Short answer: Philo is the best-value live TV service for households that watch entertainment and reality channels and don't need sport or news. The $25 Essential plan is fair; the $33 Bundle+ is the better deal if you'd otherwise pay for HBO Max, because it includes HBO Max Basic with ads plus AMC+ and discovery+. The catch is the same one that has always defined Philo: no ESPN, no local channels, no CNN or Fox News, and live channels mostly in 720p. It's a deliberate trade, not a flaw, but make sure it's the trade you want.
At a glance
Philo, September 2026
| Plans | Essential $25; Bundle+ $33 |
| Channels | 70+ entertainment and lifestyle |
| Screens / profiles | 3 at once / up to 10 |
| DVR | Unlimited, recordings kept up to a year |
| Missing | Sport, locals, cable news |
Is Philo built for you?
Picture the evening viewing in your house. If it's cooking competitions, house flips, true crime, reality dating shows, Hallmark movies and old sitcom reruns, Philo was designed for you. If there's a game on, or someone wants the evening news, it wasn't.
Philo has kept its price low for years by leaving out the channels that drive cable bills up: sport and news. That's why it can offer 70+ channels for less than half what Sling charges. You're not getting a cheap version of cable. You're getting a specific slice of it, done well.
It's also worth knowing who's behind it. Philo is owned in part by the media companies whose channels it carries, including A+E, AMC Networks, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. That's a big reason the lineup looks the way it does, and why it's unlikely to add ESPN or Fox channels any time soon.
Essential vs Bundle+: the HBO Max maths
| Essential | Bundle+ | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $25/month | $33/month |
| Live channels | 70+ | 70+ |
| On-demand | 75,000+ titles | Same, plus the apps below |
| HBO Max Basic with ads | No | Yes |
| discovery+ | No | Yes |
| AMC+ | No | Yes |
| Free trial | 7 days | Check at signup |
The $8 difference is the whole question. HBO Max Basic with ads on its own has cost around $11 a month, and discovery+ and AMC+ add more on top if bought separately. Philo itself says Bundle+ saves $22 a month versus buying those apps directly.
So the rule is simple. If you'd pay for HBO Max anyway, Bundle+ makes the Philo live channels cost you roughly $22 a month instead of $25, and you get discovery+ and AMC+ for nothing. If you'd never open HBO Max, stick with Essential.
One caveat: HBO Max through Philo is the ad-supported Basic tier. If you want ad-free HBO Max or 4K, Philo sells HBO Max Standard as a separate add-on ($13 a month on Philo's pricing), and at that point the maths changes.
The channel lineup
Philo's lineup clusters into a few families. Checking which of these you watch is quicker than scrolling a list of 70.
- Discovery networks: Discovery, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, Animal Planet, Magnolia Network.
- A+E networks: A&E, History, Lifetime, Lifetime Movie Network, FYI.
- AMC networks: AMC, BBC America, IFC, Sundance TV, WE tv.
- Paramount cable: Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, CMT, TV Land and siblings.
- Hallmark: Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Mysteries and Hallmark Family.
- Others: a range of smaller lifestyle, reality and kids' channels, which change from time to time.
Lineups shift, so check Philo's channel page before subscribing, especially for any single channel you'd miss.
What Philo doesn't do
No sport. No ESPN, Fox Sports, TNT, NFL Network or regional sports networks. Not as an add-on, not at any price.
No local channels. No ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox or PBS. An antenna fills that gap for free in most of the US; our antenna guide explains how to check reception at your address.
No cable news. No CNN, Fox News or MSNBC.
No FX, USA, Bravo or Syfy. These are owned by companies whose channels aren't on Philo. If a favorite show airs on one of them, Philo won't have it live.
If any of those are dealbreakers, look at how Philo compares with Sling, which covers sport and news for more money.
DVR, screens, devices and picture
DVR: unlimited recordings, kept for up to a year. That's one of the most generous DVRs in live TV. You can skip ads on recordings. Some coverage suggests DVR terms have changed for some new subscribers, so read the plan page when you sign up.
