Ranking the Best Streaming Services for Cord Cutters It’s been a few months since I last wrote here about PlayStation Vue, and the landscape has changed substantially since then with regards to live TV streaming services. Sling have started beta-testing their DVR functionality (don’t worry, they charge you extra for it), and we’ve seen some new challengers appear in the shape of Hulu Live TV and YouTube TV. What’s new? What’s good? What’s bad? Let’s take a look.

Beginning with PlayStation Vue which, confusingly, doesn’t require a PlayStation… it’s still pretty good! This remains my streaming service of choice -- but I fully acknowledge it’s far from perfect. For one, Viacom channels disappeared back in November 2016. So no Comedy Central, Spike, MTV, Nickelodeon, et al. If this is a dealbreaker for you then move on. AMC and BBC America were added (even to the lowest package), as well as the ability to add HBO Now to any Vue package for another $15 a month. Showtime is also available as an add-on for around $10 per month. Vue now has CBS in more markets than it did before, though it’s not nationwide. Vue packages remain at $30, $35, $45, and a new $65 “Ultra” tier -- which includes all channels Vue offers bundled with Showtime and HBO. Zip codes with local channels available to Vue need to add $10 to those prices, and unfortunately there is still no opt-out for locals even if you don’t want them. Vue’s DVR is essentially unlimited (though an enterprising user on reddit found that the maximum number of shows which can be added is 500), and expire after 28 days. Moving onto Sling, and… well, it’s still Sling. It has two packages, Sling Orange ($20 a month) and Sling Blue ($25 a month), which contain slightly different channel lineups, but you can combine both for $40 a month. Viacom channels are available, but most of them aren’t in the base Orange and Blue plans, so you need to pony up extra if you want all of them. Showtime ($10), HBO ($15), Cinemax ($10), and Starz ($9) can all be added, as well as some other specialised bundles like news ($5), sports ($10), and an impressive choice of foreign channel packages. Sling has a new DVR service they’re currently beta-testing, but they charge an additional $5 a month for it. Recording space is limited to 50 or 100 hours depending on which device you’re using, and there are some blacked out DVR channels, including Disney, ESPN, and Fox networks. A notable network exclusion is that CBS isn’t available at all on Sling, in any package. DirecTV Now has four base packages available ($35/$50/$60/$70), and for $5 each you can add HBO and Cinemax to any package, and Starz for $8. Viacom channels are available, even on the cheapest $35 package. As with Sling, CBS isn’t available on DirecTV Now. Oh and a DVR? No to that too. There’s talk of this feature coming in some shape or form later this year, but right now there’s no DVR on DirecTV Now. One interesting wrinkle with DirecTV Now is that they offer a discount of $25 a month for any package if you’re a subscriber to AT&T’s Unlimited cell phone service, and they’ll throw in free HBO too. I suspect you’ll have to jump through more hoops than a champion hula-hooper to get the discount, but still, it’s a nice little addition subtraction. And now onto the new kids on the block, beginning with YouTube TV. The bad news is that right now it’s only available in a select few locations around the US, including the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles. More areas will be rolling out shortly, but there’s no ETA or firmer details just yet. YouTube TV has opted to keep things simple by having only a single package available ($35 a month), with the only available add-ons currently being Showtime ($11) and Fox Soccer Plus ($15). 40 channels are included, but there’s no Viacom, no AMC, and no Discovery. That’s some notable exceptions. You do get all four major broadcast networks, however -- even CBS, which is spotty on Vue and not available at all on Sling and DirecTV Now.

YouTube TV does include a cloud DVR which lets you keep an unlimited amount of recordings for up to nine months. You’re also able to share a single YouTube TV subscription with up to six Google accounts, each receiving their own DVR. The other newcomer I want to look at is Hulu Live TV. As with YouTube TV, Hulu have opted for a single package, costing $40 a month. Showtime can be added for an extra $9 per month. You get around 50 channels (depending on where you live), but again, no Viacom channels, and no live AMC channels -- but you can watch AMC On Demand content due to your Hulu Live TV subscription including access to Hulu’s traditional On Demand selection (with commercials, unless you pay extra to be able to skip them). Local channels are dependent on your location, but at least there’s no extra charge for them if you can receive them -- unlike Vue. The included DVR records only 50 hours, though you can upgrade to the “Enhanced” DVR (which can record up to 200 hours and also let you skip through commercials) for an extra $15 a month. As you can see, there is no “magic bullet” selection here that will be best for everyone. What you want from a streaming TV service will determine which of these looks appealing to you. This is my summarised best-to-worst list, with a tl;dr chart at the end. Ranking The Best Live Streaming Options for Cord Cutters • 1st -- PlayStation Vue: Vue sits right in the sweet-spot for me. Good prices (but not as low as Sling’s cheapest offering); a good DVR (but not as good as YouTube TV’s); good channel and package selections (but without Viacom). It’s also got the advantage (with Sling) of being in existence for the longest of the five on this list, so a lot of the niggles have been worked out. Vue remains my go-to recommendation for a streaming service for the average person. • 2nd -- Sling TV: Sling is a strange beast. Good pricing, but charging extra for its restrictive DVR access rubs me up the wrong way. No CBS, but they do have Viacom channels, just with many of them outside the two default packages and needing to be added-on for a fee. That being said, Sling are probably the most “a la carte” provider available due to the many add-ons that can supplement their default packages. • 3rd -- Hulu Live TV: Hulu Live TV is approaching the pack, but nickel-and-diming for additional DVR space over 50 hours, as well as making you sit through commercials unless you pay extra to be able to skip them, makes it a difficult sell. It will be attractive to some just from the Hulu name, though. • 4th -- YouTube TV: YouTube TV is the one to watch, certainly for their liberal DVR policy and straightforward package offering. Right now it’s sparse on major channels and availability, but that will likely change over the next twelve months. • 5th -- DirecTV Now: DirecTV Now has Viacom channels in its base packages… and very little else. No DVR. No CBS. You can’t even fast-forward or rewind a live show, only pause/resume. Maybe if you’re an AT&T Unlimited subscriber and qualify for the discount… but for most people this will be a “bare bones” service that’s hard to recommend.

