Guide to Streaming Video Services

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 Video
Price: $139 per year or $15 per month (with ads), with free shipping on Amazon Prime purchases. An ad-free version costs $3 extra per month. 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 “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Reacher” (based on the bestselling Lee Child novels), and “Fallout” (based on the video game).

Amazon shut down its free ad-supported service, Freevee, and put those titles under the Amazon Prime Video umbrella. The free content is available to non-Prime subscribers under the “Watch for Free” label.

Amazon shows ads in Prime Video shows and movies, and charges an extra $3 a month for those who prefer not to see them. Amazon Prime with ads doesn’t provide Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio. For those, you’ll also have to pony up the extra $3 a month.

Amazon has been upping its sports game, most recently signing a mega-deal with the NBA that also includes ABC/ESPN and NBCUniversal. Starting this year, Amazon will show 66 NBA games on Prime Video, including Thursday night and Friday night doubleheaders, at least one game on Black Friday, and the quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship of the Emirates NBA Cup. Also part of the package are SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament games, which determine the teams that fill the final playoff seeds in each conference.

This follows an earlier deal that brought New York Yankees games to Prime Video, which is also the exclusive home of the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” games. Those NFL games feature high dynamic range (HDR) broadcasts, and Amazon added AI-powered insights, analysis, and predictions, along with onscreen cues that provide more information about the action unfolding on the football field. Viewers can access this special version of the broadcast on a separate stream called Prime Vision.

Amazon’s acquisition of MGM brought 4,000 additional films and 17,000 TV shows to Prime Video. The company has rebranded Epix, MGM’s streaming platform, as MGM+. (That service costs $6 a month or $50 annually.)

But Amazon lost a deal with Universal to Netflix, which gives that service new Universal live-action movies four months after they air on NBCUniversal’s Peacock service.

Sign up for Amazon Prime.

Apple TV
Price: $13 per month or $100 annually.

Apple TV, previously called Apple TV+, started a few years ago at $5 a month with a relatively limited assortment of content. Since then, it has vastly expanded its selection, and the monthly price has more than doubled with its recent price hike.

So far, though, the price of the annual subscription remains at $100.

Apple’s focus on exclusive and original content appears to be paying off. It has several well-regarded series, including “Ted Lasso,” “The Morning Show” (starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon), and “Severance.” New fare includes "Slow Horses," "Shrinking," and "F1 The Movie" starring Brad Pitt.

Apple has made a push into live sports, signing a deal with Major League Soccer (an MLS Season Pass is $13 a month) and airing MLB games on Friday nights. The company also added some features, including bringing Multiview, which had been limited to Apple TV 4K streaming players, to the iPad.

You can sign up for other services, including Acorn, Paramount+, and Starz, through Apple Channels. And you can subscribe to Apple One, which bundles Apple TV with other Apple services—including Apple Music and Apple Arcade—for a monthly fee of $20.

Apple TV is now also available as part of a $15-a-month bundle with Peacock with ads. A version with limited ads costs $20 a month.

Sign up for Apple TV.

Disney+
Price: $10 per month with ads; $16 per month or $160 annually without ads.

Given its vast library of content, getting Disney+ is a no-brainer for many families. Disney, which owns ABC, ESPN, and Hulu, is also the home to all the “Star Wars” movies, as well as Marvel Studios and Pixar. It also acquired 20th Century Fox, now renamed 20th Century Studios. That brings subscribers movie franchises such as “Avatar,” “Deadpool,” and “X-Men,” TV shows including “The Simpsons” and “Empire,” and National Geographic shows.

In the fall of 2025, Disney hiked prices for its streaming services. The price of Disney+ with ads jumped from $10 to $12 a month, while the ad-free Disney+ Premium went from $16 to $19 a month.

Some of Disney’s bundles also got price hikes. Disney Duo Basic (Disney+ and Hulu with ads) went from $11 to $13 a month, while the Trio Basic plan, which adds ESPN+ with ads, jumped $3 to $20 a month. The no-ad Duo Premium plan stays at $20 a month, but the Trio Premium tier (Disney+ and Hulu without ads, plus ESPN+ with ads) is now $30 a month, a $3 increase.

In addition, the Disney+/HBO Max/Hulu bundle also got a price hike. The ad-supported plan now costs $20 a month, up $3, while the ad-free version costs $33 a month. Disney+ subscribers now also have access to ABC News Live and several curated theme-based playlists, including a dedicated preschool content playlist.

The other big news is that Disney is merging its Hulu + Live TV service with Fubo. You will still be able to subscribe to Hulu + Live TV, and Fubo will remain separate.

As part of the NBA’s huge $76 billion rights deal with Amazon Prime Video, NBCUniversal, and ESPN/ABC, the latter will remain the home of the ESPN games on Wednesdays, NBA Saturday primetime on showdowns on ABC, and NBA Sunday Showcase packages, along with the NBA Finals and Christmas Day contests. The 11-year deal started with the 2025/2026 season.

In a move reminiscent of Netflix’s efforts to curb password sharing, Disney+ is alerting U.S. subscribers who share their passwords that they are in violation of its terms and offering them a chance to add people to their accounts for a fee. According to an Associated Press report, violators could see their Disney+ service limited or terminated. This follows a change in Hulu member agreements that also imposed sharing limitations.

Sign up for Disney+.

Hulu
Price: $12 per month ($2 a month for eligible students) or $120 per year with ads; $19 per month without ads.

Hulu, owned by Disney, is a good option for cord-cutters who don’t want to miss out on broadcast TV. The service offers programming from ABC, Bravo, Big Ten Network, CBS, E, ESPN, Fox, Fox Sports, FX, NBC, NFL Network, Oxygen, PBS, Syfy, and USA Network.

