Luke Pensworth
In comparison to larger livestreaming TV brand names like Sling TV, Hulu Live TV, or even YouTube TV, fuboTV is something of an underdog. Even so, if you’re a sports fan - especially of soccer - it definitely has a lot to offer you.
Originally launched in 2015 as a primarily soccer-centered streaming platform, they’ve been expanding their channel selection to appeal to a broader base of cord-cutters. In fact, already this year Fubo has added a lot of Viacom channels – VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and MTV stand out in particular.
But does this mean that FuboTV can now shoulder its way into a spot among those bigger names we mentioned already? Or do they remain relegated to a niche market among sports fans?
FuboTV Packages + Prices
| Plan | Features/Channel Count | Price | View plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fubo Standard |
|
$54.99/mo. | View plans |
| Family (bundle) |
|
$59.99/mo. | View plans |
| Family Deluxe (bundle) |
|
$64.99/mo. | View plans |
| Premium (Bundle) |
|
$74.99/mo. | View plans |
Fubo really gives you only one base option: Fubo Standard. Starting at $54.99 a month for just 91 channels, 30 hours of DVR space, and just 2 simultaneous streams – that’s a bit on the steep side.
That’s especially true when you look at Sling TV’s $25 bucks a month flat starting rate, Hulu Live TV’s $44.99 a month, or YouTube TV’s $49.99 a month. The upside for Fubo is that none of those services offer quite as many channels - Sling gives you between 25-45 for that price (or 50+ for $40/month), Hulu gives you 65 or so, and YouTube gives you around 70 channels.
But another strike against Fubo in this case is that Hulu Live also gives you a huge and awesome on demand library that can’t be beat; and YouTube has the best cloud DVR in the business.
So it’s something of a toss-up – for a base package of that number of channels, FuboTV really isn’t priced badly – as long as all those extra channels are ones you’ll actually watch. More on this later.
Fubo also gives you the option to “bundle” features from their add-on selection to create 3 more plans: Fubo Family, Family Deluxe, and Premium. For instance, the “Family” bundle just adds on an extra simultaneous stream for an extra $5.99 a month. Deluxe gives you that plus the Fubo Extra add-on with its 30 additional shows, as well as upgrades your DVR to 500 hours – nothing to shake a stick at.
And of course, Premium adds another 9 channels with the addition of the SHOWTIME pack. If you choose one of these “pre-built” bundle packages, you’ll actually get some pretty decent savings, too: about $9-$11 per month, which totals between $108 and $132 saved over the course of a year.
And with these packages, even DIRECTV NOW can’t beat the price-per-channel monthly rates – that provider’s ULTIMATE package has around 125 channels for $135 a month.
So yeah - FuboTV is actually doing pretty on the price-to-channel-to-features arena. But are those channels worth watching?
As a livestreaming TV service, Fubo follows the industry – no contracts necessary, cancel at any time without penalty. You can also try the service for 7 days free and all fees are built into the monthly price.
FuboTV Channel Lineup
Overall, FuboTV has a solid channel lineup. Most of your bases with regular channels will be covered – and included sports channels, with the exception of no ESPN, are second-to-none otherwise.
| Package | Channels |
|---|---|
| Fubo Standard | A&E, AMC, BBC America, beIN Connect, beIN Sports 4/5/6/7/8, beIN Sports Espanol, Big Ten Network x3, Bravo, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, CBS, CBS News, CBS Sports Network, Cheddar, CNBC, CNBC World, CNN, Cozi, CW, E!, El Rey Network, Eleven Sports Network, Food Network, FOX, FOX Business Network, FOX Deportes, FOX News Channel, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, fubo Sports Network, Fuse, Fusion, FX, FXM, FXX, FX+, FYI, Galavision, Golf Channel, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, HGTV, History, HLN, IFC, Lifetime, LMN, Local Now, MSNBC, Nat Geo Wild, National Geographic, NBA TV, NBC, NBC Universo, NBCSN, NFL Network, Olympic Channel, Oxygen, Pac-12 Network, Pop, Smithsonian Channel, Sundance TV, Syfy, TBS, Telemundo, TeleXitos, The Weather Channel, TNT, Travel Channel, truTV, Turner Classic Movies, Unimas, Universal Kids, Univision, Univision Deportes Network, USA, Viceland, WE TV |
| Fubo Extra (add-on) | Cooking Channel, DIY Network, Game Show Network, Stadium, Insp, Revolt, Boomerang, CNN International, GINX ESportsTV, Stadium, 2+3, Tennis Channel, Babytv HD, TeenNick, Nicktoons, Nick Music, MTV2, Logo, BET Jams, MTVU, MTV Live, MTV Classic, BET Soul, BET Her |
In their standard lineup, Fubo has pretty much all the basics: you’ve got AMC, FX, TBS, TNT, CNN, etc. On the local network side of things, Fubo doesn’t do terrible, either: NBC, FOX, and CBS are all available in select markets, as you can see. And if your city isn’t on there, that’s not necessarily the end – check out this page to see a full list, or just check out their channels page with the earlier link.
| Network | Example markets available in (Live TV viewing) |
|---|---|
| CBS | Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Dallas Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, etc. |
| FOX | Austin, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York, San Fran-Oakland S. Jose, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Washington D.C., etc. |
| CBS | Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Dallas Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, etc. |
| CW | Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Seattle-Tacoma, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota |
We included the Fubo Extra package up at the top, rather than with the other add-ons, because it’s the largest – 30 channels. The variety expands primarily on sports and MTV, but Boomerang and Nick channels are solid inclusions.
