Guide to Streaming Video Services
Here are all the details on where to stream movies, TV series, sports, and more
More people ditch cable and satellite TV and rely on streaming services each year, which isn’t surprising given the ever-escalating costs of traditional pay TV. In fact, in July 2022 streaming viewership surpassed the number of people watching cable TV for the first time ever, according to Nielsen.
One reason is the exploding number of streaming options now available. Those numbers rose sharply over the past few years, as many of the country’s largest media companies launched their own streaming services featuring popular original content, and stopped licensing shows and movies to services like Amazon Prime and Netflix.
Big and Bigger
Newer services, such as Apple TV+ and Disney+, have now joined Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix as primary streaming choices for many people.
Amazon Prime
Price: $139 per year or $15 per month, with free shipping on Amazon Prime purchases. A video-only subscription costs $9 per month.
Prime Video delivers a large library of TV shows and movies, plus a solid roster of original shows, including a new season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; “Wheel of Time,” an epic fantasy adventure starring Rosamund Pike; and “Reacher,” based on the popular Lee Child novels. Fans of epic adventures can now watch the much-hyped “Lord of the Rings” prequel series, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”
Amazon recently acquired MGM, bringing 4,000 films and 17,000 TV shows to Amazon Prime (and some to its free ad-supported Freevee streaming service, described lower down). It also has a deal that will bring new Universal movies to Amazon Prime Video four months after they appear on NBCUniversal’s new Peacock service. Titles include “Jurassic World: Dominion” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru.”
In addition, the company has been bumping up its sports coverage recently. Last year Amazon streamed 21 New York Yankees games and it’s now the exclusive home of “Thursday Night Football” NFL games (except for games played on Thanksgiving).
Sign up for Amazon Prime.
Apple TV+
Price: $7 per month.
Apple TV+ is a good bet for viewers interested in Apple’s new original programming and those who want the convenience of adding more premium channels, such as HBO Max and Showtime, through the service’s app.
The Apple TV+ subscription streaming service, which is now going on 3 years old, recently raised its price from $5 to $7 per month. Apple TV+ is included in Apple One, which bundles up to five other Apple services into a single monthly subscription, with plans starting at $17 a month.
Series include “Severance,” a dark original drama series from Ben Stiller. The service also has Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, "Emancipation," starring Will Smith, and “CODA,” the Academy Award-winning movie about a teenager who is the only hearing member of her family.
The service also offers original series, including “The Morning Show” starring Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Carell, and “Ted Lasso,” the Emmy-winning Jason Sudeikis comedy about an American football coach hired to run a British soccer team.
Sign up for Apple TV+.
Disney+
Price: $8 per month with ads, $11 a month without.
Given its vast library of content, Disney+ is a no-brainer for many families. Disney owns all the “Star Wars” movies, as well as Marvel Studios and Pixar. Its most recent acquisition is 20th Century Fox, now renamed 20th Century Studios. That brings subscribers movie franchises such as “Avatar,” “Deadpool,” and “X-Men,” and TV shows including “The Simpsons” and “Empire”—as well as National Geographic shows.
The big news is that Disney recently started offering a less expensive, ad-supported plan. It costs $8 per month—which had been the price of its ad-free plan. For ad-free Disney+, you now have to pay $11 a month, or $110 if paid annually.
There are also three bundle plans. Duo Basic, which costs $10 a month, gives you the ad-supported versions of both Disney+ and Hulu. Trio Basic adds ESPN+ with ads for $13 a month. A premium version of the bundle, called Trio Premium, has ad-free Disney+, ad-free Hulu, and ESPN+ for $20 a month.
The service’s high-profile content includes “The Beatles: Get Back” from Peter Jackson; Disney’s “Encanto”; a new series, “Willow,” that takes place 20 years after the events of the eponymous movie; and a new Star Wars series, “Star Wars: Andor.” New original series include “National Treasure: Edge of History,” plus a third season of the popular series “The Mandalorian,” also set in the “Star Wars” universe. Coming shows include “Agatha: Coven of Chaos,” a Marvel series starring Kathryn Hahn.
Sign up for Disney+.
Hulu
Price: $8 per month with ads ($2 a month for students) or $15 per month without ads. Prices increased in October.
Hulu is a good option for cord-cutters who don’t want to miss out on broadcast TV. But the cost of Hulu, now owned by Disney, went up on Oct. 10, when the ad-free premium plan went from $13 to $15 and the ad-supported option jumped from $7 to $8 a month.