Screens: three streams at once and up to ten profiles, on every plan. For a family watching different shows in different rooms, that's good for the price. See our multi-screen guide if you're setting up several TVs.
Devices: Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Google TV and Android TV, Chromecast, Samsung, LG and Vizio smart TVs, iPhone, Android and web browsers. That's a wide list, and LG owners in particular get a native app, which some cheap rivals lack. Our LG TV guide covers the platform.
Picture: most live channels stream at 720p. On-demand content can be sharper. There's no 4K. For reality and lifestyle TV, few people notice. On a 75-inch set, you might.
Ads: live channels carry their normal commercials. There's no ad-free version of the live service.
Add-ons worth considering (and not)
Philo sells optional premium add-ons. Prices below are Philo's published rates in 2026.
| Add-on | Monthly | Worth it? |
|---|---|---|
| HBO Max Standard (ad-free) | $13 | Only if you watch a lot of HBO and hate ads |
| STARZ | $12 | Only for a specific series; cancel after |
| discovery+ (ad-free) | $8 | Rarely; the live channels overlap heavily |
| AMC+ | $4 | Cheap if you watch AMC's dramas |
| Other premiums (MGM+, Hallmark+ and more) | about $3 to $9 | Case by case |
A good rule: add one premium for the length of a show you want, then remove it. Philo, like most services, makes adding and removing add-ons easy.
What Philo costs over a year
Because Philo has no sport, there's no off-season to cancel through. Most households that like it keep it all year, so the annual figure is the honest one to compare.
| Setup | Approx. 12 months | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Philo Essential | $300 | Live channels, DVR, 3 screens |
| Philo Bundle+ | $396 | Adds HBO Max Basic, discovery+, AMC+ |
| Philo Essential + separate HBO Max Basic | about $430 | More expensive than Bundle+ for the same content |
| Philo Essential + antenna | $300 plus a one-off $30 to $60 | Adds local news and network shows free |
Compare that with a full live TV bundle at $80 to $100 a month, which runs $960 to $1,200 a year. For a household that genuinely doesn't watch sport or cable news, Philo plus an antenna saves somewhere between $600 and $900 a year. That's the real case for it.
Philo's price has also been fairly stable compared with sports-heavy services, which have raised prices repeatedly as rights costs climb. That's not a guarantee for the future, but it's a consequence of leaving out the channels whose costs rise fastest.
When something else is better
Frndly TV at $10.99 is better if you only really watch Hallmark, Lifetime and A&E. It's less than half Philo's price but lacks HGTV, Food Network and AMC. Our Frndly TV review covers it.
Sling is better if you need ESPN, TNT or cable news, but costs $45.99.
Free ad-supported TV apps (Pluto, Tubi, Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus) are better if you're happy with reruns and older series. They cost nothing.
A full bundle (YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV) is better if you want everything in one app, but at $80 to $100 a month it's three to four times the price.
One thing Philo does not have a cheaper rival for: this particular lineup at this price, from a licensed service. Offers promising "all cable channels" for less than Philo's price are unlicensed resellers, and they tend to vanish with your subscription money.
Quick answers
How much is Philo in 2026? $25 a month for Essential and $33 a month for Bundle+, which adds HBO Max Basic with ads, discovery+ and AMC+.
Does Philo have local channels? No. It carries no ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox or PBS stations.
Does Philo have ESPN or any sports? No. Philo has no sports channels.
How many devices can use Philo at once? Three streams at a time, with up to ten profiles.
Is Philo's DVR unlimited? Yes, with recordings kept for up to a year.
Does Philo have a free trial? Yes, 7 days on Essential.
Is Philo worth it? For entertainment, lifestyle and reality viewers without sports or news needs, yes. It's one of the best-value licensed services available.
Is Bundle+ worth the extra $8? If you'd pay for HBO Max anyway, yes; it's cheaper than buying HBO Max Basic separately.
Prices, add-ons and channel lineups are from Philo's own pages and 2026 reporting and change periodically; check the current channel list before subscribing. Checked September 2026.