Disney extended a deal with Fox Corp. to keep Fox’s prime-time entertainment programming, such as “The Masked Singer” and “The Simpsons,” streaming on Hulu the day after they air live on Fox.

Hulu raised prices again, so the ad-supported tier went from $10 to $12 a month, while the annual plan jumped from $100 to $120 a year. The ad-free plan is still $19. As we noted above, the Disney bundles that include Hulu also got more expensive.

In addition to those Disney+/Hulu and ESPN+ bundles, Hulu is now part of a bundle with Disney+ and HBO Max. The ad-supported Disney+/HBO Max/Hulu plan costs $17 a month, while the ad-free version costs $30 a month.

Hulu originals include “The Bear,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and “Welcome to Wrexham,” a documentary about a struggling Welsh soccer team purchased by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. 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 access to films like “Uncut Gems” and “Bullet Train.”

Hulu is also the streaming home for FX shows, with exclusive rights to more than 70 original offerings, including “Alien: Earth,” the first TV show in the “Alien” franchise, and "Shogun."

Like other Disney entities, Hulu is curtailing account sharing with a member agreement that outlines limitations on access outside of the household. Subscribers are warned that violations give the parent company, Disney, the right to limit or terminate access to the service.

Sign up for Hulu.

Netflix
Price: $8 a month for an ad-supported tier; $18 per month for high-def video on up to two screens; and $25 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 such as “Stranger Things,” “Bridgerton,” “Wednesday,” “The Witcher,” and “Squid Game.” Some of its most popular original movies include “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Red Notice,” starring Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds.

Netflix recently backed out of a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which is now being acquired by Paramount. But it has renewed a deal with Sony Pictures for the company’s movies, as well as select feature films and TV library titles. It will roll out gradually and continue through 2032. Earlier, a deal with Universal brought that company’s movies to Netflix after a four-month stay on NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service. Netflix will then have an exclusive for 10 months before returning to Peacock.

Netflix also re-upped a licensing deal with AMC for that network’s fare, which will appear first on AMC and/or AMC+. The shows include "The Walking Dead: Dead City" and a few titles based on Ann Rice’s vampire works.

Last year, Netflix once again increased the prices of all three of its plans. The ad-supported Standard With Ads plan is now $8 a month, while the Standard no-ads plan went from $15.50 to $18 a month. The Premium plan, which includes 4K videos and more simultaneous users, got a $2 bump, from $23 to $25 a month. Those already on the no-ads Basic plan can keep it at a price of $12 a month, but it’s no longer available to new subscribers.

Netflix has also moved into sports, with a three-year deal that brings NFL holiday games to the service. Last year, Netflix hosted two Christmas Day games.

The company says it has added spatial audio—using its own 3D immersive audio technology—to about 700 titles. It’s available only to Premium plan subscribers.

Like several other services, Netflix has cracked down on account sharing in various countries, including the U.S. Standard subscribers now have to pay $7 (with ads) or $9 (no ads) to add an extra member. Premium subscribers can add two extra members for the same price.

Sign up for Netflix.

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 TV
Price: $9 per month or $90 per year.

Blessed with a very deep catalog of older shows, such as “Midsomer Murders” and “Foyle’s War,” Acorn TV is now creating its own original programming with shows such as “Bloodlands,” a police thriller; “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.

Acorn also offers shows from Australia and New Zealand, as well as the popular Canadian TV series “Murdoch Mysteries.”

Sign up for Acorn TV.

BritBox
Price: $11 per month or $82 per year.

BritBox is a joint venture between the BBC and ITV. Unlike Acorn, it focuses exclusively on British shows. 

Some of the more popular series on BritBox include “EastEnders” and “Coronation Street,” plus older classic episodes of “Doctor Who.” Newer original shows include “After the Flood,” murder mystery; “Ludwig, about a twin assuming his brother’s identity after he disappears”; “McDonald & Dodds” about a mismatched detective duo; “Sister Boniface Mysteries,” starring a moped-riding nun; “Blue Lights,” about Belfast police recruits; and “Hope Street,” about the arrival of the first Muslim police officer in a small Northern Ireland town.

Sign up for BritBox.

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.

DirecTV
Price: $90 to $125 per month.

AT&T spun off its DirecTV satellite TV business into a separate entity, also called DirecTV. (AT&T also spun off WarnerMedia and merged it with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery, parent of the HBO Max streaming service.)

Formerly called DirecTV Stream, the DirecTV streaming service is essentially the equivalent of getting DirecTV without a satellite dish. The cheapest plans provide a mix of live TV stations and cable channels. The top-tier package adds premium channels such as HBO Max, Showtime, and Starz. Some channels, such as BBC News, FXM (the FX movie channel), Logo, NHL Network, Nick Jr., Oxygen, and the Smithsonian Channel, are available only in the pricier plans.

The entry-level Entertainment plan costs $90 a month and includes about 90 channels. The Choice plan—the cheapest that offers a good number of regional sports networks and access to about 125 channels—costs $95 a month. The Ultimate plan, with about 160 channels plus Starz, costs $125 a month. There’s also a Premier plan (with about 185 channels, plus HBO Max with ads, Cinemax, and Paramount+ with Showtime) for $160 a month. All services include on-demand shows and movies, and unlimited cloud DVR storage.

There’s also a Spanish-language plan, Óptimo Más, with about 100 channels for $80 a month.

