Add Category
So you've cut the cable TV cord but you still want live TV. Maybe you've tried the alternatives: Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, DirecTV Now and YouTube TV. Something's still missing.
Hulu hopes that "something" is its own vast library of on-demand TV shows and movies. Because that's exactly what it's packaging, along with more than 50 channels of live TV, in the new Hulu with Live TV plan that launches today.
Give Hulu $40 per month and you'll get full access to traditional Hulu -- which currently costs $8 per month -- as well as live TV from local channels ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in select cities plus a solid slate of cable channels, including ESPN, CNN, TNT, Bravo, HGTV, Cartoon Network, Lifetime, the Disney Channel and more (Disclosure: CBS is the parent company of CNET and Showtime.) You also get 50 hours' worth of cloud DVR storage and an all-new interface.
Intrigued? Here's what you need to know.
Hulu's DVR: Cloudy with a chance of commercials
I'll get to the other features in a minute, but first you should know about Hulu's biggest restriction. The cloud DVR included in its base $40 package doesn't let you fast-forward through commercials. To do that, you'll need to pay another $15 per month for Hulu's "Enhanced cloud DVR" add-on.
A typical physical digital video recorder from your cable company or TiVo lets you lets you record shows to watch later, set up season passes to record all upcoming episodes of a show, and fast-forward and rewind on recorded shows. That kind of DVR functionality is also offered, with some restrictions, by the other live TV streaming services (with the exception of DirecTV Now), except your shows are stored remotely, in the cloud.
What restrictions, you ask? PlayStation Vue's cloud DVR has unlimited storage capacity and commercial skipping on every channel, but shows expire after 28 days. YouTube TV's cloud DVR has unlimited storage capacity for nine months, but as soon as a show becomes available via video-on-demand it replaces the DVR's version, typically meaning you can't skip commercials. Sling TV's cloud DVR has 50 or 100 hours of storage, shows don't expire and you can skip commercials, but it's only available on certain devices, costs $5 extra per month and many channels (namely Disney/ESPN and Fox channels) can't be recorded at all.
Hulu's base cloud DVR has 50 hours of storage and shows don't automatically expire or get replaced by on-demand, but the privilege of fast-forwarding through commercials brings the price up substantially.
Pricing: Which Hulu is for you?
It depends on how much you like watching commercials.
Competitors Sling TV, DirecTV Now and PlayStation Vue offer step-up plans with more channels, but Hulu takes a different approach. The add-ons for its live TV plan mostly offer extra features -- up to $73 per month for the full monty with Showtime, unlimited streams and minimal ads.
Here's how they break down, including the two original plans, which are still available.
Hulu plans and pricing
| Plan | Monthly Cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Limited Commercials | $8 | Hulu's on-demand library with commercials |
| No Commercials | $12 | Hulu's on-demand library, commercial free |
| Hulu with Live TV | $40 | 50 live channels, 50 hour cloud DVR without commercial skip, 2 simultaneous streams, Hulu's on-demand library with commercials |
| Add-ons for Live TV | ||
| No VOD commercials | plus $4 | Commercial-free option for on-demand library (Live TV has ads) |
| Enhanced Cloud DVR | plus $15 | Ability to skip commercials on recorded shows, 200 hours of storage |
| Unlimited Screens | plus $15 | Unlimited simultaneous streams in-home, 3 outside the home |
| Enhanced Cloud DVR + Unlimited Screens | plus $20 | Combine the two add-ons, save $10 per month |
| Showtime | plus $9 | Live and on-demand access to Showtime |
The basic $40 plan can be souped up to remove ads from the on-demand shows, which costs the same $4 as standard Hulu. I love this option. I've subscribed to commercial-free Hulu ever since it was introduced, and in my book four bucks to drop those on-demand ads is a no-brainer.
The other add-ons are relatively expensive, although they can be combined for a $10 discount. Enhanced DVR adds more storage and the option to fast-forward through ads. Unlimited screens means a family can watch any number of Hulu streams at the same time inside the home, assuming your network can handle it and you have enough devices. The standard plan is limited to two simultaneous streams.
Showtime is currently the only add-on channel, although Hulu says additional premium channels will come out soon.
Nationwide launch, except for local channels
Unlike YouTube TV, which is only available in five cities right now, anyone in the US can subscribe to Hulu with Live TV. The catch? You'll only get access to all four live local channels -- ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC -- if you live in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago or Philadelphia.
In other markets, Hulu has have some of those channels and not others, so you might get you might get two or three broadcasters at launch. Hulu says it's working to add more local stations soon. DirecTV Now and PlayStation Vue, which also offer local channels, have similar setups.
50 channels but no AMC, Viacom or Discovery
Beyond local channels, every Hulu live TV subscriber gets cable networks including Disney (ESPN, The Disney Channel), Fox (FX, Fox News), Turner (CNN, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network), Scripps (HGTV, Food Network), NBC (Bravo, USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC). Hulu's sports selection is decent too, with CBS Sports, ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC Sports and select regional sports networks.
Hulu vs. YouTube TV vs. Sling TV vs. DirecTV Now vs. PlayStation Vue: Channel lineups compared
Missing networks include AMC (AMC, IFC, BBC America), Viacom (Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV) and Discovery (Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet). Many of those are available on Hulu's streaming competitors as well as cable.
Overall Hulu has a solid channel lineup that beats YouTube TV and Sling TV, is roughly equal to DirecTV Now (which lacks CBS, but does have AMC and Viacom) and falls a bit short of PlayStation Vue.
Device support: Relatively weak at launch
To use Hulu with Live TV you'll need to have a compatible device, and at launch that doesn't include Roku, Amazon Fire or, surprisingly, a PC or Mac computer. Here's what is supported today, and how it compares to the other guys.
Live TV streaming service devices compared
| Platform | Hulu with Live TV | YouTube TV | Sling TV | PlayStation Vue | DirecTV Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mac | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Chromecast | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Android only |
| Android TV | Cast only | Cast only | Yes | Yes | No |
| PS3/PS4 | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Xbox One | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Roku | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Apple TV | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fire TV | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fire tablets | No |
No
View More
|