Hulu—now wholly owned by Disney—is a good way to get programming from ABC, AMC, Bravo, Big Ten Network, CBS, E, ESPN, Fox, Fox Sports, FX, NBC, NFL Network, Oxygen, PBS, Syfy, and USA Network. Note, however, that many NBC shows, such as "Law & Order" and "Chicago Fire," are no longer available since parent company NBCUniversal moved them to its own Peacock streaming service. Earlier this year, NBCUniversal moved next-day access to Bravo shows from Hulu to Peacock. Some NBC shows that no longer air new seasons will remain on Hulu, though.
Hulu originals include “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” based on the novel; “The Handmaid’s Tale”; and “The Patient,” with Domhnall Gleeson and Steve Carell. Other Hulu originals include “Nine Perfect Strangers,” starring Nicole Kidman, and “Only Murders in the Building,” starring Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short. You also get exclusive access to films such as “Prey” and “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.”
Hulu is now the streaming home for FX shows, with exclusive rights to more than 40 original offerings. It will also be the new on-demand streaming home of “Schitt’s Creek” in the U.S., and an exclusive deal with AMC Networks is bringing “Fear the Walking Dead,” the spinoff to “The Walking Dead,” to Hulu. The deal also gives Hulu exclusive rights to new and coming scripted programming from AMC, BBC America, IFC, Sundance TV, and WeTV.
As noted above, Hulu can be bundled with Disney+ and ESPN+ for $13 per month with ads or $20 per month without them. You can also add several premium services. HBO Max, for example, costs $15 per month, while Showtime is $11 extra each month.
Sign up for Hulu.
Netflix
Price: $7 a month for ad-supported tier; $10 per month for standard-definition video on a single screen; $15.50 per month for high-def video on up to two screens; and $20 per month for 4K ultra-high-definition video on up to four screens.
Netflix is still the king of binge, with a vast library of movies and TV shows, plus now-classic original shows (“Stranger Things,” “Bridgerton”) and newer ones (“Wednesday,” “Sandman,” “Squid Game,” “The Witcher”). It also has a growing library of original movies, such as “Don’t Look Up” and “Roma.” But Netflix has lost access to some Disney titles and Marvel and Pixar movies, which are now part of the Disney+ service.
Like other services, Netflix raised prices earlier this year, but the company now has a lower-priced ad-supported service, called Netflix Basic with Ads. It costs $7 a month, with 4 to 5 minutes of ads each hour before and during programming. The ads are typically 15 or 30 seconds. The video is HD quality, not 4K.
But not all of the Netflix content is available with the cheaper service; it says that 5 to 10 percent of the shows available to other subscribers aren’t on Netflix Basic with Ads service due to licensing restrictions. These include shows such as “House of Cards” and “Peaky Blinders,” and movies such as “Quantum of Solace” and “Morbius.” Netflix is reportedly negotiating with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Sony for licensed content.
Right now Netflix Basic with Ads isn’t supported on Apple TV streaming players, and it’s only on Chromecast with Google TV; you can’t get it on Chromecast or Chromecast Ultra. You can access it from most other major streaming players.
The company also recently announced that starting early this year it will begin charging customers who share their log-in credentials with other people an additional monthly fee. Specific details haven’t been revealed, but if it follows what the company has done in a few Latin American countries, the charge could be $3 to $4.
To make it easier for customers who’ve been sharing an unauthorized account to set up their own legitimate one, Netflix also unveiled an account-migration tool that lets you transfer your account info, such as viewing history and program recommendations, to a new subscription.
The company also recently reached a deal with Universal to bring animated titles from that studio and DreamWorks Animation to the service this year after a four-month window on Paramount+ expires. An arrangement with HBO Max for all new releases expired.
Sign up for Netflix.
British Fare
Anglophiles looking for regular doses of popular British TV shows, police procedurals, and movies now have several great options, among them Acorn and BritBox. Here’s a look at each.
Acorn
Price: $7 per month or $70 per year.
Blessed with a very deep catalog of older shows, such as “Agatha Christie’s Marple,” “Midsomer Murders,” and “Foyle’s War,” Acorn is now creating its own original programming with shows such as “Blood,” a psychological mystery; “Dalgliesh,” based on the P.D. James’ character; “Agatha Raisin,” about a public relations specialist turned amateur sleuth; and “Queens of Mystery,” in which a perennially single detective and her three crime-writer aunts solve murders in the countryside.
