demand streaming service. If you live in a house full of movie buffs, you’ll all be able to use one account without interrupting each other.

Offline viewing

Along with Prime Video and Netflix, The Criterion Channel is one of the few services that lets you download movies to watch offline. Just download the app on iOS or Android and you can store titles on your device.

Points to consider

Online Tv Streaming Services Comparison

Fewer new or popular movies

The Criterion Channel doesn’t have much in the way of blockbusters or recent releases. Of its 1,604 titles, only 106 were made this decade — fewer than the number of films it has from the 1930s. If keeping up with the latest hits is important to you, you’re better off going with one of the bigger names.

No TV shows

Unlike most on-demand services, The Criterion Channel doesn’t offer a mix of TV shows and movies. It’s devoted entirely to films, so you won’t get the same well-rounded library you’ll find with Netflix or Amazon.

Guide to TV Streaming Services

How to find the right TV streaming service for you

Decide which channels you need

Before you start comparing packages, it’s good to have an idea about which channels you want to prioritize. Do you just want to follow your local sports teams without paying a huge cable bill? Make sure the service you choose has your regional sports network, as well as local channels like CBS, Fox, and NBC for NFL games. Don’t care as much about the local networks or sports channels? You can save by going with a skinny bundle like AT&T WatchTV that skips these popular channels. Check out our full review of live TV streaming services for more info.

Check your ZIP code

To avoid surprises, we suggest entering your ZIP code on your provider's website and checking the exact channel lineup offered. Local channels — the ones that are essential to most TV viewers — often have different availability depending on where you live. And many times, they’re only available on-demand, defeating much of the purpose of live TV streaming.

Sign up for free trials

Every live TV streaming service we saw offers a free trial of at least one week, and it’s absolutely worth taking advantage of. Once you’ve narrowed down your list to a few services, take each one out for a test run to see how it feels in your day-to-day life. Many times, little quirks like how a service sets up its channel guide can have a big effect on the overall experience. Of course, you’ll never be locked into a service for longer than a month, but it’s still a good idea to experiment before you break out the wallet.

Best Internet And Tv Services

Invest in a smart TV, gaming console, or streaming device

Once you’ve settled on a streaming service, you’ll still need a way to get the content to your TV. For this, you’ll need two things: a strong internet connection (more on that below) and a way to access the internet through your TV. If you bought your TV in the past few years, chances are it came with some streaming apps pre-loaded, although it might not be compatible with the service you settled on. Gaming consoles like Xbox One and PlayStation 4 also have the ability to download streaming apps, although compatibility is, again, fairly limited. The best option for most people is to invest in a dedicated streaming device like a Fire TV or Roku. These typically cost around $50, plug into a TV’s HDMI port, and use a Wi-Fi connection to stream video apps.

TV Streaming Services FAQs

Streaming devices plug into your TV’s HDMI port and access your Wi-Fi. This allows you to download the app through which your programs run, whether Netflix or DIRECTV NOW.

The FCC recommends 5 to 8 Mbps download speeds for HD streaming and 25 Mbps for 4K Ultra HD. Keep in mind, that number will need to go up if you plan to stream on more than one device at a time. Ookla’s Speedtest.net is a great way to measure your internet speeds if you’re unsure about your service.

If you have an older TV, you might find that it doesn’t have an HDMI plug-in. This leaves you with three options for streaming TV: Buy a new television, invest in an HDMI to AVI converter, or purchase a Roku Express+. Converters generally cost around $20 and let you use any streaming device out there, although there have been complaints about converters not working as smoothly as advertised. The Roku Express+ is the only streaming device on the market that plugs into the red, white, and yellow composite jacks found on older TVs.

Compare the Best TV Streaming Services

More TV Streaming Reviews

Check out our in-depth reviews of everything you’ll need to start streaming:

You might also like