HBO Max, which remains a separate entity within Warner Bros. Discovery, can be added to plans that don’t include it. HBO Max includes Discovery+ content, but you can still subscribe to Discovery+ separately.

The big news is the availability of several lower-priced Genre Packs, such as My Sports, My Entertainment, MyKids, and MyNews, ranging from $20 to $60 a month. Also noteworthy is that both Netflix and Paramount are bidding to acquire Warner Bros.’ streaming and studio businesses.

DirecTV has also now launched its own free ad-supported streaming service, MyFree DirecTV.

Sign up for DirecTV Stream.

Fubo
Price: $85 to $110 a month.

Fubo is a cable replacement service targeting sports fans. The sports-centric service provides live and on-demand channels from ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC in most markets. You also get cable channels (AMC, Bravo, Discovery, FX, HGTV, Syfy, and TLC) and sports networks (beIN Sports, FS1, Golf Channel, MSG, SNY, and NBA TV). Thanks to a deal with Disney, the service now has ESPN (ESPN, ESPN 2, and ESPN 3), plus the SEC and ACC networks in certain markets.

Fubo’s Pro plan usually costs $85 a month and offers more than 200 channels, including local stations in most markets. It also includes regional MLB, NBA, and NFL games. An Elite plan costs $105 a month.

But due to a dispute that saw NBCUniversal pull its networks off the service, Fubo reduced the cost of those services to $74 and $84, respectively.

The Elite with Sports Plus plan has about 300 channels plus 4K video when available. This package adds the 55 additional sports, entertainment, and news channels you get with the Fubo Extra and News Plus add-on packages. Fubo’s Latino plan is $15 a month; it offers more than 50 channels.

Fubo says that most of ESPN Unlimited’s content is now built into the app for its new Fubo Sports skinny plan, so subscribers can watch directly from the Fubo app instead of having to exit and use the ESPN Unlimited app. That plan, which costs $56 a month, Fubo Sports, has 20-plus sports and broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, and Fox, featuring national and local pro and college team coverage. It includes an unlimited DVR and video-on-demand titles. Customers in some markets will also get local broadcast sports channels.

Note that Fubo is currently the only streaming service that charges a fee for regional sports networks—up to $17 a month, depending on your area. Fubu is also reducing the fee if any RSNs are no longer available.

You can also add several premium channels. One plan combines MGM+, Showtime, and Starz for $20 per month. Separately, Showtime costs $11 a month; Starz costs $11 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.

Fubo recently rolled out a new MLB.TV direct-to-consumer add-on package for an additional $30 per month that lets baseball fans stream out-of-market games, both live and on demand.

One big piece of news is that Disney, which has acquired a majority stake in Fubo, will combine its Hulu + Live TV business (see below) with Fubo in the near future. One consequence of the deal is that it ends Fubo’s lawsuit against Disney (and Fox and Warner Bros.) over a proposed live sports streaming service called Venu Sports. (The three companies pulled the plug on Venu Sports shortly after the lawsuit was resolved, however.) Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will remain available to subscribers as separate services via their respective apps.

Sign up for Fubo.

Hulu + Live TV
Price: $90 per month with ads and $95 per month without.

Hulu + Live TV offers about 95 channels, including the major broadcast channels—ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC—in a growing number of markets. You also get cable channels such as A&E, BET, CN, CNN, Disney, Fox News, FX, HGTV, TBS, and TNT. The lineup includes CBS Sports, ESPN, and Fox Sports, plus some regional sports networks. You also get access to Hulu’s streaming library, with original content like “Only Murders in the Building” and “The Bear.”

Hulu recently renewed a deal with Fox to keep programs such as “The Masked Singer,” “The Simpsons,” and “Family Guy.” Hulu also recently added 14 channels, including Hallmark and The Weather Channel. 

After a price hike, Hulu + Live TV now bundles Disney+ (with ads) and ESPN Select for $90 a month. Another plan, Hulu + Live TV with ads, ad-free Disney+, and ESPN Select, is $95 a month. Finally, the plan with ad-free versions of Hulu + Live TV and Disney, plus ESPN+ with ads, costs $100 a month.

The basic service lets you create six separate profiles—though only two people can use the service at a time—and includes an unlimited cloud DVR. You can add premium networks, pay more to get additional sports and entertainment content, and upgrade to unlimited screens.

As noted above, Fubo and Disney announced that Disney is combining Hulu + Live TV with Fubo, though Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will continue to be available to subscribers as separate services via their respective apps.

Sign up for Hulu + Live TV.

Philo
Price: $33 a month.

Philo can be a great option if you get local channels via an antenna. For just $33 a month, you get access to more than 70 channels from partners, including Discovery, Paramount (CBS and Viacom), and AMC Networks. However, in addition to lacking local channels, Philo doesn’t offer live news (CNN, Fox News) or sports networks such as ESPN and NFL Network. It also has an unlimited DVR that will save shows for up to a year.

The company now has the Smithsonian Channel and Pop, which airs older network shows such as “House” and “NCIS: New Orleans.” It also has a deal for 11 Warner Bros. Discovery channels. Philo also has a few original series, including “Boss Moves,” with “Love and Hip-Hop” star Rasheeda Frost. The service has a deal with Kin Community for access to that company’s women-focused lifestyle content.

Last year, Philo raised its price for new subscribers from $28 to $33. But the plan now includes AMC+, HBO Max with ads, and Discovery+ at no extra charge.

You can also add premium channels, such as MGM+ ($8 a month) and Starz ($11 a month).

Philo now also offers 100 free, ad-supported channels that you can get without a subscription.

Sign up for Philo.

Sling TV
Price: $46 to $61 a month.

