There are a ton of live streaming services out there, and some include local channels. However, you can save up to $1,000 every year by supplementing your local channels with an antenna and signing up for a cheaper streaming service. Some streaming services offer a variety of premium cable channels without requiring you to pay for local channels. These include Pluto TV, Frndly TV, Philo TV and Sling TV.
Pluto TV is a free streaming service that offers more than 100 live channels. The channel categories include movies, entertainment, news, reality, crime, comedy, classic TV, music, kids and more. Pluto TV is an app that anyone with an antenna should use, as it’s completely free.
Frndly TV is the cheapest of the subscription-based live streaming services at about $7/month. It features more than 35 lifestyle channels including Hallmark, History Channel, A&E, Me-TV, Decades and several others. Frndly TV is best for individuals who prefer lifestyle channels without national news or sports networks.
Philo TV is another affordable streaming service that starts at $25/month. It includes more action and kids channels compared to Frndly TV, including AMC, Comedy Central, HGTV and Nickelodeon. Philo TV is best for individuals who want a better variety of lifestyle, action, and kids channels.
Sling TV is another service that’s great to pair with an antenna. It starts at $35/month and has the best variety of lifestyle, action, sports, news and kids channels compared to the other two streaming services listed here. Sling allows users the option to add extra tiers, as well. Sling TV is best for individuals who want as many cable channels as possible while still keeping the bill low.
Streaming services with local channels like YouTube TV are more expensive because they require you to pay for local channels. Supplementing your local channels with an antenna can save you up to $1,000 a year while still keeping all of your favorite TV networks.
Getting started
Watching free, over-the-air TV with an antenna is simpler than you may think. In many cases, you can take an antenna out of the box, connect the cable to your TV, run a channel scan and voila! You have dozens of local channels to surf.
The number of channels you can access and how clearly they come in is based on a number of factors, including your distance from the point of broadcast towers, the type of antenna you have and where it’s located in your home.
Not sure what kind of antenna you need? Take our simple quiz to help narrow down the options. You can also find a general list of recommended antennas here.
Pair your antenna with an OTA DVR device to record your favorite shows
Did you know you can use an antenna similarly to how you watch cable? Ditch the costly subscription fees, but keep the cable capabilities (record, pause, rewind and fast forward) with an OTA DVR device. Here are the products we recommend:
Tablo DUAL 128GB Over-the-Air [OTA] DVR: Record up to 80 HD hours and stream up to two free broadcast channels from your HDTV antenna simultaneously.
Tablo QUAD 1TB Over-the-Air [OTA] DVR: Record up to 700 hours and stream up to four free broadcast channels from their over-the-air HDTV antenna simultaneously.