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 a month extra. 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,” “Wheel of Time,” “Reacher” (based on the bestselling Lee Child novels), and “Fallout” (based on the video game). Fans of epic adventures can watch the second season of the “Lord of the Rings” prequel series, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”

One bit of news is that Amazon is shutting down its free ad-supported service, Freevee, and bringing those titles under the Amazon Prime Video umbrella. The free content will be available to non-Prime subscribers under the “Watch for Free” label.

Amazon now includes a limited number of ads in Prime Video shows and movies, charging an extra $3 a month for those who prefer not to see them. The company said the ads are needed to pay for the escalating cost of compelling content. One thing the company didn’t mention is that Amazon Prime with ads doesn’t provide Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio. For those, you have to pony up the extra $3 a month.

Amazon has been upping its sports game, most recently as part of a mega-deal with the NBA that also includes ABC/ESPN and NBCUniversal. Amazon will show 66 NBA games on Amazon Prime, including Thursday night doubleheaders. The deal starts with the 2025 to 2026 season. The service will also air Friday night doubleheaders, some Saturday afternoon games, at least one game on Black Friday, and the quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship game 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 for the 2025 NBA playoffs.

This follows an earlier deal that brings Yankees games to the Prime Video service, which is also now the exclusive home of the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” games. Those NFL games now have high dynamic range (HDR) broadcasts, and Amazon added AI-powered insights, analysis, and predictions, as well as 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 it 4,000 additional films and 17,000 TV shows to Amazon Prime (and a lesser number to its free ad-supported Freevee streaming service, described below). The company has rebranded Epix, MGM’s streaming platform, as MGM+. (That service costs $6 a month or $50 annually.)

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

Sign up for Amazon Prime.

Apple TV+
Price: $10 per month, $99 annually.

Apple TV+ started off 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 doubled.

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.” An Apple movie, “CODA,” about the only hearing member of a deaf family pursuing her dream of being a singer, won the Best Picture Oscar at the 94th Academy Awards. The service is also the place to watch Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

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. For 2024 the company added some new features, including bringing Multiview, which had been limited to only those using an Apple TV 4K, 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, Apple News Plus, and Apple Arcade, along with 2 terabytes of cloud storage—for a single monthly fee of $20.

Apple TV+ is now also available as part of a $15-a-month bundle from Comcast that also includes Netflix and Peacock. To get this StreamSaver bundle, you have to be a Comcast Xfinity TV or Internet customer.

There are also reports that Apple TV+ and Paramount+ are in early talks about offering a bundle of their two services at a discount, but so far neither company has commented publicly.

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” and TV shows including “The Simpsons” and “Empire,” as well as National Geographic shows.

However, the big news for subscribers is that the company hiked prices in the fall of 2024 for Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu. The price of Disney+ with ads jumped from $8 to $10 a month, while the ad-free Disney+ Premium tier went from $14 to $16 a month and the annual ad-free plan increased from $140 to $160.

Disney’s bundles also got price hikes. Disney Duo Basic (Disney+ and Hulu with ads) went from $10 to $11 a month, while the Trio Basic plan, which adds ESPN+ with ads, jumped $2 to $17 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 $27 a month, a $2 increase.

Two bits of good news are that the new Disney+/Hulu/Max bundle that launched last summer isn’t getting a price hike, and Disney+ subscribers now get access to ABC News Live and several theme-based curated content playlists starting in September. The ad-supported Disney/Hulu/Max plan stays at $17 a month for now, while the ad-free version now costs $30 a month, a savings of 38 percent over subscribing to the services separately.

The other big news is that Disney has pulled the plug on a new sports streaming service called Venu Sports (see below). It had been a joint venture with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery. The decision follows Disney’s announcement that it will merge its Hulu + Live TV service with Fubo, which had sued to block the Venu Sports service. You will still be able to subscribe to Hulu + Live TV and Fubo will remain separately.

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 starts with the 2025 to 2026 season.

In a move reminiscent of Netflix’s efforts to stop password sharing, Disney+ is now alerting U.S. subscribers caught sharing their passwords that it’s in violation of its terms, and is offering them a chance to add people to their account for a fee. Violators could see their Disney+ service limited or terminated, according to an Associated Press report. This follows a change in Hulu member agreements that also imposes new sharing limitations.

Sign up for Disney+.

Hulu
Price: $10 per month with ads ($2 a month for eligible students) or $100 per year; $19 per month without ads.