You might consider Sling TV if you can find another way to get CBS local channels, since the service doesn’t offer them. ABC locals are available only in some regions (see below). The Orange package is now $46 and includes 34 cable channels, including Disney and ESPN, plus A&E, the Food Network, and TBS, but no local broadcast TV. It supports one user at a time. Sling Blue, $46 per month, supports three users and has a different mix of 43 channels, including some local broadcasts and regional sports. (Among other differences, Sling Blue doesn’t include ESPN.) A combined plan costs $61.

Sling TV is carrying ABC, Fox, and NBC in some markets with the Blue and combined Sling Blue and Orange plans. But CBS locals aren’t available at all.

Sling is now offering its first sporting events in 4K in some markets. The company says it isn’t charging extra for them.

You can add premium channels, including HBO Max ($18.50), Paramount+ with Showtime ($10), and Starz ($11). Sling TV offers a large number of add-on packs, which provide extra genre-based programming (sports, news, lifestyle, Hollywood, etc.). They cost an additional $6 to $21 (for a bundle with several packs) each month.

Sling beefed up its cloud DVR, so everyone now gets 50 hours of free DVR storage, up from 10 hours. The DVR Unlimited add-on gives you unlimited storage for $5 per month.

Sling now also has a free ad-supported service, called Freestream, which doesn’t require a subscription or credit card info.

Sign up for Sling TV.

YouTube TV
Price: $83 per month.

YouTube TV offers access to more than 100 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. It recently added a bunch of Paramount channels, including BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Network. The service has also expanded its Spanish-language content, adding three Univision channels and two new add-on packages. A cloud DVR with unlimited storage for up to nine months is included.

The big news is that YouTube TV now offers a few lower-priced subscription plans; in all, 10 genre-based packages will be offered in 2026. Those already available include a $ 65-a-month sports package that includes major broadcast networks and dedicated sports channels, including ESPN (and ESPN Unlimited), FS1, and the NBC Sports Network. A $72 sports and news bundle includes news networks such as Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC, Fox News, and C-SPAN. An $55-a-month entertainment plan features programs from Bravo, Food Network, FX, Hallmark, and others. All include an unlimited DVR and YouTube’s multiview feature.

With an additional fee, you can also access NFL Sunday Ticket, which lets you watch out-of-market Sunday games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket supports YouTube TV’s multiview feature, enabling subscribers to watch multiple games simultaneously.

Last year, YouTube upgraded its multiview feature for all YouTube TV subscribers, letting you choose which games to watch. It also upgraded the video quality of 1080p content on 4K devices that support the VP9 video codec. Google says it’s working with the NFL to show all league games in 1080p, including those shot in 720p, which will then be upconverted to the higher resolution.

You can add HBO Max, MGM+, Paramount+ with Showtime, Starz, and a few other channels for an extra fee. YouTube TV subscribers have been able to do this, but now anyone can access the Primetime Channel hub on YouTube. There’s also a 4K Plus add-on plan that gives you additional 4K channels for $10 more a month. There’s a Spanish-language plan that costs $35 a month, and you can add more with a $15-a-month add-on pack.

Sign up for YouTube TV.

A growing number of ad-supported services let you watch content free of charge. The list below includes the major ones. We also maintain a more comprehensive list of free video streaming services.

Amazon Prime
Amazon has folded its ad-supported Freevee service into Prime Video, where it’s labeled “Watch for Free.” You’ll find shows such as “Schitt’s Creek” and “The Librarians” alongside older classics like “Bewitched,” “Columbo,” and “All in the Family.” Original shows include “Modern Love” and “Bosch: Legacy,” a spinoff of the popular Amazon Prime series. You’ll also see programs, such as “Reacher” and “The Wheel of Time,” that were once exclusive to Amazon Prime Video subscribers.

Amazon Fire TV Channels
Amazon Fire TV Channels is a special option exclusively on Fire TV devices. This service aggregates free, ad-supported content from a range of popular sources, including MLB, Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, CBS Sports, NHL, Fox Sports, NASCAR, and more. Amazon Fire TV Channels has added extra sports coverage from beIN Sports, including beIN Sports Xtra and video-on-demand content.

Earlier, Amazon bumped up its offering with content from Variety, Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and TV Line from Penske Media Corporation; GameSpot, Honest Trailers, and TV Guide from Fandom; Looper, Slash Film, and Nicki Swift from Static Media; along with Funny or Die and Outside. The service offers content from more than 400 different providers.

To find this content, ask Alexa to “Play Fire TV Channels” to open the app and browse free content. Or navigate to Fire TV’s Your Apps & Channels screen and click on the Fire TV Channels app.

Check out Amazon Fire TV.

Chik-fil-A Play
The company, best known for its fried chicken sandwiches, has dipped its wings into the free, ad-supported streaming business with an app called Chick-fil-A Play. Launched in November, the app offers a variety of family-focused content, such as original animated shows, podcasts, games, recipes, and more. Among the company’s original series are “Evergreen Hills” and animated programming featuring the Chick-fil-A cows.

The Chick-fil-A Play app is available for free download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Check out Chick-fil-A Play.

Google TV Freeplay
Google, which had a free ad-supported channel called Google TV under a “Free” channels section, has renamed the service Google TV Freeplay. The service, home to more than 150 live free channels, is now integrated into the Google TV interface on TVs and streaming players.

Programming includes streaming news channels from all the major broadcast networks—ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC—as well as more than 10 foreign-language channels, including Spanish, Hindi, and Japanese. Like other so-called FAST (free ad-supported television) services, Google’s Live section uses an old-school cable TV-style menu with TV shows and movies that run at scheduled times, with ads that you can’t skip.