The service recently increased its monthly price by a dollar.
Acorn also offers shows from Australia and New Zealand, as well as the complete season 15 of the popular Canadian TV series “Murdoch Mysteries.” It has picked up Channel 4’s “Help,” a 90-minute drama about the U.K.’s poor response to care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, written by “His Dark Materials” and “Enola Holmes” writer Jack Thorne and starring Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham.
Sign up for Acorn.
BritBox
Price: $8 per month or $80 annually.
BritBox is a joint venture between the BBC and ITV. Unlike Acorn, BritBox focuses exclusively on British shows. The service recently raised its monthly price by a dollar.
Some of the more popular series on BritBox include “EastEnders,” “Coronation Street,” and “Antiques Roadshow,” plus older classic episodes of “Dr. Who” (the first through seventh Doctors) and two seasons of “Fawlty Towers.” New original shows include “The Cleaner,” about a crime-scene cleaner; “Deadline,” a four-part mystery drama miniseries that follows a disgraced investigative journalist; “Sister Boniface Mysteries,” starring a moped-riding nun; and “Hope Street,” about the arrival of the first Muslim officer in a small Northern Ireland town.
Sign up for BritBox.
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Cable-Replacement Services
These services look to replicate what you’d get with a traditional cable TV or satellite plan for less money. Most include local broadcast channels and an assortment of cable stations, plus the ability to add some premium channels. All now include a cloud DVR for recording shows.
DirectTV Stream
Price: $70 to $150 per month.
AT&T has been doing a lot of rejiggering lately, including spinning off its DirecTV satellite and streaming businesses into a new entity, also called DirecTV. DirecTV Stream is the new name for its AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now streaming services.
This is essentially the DirecTV satellite service minus the satellite dish. The price of several DirecTV Stream offerings has gone up by either $5 or $10 a month (see below). The cheapest DirecTV Stream plan, with about 65 channels, stays at $70 a month. The Choice plan (90 channels) jumps $5 to $90 a month, while the Ultimate (130 channels, plus Starz) and Premier (140 channels, plus HBO Max, Cinemax, and Showtime) plans get $10-a-month increases, to $105 and $150, respectively. Those with grandfathered AT&T TV Now and AT&T TV plans also received the price hikes.
HBO Max, which remains a separate entity within the new Warner Bros. Discovery company, can be added to plans that don’t include it.
You can get DirecTV Stream service using an app on streaming players and on some smart TVs, but DirecTV also sells its own Android-based player, which costs $120 upfront or $5 per month for 24 months. That’s much pricier than most stand-alone streaming media players, but it does support 4K videos and has a voice remote and Google Assistant built in.
Sign up for DirecTV Stream.
Fubo TV
Price: $70 to $100 a month.
FuboTV is a cable-replacement service targeting sports fans. The base plan has about 130 channels with local stations in most markets, plus lots of sports networks (BeIn Sports, ESPN, FS1, MLB Network, NBA League Pass, NHL Network, NFL Network), and many cable channels (AMC, Bravo, FX, Syfy, USA), though not Turner channels such as CNN, TBS, TCM, or TNT, and A&E networks such as A&E, History Channel, and Lifetime.
Stepping up to the $80 Elite plan gets you Fubo Extra, with 42 more lifestyle and sports channels, plus 130 events in 4K. The Ultimate plan has even more channels, as well as Showtime and Sports Plus, which includes NFL Redzone.
You can add several premium channels, though not HBO Max. One plan combines Epix, Showtime, and Starz for $20 per month. Separately, Showtime costs $11 a month; Starz is $9 a month. Sports fans can get Sports Plus with NFL Red Zone, with NCAA games and RedZone from the NFL Network, for an extra $11 per month. An $8-per-month Fubo Extra plan adds more TV shows, movies, news, sports, music, and kids’ entertainment. There are also several Spanish-language plans and add-ons.
Sign up for FuboTV.
Hulu + Live TV
Price: $70 per month with ads and $83 per month without.
Cord-cutters who want yet another option to get what they used to receive from their traditional pay-TV package should take a look at Hulu + Live TV, which offers about 75 channels, including the major broadcast channels in most markets. You also get cable channels such as A&E, BET, CN, Comedy Central, CNN, Disney, Fox News, FX, TBS, and TNT, among others, plus everything in the Hulu library. It also has CBS Sports, ESPN, and Fox Sports, plus some regional sports networks.
