Author: Cameron Summerson / Source: howtogeek.com
Streaming TV services are becoming valid cable replacements for many people, but there are a lot of choices out there at this point. We’ve looked at the five biggest—now it’s time to compare them.
To be clear, what we’re looking at here is not regular streaming services, like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.
Rather, we’re talking about services that let you stream live TV, and offer many of the same channels you’d get with a cable subscription.| Here Are The Top Cable TV & Internet Packages Available – Search Now. | |
| |
| Yahoo Search | |
| Learn more |
The Contenders
There are really five major competitors in the streaming TV space:
There are other choices out there, but these have proven to be the biggest, most popular, and best choices for most people. But how do they compare to each other? Which one is right for you? These are the questions we look to answer today.
What’s interesting with some streaming options is that a few of them offer one plan, and one plan only—this is the strategy for both Hulu and YouTube TV. Others, like Vue and DirecTV Now, offer more traditional plan packages. And then there’s Sling, that offers base packages and multiple add-ons so you can piecemeal your streaming plan. It can all get quite overwhelming.
Then there’s also the choice of channels—the packages and plans make no difference at all if the channels you want aren’t available. That further throws a wrench into trying to find the best fit for your family. While we won’t be able to list literally every channel offered by every service—especially since channel selection is very objective—we’ll do our best to play out the numbers.
Sling: Best Bet For a Cheap Starter Package
There is no true a la carte cable subscription, but Sling is about as close as it’s going to get—for now, anyway. Sling offers two base packages—Blue and Orange—and then allows you to add all sorts of other packages to the deal. It’s worth noting that Cloud DVR costs $5 extra per month. Here’s an overview of the what each offers, as well as how much they cost:
- Sling Orange: 30+ channels, one stream at a time, $20 a month
- Sling Blue: 40+ channels, multiple streams at a time, $25 a month
- Sling Orange+Blue: Both packages combined into one, $40 a month
RELATED: What Is Sling TV, and Can It Replace Your Cable Subscription?
The channel packages are very similar to basic cable, but it’s worth noting that some of the add-on packages are different depending on whether you have Sling Orange or Blue as your base package. For instance, if you have Blue, you won’t get access to the Disney channel, which also means that the Kids Extra package won’t have Disney Junior or XD. If you choose Orange+Blue, of course, you’ll have access to all of them.
Here are some of the add-on plans and how much they are. You can further explore the channel options on Sling’s website.
- Cloud DVR: $5 per month
- Sports Extra: $5/$10 a month (Orange/Blue)
- Kids Extra: $5 a month
- Comedy Extra: $5 a month
- Lifestyle Extra: $5 a month
- Hollywood Extra: $5 a month
- News Extra: $5 a month
- Broadcast Extra: $5 a month
- Heartland Extra: $5 a month
- International: $5 a month
- Espanol: $5 a month
- HBO / Showtime / Cinemax / Starz: between $10-15 a month
Sling is a great deal if you only watch certain channels—for instance, if you just want to watch news and some sports, you can just get Sling Orange for $20, and maybe the Sports add-on for $5, and you’ve got everything you need for $25 per month. If you want to have tons of channels, though, it starts to add up really quickly and gets too expensive. I
When it comes to using Sling, it’s nice. It has an intuitive, familiar interface. The DVR works like you’d expect, and it’s just overall really reliable. It’s available on pretty much any device you can imagine—on the web, Android, iOS, Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, and more. The only thing it’s missing from is PlayStation.
You can sign up for Sling here.
YouTube TV: Multiple Users, Streams, and Unlimited DVR Storage
YouTube TV admittedly got off to a bit of a rocky start, but it has since really stepped up and became one of the best streaming TV packages you can get. YouTube TV takes an all-or-nothing approach to plans. There is one plan, and it’s $40 a month. YouTube TV also offers one killer feature that none of the others can match—cloud DVR with no storage limits. That’s the power of Google right there.
RELATED: What Is YouTube TV, and Can It Replace Your Cable Subscription?
If you want premium movie channels, you can add those too: Showtimes ($11), Fox Soccer Plus ($15), Shudder ($5), and Sundance Now ($7). There’s a distinct lack of two highly desired options: HBO and Cinemax. Google has done a good job of adding new channels to YouTube TV over the last few months, so hopefully it can eventually add more premium channels too. The good news is that you can buy HBO…
The post Which Streaming TV Service is Right for You? (Sling, Hulu, YouTube TV, Vue, or DirecTV) appeared first on FeedBox.