Recommendations for Subscription-Based Online TV

We have youtubetv. It is $40 and has all the sports networks. I also get all 4 major local channels. (that depends on where you live)

I was a Sling customer from when the service came out until this January. Watched every game on it last year that was not on CBS. Huge delay. Cannot do game threads as others are ahead of you. The only time I didn’t mind that was Tua’s TD pass against UGA. I read CA’s post that said, “OMG TOUCHDOWN!!” of course I hadn’t seen it yet and knew it was coming. I could watch the last play with no suspense, haha.

Recently, I’ve switched to Direct TV Now. Had it during basketball season. Little to no delay. Better variety of channels plus all the locals. But it is more expensive. I got the first three months for $25.00 and when that was up it went up to $55.00. It’s $25.00 more per month than what I was paying for Sling but worth it.


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I’ve tried the big ones, Hulu Live TV, PlayStation Vue, Sling TV and DirecTV Now. YouTube TV is only available in certain markets and is not available here so, I haven’t tried it.

Sling TV was the worst for me, constant buffers and fewer channels. Now this was many years ago so maybe the quality has improved. They didn’t offer a DVR feature when I tried the service.

Hulu Live TV was okay. I just hate the Hulu app design and layout, a pain in the bottom to navigate IMO. Has a DVR feature but didn’t use it.

PlayStation Vue was really good and I enjoyed the service. Has a cloud DVR that will save an unlimited number of shows for up to 30 days. It had all the channels we cared about except our regional Fox Sports South and Southeast networks. I’m a big Braves fan so this was a big deal. This again was back in 2015-2016 so, maybe they have added those channels since then. Not having them caused me to move to...

DirecTV Now. Signed up when the service launched back in Nov. of 2016. They had a deal at launch for there “Go Big” package for only $35 (normally $60) for as long as you kept the service. The service has the best channel selection of all these services but, it does cost a little more as well. It got off to a rocky start but has improved immensely since it launched. I don’t experience many glitches at all and hardly any buffering issues. Image quality is also the best of all these services to my eyes, although PS Vue is really close. All the sports channels I need are available. They’ve just added a cloud DVR feature in he last few months but, for me, it has been pretty buggy. 20 hours of storage is included but I think there is also a time limit with how long a show will be saved. We just don’t use the DVR much. You can use you login to activate most of the channel’s apps to access past shows. You can also add HBO for only $5 extra a month, cheaper then any of the other services.


I’ve been really happy with DirecTV Now but, PS Vue was really good as well. Probably would still be with them without the great launch price from DirecTV Now.

Not all these services offer local channels in all markets. That is not a concern for me because I have an antenna in the attic for locals.

Pretty sure all these services offer 1 week free trials. So, go give them all a try and see which one you like best.

I've read and heard that Sling is really not that good and that DirecTV NOW is really smooth. Heard good things about youtube and PS Vue.

ETA: I have no firsthand experience.

YouTube TV is my final answer. The ESPNs, FS1, FS2, local channels for most, NBCSN, CBSSN, excellent reliability and quality. The only drawback is it isn’t available on FireTV devices because of corporate hissy fits between Google and Amazon.

Last year I started out with sling and had a lot of issues. I then tried Hulu and it was as bad or worse so finally I tried youtube and it was nearly flawless. My internet provider was AT&T gigafiber so there was plenty of bandwidth. I never had any trouble with non-sporting events with any of the streaming services so my guess is sling and hulu just do not have the back-end resources needed to provide a good experience for live sporting events. I dropped youtube after basketball season ended and will be starting it again soon for college football season. I've considered Directv Now but to get the package that includes SEC Network it will require the $65/month package which is a bit more than I want to pay. Youtube tv includes SECN in their $40 bundle but does not have popular networks like Food Network or HGTV.

One other thing to note, the youtube interface seemed much easier to navigate than either sling or hulu. Hulu was the worst IMHO.

imauafan said:

Last year I started out with sling and had a lot of issues. I then tried Hulu and it was as bad or worse so finally I tried youtube and it was nearly flawless. My internet provider was AT&T gigafiber so there was plenty of bandwidth. I never had any trouble with non-sporting events with any of the streaming services so my guess is sling and hulu just do not have the back-end resources needed to provide a good experience for live sporting events. I dropped youtube after basketball season ended and will be starting it again soon for college football season. I've considered Directv Now but to get the package that includes SEC Network it will require the $65/month package which is a bit more than I want to pay. Youtube tv includes SECN in their $40 bundle but does not have popular networks like Food Network or HGTV.

One other thing to note, the youtube interface seemed much easier to navigate than either sling or hulu. Hulu was the worst IMHO.

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This is why I also have Philo which is only $16. It has the discovery channels, food network, A&E, Nickelodeon channels and HGTV (plus more) it is a nice suppplement to YouTubetv. I still save over $100 a month with my switch from cable. I now pay $56 total for the two.

I say just pick the best service.The whole season will cost less than attending a single game with your family.RTR!!!

TideMom2Boys said:

This is why I also have Philo which is only $16. It has the discovery channels, food network, A&E, Nickelodeon channels and HGTV (plus more) it is a nice suppplement to YouTubetv. I still save over $100 a month with my switch from cable. I now pay $56 total for the two.

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I've had Hulu Live since the first of the year and gonna stick with it. I dropped Dish Network and tried Sling. Didn't like it. Skippy, buffered a lot and less channels. Hulu took some getting used to in the beginning to navigate but I'm good with it now. Watched some the JSU/NCA&T game on Saturday with no issues. But if you wanna converse on the social media boards it's not for you because there is a delay. It's even longer using Roku. I have a FireStick on the LR display and the Roku on the bedroom display. If they're on the same channel the Roku is probably 15-20 seconds behind the FireStick.

We dumped Dish last year and moved over to PSVue. Absolutely love it! 45.00 gets more than we had with Dish and was paying about 80+ dollars and month. Dish would not stand behind their equipment. We were renting their DVR and twice in one year it completely crashed and they wanted to charge us for their defective equipment. After the second time I said shame on you and goodbye.

Here are a couple of other threads on the topic, if you'd like to peruse them (the first one is also linked in the second).

https://www.tidefans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=278806

https://www.tidefans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=297444&highlight=cord+cutters

YouTube TV fan here too... Paying $35 monthly. Haven't had cable since around 2013. Haven't missed it.

I also have youtubetv. It has worked fine; I put dish on vacation mode to try it, and I like it. The only negative is it has crashed a few times in the middle of a live broadcast, and I do not get local channels where I live, so switching back to dish for football. I plan on getting rid of dish permanently after this football season. I just don't watch enough tv to justify the expense of dish, but as someone else said its cheaper than a trip to the game, and I don't plan on going to any this year. Probably end up going to one, but don't plan on it. But bottom line is you tube tv works well, better than any other streaming service I've tried.

Big YouTube TV fan. Great interface with cloud DVR. Relatively inexpensive and offers all the channels we like.

I went from Direct TV to ATT-Uverse. Either cost more than some others, but they deliver more.

Can't get youtube tv and directtv now doesn't have my local channels where I live. Using Hulu live and it's great except for some really popular games it might buffer/stutter. It's not a bandwidth issue on the local side as it did the same thing at my bro's house with gigabit internet. Hopefully they have it fixed but not sure enough eyeballs will turn in for Bama v UL, maybe the AU vs UW game.

All of you that are using Hulu or Youtube or ????? what are you using for internet?