Hulu + Live TV now includes both Disney+ and ESPN+, though the price is now $5 higher. Hulu with ads + Live TV, Disney+ with ads and ESPN+ with ads costs $70 a month. (As per above, note that Disney+ with ads isn’t currently supported on certain Apple and Chromecast devices.) Ad-free Hulu + Live TV, ad-free Disney+ and ESPN+ with ads costs $83 a month.
You can also get Live TV Only, which provides subscribers with access to live content only but not the Hulu streaming library or access to Disney+ or ESPN+, for $69. Given its price, it doesn’t make any sense.
A basic plan, which includes ad-supported Hulu + Live TV, Disney+ with ads, plus ESPN+, will cost $70. A plan with Hulu + Live TV with ads, plus ad-free Disney+, and ESPN+, is available only to current subscribers for $75 a month. But it will cost $83 a month to get ad-free Hulu + Live TV, ad-free Disney+, and ESPN+.
Though Hulu reached a deal with Discovery to keep several channels, including Food Network, HGTV, and TLC on the service, some shows, such as “90 Day Fiancé” and “Fixer Upper,” remain on the company’s newer Discovery+ service. It also lacks a few networks, such as AMC and Hallmark.
There are also several add-ons. For example, an enhanced cloud DVR with 200 hours of storage, and the ability to zap through commercials on recorded shows, is $10 extra each month. Unlimited use also costs an extra $10 a month, but you can bundle it with unlimited screens at home, plus access for three mobile users, for $15 per month, a $5-per-month savings.
Sign up for Hulu + Live TV.
Philo
Price: $25 a month.
Philo can be a great option if you get local channels via an antenna. It’s a sports-free streaming service backed by several cable networks, including A&E, AMC, Discovery, Scripps, and Paramount (CBSViacom). In addition to lacking local channels, it doesn’t offer live news (CNN, Fox News) or sports networks such as ESPN or NFL Network. But for just $25 a month, you get access to more than 60 channels from partners including Discovery, Paramount (CBS and Viacom), and AMC Networks.
In addition to the cable channels, Philo now has a few original series, including “Boss Moves” with “Love and Hip-Hop” star Rasheeda Frost. It also recently signed a deal with Kin Community for access to that company’s female-focused lifestyle content.
You can add premium channels, such as Epix ($6 a month) and Starz ($9 a month).
Last year Philo’s price for new subscribers went from $20 to $25 per month, but those who signed up before the price hike have been able to keep the lower price. As part of the new $25 package, Philo is extending the time it keeps recordings in its unlimited DVR from 30 days to a year.
Sign up for Philo.
Sling TV
Price: $40 to $55 a month.
You might consider Sling TV if you can find another way to get CBS and ABC local channels, because the service lacks them. The Orange package is now $40 and includes about 30 cable channels, including Disney and ESPN, plus A&E, the Food Network, and TBS, but no broadcast TV. It supports one user at a time. Sling Blue, also $40 per month, supports three users and has a different mix of about 40 channels, including local broadcasts and regional sports. (Among other differences, Sling Orange includes ESPN.) A combined plan costs $55.
You can add premium channels, including Showtime, $10, and Starz, $9. Sling TV has a large number of add-on packs, which provide extra genre-based programming (sports, news, lifestyle, Hollywood, etc.). They cost $6 to $21 (for a bundle with several packs) extra each month.
Sling raised prices on its plans by $5 a month and upped the prices for its themed add-on packages, though only by $1 per month. But the good news is that Sling has beefed up its cloud DVR. Everyone now gets 50 hours of free DVR storage, up from 10 hours. You can also get 200 hours of storage, up from 50 hours, for $5 per month with the DVR Plus add-on.
Sling now has a deal with Barstool Sports for a channel dedicated to sports and pop culture. The Barstool Sports Channel features live content, including video podcasts, blogs, and video series.
Sign up for Sling TV.
YouTube TV
Price: $65 per month.
YouTube TV is a solid option for cord-cutters looking to save money without giving up sports or major cable channels. It offers access to more than 85 channels, including all the major broadcast networks, cable channels (AMC, Bravo, Disney, ESPN, FX, Fox News, Fox Sports, MSNBC, National Geographic, Turner, USA), and major sports networks such as CBS Sports, ESPN, and Fox Sports, along with the MLB, NBA, and NFL league networks.
