The cheapest live TV services for cord-cutting are the free ones: Pluto TV and Xumo. There are paid ones that cost very little, like Frndly TV, Philo, Paramount+, YipTV, Spectrum TV, Sling.
Below, here are the best cheap offerings so that you can cut the cord and make the biggest savings.
With people overwhelmed by the onslaught of mammoth streaming services, companies like Xumo are having a moment. A free, ad-supported hub for both live and on-demand content, Xumo is gaining ground in the streaming landscape.
Frndly TV is a streaming platform focused on family-friendly live TV channels, with an attractive price starting at $5.99. There are three plans, Basic, Classic and Premium, which respectively cost the $5.99 starting price, $7.99, and $9.99. The Basic plan only allows for SD streaming, but both other plans allow for HD. The basic plan doesn't allow for DVR recordings, but the other plans allow for 3 months and 9 months respectively. And lastly, the basic plans allows for only one simultanious stream, but the Classic allows for 2 and the Premium allows for 4.
Sling TV has two offers: Blue, which includes over 45 channels like CNN and MSNBC, and Orange, which includes ESPN and Disney Channels.
Each plan costs $35. You can combine them for $50. If you get either Sling Blue or Sling Orange+Blue, you can get a news extra which gives you access to 10 news channels plus CNBC, Fox Business, NDTV24x7, France24. If you get only Sling Orange, you get the 10 news channels plus HLN.
The 10 news channels in every news extra are NewsNation, NewsMaxTV, Science Channel, BBC World News, Weather Nation, Euronews, News18, RT America, CGTN, and Law & Crime Trial Network.
The Sling Lifestyle extra includes reality TV and lifestyle channels like We TV, DIY Network, VH1, and the Cooking Channel. When you add this extra to the Orange Plan, your total subscription will cost $41 (unless you choose to get other extras).
Paramount plus is mostly a Netflix-style streaming service, offering movies and TV shows on-demand like The Good Fight or Yellowstone.
The premium plan of Paramount Plus gives you access to Live TV from CBS: CBS local channels, CBS News (CBSN), CBS Sports, ET live, and some live sporting events like NFL on CBS Live. It also offers on-demand access to programming from Comedy Central, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Paramount Pictures and Smithsonian Channel.
YipTV provides viewers with the international content they’ve been missing, prioritizing TV and film from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain, with select content from the U.S.
Philo is one of the most interesting ways to cut the cord out there: it offers over 60 channels for as little as $20. If you don't watch sports or a lot of local TV, but want access to everything else, it's the perfect Live TV option.
Spectrum TV Choice is an internet television service that is only available to Charter Spectrum internet customers. It costs $24.99 per month, the channels available to you will depend on your location, but usually you can choose 10 more channels to add to your plan. Please be careful that after 30 days, you might not be able to change the list of 10 channels you choose.
Designed as an alternative to cable subscriptions and on-demand streaming platforms, Spectrum TV Essentials offers a combination of major cable channels and on-demand content that can be streamed through smart TVs, digital media players, and mobile apps.
Spectrum TV is accessible via Apple TV, Samsung Smart TV, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Chromecast, as well as via web browser (using Flash), desktop and mobile app including Android and iOS. As of December 2020, Spectrum TV is no longer available via Roku.
Sling Orange is one of two plans from cord-cutting alternative Sling.
Channels that Sling Orange has and Sling Blue doesn't have include: Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, Freeform, and MotorTrend. Sling Orange has mostly the advantage of channels owned by Disney.
Sling Blue is a live-tv bundle from cord-cutting alternative Sling, which is owned by the telecom provider Dish. It has many of the top 20 most watched national TV channels in the U.S..