To watch Google TV Freeplay shows and movies, go to the Live tab on Google TV, or open the Google TV Freeplay app. You can also access other free, ad-supported services, such as Pluto TV and Tubi, from the Live tab once you’ve installed those apps.

To check out Google TV Freeplay, you’ll need a Google TV television, streaming player, or mobile app.

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, find your local library, and create an account with your library card. You can check out TV shows and movies as though they were books.

The main difference between the two services is that Hoopla tends to focus more on popular entertainment than Kanopy does, and it offers media beyond videos, including 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. Your movie will start streaming once you’ve made a selection.

Check out Hoopla and Kanopy.

Philo Watch Free
Philo, best known as a low-cost cable TV alternative, now offers more than 150 ad-supported free channels under the “Watch Free” banner. Programs include “Better Call Saul,” BBC News, “Grace and Frankie,” “Ice Road Truckers,” and “Nurse Jackie.” Free movies include “Boyhood,” “Kick-Ass,” “Labyrinth,” and “La La Land.”

Philo has a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery for 11 new channels from that company, available in both Philo’s stand-alone free offering and within its $33-a-month Philo Core package, which includes more than 70 live and on-demand channels like AMC+.

Check out Philo Watch Free.

Pluto TV
The big news for Pluto TV is that Paramount’s parent company, National Amusements, has merged Paramount with Skydance Media into a new company called Paramount Skydance Corporation. Pluto TV joins other Paramount properties, such as BET, CBS Paramount Pictures, and Paramount+, and former Viacom networks such as Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon, as they team up with Skydance’s independent film and TV studios. 

In addition to genre-based channels, Pluto TV has added channels powered by other providers, including CBS, AMC Networks, and Showtime. It recently added 14 channels from NBCUniversal, including Bravo Vault, NBC Sports, and Neil deGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk channel. There’s also a Pluto TV Latino service with over 45 curated Spanish- and Portuguese-language channels covering comedy, movies, music, reality TV, sports, telenovelas, and true crime. Pluto also gets the full previous season of select Paramount series before the newest seasons arrive on the premium Paramount+ service.

Check out Pluto TV.

The Roku Channel
Thanks to a rapidly expanding roster of programming—now at more than 500 channels—you can watch free shows and movies via the company’s ad-supported The Roku Channel, which is now available outside of just Roku streaming players and TVs. Last year, Google integrated The Roku Channel, which had been available as an app on Google TV, into Google TV’s search and recommendations.

Roku has a channel called the 50 Cent Action channel, from Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Lionsgate, featuring 50 Cent’s favorite premium films and television series drawn from Lionsgate’s library of more than 20,000 titles, as well as over a dozen films featuring 50 Cent. In addition, Roku has a multiyear deal with Lionsgate that gives it rights to stream Lionsgate’s theatrically released films.

The Roku Channel offers a wide selection of licensed TV shows and movies, plus live channels from ABC, AMC, Fox, NBC, Hallmark, and more. It has more than 570 live channels and tens of thousands of free on-demand movies and TV shows. One big focus going forward will be Roku Originals, with new shows rolling out regularly. Roku (and Tubi) licensed hundreds of Warner Bros. Discovery movies and TV shows earlier this year.

Roku has started to aggressively move into sports. For example, it’s teamed up with the NFL to create the NFL Zone within its Sports section on the main Roku app, a centralized location to find live and upcoming games. It also secured a multiyear deal for MLB’s “Sunday Leadoff” live baseball games, which had been on Peacock. Roku also has a free NBA channel called NBA Zone.

Roku’s Sports Channel also includes live races from Formula E and NBA G League games. The channel also features sports-themed Roku Original programming, including “NFL Draft: The Pick.”

Check out The Roku Channel.

Sling Freestream
Sling Freestream is a relatively new ad-supported service from Sling TV. The service has been adding more content and now claims to offer more than 600 free channels and over 40,000 on-demand titles, spanning news, sports, game shows, crime dramas, sitcoms, home improvement, and cooking. Popular channels and programming include ABC News Live, BBC News, CBS News, ESPN on Demand, FilmRise, “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Heartland,” “Forensic Files,” “The Walking Dead” universe, and “VH1 I Love Reality.”

Through Freestream, you’ll be able to subscribe to more than 50 stand-alone streaming services, including AMC+, Discovery+, and Showtime. You don’t have to log in to watch, but you’ll get a more personalized experience if you do.

One interesting development: Freestream is now the first free service to offer a no-cost cloud DVR, allowing you to record up to 10 hours of programming.

Check out Sling Freestream.

Tubi
This ad-supported service, owned by Fox, offers more than 275,000 movie titles and TV episodes from more than 450 partners, including selections from the libraries of Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros., as well as networks such as A&E Networks, the BBC, Lifetime, and Starz. It also offers access to many Fox shows, such as “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Lego Masters,” after they broadcast.

Tubi recently launched a new feature called Scenes that lets you browse entertainment by scrolling through short clips from movies and TV shows. Scenes is available in Tubi’s navigation bar on iOS and Android devices and leverages Tubi’s machine learning engine to personalize the experience. If you “like” or save content to My List within Scenes, you’ll get increasingly personalized recommendations and can watch them on any device where Tubi is available.

Tubi’s options range from old films and classic indie titles to somewhat more recent movies. You’ll also find full seasons of TV shows also ranging from oldies to more recent fare. It’s also beefing up its slate of Tubi Originals, such as “War of the Worlds: Annihilation,” and “Corrective Measures,” the latter starring Bruce Willis. Tubi’s latest news is that it’s using an AI-powered search tool, called Rabbit AI, to help viewers find content they want to watch. Rabbit AI, found on the Tubi mobile app, lets you go beyond simple keyword searches and ask questions in a more natural, conversational manner.