Hulu, now owned by Disney, is a good option for cord-cutters who don’t want to miss out on broadcast TV. The service is a good way to get programming from ABC, AMC, Bravo, Big Ten Network, CBS, E, ESPN, Fox, Fox Sports, FX, NBC, NFL Network, Oxygen, PBS, Syfy, and USA Network. Earlier this year, NBCUniversal moved next-day access to Bravo shows from Hulu to Peacock, though some NBC shows that no longer air new seasons will remain on Hulu.

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

Hulu raised prices last fall, so the ad-supported Hulu tier went from $8 to $10 a month, while the annual plan jumped from $80 to $100 a year. The ad-free plan gets a $1-a-month hike to $19. The Disney bundles that include Hulu also got more expensive, as we noted above.

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

Hulu originals include “The Bear,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and “Welcome to Wrexham," 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 such films as “Ferrari” and “Where the Crawdads Sing.”

Hulu is also now the streaming home for FX shows, with exclusive rights to more than 70 original offerings, and an exclusive deal with AMC Networks brings “Fear the Walking Dead,” a spinoff from “The Walking Dead,” to Hulu. The deal also gives Hulu exclusive rights to new and coming scripted programming from AMC, BBC America, IFC, Sundance TV, and WeTV.

Like other Disney entities, Hulu has started to curtail account sharing with an updated member agreement that outlines new limitations on access outside of the household. Subscribers are warned that violations give 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; $15.50 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.” Newer movies include “Atlas,” starring Jennifer Lopez, “Hit Man,” starring Glen Powell, and “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” starring Eddie Murphy.

A recent deal with Universal will bring 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 they head back to Peacock.

But Netflix has once again increased prices of all of its plans. Netflix now offers three plans. The no-ads Basic plan is no longer available to new subscribers. The ad-supported Standard With Ads plan is now $8 a month, while the Standard no-ads plan goes from $15.50 to $18 a month. The Premium plan, which includes 4K videos and more simultaneous users, gets 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.

Comcast Xfinity TV and internet customers can now get a bundle that includes Netflix, Apple TV+, and Peacock for $15 a month. To get this StreamSaver bundle, you have to be a Comcast Xfinity TV or internet customer.

Last summer, Netflix signed a deal with AMC Networks to bring 13 AMC series, including all eight seasons of "Fear the Walking Dead," to the service.

Netflix has also moved into sports, with a three-year deal that brings NFL holiday games to the service. This season Netflix hosted two Christmas Day games, and in 2025 and 2026, Netflix will stream at least one holiday game each year.

The company says it has added spatial audio—using its own 3D immersive audio technology—to about 700 titles. It’s available only to top-tier 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 prices.

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: $8 per month or $80 per year.

Blessed with a very deep catalog of older shows, such as “Agatha Christie’s Marple,” “Midsomer Murders,” and “Foyle’s War,” Acorn TV is now creating its own original programming with shows such as “Bloodlands,” a police thriller; “Happy Valley,” about a police sergeant pursuing a man who assaulted her late daughter; “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: $9 per month or $90 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,” “Coronation Street,” and “Antiques Roadshow,” plus older classic episodes of “Doctor Who.” Newer original shows include “After the Flood,” a post-flood murder mystery; “Archie: The Man Who Became Cary Grant”; “McDonald & Dodds” about a mismatched detective duo; “Stonehouse,” about a high-flying politician who fakes his own death; “Sister Boniface Mysteries,” starring a moped-riding nun; 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 Stream
Monthly bill: $102 to $130

DirecTV Stream, basically the equivalent of getting the DirecTV service without the satellite dish, is among the pricier cord-cutting options. The cheapest plans provide a mix of live TV stations and cable channels. The top-tier package adds premium channels such as 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.

AT&T has 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 Max streaming service.)

The company raised prices on most plans in October; it had two price hikes on all plans the previous year. Right now the entry-level Entertainment + Sports pack plan is $102 a month for about 90 channels. The Choice plan—the cheapest one that provides a good number of regional sports networks, plus access to about 125 channels—costs $115 a month. The Ultimate plan, with about 160 channels plus Starz, now costs $130 a month. There’s also a less publicized Premier plan (with about 185 channels, plus Max with ads, Cinemax, and Paramount+ with Showtime) for $170 a month. A current promotion gives you a discounted rate on any of the plans for the first three months.