The biggest place where Fubo shines, however, is – you guessed it – sports.
Sports channels
Despite expanding their overall channel selection, Fubo remains centered around sports. The standard package includes a lot of national sports coverage: multiple beIN sports, multiple Big Ten Network channels, CBS Sports, FOX Sports, the Olympic Channel, etc. There are also lots of regional sports networks (RSNs) across the country:
| Network | Channels |
|---|---|
| RSNs | CSN Chicago, CSN Mid-Atlantic, CSN New England, CSN Northwest, CSN Philadelphia, FOX Sports Arizona, FOX Sports Carolinas, FOX Sports Cincinnati, FOX Sports Detroit, FOX Sports Florida, FOX Sports Indiana, FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports New Orleans, FOX Sports North, FOX Sports Ohio, FOX Sports Oklahoma, FOX Sports Prime Ticket, FOX Sports San Diego, FOX Sports South, FOX Sports Southeast, FOX Sports Southwest, FOX Sports Sun, FOX Sports Tennessee, FOX Sports West, FOX Sports Wisconsin, NBC Sports Bay Area, NBC Sports California, SportsTime Ohio, The Comcast Network, YES Network, NESN (New England Sports Network), MSG Network (Madison Square Garden), SportsNet New York |
But, in spite of being a sports TV service, there’s one big network missing from Fubo’s lineup: ESPN. Just about every other live TV streaming service has it – from DIRECTV NOW to YouTube and Hulu Live. So why not the sports service? We don’t know either – it strikes us as a weird exclusion. It’s likely there was a negotiation issue.
At least Fubo has its live RSN channels included, though – to get any with DIRECTV NOW, you have to subscribe to their $70 a month plan or higher. That said, Hulu Live and YouTube TV both include RSNs in their standard lineups – so if you care about local sports and are looking for a bit cheaper service, you should check those two out instead.
Or, if you’re really on a budget, take a look at what Sling TV has for RSNs in your area for even cheaper.
Add-ons: Sports, Movies + Entertainment
If you need ESPN, HBO, CINEMAX, or STARZ – go with someone else. If you need NFL SUNDAY TICKET – DIRECTV NOW is the only one for you.
| Topic | Add-ons | Price range | View Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports | NBA League Pass, Sports Plus, International Sports Plus, Cycling Plus, RAI Italia | $5.99-$11.99/mo. $28.99/mo. (League Pass) | View Details |
| Movies + Entertainment | SHOWTIME, Kids Plus, Adventure Plus, AMC Premier, FX Plus | $4.99-$10.99/mo. | View Details |
With so many sports channels included, what’s there to add? Quite a bit, in fact. The NBA League pass you 30 channels for all the NBA teams; Sports plus gives you PAC12 and Fox College Sports, alongside others; and International Sports Plus gives you a lot of golf and soccer channels.
It’s worth noting, however, that if you go with the Fubo Extra add-on, you’ll get some of these included in that – like the Tennis Channel and Stadium 1, 2, and 3.
As movies and entertainment add-ons go, prices come out pretty well – SHOWTIME, Fubo’s only premium channel, is comparably priced to competitors like DIRECTV NOW and Hulu, so nothing special or terrible there.
However, as said, SHOWTIME is Fubo’s only premium channel – so no HBO, no Starz, and no Cinemax. You can get AMC Premiere, but that’s a poor consolation prize in comparison.
Again - sports is where Fubo shines, although the exclusion of ESPN still smarts.
Add-ons: International and Upgrades
| Add-on | Channels | Price | View Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portuguese Plus | GolfTV Spanish, BTV, RTP Internacional | $14.99/mo. | View Details |
| Lation Plus | Fox Deportes, GolfTV SPanish, TyC Sports, CNN, BabyTV HD, CineSony, FOXLife, el Gourmet, MAS CHIC, Nat Geo Mundo, Nuestra Tele, Telefe, Tr3s | $7.99/mo. | View Details |
| Family Share | 3 simultaneous streams | $5.99/mo. | View Details |
| Cloud DVR Plus | 500 hours of cloud storage | $9.99/mo. | View Details |
Fubo handles international channels better than most other streaming services - if only by including more of them in their Standard package. You’ll see Unimas, Galvision, Universo, El Rey, and Deportes, for example - among others. Nab the Latino Plus add-on and you’ll round things out with CNN en Espanol and TyC sports.