Sign up for Tubi.

ViX
ViX is a free, ad-supported Spanish-language service owned by TelevisaUnivision, formerly known as PrendeTV. Unlike PrendeTV, which was exclusively a free, ad-supported service, ViX also has an ad-free subscription version called ViX Premium, which costs $9 a month, as well as a lower-priced tier called Vix Premium with Ads, which costs $6 a month.

Both the paid (ViX Premium) and free (ViX Gratis) versions offer more than 100 entertainment channels, including movies, sports, and children’s programming. (ViX Premium also has 10,000 hours of premium programming and some exclusive live sporting events, including 7,000 hours of live soccer.) ViX has more than 40,000 hours of on-demand content, including shows from Univision and content from large media companies based in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. It also has deals with Disney, Lionsgate, and MGM to offer more than 150 films to viewers.

Other programming includes several soccer channels, nature and wildlife channels from Blue Ant Media, nine telenovela channels, and seven movie channels. There are also three family channels.

ViX is available on Amazon Fire TV devices, Apple TV and iPhones, Roku players and TVs, and Google’s Android phones and TVs.

Sign up for ViX.

TCLtv+
TV maker TCL Now has a free streaming service, called TCL+, that’s exclusive to TCL smart TVs. It includes more than 350 free, ad-supported channels and an on-demand content library offering more than 1,500 movies and TV shows.

The library is bolstered by both independent and major studios, including Scripps Media, NBCUniversal, FilmRise, Fremantle, Banijay, and more. It is also starting to create original content, has added live-programmed Vevo channels to the service, and launched two business and financial news channels from Bloomberg Media.

More recently, TCL’s deal with the NFL includes bringing the NFL Channel and on-demand programming to the TCLtv+ app. The service is built on an upgraded version of the IDEO platform, which offers interactive features such as online meal ordering, personalized recipes from virtual chefs, and dynamic summaries and recaps of shows you’re watching.

The TCLtv+ service is built on an upgraded version of the Ideo platform, which offers interactive viewing options such as online meal ordering, personalized recipes from virtual chefs, and dynamic summaries and recaps of shows you’re watching.

Xumo Play
Xumo Play, a joint venture between Comcast and Charter, is an ad-powered streaming video platform that offers live and on-demand content from more than 300 channels and 10,000 titles 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, BBC News, CBS News Latest Headlines, LiveNow from Fox); movies from FilmRise and Hallmark; TV shows ranging from classics and kids titles to sports programming (CBS Sports HQ, Fox Sports). Movies also run the gamut from older classics to more modern fare. The service also has channels created specifically for Black and Latino audiences. 

Xumo has an exclusive deal with Magnolia Pictures to stream a new Magnolia movie on Xumo Play almost every month, with a three-month exclusive window. Xumo also has some originals and a few exclusives that rotate in and out.

Xumo first partnered with Element Electronics to launch a line of Element 4K Xumo TVs in the U.S., which are sold at Best Buy, Walmart, and a few other retailers. There are also Xumu TVs sold under the Hisense and Pioneer brands.

Sign up for Xumo Play.

AMC+
Price: $8 a month with ads; $11 a month or $110 per year without. Some promotional pricing is available when you sign up through one of the service’s partners, including Amazon, Apple, and Roku.

AMC+ is one of the newer streaming subscription services. It’s home to the "The Walking Dead" universe, and includes shows such as “Killing Eve” and “Mad Men,” as well as exclusive series such as “Interview With the Vampire” and “Gangs of London,” a British action-crime series. Plus, there are 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.

Philo now includes the ad-based AMC+ as a benefit of subscribing to the service.

Among the newer programming is “Monsieur Spade,” following the famous detective’s move to France, Anne Rice’s “Mayfair Witches,” a series starring Alexandra Daddario and Harry Hamlin, and the horror series “Chucky.”

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: $6 per month with ads or $10 per month without. Students can get a discounted rate of $3 per month.

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 content library. That covers more than 70,000 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.

Original shows include “Hillsong: A Mega-Church Exposed,” “90 Day Fiance UK,” and “House of Hammer,” about the Armie Hammer scandal. Other original shows feature programming starring or created by Sir David Attenborough, Giada De Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, Kevin Hart, David Schwimmer, and Martha Stewart. 

After Discovery and WarnerMedia completed their merger into a new entity called Warner Bros. Discovery, the combined company combined HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single streaming service called HBO Max. But Discovery+ is still available as a standalone service. The latest news is that Paramount is acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming services and studios, subject to regulatory approvals.

Sign up for Discovery+.

ESPN Select, ESPN Unlimited
Price: $13 per month or $130 per year for the basic service; $30 per month or $300 per year for a stand-alone ESPN streaming service.

ESPN+ is best for sports junkies looking to add out-of-market baseball and hockey games to their lineup, college sports fans who want a broader selection than they can get with traditional TV, and those with an interest in niche sports, such as rugby and cricket. The service also offers documentaries and scripted series.

Like Disney’s other properties—Disney+ and Hulu—ESPN+ got a price hike last October, though only by a dollar to $12 a month or $120 a year. 

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 quarterback Michael Vick.

As mentioned above, you can also get bundled plans with Disney+ and Hulu, with ads, for $17 a month. Another plan, with ad-free Disney+ and ad-free Hulu, plus ESPN+, costs $27 a month.