There’s also a Spanish-language plan, called Optimo Mas, that has about 100 channels for $87 a month.

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

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

All of the services come with on-demand shows and movies, and unlimited cloud DVR storage.

Sign up for DirecTV Stream.

Fubo
Price: $85 to $110 a month.

Fubo is a cable replacement service targeting sports fans; it recently raised prices by $5, and that was just two months after a previous $5-a-month price hike. 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 recently rejiggered its lineups and has three plans. The Essential plan costs $85 a month and has more than 200 channels with local stations in most markets. The Pro plan costs the same but adds lots of sports networks (including regional sports networks, plus the MLB, NBA, and NFL networks) and more cable channels, though currently not Turner channels (CNN, TBS, TNT).

The $95-a-month Elite plan, formerly called 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. A Latino plan is still $33 a month; it offers more than 60 channels and more than 100 sporting events.

Note that Fubo is currently the only streaming service that charges a fee for regional sports networks—up to $16 a month, depending on your area. You’ll have to pay that extra charge with both the Pro and Elite plans but not with Essential, which lacks regional sports programming.

You can add several premium channels, though not Max (formerly HBO Max). One plan combines MGM+, Showtime, and Starz for $20 per month. Separately, Showtime costs $11 a month; Starz is $9 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 $25 per month (or $150 per season) that lets baseball fans stream out-of-market games, both live and on demand.

One big piece of news is that Fubo and Disney announced that Disney will be combining its Hulu + Live TV business (see below) with Fubo at some point 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.) Even after the deal is closed Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will continue to be available to subscribers as separate services via their respective apps.

Sign up for Fubo.

Hulu + Live TV
Price: $82 per month with ads and $96 per month without.

Hulu + Live TV offers about 85 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. Hulu also has a growing library of original content, including “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. 

Of course, you also get Hulu’s streaming library, plus Hulu originals such as “Only Murders in the Building” and “The Bear.”

You can get Hulu + Live TV by itself (Hulu + Live TV Only) for $82 a month with ads, but there’s strong pricing incentives to get Hulu + Live TV bundled with other Disney services, such as Disney+ and ESPN+. Given the price of Hulu + Live TV Only—which only provides access to live content, but does not include the Hulu streaming library or access to Disney+ or ESPN+, it doesn’t make much sense.

The pricing tiers for bundles can be confusing, varying mainly by which parts of your service show ads. A plan with Hulu Live TV, Disney+, and ESPN+—all with ads—costs $83 a month. Another plan, Hulu + Live TV with ads, ad-free Disney+ and ESPN+ with ads, is $88 month. Finally, the plan with ad-free versions of Hulu + Live TV and Disney, plus ESPN+ with ads, costs $96 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 will be combining its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo at some point in the near future. However, even after the deal is closed 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: $28 a month.

Philo can be a great option if you get local channels via an antenna. It’s a sports-free streaming service backed by several cable networks, including A&E, AMC, Discovery, Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS), and Scripps. In addition to lacking local channels, Philo doesn’t offer live news (CNN, Fox News) or sports networks such as ESPN or NFL Network. But for just $25 a month, you get access to more than 70 channels from partners, including Discovery, Paramount (CBS and Viacom), and AMC Networks.

The company now has the Smithsonian Channel and Pop, which airs older network shows such as “House” and “NCIS: New Orleans.” Last fall it reached a deal to bring 11 Warner Bros. Discovery channels to the service. Philo also has a few original series, including “Boss Moves,” with “Love and Hip-Hop” star Rasheeda Frost, now in its second season. 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 $25 to $28. However, the plan now includes AMC+, which cost an extra $5 a month. Current subscribers can keep the $25-a-month plan, but they won’t get AMC+ unless they upgrade to the pricier plan.

You can also add premium channels, such as MGM+ ($7 a month) and Starz ($10 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: $40 to $60 a month.

You might consider Sling TV if you can find another way to get CBS local channels because the service lacks them. ABC locals are available only in some regions (see below). The Orange package is now $40 and includes about 30 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, $45 per month, supports three users and has a different mix of about 40 channels, including some local broadcasts and regional sports. (Among other differences, Sling Blue doesn’t include ESPN.) A combined plan costs $60.

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.

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

You can add premium channels, including Max ($17), 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. You can also get 200 hours of storage, up from 50 hours, for $5 per month with the DVR Plus add-on.

