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Fubo review: Come for the sports, stay for the 200 other channels
No other live-TV streaming service has a "dial" this big to flip around.
Sit, Fubo, sit. (Sorry, utter nonsense, but if you're old enough, you get it.) Fubo doesn't have the name-recognition of live-TV streaming services like DirecTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV, but if you haven't heard of it yet, you probably will soon: Earlier this year, the company announced merger plans with Disney-owned Hulu + Live TV and may absorb that service into its own. What the final product will look like is anybody's guess, but here's a Fubo review that reflects the streamer in its current state.
And that state is good. Although Fubo is pricey, it's competitive with its live-TV brethren, and its base tier offers over 200 channels — considerably more than the aforementioned rivals. If you like sports, you'll find an abundance of viewing options here, including regional networks. There are a couple notable omissions, however, along with some user-interface gripes I feel obligated to share.
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VERDICT: A top pick for sports fans, Fubo is a well-rounded live-TV streaming service offering significantly more channels than its competitors. Just make sure to take note of the few channels that aren't included.
- More channels than other live-TV streamers, even in the base tier
- Lots of sports channels, including regional ones (with Pro plan)
- Visually pleasing, easy-to-navigate UI
- Unlimited DVR
- Lacks PBS and major Turner networks
- Channel guide sometimes displays banner ads
- A few interface quirks, especially the Google TV version
- So-so search feature
- No parental controls
Fubo: What it costs and what's included
Like the cable-TV services it aims to replace, Fubo offers lots of popular basic-cable channels, along with most of your local networks. (Missing from that latter category, alas, is PBS.) It's all wrapped up in a familiar channel guide, which I'll discuss more in the next section.
Although total channel count isn't necessarily the best measure of a streaming service — quantity doesn't always indicate quality — I struggled to accurately determine Fubo's number. I started by entering my ZIP code on the signup page, which indicated there were "438 channels available in my area." That's quite a lot — and far more than what's indicated in Fubo's plan-comparison chart.
The highest tier (Elite), for example, promises just 289 channels. The base tier, Essential, shows 214 — and when I clicked through to the complete list, I counted only 195.
I say "only" with a bit of irony: Even 195 channels is considerably more than what you get from the base tiers of Fubo's rivals, most of which don't even hit 100.
After consulting with a company spokesperson, I learned that the 438 number is based on the Elite tier plus every available add-on package (which, of course, would drive your costs even higher). But this isn't really clear to potential customers; I think Fubo needs to better explain the discrepancies in these channel counts.
Also rather misleading: If you look at the highlighted prices (in blue) for each tier, you'll see they all say "after trial." But right below that is the regular price for each, also "after trial." The Essential plan is not "$59.99 after trial," it's $59.99 for the first month. And so on.
One final oddity: Essential and Pro each cost $84.99 per month after the first month. The latter includes regional sports networks (RSNs); the former does not. So if the price is the same, why would you ever choose Essential and not Pro? Because those RSNs also require a sports programming fee, which typically runs $13-$16 per month, according to a company spokesperson. (I actually do like that you have the option of avoiding that fee if you don't want all those extra sports channels.)
Speaking of which, Fubo is arguably the best live-TV streaming service for watching your preferred sports and teams. It carries not only most local and league channels, but also around three dozen of the aforementioned RSNs.
Now for the bad news: The lineup doesn't include CNN, TBS, TNT or any other channels owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. TBS and TNT are home to a smattering of sports (including baseball and basketball), meaning there might be games you simply can't get here. However, Hulu + Live TV does have those stations, so the upcoming merger has the potential to remedy this situation.
Fubo: A decent interface with room for improvement
I tested Fubo using both the Google TV operating system built into Sansui's S55VOUG and a Roku Ultra plugged into the same TV. Based on past tests of other services, there can be minor (or even major) differences between platforms — and that proved true here as well.
Signing into your account works the same on both apps: You can use your remote to enter your e-mail address and password onscreen, or open a browser (on your phone or PC) or a much faster code-based sign-in.
I like Fubo's familiar, eye-pleasing interface, which revolves around seven main categories that are easily accessible from a fly-out side menu. I don't like the banner ads that sometimes appear atop that interface. At least Fubo doesn't splash full-screen ads when you pause a program, something I've found increasingly common (and annoying) on other services.
The main program guide incorporates the usual network logos but adds show thumbnails alongside them, making it especially easy to tell at-a-glance what's on a given channel. (The downside is this reduces the space available for the guide itself.)
You can filter the listings based on a particular genre — local, sports, movies, family, trending, etc. — but those selections are splayed across the top instead of in a column on the side. With so many choices to scroll through (over two dozen, by my count), it's fairly cumbersome. Making matters worse, the filters are all in a seemingly random order, instead of alphabetical.
On Google TV, there's another UI annoyance: When you're watching live content and want to access the channel guide (or anything else), playback stops — with no immediate or obvious way to resume what you were just watching. (On Roku, you can press and hold the Back button to return to the previous live channel. And audio continues in the background while you browse the guide. Not so on Google TV.)
There is a pop-up menu you can access without leaving your current program, but it lists only categorical "more live TV."
I also found Fubo's search feature to be a bit lacking, as it doesn't support parameters like actor or genre: You can search for Top Gun and see a result, but "Tom Cruise" and "action movies" will return nothing.
Parents and grandparents, take note: Other live-TV streaming services have at least rudimentary parental controls, meaning you can create child-user profiles that limit what kind of content can be viewed, but Fubo doesn't. (This is another area where the Hulu + Live TV merger might yield improvement.)
Fubo: The verdict
If you're a sports fan, the Fubo Pro plan is currently the best value among live-TV streaming services. For $90 per month (plus fees), you get not only ESPN and the four major local networks, but also some 30 RSNs. To get the latter with DirecTV Stream, you need the $115/month Choice plan.
Even without sports in the mix, Fubo serves up 200-plus channels, more than double what you get from the likes of Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV. (Whether or not those channels offer anything you actually want to watch is an entirely different question.) You also get unlimited DVR, which is fairly standard nowadays.
It's a little disappointing that with all this channel abundance, PBS and various Warner Bros. Discovery stations aren't included. And I could certainly do without banner ads in the channel guide, though at least they come and go. (At this writing I was enjoying a banner-free experience.)
At a minimum, take advantage of Fubo's free 7-day trial to see if the service meets your live-TV needs.
Check out Yahoo's latest streaming advice, based on hands-on testing.
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