In August 2025, ESPN also launched an eponymous stand-alone streaming service, ESPN Unlimited, which includes all 12 ESPN network channels, plus fantasy sports. There’s also a lower-priced, stripped-down plan called ESPN Select, which is essentially a streaming version of ESPN+. (You don’t get NFL games on ESPN+.) Existing ESPN+ subscribers essentially become subscribers of the lower-priced ESPN Select plan, with access to all ESPN+ content. The company also rolled out a new ESPN streaming app.

ESPN Unlimited is also available as a bundle with Fox One, which packages premium content and live events from top leagues on all of ESPN and FOX’s networks and services, for $40 a month.

The company also announced that it reached a deal with the NFL to acquire the NFL Network, NFL Red Zone, and NFL Fantasy from the league. It also now home to WWE events like “WrestleMania.”

Sign up for ESPN, ESPN Select, ESPN Unlimited

Fox One
Price: $20 a month or $200 annually.

Fox One is the network’s long-awaited subscription streaming service, which offers access to all of its properties, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business, Fox Weather, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes, B1G, Fox local stations, and the Fox Network.

You can bundle Fox One with Fox Nation—a streaming service from Fox News with live shows, original specials, movies, news, and documentaries—for $25 a month.

Sign up for Fox One.

Hallmark+
Price: $8 a month or $80 annually.

Hallmark Media replaced Hallmark Movies Now with a subscription service called Hallmark+. In addition to its traditional and female-focused fare, Hallmark+ also debuted a rom-com movie trilogy, “The Groomsmen,” told from a man’s perspective.

The service also launched its first holiday-themed limited series, “Holidazed,” which follows the antics of six families from different backgrounds. It also introduced several unscripted series, another first for Hallmark.

Hallmark+ members will receive exclusive benefits and rewards, including unlimited e-cards, shopping rewards and coupons, and surprise gifts.

Sign up for Hallmark+.

MLB+
Price: $6 a month.

With the debut of a stand-alone MLB+ streaming service, baseball fans can now get the MLB Network without cable, satellite, or internet TV service.

Subscribers can stream MLB Network games, plus live audio for all 30 teams, MLB Big Inning, and Gameday 3D. You can also get a single-team MLB.TV subscription, which gives you your favorite team’s out-of-market games live or on demand, for $100 a year. An all-teams subscription is $150, or $30 a month.

Sign up for MLB+.

Paramount+
Price: $9 per month or $90 per year with ads; $14 per month or $140 per year ad-free.

Paramount+ replaced CBS All Access and provides full-length episodes of CBS programs and new original programming, plus live streams of local CBS affiliates in many markets.

The big news is that the parent company, Paramount Skydance, is acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, subject to regulatory approvals. Earlier, Paramount merged with Skydance Media to create Paramount Skydance, which brought together Paramount properties such as the BET, CBS TV network, Paramount Pictures, the Paramount+ and Pluto TV streaming services, and former Viacom networks such as Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon with Skydance’s independent film and TV studios.

Back in 2024, Paramount combined Showtime with Paramount+ into a new service now called Paramount+ Premium to simplify its plans. New subscribers can choose between ad-supported Paramount+ Essential for $9 per month or $90 per year, and you can add Showtime to the mix by subscribing to largely ad-free Paramount+ Premium for $14 per month or $140 per year. Verified students are able to get a 50 percent discount on either plan.

With the change, the 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. There is also some limited access to Showtime original series.

The Premium with Showtime plan is mostly commercial-free (except for live TV streams) and features the same content as the ad-supported tier, plus your local CBS station. It has shows and movies in 4K with high dynamic range (including Dolby Vision), plus mobile downloads. You also get all the original Showtime content, which you don’t get with Essential.

AARP members can get a 10 percent discount on any Paramount+ plan. You can also get Paramount+ free with a Walmart+ membership.

It recently reached a deal with Charter for its Spectrum TV customers to get the ad-supported Paramount+ Essential and BET+ Essential at no additional charge.

Sign up for Paramount+.

Peacock
Price: From $8 ($80 per year) to $17 per month ($170 per year).

NBCUniversal’s Peacock lets you access NBC shows and Universal movies, as well as licensed content, original programming, and live sports events. Both Peacock plans include current season NBC broadcasts, plus a mix of offerings from Bravo, Syfy, Telemundo, NBC, Universal Kids, Universal Studios, and USA Network. The service also licenses shows from other networks, including ABC, A&E, Fox, and Paramount. There are deals in place for movies from Blumhouse, DreamWorks, Focus Features, Illumination, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., and current season NBC broadcasts, plus a mix of offerings from Bravo, NBC, Syfy, Telemundo, Universal Kids, Universal Studios, and USA Network.

A multiyear deal with Lionsgate, which began in 2024, brings Lionsgate’s theatrically released films to Peacock.

There are three Peacock plans. The ad-supported Select costs $8 a month or $80 a year, and provides TV favorites from NBC, Bravo, and more, but not sports or original programming. The $11 a month, or $100 a year, Premium ad-supported plan adds 80,000+ hours of on-demand content, live sports and events, movies, and original shows such as "Traitors and "Yellowstone." The Premium Plus plan costs $17 a month or $170 a year, and removes the ads, includes access to your local NBC station, and lets you download programs for offline viewing.

For sports fans, Peacock will stream Premier League soccer, golf tournaments, WWE Network matches and original series, and premium live events. It also has a deal with the NFL through 2033 to air Sunday Night Football on NBC.