HBO Max, Showtime, Starz, and a few other channels can be added for an extra fee. There’s also a Spanish-language plan that costs $35 a month. There’s also a 4K add-on plan, which gives you additional channels in 4K, for an additional $20 a month.
Perhaps the biggest news, though, is that parent company Google has reached a deal with the NFL to give YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels the exclusive rights to NFL Sunday Ticket starting with the 2023 NFL season. NFL Sunday Ticket had been a DirecTV exclusive for decades; that deal expired after the 2022 season.
Also new, on regular YouTube, is the ability to subscribe to additional streaming services, including AMC+ and Paramount+, plus several other smaller and/or niche services. YouTube TV subscribers have been able to do this, but now anyone can access the Primetime Channel hub on YouTube.
Sign up for YouTube TV.
Free Services
A growing number of ad-supported services let you watch free of charge. The list below includes the major ones, and we also maintain a more comprehensive list of free video streaming services.
Amazon Freevee
Previously called IMDb TV, Amazon Freevee is an ad-supported service that offers a mix of live channels, on-demand classic TV shows and movies, and some original content. You’ll find shows such as “Lost” and “Mad Men,” alongside real oldies such as “Bewitched,” “Columbo,” and “All in the Family.” Movies currently available include “The Night Before,” “Emma,” and “Mission Impossible 2.” Licensed content rotates in and out from month to month.
Original shows include “Judy Justice,” starring Judge Judy Sheindlin; "Alex Rider"; and “Bosch: Legacy,” a spinoff of the popular Amazon Prime series.
Sign up for Amazon Freevee.
Crackle
Crackle, which used to be Sony’s ad-supported streaming service, hosts a library of mainstream titles that include popular older TV shows such as “Barney Miller” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” as well as some popular newer series, including “Sherlock,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Movies include everything from “Midnight Express” and “Das Boot (Director’s Cut)” to somewhat more recent fare, such as “The Expendables 3” and “The Lobster.”
Crackle is now owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul and is part of a bigger brand called Crackle Plus, which operates several ad-supported and subscription networks, including EspañolFlix, FrightPix, and Popcornflix, among others. The company also recently acquired Redbox (see below).
Crackle exclusives include four seasons of “Sherlock,” all five seasons of “Ripper Street,” and a documentary series called “A Life in Ten Pictures” that profiles important cultural figures, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Freddie Mercury, John Lennon, and Tupac Shakur. The service is also adding a new series from the BBC library every month.
Crackle’s original content already includes “Snatch,” a series based on the now-classic movie; “Les Norton,” a 10-episode series starring Rebel Wilson; “The Uncommon History of Very Common Things,” an entertaining and often irreverent history of everyday objects; and season two of “In The Vault,” a suspense series set at a fictional college. “Eat Wheaties” is a movie starring Tony Hale and Elisha Cuthbert.
Sign up for Crackle.
Hoopla and Kanopy
If you have a library card, Hoopla and Kanopy might be your ticket to free movies, music, audiobooks, and comics. Getting started is pretty simple. Just go to the site, create an account, and find your local library. You check out TV shows and movies as though they were books, using your library card.
The main difference between the two services is that Hoopla tends to focus more on popular entertainment than Kanopy does, and it includes other types of media beyond videos, such as audiobooks, comics, e-books, and music.
With either service, once you’ve signed up you can browse by title or genre, or get recommendations based on what you’ve previously borrowed and what’s popular. With Hoopla, you have 72 hours to watch a movie. (Your library sets the limit on how many movies you can borrow each month. In my case, it recently jumped from four to eight.) Your movie will start streaming once you’ve made a selection.
Sign up for Hoopla and Kanopy.
Peacock
Peacock, NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, has a free, ad-supported tier of service along with two paid tiers: $5 per month with ads and $10 per month without. (See Network Services, below.) Sign up free of charge and you get access to current-season NBC broadcasts a week after they air, plus a mix of classic TV shows, movies, news, and sports programming from several of the parent company’s properties, including NBC, Universal Studios, USA Network, Syfy, Bravo, Telemundo, and Universal Kids.
The free tier seems to have an increasingly limited library. But it still includes popular shows such as “21 Jump Street,” 10 seasons of “Law and Order Criminal Intent,” and several seasons of “Cheers.” Free movies include “Sherlock Holmes,” “The Amityville Haunting,” and “Pride and Prejudice.” Note that some current NBC shows are available a week after they air, but with many others, you can only access one or two early episodes. With the free tier, you’ll also miss out on live sports events, most blockbuster movies, and original Peacock programming such as “Yellowstone,” “Love Island,” and “Bel Air.”
