New/Updated review of the big 6 OTT options
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Just considering the practical issues. YouTube appears to be the only service that offers all of the local, commercial channels I care about. None of the services seem to carry PBS though, so that would be a separate app. Comedy Central is only available on Sling and DNow. I am only 6 month into my Dish contract, but things look better now than when I switched to Dish. Hopefully in 18 months the remaining kinks will have been worked out enough that there is a service which gets me all I want. Otherwise, Dish still makes the most sense, even in I am paying a bit more to get it.
You might consider combining YouTube TV (at $35 until 3/13) with Philo's $16 plan that includes Viacom, Discovery, etc. with DVR.
I wish youtubetv was available in my area, but it is not yet. so for now we use hulu commercial free, amazon, Netflix and CBS All Access. the kids use regular youtube on their devices.
- Nov 29, 2003
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You Tube TV is available in all areas ( United States), just like Vue, DTV Now, Hulu Live, if you mean your locals that is a different story.
I would like to try it but no locals in my zip so I can't. Wonder why they are doing that? The others don't.
Not true. They are only launching in areas they have a certain number of locals available.
I think it is 3 available to launch.
They gave done an excellent job of getting the deals signed, but it's not technically everywhere yet.
I think it's smart.
You hear lots of complaints with the others on not having locals.
This is just a different way of doing it.
Probably the most thorough review I have seen, even gets into audio and delay of stream.
The Best Live TV Streaming Services for Cord Cutters – FOMOPOP
The Best Live TV Streaming Services for Cord Cutters – FOMOPOP
Pretty comprehensive, but I did notice the resolution line is off on a few. I know Youtube tv offers 60fps on many channels, if that is what they get from them (and some are even sent out at 1080 if "stats for nerds" is accurate". It has them listed at 30, which admittedly what some channels offer.
(edit: I notice it is also incorrect on the Roku app interface. It has been updated for a few months now and is generally comparable to the Fire and PS versions at this point).
And this part:
That is dead on accurate.
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Surprised this comparison article has so much misleading, incorrect, and missing information given how recently it was posted. YTTV has closer to 60 channels, and highlighting a limited number of top 35 cable channels (which isn't defined) as a drawback makes no sense when compared to the other services, which range from 14-35, and appears largely a factor of the total number of channels offered for each service (and corresponding higher price). A better comparison would be percent of top 35 channels. There's also no mention of fast-forwarding/skipping commercials capabilities, which is a HUGE drawback for Hulu (without the $15/mo fee), defeating the entire point of a DVR when so much is available on demand or individual channel apps. Also, in my experience testing on multiple devices, the live delay for PS Vue is more than double 20 seconds listed.
I don't think he fully updated YouTube tv, especially when looking at rankings
Here are the current rankings I look at
Hey guys - new to the forum. Happy to answer questions you might have about our review.
- We think the Top 35 channel counts are an important metric. It's based on top 35 channels ratings in 18-49 demographic at the end of last TV season. We'll update it at the end of 2018 season.
- We recently added updated photos for each of the services - including the YouTube TV app
- We just launched something called the Streaming Matchmaker where you can add your favorite channels, shows and sports to see the best service for you.
- Based on your feedback, we're going to add exact number of channels for each provider has in 60fps
In some cases, flagship shows are gone so going back up to a year isn't particularly valid (AMC, for example, was pretty much gutted (IMO) as their top-ranked shows lowered the final curtain).
I think January numbers make more sense as they can be defended as being in the current year and they don't usually involve number spikes that result from series' finales and major sporting events. At this point, the stinkers have been replaced and most of the remaining shows will carry on as they have been.
To my mind, Summer is when I'm most interested in changing providers as there's typically nothing holding me back. To that end, I start shopping now to see if I can find a better configuration and use the summer months to test my theories.
In any event, your charts should absolutely include a detailed list of any and all assumptions/conditions that bear on the results, dates on everything possible and full credit for external information resources (i.e. where and when you got your rankings) using web links where possible.
Thanks for the feedback. Makes sense that you shop over the summer for a new service. What do you use now?
I'm with DISH now as the streaming services fall down hard when it comes to what little sports that I watch. This is becoming more of an issue as bracket games have made their way to cable channels. RSNs seem to be avoided like the plague though Sling and Fubo carry Pac-12. Fubo also carries MavTV that dish no longer carries. I'd like to see WFN in HD again.
News and sports need to be current. Much of the rest of the content will eventually come to whatever service you subscribe to. Commercials are so prevalent on the cable channels that I've substantially lost interest in most of them. Even the also-ran movie channels like FXM have gone pretty sour depending on when you watch. MGM is teetering.
It may be worth saving a few dozen dollars to move away from having everything come to me in favor of having to use multiple services and authentication.
Hey everyone - thanks for your feedback. We went ahead and started implementing some of the changes I mentioned.
- Here's a list of every TV Everywhere app available across services.
- You can also see the TV Everywhere apps by provider
- PlayStation Vue: 57 apps
- DIRECTV NOW: 49 apps
- Hulu Live TV: 33 apps
- Philo: 31 apps
- YouTube TV: 31 apps
- fuboTV: 26 apps
- Sling TV: 19 apps