In addition, Sling has an exclusive deal with Barstool Sports, a channel dedicated to sports and pop culture that features live content, including video podcasts, blogs, and video series.

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 with three Univision channels as well as two new add-on packages. A cloud DVR with unlimited storage for up to nine months is included. 

YouTube is now also the home to NFL Sunday Ticket, which lets you watch out-of-market Sunday games, which have now left DirecTV. NFL Sunday Ticket supports YouTube TV’s multiview feature, enabling subscribers to watch multiple games simultaneously.

The big news is that YouTube TV has raised its price for both new and current subscribers to $83 a month, a $10 a month price hike.

Earlier this year, YouTube upgraded its multiview feature for all YouTube TV subscribers by letting you pick the games you want 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 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, which gives you additional channels in 4K, for an additional $10 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 Freevee
Previously called IMDb TV, Amazon Freevee is an ad-supported service that offers a mix of live channels, on-demand classic TV shows and movies, and some original content. But Amazon is now shutting down Freevee, and rolling Freevee content into Prime Video, where it will be labeled “Watch for Free.”

Freevee has more than 500 live channels. 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. Last year, Freevee started showing content that was once exclusive to Amazon Prime Video subscribers, such as ““Reacher” and “The Wheel of Time."

Check out Amazon Freevee.

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 is adding extra sports coverage from beIN SPORTS by launching 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 a new app called Chick-fil-A Play. Launched in November, the new app offers a variety of family-focused content, such as original animated shows, podcasts, games, recipes, and more. Among the company’s new original series is "Evergreen Hills" and animated programming featuring the Chick-fil-A cows.

The Chick-fil-A Play App is available now as a free download in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Check out Chick-fil-A Play.

Crackle
Crackle, which used to be Sony’s ad-supported streaming service, has now been shut down. That’s a result of its parent company, Chicken Soup for the Soul, recently declaring bankruptcy and adjusting its filing from Chapter 11 (reorganization) to Chapter 7 (liquidation). The company also owned Redbox, EspañolFlix, FrightPix, and Popcornflix, which have all now been shuttered.

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 channels in foreign languages, 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 using your library card.

The main difference between the two services is that Hoopla tends to focus more on popular entertainment than Kanopy does, and it includes other types of media beyond videos, such as 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, which are available 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 recently reached a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to launch 11 new channels with content from that company. The new channels are available in both Philo’s stand-alone free offering and within its $28-a-month Philo Core package, which includes more than 70 live and on-demand channels like AMC+.

Check out Philo Watch Free.

Pluto TV
Pluto TV, owned by Paramount, has about 250 curated channels, drawing content from its Paramount properties (BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Pictures), plus networks such as Bloomberg, Cheddar News, CNN, NBC News, and Fox Sports. Pluto TV also has a decent library of on-demand content, including now-classic movies—"Titanic,” “Saving Private Ryan”—and newer fare such as “Lady Bird.” TV shows run the gamut from “The Andy Griffith Show” and the original “Gunsmoke” to “The Twilight Zone” and “Criminal Minds.”

The big news for Pluto TV is that Paramount’s parent company, National Amusements, has agreed to merge Paramount with Skydance Media into a new company. Pluto TV will join 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. The merger, if approved, is expected to happen in the first half of 2025.

There are reports that Pluto TV might be integrated into Paramount+, along with other Paramount properties including CBS and MTV.

In addition to genre-based channels, Pluto TV has added channels powered by other providers, including CBS (“NCIS,” “FBI”), AMC Networks (“The Making of the Mob,” “NOS4A2: Ghost”), and Showtime (“Dexter,” “Billions”). It recently added 14 channels from NBCUniversal, including Bravo Vault and NBC Sports, as well as Neil deGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk channel. It also now has 25 channels dedicated to movies.

The company now has 25 live movie channels across a variety of genres, including action, Black cinema, classics, comedy, cult films, documentaries, drama, and horror, among others.

There’s now a Pluto TV Latino service, with over 45 curated Spanish- and Portuguese-language channels covering categories such as comedy, movies, music, reality TV, sports, telenovelas, and true crime.

Pluto gets the full previous season of select Paramount series before the newest seasons arrive on the premium Paramount+ service.

As part of a “Programmed By Humans” branding message, Pluto is touting its dedicated team of curators to help program for the platform.

Check out Pluto TV.