Sign up for Peacock.
Pluto TV
Pluto TV, owned by Paramount, has about 250 curated channels, drawing content from its own Paramount properties (BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Pictures), plus networks such as Bloomberg, Cheddar News, CNN, NBC News, and Fox Sports. Pluto TV also has a decent library of on-demand content, including now-classic movies—“Saving Private Ryan,” “Moonstruck,” “Titanic”—and newer fare such as “John Wick.” TV shows run the gamut from “The Andy Griffith Show” and the original “Gunsmoke” to “Cops” and “Criminal Minds.”
In addition to genre-based channels, Pluto TV has added channels powered by other providers, including CBS (“NCIS,” “FBI”), AMC Networks (“The Making of the Mob,” “NOS4A2: Ghost”), and Showtime (“Dexter,” “Billions”).
There’s also now a Pluto TV Latino service, with 11 curated Spanish- and Portuguese-language channels covering categories including comedy, movies, music, reality TV, sports, telenovelas, and true crime.
Sign up for Pluto TV.
Redbox
Best known for its rental kiosks at grocery stores and shopping centers, plus a newer video-on-demand streaming rental and purchase service, Redbox now has a free, ad-based live service as well, which gets some of its content from Xumo. Thanks to the Xumo partnership, Redbox’s free service includes Magnolia Pictures’ new CineLife ad-supported channel, which features top-rated independent films and award-winning documentaries from the Magnolia Pictures catalog.
Redbox was recently acquired by Chicken Soup for the Soul, which also owns Crackle. The company says for now the streaming service will continue to run as a separate entity.
Sign up for Redbox.
The Roku Channel
Thanks to a rapidly expanding roster of programming, you can watch free shows and movies via the company’s ad-supported Roku Channel, which is now available outside of just Roku streaming players and TVs.
The Roku Channel has a lot of licensed TV shows and movies, plus some live channels from ABC, AMC, Fox, NBC, Hallmark, and others. One big focus going forward will be Roku Originals, which will roll out 50 new shows over the next few years. Roku also purchased the content from Quibi when that short-lived service went under. Current Roku Originals include “Reno 911: Defunded”; “The Fugitive,” starring Kiefer Sutherland; “The Newsreader”; and the movie “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” a biopic based on the life of Weird Al Yankovic that stars Daniel Radcliffe. The company also recently announced production deals with Marquee Brands and Milk Street Studios for new original food series starring Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse, and Chris Kimball. The deals will also bring over 3,000 episodes of library content.
In addition, Roku has a multiyear deal with Lionsgate that gives it rights to stream Lionsgate’s theatrically released films. Exclusive to Roku, it’s the first time titles are available free anywhere. Roku is also teaming up with a private equity company to acquire up to a 20 percent stake in the premium channel Starz, which was acquired by Lionsgate in 2016.
Roku also lets you access AMC Networks’ paid streaming services— AMC+, Shudder, and Acorn TV—through the Roku Channel’s Premium Subscriptions.
Sign up for The Roku Channel.
Tubi TV
This ad-supported service has more than 40,000 titles, including selections from the libraries of Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros., plus networks including A&E, Lifetime, and Starz. The options range from old (and probably best forgotten) Chuck Norris films to classic indie titles (“Requiem for a Dream”) to more recent movies such as “La La Land.” You’ll also find full seasons of TV shows ranging from oldies (“The Honeymooners”) to more recent fare (“The Masked Singer”.
Now owned by Fox, Tubi is ramping up its original content with 100 new film and TV titles slated over the next year. Tubi offers streaming access to many Fox shows, such as “Hell’s Kitchen,” and “Logo Masters,” after they are broadcast. It also has a slate of newer originals, including “Prisoner of Love” and “Corrective Measures,” the latter starring Bruce Willis. These join other Tubi Originals, such as “10 Truths About Love,” “War of the Worlds: Annihilation,” and “Mysteries From the Grave: Titanic.”
It has several programs based on the Lego franchise, specials starring Garfield, and some Pokemon programs. The company also has a deal that brought eight seasons of “Barney & Friends” to the service. It has several live local and national news channels from outlets including ABC, Black News Channel, Bloomberg, CBS, Cheddar, Fox, and NBC.
Sign up for Tubi TV.
