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You guys know that I’m all about frugal living. I’m constantly looking for ways to cut my expenses. One expense that I realized was really getting out of hand a few years ago was our cable/internet bill. If you know me at all though, you also know I really like watching television. I may or may not have an HGTV and Hallmark channel addiction.
Just shy of 4 years ago I decided to bite the bullet and cut the cable cord in our house. We were paying $182 a month for our internet, a very basic cable package, and Netflix. That’s craziness. See me earlier post if you’re interested in “cutting the cord” like we did.
Today I want to compare my experiences with two lesser known streaming services: Sling and Philo.
Sling
Sling offers a variety of choices and is one of the few streaming services that offered ESPN with one of its packages. There are no contracts and they offer 10 hours of DVR with no additional cost.
You can choose from their Orange package (what we had) that has over 30 channels. Some of their most popular channels with this package:3 ESPN channels, HGTV, Disney, TNT, Lifetime, cartoon network, and CNN. This is $30 a month currently.
Their Blue package has over 50 channels including: USA, HGTV, TBS, NFL network, the History channel and Discovery Channel. This is $30 a month currently.
You can choose both the Orange plus the Blue package for $45 a month.
They also have various add-ons such as the Lifestyle package that gives you 10 extra channels, including 3 Hallmark channels (guess who paid an extra $5 a month for this?!?), a Sports package that gives you 15 extra sports channels for $10, and a Kids package that offers 7 additional kids channels for $5, and a few more. Showtime, Epix, and Starz are also available for extra fees.
You can stream Sling on Xbox One, Roku, Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, and many Smart TV’s and web browsers.
It’s a little complicated with how many streams you get. You get one stream if you have the Orange package, up to 3 streams if you have the Blue package, and up to 4 streams if you have the Orange+Blue.
Philo
Philo’s programming is a little simpler. You get 60+ channels for $20 a month. This includes unlimited DVR and no contracts. Some of their most popular channels: Hallmark, all 3 Hallmark channels, A&E, BET, CMT, Food network, Paramount (you MUST watch Yellowstone on here!), MTV and VH1, and Nickelodeon.
They also have add-on packages of the Epix channels for $6 a month, or the Starz channels for $9 a month.
You can stream Philo with a Roku, Apple TV, a chromecast, or most mobile or web browsers. You can stream on up to 3 different devices at a time as well.
Pros of Sling
-Slightly easier TV guide format in my opinion
-Offers ESPN/sports channels
Pros of Philo
-cheaper price
-unlimited DVR
Overall Analysis
I don’t think you can go wrong with either of these services. I had Sling for a little over 3 years. They raised their prices I think twice in that time and it got a little glitchy for me in the end. The glitchiness and seeing that Philo had come out and was cheaper convinced me to switch. So far I’ve been happy with Philo, especially with the $15 a month savings.
Neither one ties you to a contract and both services generally offer a free trial so I would suggest taking a test drive on both and see which you prefer.
How many of you have cut the cord? Are you willing to drop cable for the various streaming services? Let me know what your favorite programming is. Feel free to share this with friends that might find it useful and as always, please subscribe to my email list. I’m working out the kinks on this and hoping to utilize it more very soon.