The Roku Channel
Thanks to a rapidly expanding roster of programming, 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.

The latest news is that Google is integrating The Roku Channel, which had been available as an app on Google TV, into Google TV’s search and recommendations. It joins Google’s own free, ad-supported service which is now called Google TV Freeplay.

Roku also reached a deal to offer a new channel from Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Lionsgate on The Roku Channel. Called the 50 Cent Action Channel, it will will feature 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.

The Roku Channel has a lot of licensed TV shows and movies, plus some live channels from ABC, AMC, Fox, NBC, Hallmark, and others. It has more than 400 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. Current examples include "The Spiderwick Chronicles," “Reptile Royalty,” and “UFO Cowboys."

Recently, Roku (and Tubi) licensed hundreds of movies and TV shows, including “Raised by Wolves” and “Cake Boss,” from Warner Bros. Discovery. Other new channels include “Barney” and “Pickleball TV.” In addition, Roku has a multiyear deal with Lionsgate that gives it rights to stream Lionsgate’s theatrically released films. Exclusive to Roku, it’s the first time Lionsgate titles are available free anywhere. Roku is also teaming up with a private equity company to acquire up to a 20 percent stake in the premium channel Starz, which was acquired by Lionsgate in 2016.

Roku also lets you access AMC Networks’ paid streaming services—AMC+, Shudder, and Acorn TV—through the Roku Channel’s Premium Subscriptions.

Roku has started moving aggressively into sports. Last season, it 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 last year was on Peacock. These earlier games were free—last year you had to have a paid Peacock subscription. Roku also has a free NBA channel called NBA Zone.

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 have more than 500 free channels and over 44,000 on-demand titles, with genres ranging from news, sports, game shows, and crime dramas to sitcoms, home improvement, cooking, and more. 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.

One interesting development: Freestream is now the first free service to offer a no-cost cloud DVR.

Check out Sling Freestream.

Tubi
This ad-supported service, owned by Fox, has more than 250,000 movie titles and TV episodes from more than 450 partners, including selections from the libraries of Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros., plus networks, including 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’s options range from old (and probably best forgotten) Chuck Norris films to classic indie titles (“Requiem for a Dream”) to somewhat more recent movies such as “Wonka.” You’ll also find full seasons of TV shows ranging from oldies (“The Honeymooners”) to more recent fare (“The Masked Singer”).

Newer originals include “Prisoner of Love” and “Corrective Measures,” the latter starring Bruce Willis. These join other Tubi Originals, such as “10 Truths About Love,” “War of the Worlds: Annihilation,” and “Mysteries From the Grave: Titanic.”

One bit of news is that Super Bowl LIX will be streamed in 4K HDR on Tubi this year, as well as via Fox broadcasts.

Tubi now has a feature, called Scenes, that lets you scan entertainment by scrolling through short clips from movies and TV shows. Scenes is found on 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 watch that content on any device where Tubi is available.

Tubi says 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.

Tubi also recently launched a new logo, with a purple-and-yellow color scheme. The design features a circle, meant to symbolize falling into a streaming rabbit hole.

Sign up for Tubi.

ViX
ViX is a free, ad-supported Spanish-language service owned by TelevisaUnivision, which was formerly called PrendeTV. Unlike PrendeTV, which was exclusively a free, ad-supported service, ViX also has an ad-free subscription version called ViX Premium, which costs $7 a month. In addition, it now has a newer lower-priced tier called Vix Premium with Ads, which costs $5 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, which includes shows from Univision, plus 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+
TCL has launched a free streaming service, called TCLtv+, that’s exclusive to its smart TVs. It includes more than 200 free, ad-supported channels and an on-demand content library offering more than 1,500 movies and TV shows. The library is supported by both independent and major studios including Banijay, FilmRise, Fremantle, NBC Universal, and Scripps Media.

The company added live programmed Vevo channels to the service, and it launched two business and financial news channels from Bloomberg Media. TCLtv+ will also be developing original content through a new venture, TCLtv+ Studios. The first project, “Next Stop Paris,” is an AI-powered romance film that combines professional voice actors with AI-generated animation. It’s slated to arrive this summer.

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. You can find your next binge using the voice-activated remote.

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 (“My Favorite Martian”) to kids (“Garfield and Friends”); and sports (CBS Sports HQ, Fox Sports). Movies also run the gamut from older classics (“The Snows of Kilimanjaro”) to modern classics (“Donnie Darko”). The service also has channels created specifically for Black and Latino audiences. 

