Tablo TV Review

streaming-reviews • January 13, 2025 • Staff

If you’re tired of subscriptions, cable or streaming, and just want to pay for TV once, buy Tablo TV. You’ll only have to pay for the device—the latest already comes with a built-in indoor antenna—which itself requires a one-time payment of about $70 to $130, depending on what version you get. It helps you access all the channels available to you for free, from local channels like ABC, NBC, FOX, and CBS, as well as 70 FAST channels, including HSN, ION, Grit, MeTV, and CourtTV. And because all the channels are free, you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription. You just have to set up the device with its easy-peasy interface and it lets you watch both local TV and live streaming onto all major smart TVs and mobile devices connected to your home network.

Is this a service people have been excited about? Does anyone need it? Or is it just another addition.

Given its start in 2010, it’s not exactly a new and exciting service. It’s mostly a great addition for over-the-air antenna subscribers making the transition to streaming– since both are available to view onto the system– and it’s great for people who don’t want to spend for a subscription, since you just have to pay for the Tablo device itself.

What does the service do or offer differently?

At the start of its launch, Tablo TV was one of the few services offering both broadcast TV and streaming available to pair with a great DVR device. Viewers can control DVR remotely on the Tablo app and they can even watch what they recorded across various devices. However, later on, as more streaming services added DVR without having the same limitations Tablo TV has, it’s hard to recommend the service to newer users since plenty of its features are available in other services. These limitations include watching recordings remotely on the 4th Gen version, or watching on PC or Mac, which isn't compatible yet.

Is the channel lineup or the on-demand library exciting? Or is it just filler?

Given half of what Tablo offers relies on an antenna, it's hard to say. The local channels vary from location to location, depending on what’s being aired by the local stations, independent or affiliate. It's because of this that Tablo doesn't rely on a monthly subscription, seeing that these channels are available for free. That being said, some users have reported some discrepancies between what Tablo says is out of their scope and what their local stations offer– this could be because the device only supports ATSC 1.0 signals, rather than the encrypted 3.0, at least for now. Thankfully, all the FAST channels are available for free as well, though the selection is also what you'd expect from other free live TV streaming services.

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Comparaison Value
Price 0
Live Channels 85
Live Channels ABC, Alien Nation, All Reality, All Weddings, AllBlk Gems, Almost Friday, AMC En Español, AMC Thrillers, ANIME x HIDIVE, Bike, Bloomberg Originals, Bloomberg TV, Bounce, Bounce XL, Buzzfeed Unsolved, CBS, Circle, Comedy Dynamics, Country Network, Court TV, Court TV Legendary, Craftsy, CW, Dove, Draft Kings TV, Entrepreneur, Estrella Games, Estrella News, Estrella TV, Fawsome, Forbes, FOX, Free Movies +, Fubo Sports, GRIT, Grit Xtra, Gusto, Gusto Español, History Time, Homeful, HSN, IFC Film Picks, iFood, ION, ION Mystery, ION Plus, LAFF More, Love Nature, Maximum Effort Channel, MeTV, MSG Sports Zone, Mytime Movie Network, NBC, Nosey, Nosey Judge, Outside TV+, Overtime, Pac-12 Insider, PBS, Portlandia, Powder, QVC, Racing America, RetroCrush, Scripps News, Skateboarding, Slightly Off IFC, Snowboarder, So Real, Sports News Highlights, Stories by AMC, Surfer, Tastemade, Tastemade Home, Tastemade Travel, Team USA, The Big Dish, The Design Network, The Washington Post, Time, Total Crime, Univision, Walking Dead Universe, Women’s Sports Network, World Poker Tour
Devices Amazon Fire TV, Android, Android TV, Apple TV, Google TV, iOS, LG TV, Roku, Roku TV, Samsung, Samsung Smart TV

Tablo TV Price

Free. Tablo TV is ad-supported and does not require a subscription.

Why get it

Get Tablo if you just want fast channels and DVR alongside the regular local TV channels you’re already getting through your antenna. However, if you’re looking for specific channels, it’s better to check out the other live TV streaming services.

Who is it for

For viewers who just want to watch and record their local TV channels, and live in an area with good signal, Tablo’s DVR service makes it the device for you.

Background

Originally developed by the Nuvyyo tech company in 2010, Tablo was first conceptualized as a DVR system linked to your antenna, so that it can air it to your home network, making it easy for you to watch both broadcast TV and streaming within the same system. However, when it was sold to E. W. Scripps in 2022, Scripps restarted the entire ecosystem. It’s because of this there are multiple generations of DVRs under the same name of Tablo, and while the legacy version for older users still works, the 4th Gen version experience can vary depending on the device you use.

Tablo TV Devices

Tablo TV is available on Amazon Fire TV, Android, Android TV, Apple TV, Google TV, iOS, LG TV, Roku, Roku TV, Samsung, and Samsung Smart TV.

Tablo TV channels

Tablo TV carries ABC, Alien Nation, All Reality, All Weddings, AllBlk Gems, Almost Friday, AMC En Español, AMC Thrillers, ANIME x HIDIVE, Bike, Bloomberg Originals, Bloomberg TV, Bounce, Bounce XL, Buzzfeed Unsolved, CBS, Circle, Comedy Dynamics, Country Network, Court TV, Court TV Legendary, Craftsy, CW, Dove, Draft Kings TV, Entrepreneur, Estrella Games, Estrella News, Estrella TV, Fawsome, Forbes, FOX, Free Movies +, Fubo Sports, GRIT, Grit Xtra, Gusto, Gusto Español, History Time, Homeful, HSN, IFC Film Picks, iFood, ION, ION Mystery, ION Plus, LAFF More, Love Nature, Maximum Effort Channel, MeTV, MSG Sports Zone, Mytime Movie Network, NBC, Nosey, Nosey Judge, Outside TV+, Overtime, Pac-12 Insider, PBS, Portlandia, Powder, QVC, Racing America, RetroCrush, Scripps News, Skateboarding, Slightly Off IFC, Snowboarder, So Real, Sports News Highlights, Stories by AMC, Surfer, Tastemade, Tastemade Home, Tastemade Travel, Team USA, The Big Dish, The Design Network, The Washington Post, Time, Total Crime, Univision, Walking Dead Universe, Women’s Sports Network, and World Poker Tour.

Our verdict

Our team rates Tablo TV 6/10.

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