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We still think paying for a live TV streaming service makes better financial sense than signing up for cable or satellite TV. Of course, the price difference between the two is steadily narrowing as many live TV streaming subscriptions have jumped to more than $80 per month. Still, you don’t have to sign a contract and the pricing tends to be much more straightforward than cable (though some companies are experimenting with cable-like packages). You also don’t need any professional installation or special equipment for a streaming service (beyond a smart TV and an internet connection).
Our current top pick is YouTube TV; It’s a well-rounded option that should please anyone looking for live sports, linear cable-style channels and/or local networks. But other services have their advantages, too, depending on what you want to watch. Here are the best live TV streaming services you can get according to our continual testing, along with a breakdown of the growing number of free (FAST) streaming services to consider as well.
Editor’s Note: Mergers, restructuring and buyouts continue to change the landscape of the streaming world, which sometimes affects pricing and the options available to viewers. Recently Disney completed its acquisition of Hulu , purchasing the remaining portion of the service from Comcast. There have been no announcements of any changes to Hulu + Live TV as a result yet, which is one of our recommended services, but we’ll update this guide if that changes. Also of note is the recent splitting of Warner Bros. Discovery (owners of HBO, CNN and more) into two entities; one that will hold the movie, TV and game studios, and another that will control the company’s cable channels. When this move changes viewers’ streaming options, we’ll likewise update this guide.
Table of contents
Best live TV streaming services for 2025
YouTube TV Best live TV streaming service overall YouTube TV Monthly price: $83/mo. and up | Local channels: Yes | Sports coverage: National, local, international | On-demand: Yes | 4K live streams: Yes (with an add-on) | Total channels: 100+ (base plan) | DVR limits: Unlimited, 9 mo. expiration | Profiles per account: 6 | Simultaneous at-home streams: 3 | Picture-in-picture: Yes (mobile and computer) | Multiview: Yes (select programming) | Contract: No | Free trial: Yes (length varies) In mid-December of 2024, subscribers got a bummer of an email letting them know the price of YouTube TV would be going up yet again, this time to $83, which is a $10 hike from the last increase of $8 in March of 2023. Even still, Google’s option makes a strong case for delivering the best streaming service for live TV. Compared to our top pick for sports, YouTube TV covers major and minor teams, regional games and national matchups almost as well. It gives you clear navigation, a great search function, unlimited DVR and broad network coverage. But, even beyond the price increase, YTTV is financially precarious if you're not great at resisting temptation. Upon signup, you’re presented with nearly 50 different add-ons, including 4K resolution, premium channels and themed packages. Even if you fight the urge to roll Max, Shudder and AcornTV into the mix at signup, the enticement remains as it’s dangerously easy to add more to your subscription — when I searched for a program on a network I didn’t have, I was prompted to add it. And of course, you can also rent or buy movies that aren’t currently showing on any channels, just like you can via YouTube. While it’s convenient to be able to order up anything I might want on a whim, I could easily see this pushing one’s bill far above Google’s listed price per month.. Still, it’s nice to have all your entertainment in one place. And if you only want the add-ons, you can actually subscribe to most of the standalone networks without paying for the base plan. Either way, you get a familiar user experience, with navigation you’ll recognize if you’ve spent any time on regular ol’ YouTube. Unsurprisingly, Google’s search function was the best of the bunch, finding the shows and games I searched for quickly and giving me clear choices for how to watch and record. At signup, you’ll also pick the shows, networks and teams you like, which are added to your library. YouTube TV then automatically records them. You get unlimited cloud DVR space (though recordings expire after nine months) and it’s dead simple to add programming to your library. Like a real cable experience, YouTube TV autoplays your last-watched program upon startup by default, but it was the only service that allowed me to turn that feature off by heading to the settings. Searching for and recording an upcoming game was easy. Once the game was recorded, I had to hunt a little to find it in my library (turns out single games are listed under the Events heading, not Sports). But after that, playback was simple and included a fascinating extra feature: You can either play a recorded game from the beginning or hit Watch Key Plays. The latter gives you between 12 and 20 highlight snippets, each about 10 seconds long. It focuses on the most impressive shots in an NBA bout and includes every goal in an MLS matchup. The feature was available for NCAA basketball and in-season major American leagues (hockey, soccer and basketball at the time of testing). Foreign and more minor games didn’t have the feature. Sports fans will also appreciate the new multiview feature that YouTube TV added mid-2024 that lets you pick up to four sports, news and weather channels from a select list and view them all at the same time on your screen. If you find yourself constantly flipping back and forth between games, this could save you some hassle. YouTube TV also gives you the most in-app settings. You can add parental controls to a profile or pull up a stats menu that shows your buffer health and connection speeds. You can lower playback resolution for slow connections and even send feedback to YouTube. It was also the best at integrating VOD and live programming. For example, when I searched for a show that happened to be playing live, a red badge in the corner of the show’s image let me know it was on right then. I know it makes no difference whether I watch an on-demand recording or a live show, but I like the imagined sense of community knowing someone else might be watching this episode of Portlandia too. Pros Intuitive and smooth interface
Accurate search functions
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