Last summer it struck an exclusive deal with Magnolia Pictures to have Xumo Play stream a new Magnolia movie almost every month, with a three-month exclusive window. Xumo also has some originals (“The Killing of Billy the Kid,” “Andromeda”) and a few exclusives (“The Right Kind of Wrong,” “Alone”) 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.

Earlier, Comcast and Charter announced that they’d be rebranding XClass smart TVs as Xumo TVs. The Flex streaming player will be rebranded as the Xumo Stream Box.

Sign up for Xumo Play.

AMC+
Price: $7 a month with ads; $10 a month or $96 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 ad-free streaming subscription services. It includes the best of AMC, such as “Better Call Saul” and “Mad Men,” and exclusive series, including “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.

The company recently raised prices by $1 or $2 a month.

While AMC+ previously launched a cheaper ad-supported tier, this year it will have ad-supported versions of other properties, including Shudder, Sundance Now, and IFC Films Unlimited. Pricing hasn’t been announced.

After a $3 a month price increase, Philo started including 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.”

Like Max (formerly HBO Max), one perk of AMC+ is early access to some shows, as well as some streaming exclusives that aren’t available elsewhere. The company recently announced a deal that gives the ad-based version of AMC+ to Philo subscribers free.

Sign up for AMC+.

CNN Max
Price: Free to Max subscribers; plans start at $10 a month.

CNN Max, a 24/7 streaming service from Warner Bros. Discovery, has finally launched. It’s free for anyone already paying for Max; you can find it within the Max app by choosing News, and then live news shows. CNN Max offers a custom schedule of CNN programming just for Max subscribers. CNN Max features notable CNN anchors including Christiane Amanpour, Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett, Kaitlin Collins, Anderson Cooper, and Jake Tapper. It also includes CNN Originals series, films, and documentaries already available on Max.

More recently, the company decided to revive "5 Things," a news show hosted by the CNN anchor Kate Bolduan.

The big news is that three years after Warner Bros. Discovery shut down its CNN Plus streaming service after just a month, the company is planning to launch a new one. Right now there are no details about when the service will launch, how it will differ from CNN max, or how much it will cost.

Sign up for Max/CNN Max.

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.

In January, Discovery hiked the price of its ad-free service from $7 to $9 a month, while the ad-supported version jumped a dollar to $6 a month. That follows a similar increase last year.

The company—perhaps best known for Shark Week—has an extensive collection of content. 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.

New original shows include “Hillsong: A Mega-Church Exposed,” and “House of Hammer,” about the Armie Hammer scandal.

After Discovery and WarnerMedia completed their merger into a new entity called Warner Bros. Discovery, it combined HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single streaming entity called Max.

But the company continues to offer Discovery+ as a lower-cost standalone service for people not interested in scripted entertainment programming.

New original shows feature programming starring or created by Sir David Attenborough, Giada De Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, Kevin Hart, David Schwimmer, and Martha Stewart. But the parent company moved shows from Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network from Discovery+ to Max.

Sign up for Discovery+.

ESPN+
Price: $11 per month or $110 per year for the basic service.

ESPN+ is best for sports junkies looking to add out-of-market baseball and hockey games to their menu, college sports fans who want a broader assortment of sports 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.

But like Disney’s other properties—Disney+ and Hulu—ESPN+ got a price hike in 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 the quarterback Michael Vick.

As mentioned above, you can also get bundled plans with Disney+ and Hulu, with ads, for $15 a month. Another plan, with ad-free Disney+ and ad-free Hulu, plus ESPN+, costs $25 a month.

But the really big news is that Disney CEO Bob Iger says that a stand-alone ESPN streaming service will debut in August 2025 and will include all the ESPN channels, plus fantasy sports. It’s not clear how this service will differ from the recently announced planned new sports streaming service from Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros, which will include ESPN.

Sign up for ESPN+.

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

Hallmark Media will be replacing Hallmark Movies Now with a new subscription service called Hallmark+ in September. It will cost $8 a month or $80 when paid annually. In addition to its traditional and female-focused fare, Hallmark+ last year 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. There will also be several unscripted series, another first for Hallmark.

Hallmark+ members will get exclusive benefits and rewards, such as unlimited e-cards, shopping rewards and coupons, and surprise gifts.

Sign up for Hallmark+.