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Most recommended from 54 comments

KoRnGtL15

Premium Member

join:2007-01-04

Grants Pass, OR 11 recommendations KoRnGtL15 Premium Member Playstation Vue is GREAT! Been very happy with it and have had it for over a year now. Dropped Directv and never looked back or care to. We had them for 9-10 years. Core Slim $34.99 now compared to our bill with Directv fast approaching $150 mark. I was not the type of customer to call in and "beg" for a deal. They need me. I don't need them. To bad many other customers don't have that attitude as well. We always just payed after promo prices ended and finally got tired of the rate increases all the time. Its only got worse since AT&T bought them. vabello

join:2011-05-05

Hackettstown, NJ 344.1 41.5

1 edit 3 recommendations vabello Member DirecTV Now 5th?? Really? First off, I don't care much about DVR. I'll get to that reason in a moment... DirecTV now has the best picture by far and a higher bit rate than most other services, and the channel selection is way beyond any of the other services I've seen. I've been a subscriber since it launched in November. I'm grandfathered in at $35 a month for the 100 channel package, and they have given me free HBO for a year on top of that. The service had a lot of reliability issues for the first few months, but it's been extremely reliable on Apple TV since the beginning of the year. I basically considered it to be free because I was getting an Apple TV for less than the regular cost, plus the service. I ended up signing up again just to get another Apple TV for my bedroom, and they ended up sending me a third in the mail on top of that which seemed to be a common error they made when you signed up in an AT&T store. I've got all my local channels with the exception of CBS and CW, but you can watch CW for free with their app and subscribe to CBS All Access if you want CBS that bad, and they are supposedly still in talks with CBS to bring them onboard... which brings me to my original point. There's something that is totally being missed in this review. The broadcasters' app logins! DirecTV Now has a decent number and that keeps increasing. I have very little need for a DVR because I can watch most of the shows that the networks offer through their app. I had used Playstation Vue on FireTV before DirecTV Now and it was too unreliable for me. The streams kept skipping and jumping back in time on live TV or freezing, then they lost Viacom on top of that... I cancelled after a month. DirecTV Now has done nothing but give me incentives to stay with them and their service is getting better all the time. It's far more reliable and useable for me today than Vue was back when I tried it late last year. I can't see how they are last in the list at all. I think Hulu doesn't even offer app logins at all.



You also say you can't rewind, but you're totally forgetting that there are a bunch of channels and shows that support 72 hour rewind so you can go back and watch a show on many channels up to 3 days ago which is kind of like a DVR. Yes, you still can't fast forward through it which is a huge pain, but it's not like it doesn't exist.



Anyway, I'm a DirecTV Now fan. I can't understand how these sites keep rating it so low. It's an incredible value in my opinion... I just helped a friend switch to unlimited data with AT&T to save him money. He then signed up for the base $35 DirecTV Now service, and got the $25 discount on top of that, plus free HBO... So he essentially got it for $10 and is still paying less than he did before he got an unlimited plan. I've also cancelled my SiriusXM service and just stream live TV via bluetooth in my car now because AT&T doesn't charge anything for streaming DTVN. Again, awesome value.



My only gripe is the number of concurrent streams is limited to 2. Vue was much better at 5... but I can make do with 2 with all the added value I'm getting. ncted

join:2010-10-25

Durham, NC 2 recommendations ncted Member RE: DTV Now and AT&T Discount This actually shows up pretty fast. They appear to have an account sweep that runs regularly for people on the unlimited plan which looks for similar billing address and applies the discount automatically.