Live TV streaming services for cord cutters: How to choose the best one for you
Home Entertainment
Forget cable TV.
Live TV streaming services are the way of the future.
They work in much the same way as cable.
But they replace your massive cable TV box with one of these.
And an app with live TV with familiar channels like ESPN, CNN and Fox.
Live TV streaming is more expensive than Netflix, But can be more affordable than getting TV from your cable company.
This no contracts so you can try one out and then cancel if you don't like it.
They include free trials and of course you don't have to deal with the cable guy ever again.
Numerous TV services are available today, each with different pricing and channel line up.
They include familiar names like Direct TV Now, Hulu with live TV, and YouTube TV.
There's also a handful of lesser known services like Sling TV, Fubo, and Philo.
They start at just $15 per month and go up from there.
But with so many services and hundreds of channels on offer, how do you decide which one is for you?
The first question you need to answer is what are the channels you watch the most?
If you watch a lot of local channels or sports then you need to spend more than if you just chill out to the cooking channel.
All of the services offer dozens of channels.
But sometimes big ones like ESPN, Fox News.
Nickelodeon and Comedy Central missing.
The cheaper live TV services also lack the big four local channels in your area.
You may want to use an over the air antenna to watch local channels.
Next, you need to decide which features you want.
Most services offer a DVR and the ability to pause live TV and rewind which is useful if you need to answer the door or refresh children's.
Most also offers substantial on demand library.
Every service has some kind of program guide for browsing what's on and scheduling recordings but that often look very different from the grid [UNKNOWN] you might be used to on your cable box.
Video quality on streaming TV is often very good but the speed of your internet connection or wi-fi quality can have an impact.
And also worth noting that most streaming channels are only offered in stereo, while most cable channels come in Dolby surround and of you have a large family with multiple tvs and devices, remember that some services restrict the number of streams you can watch at once, in addition to tv devices like smart tvs roku amazon fire tv and apple tv, You can stream live TV to your phone, tablet, or computer.
You can even watch on your phone outside the home with a solid 4G connection.
How much do you need to pay?
Prices are changing all the time, and they currently start at around $15 and go up to about $50 or so for basic packages.
If you want add-ons like HBO, you should budget for those as well.
Live TV streaming services make it easier than ever to get what you want, where you want.
If you find the one that's right for you, you can finally cut the cable TV cord.