Xumo
Xumo, owned by Comcast, is an ad-powered streaming video platform that offers live and on-demand content from more than 190 channels across multiple genres, including sports, action and drama, news, kids and family entertainment, live events, comedy, lifestyle, and movies.
Content on Xumo includes news programming (ABC News Live, Bloomberg, CBS News Latest Headlines, LiveNow from Fox), movies from FilmRise, Hallmark, and Crackle, TV shows ranging from classic (“That Girl”) to more current (“NCIS”), and sports (CBS Sports HQ, Fox Sports). Movies also run the gamut from classics (“Charade”) to modern classics (“The Pianist”).
It also has channels created specifically for Black and Latino audiences. A recent deal is bringing three new curated channels from Telemundo, which will include over 3,000 hours of Telemundo scripted shows, reality TV, news, sports, and more.
In addition, this summer the service struck an exclusive deal with Magnolia Pictures that will have Xumo stream a new Magnolia movie almost every month, with a three-month exclusive window.
Sign up for Xumo.
Network Services
AMC+
Price: $7 a month or $84 annually as a stand-alone subscription. Some promotional pricing is available when you sign up through one of the service’s partners, such as Amazon, Apple, and Roku.
AMC+ is one of the newer ad-free streaming subscription services. It includes the best of AMC, such as “Mad Men,” and exclusive series including "Interview With the Vampire," “Gangs of London,” a British action crime series, plus shows and movies from BBC America, IFC, and Sundance TV, with full access to Shudder, Sundance Now, and IFC Films Unlimited. New exclusive movies are added every Friday.
Like HBO Max, one perk of AMC+ is early access to some shows, as well as some streaming exclusives that aren’t available elsewhere.
Sign up for AMC+.
Discovery+
Price: $5 per month with ads or $7 per month without. Students can get a discounted $3-per-month rate.
Discovery+ targets those who like to watch Discovery’s assortment of channels without subscribing to a full cable-style replacement service such as Hulu + Live TV, Sling, or YouTube TV.
The company—perhaps best known for “Shark Week”—has an extensive collection of content. That includes more than 55,000 episodes from 2,500 current and classic shows in Discovery’s portfolio of networks, which includes Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, and TLC. The service also includes content from the BBC Natural History Collection, plus nonfiction programming from A&E, The History Channel, and Lifetime.
The big news is that Discovery and WarnerMedia closed their merger; the new entity is called WarnerBros. Discovery. Company executives have said the long-term plan will be to combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single streaming entity. The company recently announced it will move the launch of the combined service from the summer to the spring of 2023.
New original shows will feature programming starring or created by Martha Stewart, Kevin Hart, David Schwimmer, Sir David Attenborough, Bobby Flay, and Giada De Laurentiis. Discovery+ is also the home of Magnolia Network, from Chip and Joanna Gaines. Original shows include "Million Dollar Wheels," about the luxury car market, new episodes of “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home,” and “Magnolia Table With Joanna Gaines,” plus workshops, shopping, and exclusive discounts with Magnolia Perks.
Sign up for Discovery+.
ESPN+
Price: $10 per month or $100 per year for the basic service.
ESPN+ is best for hardcore sports junkies looking to add out-of-market baseball and hockey games to their menu, college sports fans who want a broader assortment of sports than they can get with traditional TV, and those with an interest in niche sports, such as rugby and cricket. The service will also offer documentaries and scripted series.
Shows include “Peyton’s Places” with Peyton Manning, “Man in the Arena” with Tom Brady, and “More Than an Athlete” with Michael Strahan. There’s also a library of original “30 for 30” documentaries, including “Vick,” about the rise and fall of the quarterback Michael Vick.
The bad news is that Disney again hiked the price of ESPN+, up $3 from $7 to $10 a month, or $100 a year. As mentioned above, there are also bundled plans with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, all with ads, for $15 a month. Another plan, with ad-free Disney+ and ad-free Hulu, plus ESPN+, costs $20 a month.
Sign up for ESPN+.
Paramount+
Price: $5 per month or $50 annually with ads, or $10 per month or $100 annually ad-free.
Paramount+ is the replacement for CBS All Access and provides full-length episodes of CBS programs and new original programming, plus livestreams of local CBS affiliates in many markets.