MLB Network
Price: $6 a month

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

Launched last summer, subscribers can stream select live out-of-market games, studio shows, and original content. There are a few different options. The stand-alone service costs $6 a month. You can add MLB Network at Bat, which includes live audio for all 30 major league teams, plus streams of Triple-A team games, for just a dollar more a month.

You can still get a single-team MLB.TV subscription, which gives you your favorite team’s out-of-market games live or on-demand, for $120 a year. An all-teams subscription is $140, or $30 a month.

Sign up for MLB Network.

Paramount+
Price: $8 per month or $60 per year with ads; $13 per month or $120 per year ad-free.

Paramount+ is the replacement for 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 company raised the price of its monthly fees by $1 or $2 last summer.

The news from Paramount+ is that its parent company, National Amusements, agreed to merge Paramount Global with Skydance Media into a new company. The merger, which isn’t expected to be finalized until September 2025, brings 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.

Last year, Paramount+ rolled both the Showtime cable channel and the Showtime Now streaming service into the service, simplifying its packages in the process. New subscribers can choose between Paramount+ Essentials for $8 per month or $60 per year, and you can add Showtime into the mix by subscribing to Paramount+ With Showtime for $13 per month or $120 per year.

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. Verified students are able to get a 25 percent discount on the Essential plan.

The Premium with Showtime plan is mostly commercial-free (except for live TV streams) and features the same content as the ad-supported tier but includes your live 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.

The company shut down the stand-alone Showtime service, which was merged into Paramount+.

Paramount recently signed a deal that gives AARP members a 10 percent discount on any Paramount+ plan. You can also get Paramount+ free if you sign up for 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: $8 per month or $80 per year with ads; $14 per month or $140 per year without ads.

NBCUniversal’s Peacock lets you access NBC shows and Universal movies, as well as licensed content, original programming, and live sports events. The service recently had a big win with the exclusive rights to air an AFC wild-card playoff game.

The service originally had a free tier, but it’s no longer available to new subscribers. Those who have the free tier can keep it. Last summer the company raised prices on plans by either $1 or $2 a month.

The bigger news, though, is that Peacock raised its prices this past summer. The price of its ad-supported Premium plan went from $6 to $8 per month, while its Premium Plus plan increased from $12 to $14 per month.

More recently, Peacock is being included in a new slimmed-down sports and news streaming plan being offered by Comcast to its Xfinity internet customers. The $70-a-month package includes about 50 channels, including local broadcast stations, cable news channels, and sports networks. You also get a cloud DVR along with the Peacock Premium streaming service. Peacock is also now part of a "StreamSaver" bundle with Apple TV+ and Netflix that Comcast is offering to its Xfinity TV and internet customers. It costs $15 a month.

Peacock’s parent company, NBCU, recently 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.

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, and Fox, as well as 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.

Peacock Premium gets you exclusive next-day access to current Bravo and NBC shows now that those deals with Hulu have expired. You also get access to original series such as “Traitors” and “Yellowstone.” A deal with Universal brings that company’s new movies exclusively to Peacock for 45 days after leaving theaters. Peacock Premium Plus also includes access to your local NBC Station, and the ability to download programs.

Perhaps the biggest recent movies are “Oppenheimer” and “The Holdovers,” which both garnered critical raves and awards.

A multiyear deal with Lionsgate that started in 2024 brings its theatrically released films to Peacock.

For sports fans, Peacock will stream Premier League soccer games, golf tournaments, and WWE Network matches and original series, as well as premium live events. It also recently signed an extension with the NFL through 2033 to show Sunday night NFL games that air on NBC.

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 the Max (formerly HBO Max) service.

Among the titles recently added to the Criterion Channel are the Beatles film “A Hard Day’s Night,” the Coen Brothers’ “Blood Simple,” “Marnie,” from Alfred Hitchcock, and “Requiem for a Dream.”

Sign up for the Criterion Channel.

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

While a free version of PBS is also available, PBS Passport unlocks additional programming that’s no longer available for streaming to nonmembers. The price can vary depending on your market because each PBS station sets its own Passport subscription prices.

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,” “Downton Abbey,” “Grantchester,” and “Sanditon.”

On the PBS streaming service, episodes that are available for viewing only by Passport members sport a blue “compass rose” Passport icon in the upper left-hand corner of the program.

Sign up for PBS Passport.