The service also has some sports exclusives, such as the right to air an NFL wild-card playoff game. NBCUniversal also reached a deal with the NBA to show the NBA’s opening night, a new Sunday-night primetime package, and regional games on Tuesday on both NBC and Peacock. The deal also includes broadcasts of more than 50 WNBA regular-season games and the first round of playoff games on NBC, Peacock, and USA Network. It will also show WNBA Finals and semifinals in staggered years through 2036.

Peacock Premium is now available as a bundle with Apple TV for either $15 (with ads) or $20 (ad-free) a month. And Walmart recently added Peacock’s ad-based service to its Walmart+ membership.

Sign up for Peacock.

The Criterion Channel
Price: $11 per month or $100 per year.

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 HBO Max.

Criterion adds curated collections of movies each month; they’re often grouped by theme, actor, or director. Among recent collections are ’90s Soundtrack Movies, Summer Romances, and The Rolling Stones on Film. A Criterion 24/7 feature offers subscribers a constant livestream of films from the company’s catalog.

Crunchyroll
Price: $10 to $18 a month

A popular choice for fans of anime, Crunchyroll—owned by Sony—recently increased prices. The service offers anime TV shows and films from Japan and other Asian countries, as well as live events, music, and video games. The least expensive Fan plan now costs $10 a month, up from $8, and the Mega tier, with support for four simultaneous users and bigger discounts from the Crunchyroll store, costs $12, a $2 a month increase. The Ultra tier, with six simultaneous users and access to Crunchyroll’s manga app and even bigger store discounts, is $18 a month, up from $16.

Sign up for the Criterion Channel.

PBS Passport
Price: $5 per month or $60 per year for most stations.

PBS Passport is an added benefit available to eligible donors of participating PBS stations—you must make a donation to your station to receive this benefit. The donation requirement may vary because each PBS station sets its own Passport subscription prices.. While a free version of PBS is also available, PBS Passport unlocks additional programming that’s no longer available to stream for 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,” and “Grantchester.”

On the PBS streaming service, episodes available only to Passport members feature a blue “compass rose” Passport icon in the upper left-hand corner of the program.

Sign up for PBS Passport.

HBO Max
Price: $11 a month or $110 per year with ads; $18,50 per month or $185 per year without ads; $23 a month or $230 for HBO Max Premium (includes 4K streaming).

HBO Max is the name of the service that combines HBO with Discovery+ and other WarnerMedia properties. You can still get Discovery+ as a stand-alone service. The company recently changed the name back from just Max.

There are three HBO Max plans. The Basic With Ads plan costs $11 a month or $110 a year, while the ad-free Standard plan is $18,50 a month or $185 annually. The Premium plan costs $23 per month or $230 per year.

Both the Basic and Standard plans are limited to 1080p resolution and support two simultaneous users. The ad-free Standard plan lets you download up to 30 titles to watch on the go. As with Netflix, you have to get the Premium plan to watch 4K videos. (The new HBO Max launched with more than 1,000 films and episodes in 4K, some with Dolby Vision HDR.) HBO Max Premium also supports Dolby Atmos audio and up to four users at a time. You also get up to 100 downloads for offline viewing.

Last year, the service started showing live sports in Dolby Vision HDR, including some NBA games. This year, it’s available for NHLA, MLB, NCAA, and U.S. Soccer games as well.

In addition to regular HBO channels, HBO Max includes a slate of new original programs and titles from the Warner Bros. TV and film library. The service also has content from Warner’s Cartoon Network, CNN, DC Entertainment, TBS, The CW, TNT, and Turner Classic Movies. HBO Max has a number of exclusives, including the streaming rights to every episode of “Friends” and “The Big Bang Theory.” Original series include “The White Lotus,” “The Gilded Age,” “The Last of Us,” and the “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon.”

Discovery’s portfolio includes Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, and TLC. The service also has content from the BBC Natural History Collection, plus nonfiction programming from A&E, The History Channel, and Lifetime. New original shows will feature programming starring or created by Sir David Attenborough, Giada De Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, Kevin Hart, David Schwimmer, and Martha Stewart.

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery also offer an HBO Max/Disney+/Hulu bundle. An ad-supported bundle plan costs $20 a month, while the ad-free bundle costs $33 a month, for a savings of more than 30 percent compared to subscribing to the services separately.

Sign up for HBO Max.

MGM+
Price: $8 per month or $62 per year.

MGM+ is the rebranded Epix channel, now owned outright by Amazon, which offers an AMC+/MGM+ bundle for $14 a month. That’s a savings of $5 a month over subscribing to those services separately.

In addition to Epix shows and movies and titles from the MGM library, MGM+ is developing original content, including "Vanished," starring Kaley Cuoco, the sci-fi horror series “From,” the Emmy Award-winning series “Godfather of Harlem,” and the cinematic dramatic series “War of the Worlds,” “Rogue Heroes,” and “Belgravia.” Documentary series include Emmy-nominated “Laurel Canyon,” “Helter Skelter,” and “My Life as a Rolling Stone.”

Sign up for MGM+.

Starz
Price: $11 per month or $70 per year.

You can now get Starz without a pay TV subscription via an app on smart TVs, streaming players, and mobile devices. Content includes original shows (“The Spanish Princess,” “Outlander,” “Party Down”) and movies (“Men In Black,” “Spiderman: No Way Home”). 

Starz costs $11 a month, but there’s a plan that offers three months of the service for $5 a month. You can also get Starz bundled with BritBox for $15 a month.

Starz also has a number of original TV shows, including “The Serpent Queen,” “Outlander,” “BMF"—which follows the Black Mafia Family organization—and several series based on “Power.”

Roku now owns an equity stake in Starz.

Sign up for Starz.