Parent company Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS) offers two plans. The $5-per-month ad-supported Essential tier mirrors what you used to get with CBS All Access: movies and TV shows from CBS and Viacom properties, including BET, CBS, Miramax, and Paramount, as well as live sports, including NFL games, soccer matches, and PGA golf. This plan doesn’t include live local CBS stations, but the NFL on CBS is available via separate live feeds. Verified students are able to get a 25 percent discount on the Essential plan.
The Premium tier, previously called Commercial Free, costs $10 per month. It’s mostly commercial-free (except for live TV streams) and features the same content as the ad-supported tier but includes your live local CBS station. It also has shows and movies in 4K with HDR (including Dolby Vision), plus mobile downloads.
There are also bundles that include Showtime. The Essential plan with Showtime is either $12 a month or $120 a year, while the Premium bundles cost $15 a month or $150 a year.
Paramount+ original content includes “1923,” a companion to the popular “Yellowstone” series (which, thanks to an oddity of licensing deals, is on Peacock) starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, and shows such as “Seal Team,” “The Good Fight,” “The Mayor of Kingstown,” and “Evil,” some of which used to be on CBS. There are also a growing number of series based on the “Star Trek” franchise, and a reboot of the popular comedy “Fraser”—with Kelsey Grammer returning in the title role—is in the works.
New blockbuster movies include “Top Gun: Maverick" and the horror film "Smile,” available now, and “Mission: Impossible 7.”
Sign up for Paramount+.
Peacock
Price: Free, or $5 per month with ads, $10 without.
NBCUniversal’s Peacock lets you access NBC shows and Universal movies, as well as licensed content, original programming, and live sports events.
The service has free and paid tiers. (Budget-minded streamers should see the Peacock listing under Free Services, above.) All include current-season NBC broadcasts, plus a mix of offerings from NBC, Universal Studios, USA Network, Syfy, Bravo, Telemundo, and Universal Kids. The service also licenses shows from other networks, including A&E, ABC, and Fox, as well as Paramount. There are deals in place for movies from Universal Pictures, DreamWorks, Focus Features, Illumination, Warner Bros., and Blumhouse.
The Peacock Premium paid tier gets you exclusive next-day access to current NBC and Bravo shows now that those deals with Hulu have expired. You also get access to original series, including “The Resort,” “Love Island,” and “Yellowstone.” A deal with Universal brings that company’s new movies, including “Jurassic World: Dominion” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” exclusively to Peacock for 45 days after leaving theaters. Other new movies include the Jordan Peele horror film "Nope," the religious comedy “Honk for Jesus: Save Your Soul” and “They/Them,” a horror thriller about campers at an LGBTQ+ conversion camp.
A multiyear deal with Lionsgate brings all its theatrically released films (including “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” starring Nicholas Cage, and “John Wick: Chapter 4”) to Peacock starting in 2024.
For sports fans, Peacock will stream Premier League soccer games, golf tournaments, and WWE Network matches. It also recently signed an extension with the NFL through 2033 to show Sunday night NFL games that air on NBC.
Sign up for Peacock.
Niche Services
The Criterion Channel
Price: $11 per month or $100 for an annual subscription.
Rising out of the ashes of the now-shuttered FilmStruck, the Criterion Channel classic movie streaming service offers “continuous access to Criterion’s streaming library of more than 1,000 important classic and contemporary films, plus a constantly refreshed selection of Hollywood, international, art-house, and independent films,” according to the company.
The stand-alone Criterion Channel is the result of a special deal with WarnerMedia, which shut down the FilmStruck streaming service in late 2018. Parts of the Criterion Collection film library, which had been included in that service, are also available on the HBO Max service.
Among the titles recently added to the Criterion Channel are the Beatles film “A Hard Day’s Night”; the Coen Brothers’ “Blood Simple”; Terry Gilliam’s "Brazil"; and “Tootsie,” starring Dustin Hoffman.
Sign up for The Criterion Channel.
PBS Passport
Price: At least $5 a month, or $60 a year.
While a free version of PBS is also available, PBS Passport unlocks additional programming that’s no longer available for streaming to nonmembers. The PBS Passport library features episodes from popular programs, including “American Experience,” “American Masters,” “Antiques Roadshow,” “Nature,” “NOVA,” and Masterpiece shows such as “Annika,” “All Creatures Great and Small,” “Downton Abbey,” “Grantchester,” and “Sanditon.”
On the PBS streaming service, episodes that are only available for viewing by Passport members sport a blue “compass rose” Passport icon in the upper left-hand corner of the program.
Sign up for PBS Passport.
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