Plus, there are a few Portuguese options in that add-on – although $14.99 a month feels a bit steep for just 3 extra channels. But it’s quality that counts here, not quantity.
The Family Share add-on is a bit lack-luster for our taste – you start out with 2 simultaneous streams, so adding just 1 more doesn’t feel like much; we’d prefer to see 4 or 5 streams, or even an unlimited upgrade for $9.99 a month, instead.
The DVR upgrade feels pretty fair, though – a jump from 30 hours to 500 for just and extra $10 bucks a month? If you use your DVR often enough, that’s a pretty good deal.
Wondering why we didn’t talk about on demand content? Well, FuboTV has it – thousands of hours of on demand content, primarily centering around recent episodes from popular TV shows, alongside many movies.
FuboTV Equipment, Compatibility, and Features
| Compatible Devices |
|---|
| Android smartphones, Android tablets, iPhones, iPads, Apple TV (4th gen or higher), Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Roku, Chromecast, PC |
FuboTV’s compatibility with devices isn’t bad; but, it could be better, too. Sling TV boasts a better selection, included Xbox One, LG TVs, and more; DIRECTV NOW has more Roku and Amazon device options, as well as Samsung Smart TVs and browser extensions.
The bottom line here: it’ll work fine for most people.
User interface
That said, depending on which device you’re using, you’ll see a different interface. For example, on mobile devices and the Amazon Fire app, you’ll see a bunch of current and soon-to=happen sporting events that you can swipe through and apply filters for. That’s pretty great – but if you want to watch anything but sports, you’ll need to click your way through some tabs.
The desktop version actually gives you a menu of options, providing live TV, features shows, sports, and news, as well as what’s trending – which is nice. But regardless of your device, you’ll have access to one of Fubo’s best features: the Guide tab.
Just click it and you’ll get to scroll through everything that’s currently playing or going to be. You can filter down by network, and favorite-ize channels so that they are prioritized in your guide.
Cloud DVR
| DVR | Storage | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud DVR | 30 hours | Included |
| Cloud DVR Plus | 500 hours | $9.99/mo. |
FuboTV’s cloud DVR is okay - 30 hours of storage is included, which is better than DIRECTV NOW’s 20 hours. Pay an extra $9.99 a month and you get 500 hours, which is pretty cool for the price - but in comparison, YouTube TV gives you unlimited cloud DVR storage, as does PlayStation Vue. Even Hulu TV gives you 50 hours, although their upgrade option isn’t as good: just 200 hours for $14.99 a month.
That said, with Fubo’s DVR, you can set up recurring recordings to catch your favorite shows each week – although currently that’s still in testing and only available for Apple TV and desktop options.
4K HD
No other streaming service offers channels in 4K – only FuboTV at present. Not every channel is available, it’s true, but all the live events on FOX Sports 1 and NBCSN can definitely be viewed in 4K if you have the TV for it.
Lookback/TV Everywhere Apps
Lookback is a feature that allows you to watch just about any program within 72 hours of missing it. While you can’t fast forward or rewind, like if you had remembered to record it, it’s still a great feature to get caught up.
Another feature, similar to Lookback, there’s also TV Everywhere. If you forgot to record an episode of your favorite show – Good Girls, for example – you can use your fuboTV account to “activate” the NBC app, find, and watch that particular episode.
For now, you can do this with 41 channel apps, not including Viacom networks (at time of writing).
FuboTV Customer Support
Customer complaints tend to center around issues with their 7-day free trial: being charged before the end of it, or seeing error messages that state they aren’t subscribed – before the 7th day has even been reached. Other issues have to do with “watching a lot of commercials” with live TV – but in our minds, you’re paying to watch live TV, so unless you’re offered a “limited commercials” option (you aren’t), you just need to record and watch later or deal with it.
That said, Fubo’s online support center is clean and well-setup. It includes a list of where major networks are available, what devices their app works on, and even sports-event-specific questions.
They’ve got the basic contact options, as well:
- Live chat: “Contact us” button;
- Phone: 844-441-3826;
- Leave a message: “Contact us” button.
The “leave a message” option is unique – we haven’t seen it in all the providers we’ve reviewed. Their website itself says that during high wait times, callers/messagers may receive this option as a response, and that they’ll “get back to you as soon as we can.”
Recap
If you need ESPN, than FuboTV isn’t for you. But if you’re a sports fan who can live without it – Fubo’s $54.99 a month starting price is going to be money well-spent.
But setting aside the sports for a moment, we’d argue that Fubo’s most compelling feature is its interface: The Guide is clean and navigable, and you can even customize it based on your favorite networks. That gives it an extraordinary simplicity that’s refreshing to say the least.
But if you try to pitch FuboTV as anything other than a sports streaming service, you’ll be misleading. Fubo is sports-centered, first and foremost, even as they expand to include more general-audience networks.