Venu Sports
Price: NA

Plans for Venu Sports, a new high-profile subscription-based sports streaming service from Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, have been abandoned. Following an antitrust lawsuit by Fubo, Disney surprisingly agreed to merge its Hulu + Live TV service with Fubo, and the lawsuit was dropped. Shortly after that, though, the three companies dropped plans to move forward with Venu Sports. One possible reason: Disney says it will launch as a stand-alone ESPN streaming service later this year.

Max (formerly HBO Max)
Price: $10 a month or $100 per year with ads; $17 per month or $170 per year without ads; $21 a month or $210 for Max Ultimate (includes 4K streaming).

Max is the name of the service that combined HBO Max with Discovery+, along with other WarnerMedia properties. You can still get Discovery+ as a stand-alone service.

There are three Max plans. The ad-supported Max Ad-Lite plan costs $10 a month or $100 a year, while Max Ad Free is $17 a month or $170 annually. An Ultimate plan costs $21 a month or $210 a year.

But Max has followed the lead of Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix in both hiking prices and starting to crack down on account sharing.

Both the Ad-Lite and Ad-Free plans are limited to 1080p resolution and support two simultaneous users. Much like with Netflix, you have to get the Ultimate plan to get 4K videos. While there wasn’t tons of 4K content on HBO Max prior, the new Max launched with more than 1,000 films and episodes in 4K, some with Dolby Vision HDR. Max Ultimate 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 Max started showing live sports in Dolby Vision HDR, including some NBA games. It will roll out to NHLA, MLB, NCAA and U.S. Soccer games as well. Max has already been using Dolby Atmos sound to enhance live games. But to get it, you’ll need to subscribe to Max’s Bleacher Reports (B/R Sports) add-on service, which costs an extra $10 a month. It’s been free up to now, but now you have to pay for it.

The main difference between the two less expensive plans, apart from ads, is that you get up to 30 downloads with the ad-free tier.

In addition to regular HBO channels, 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. There will also be a new CNN-branded library of content that caters to younger viewers, with both original and channel-derived content.

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,” “Succession,” and the “Game of Thrones” prequel, “House of the Dragon.”

Among the planned new content, there will be another “Game of Thrones” prequel series from George R.R. Martin, as well as a new live-action “Harry Potter” series that revisits the classic J.K. Rowling characters. Max recently reached a deal to keep access to The Criterion Collection.

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.

Last summer, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery launched a Max/Disney+/Hulu bundle. An ad-supported Disney/Hulu/Max plan will stay at $17 a month for now, while the ad-free version will cost $30 a month, a savings of 38 percent over subscribing to the services separately.

Sign up for Max.

MGM+
Price: $7 a month or $59 annually.

MGM+, the rebranded Epix channel now owned outright by Amazon, is getting more expensive. The monthly price goes from $6 to $7, while the annual fee jumps from $50 to $59.

But Amazon recently started offering an AMC+/MGM+ bundle for $11 a month, 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 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-Award-nominated “Laurel Canyon,” “Helter Skelter,” and “My Life as a Rolling Stone.” Available movies include “No Time to Die,” “House of Gucci,” and “Licorice Pizza.”

Sign up for MGM+.

Showtime/Paramount+ with Showtime
Price: $13 per month or $120 per year.

Paramount recently rolled the Showtime streaming service into its Paramount+ with Showtime plan, which costs $13 per month or $120 per year. So there’s no longer a separate Showtime streaming service. By signing up to Paramount+ with Showtime, you get all of Showtime’s movies, documentaries, sports events, and original shows such as “Yellowjackets,” “Your Honor,” “Dexter: New Blood,” and “Billions,” documentaries, and sporting events. All the Showtime content is ad-free.

Sign up for Paramount+ with Showtime.

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 (“Spanish Princess,” “Outlander,” “Party Down”) and movies (“Black Phone,” “The Kill Room”). Starz ended its agreement with Sony Pictures, but a deal with Lionsgate brings movies like “John Wick” and “Knives Out” to the service.

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”; “Hightown,” about a woman on Cape Cod struggling with sobriety; and several series based on “Power.” Newer ones include “BMF,” which follows the Black Mafia Family organization; the horror/comedy “Shining Vale,” with Courtney Cox; and “Dangerous Liaisons,” based on the classic novel.

Roku recently announced that it was partnering with a venture capital firm to acquire up to 20 percent of Starz.

Sign up for Starz.