Hulu Live is out. I downloaded it and signed up for a free trial yesterday. It joins PlayStation Vue and YouTube TV as a streaming service to offer CSN Philly. Sling TV does not, and neither does DirectTV Now, which is trash anyway.

I’m still working on a YouTube TV review – I like it a lot, but it’s missing a few key features which make it a non-starter for most at the moment – so I only dug into Hulu Live briefly last night. Initial thoughts: My first two attempts to live stream CSN froze up– not a good sign. I was able to get an uninterrupted stream of the Phillies while I was on the shitter (you quickly realize that the best thing streaming TV services have going for them is their shitter use), but it kept having quality dips the likes of which I haven’t seen much with YouTube TV. I also hate Hulu’s interface– it’s like iOS 7 on speed had a baby with Windows Phone and it grew up to be a minimalist hipster yoga instructor with a proclivity to watch network dramas. YouTube TV, on the other hand, is clean, stark white, and generally easy to navigate. It’s lightning fast, too. Hulu Live blends live and recorded TV to the point of confusion.

Hulu Live is also sneaky expensive. It starts a $39.99, which is right in the middle of YouTube TV’s $35 price point (if you sign up straight from Google and not through the app store) and the main PlayStation Vue tier, which is $45. But both YouTube and PlayStation offer more robust cloud DVR options at those prices. Hulu gives you 50 hours of storage, compared to unlimited for up to nine months with YouTube and “hundreds” of hours from PlayStation, but will charge you an extra $15 per month for 200 hours of storage. You can also pay another $15 per month to increase the number of concurrent streams. Stop me if that’s beginning to sound like something a cable company would do. Indeed, Hulu is owned by Disney, FOX and Comcast.

But Hulu’s channel lineup is impressive– better than YouTube TV’s for sports fans. Most notably, it includes TCN (some Phillies, Flyers and Sixers games) and TNT (NBA games). YouTube TV doesn’t have either. PlayStation Vue has multiple channel tiers, but generally speaking, their $45 per month tier includes everything you would need with the exception of TCN, which they don’t carry.

So is Hulu viable? Yes. I’m sure the streaming issues will get worked out, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that. But it could get more expensive than YouTube TV or PlayStation Vue if you record a lot of shows. And the interface isn’t as good.


For my money, right now, PlayStation Vue is the winner. It offers competitive channel lineups, it’s available on virtually every device, and it’s the only one of these three services to offer NFL RedZone as an add-on. But I really like YouTube TV’s ease of use. It’s super quick and intuitive. What’s holding it back, at the moment, is that you need a Chromecast to get it on your TV (no Apple TV, Amazon Fire or Roku support, yet) and a limited channel lineup that doesn’t offer TNT, which makes it a non-starter for basketball fans.

That said, all of these services are beginning to look familiar and mimic the basic tenants of cable. I predicted this would be the case in multiple previous posts. Bundle economics just make more sense. Sure, in the short-term, a $45 or so streaming package is cheaper than most cable packages, but those cable packages also come bundled with high-speed broadband, which you’ll need if you’re going to cut the cord. So add a good $70 or so for broadband to that $45, and though you’ll likely come in somewhere under your current cable bill, cutting the cord won’t be as cheap as it sounds, not when you add in HBO, Showtime, Netflix etc.

These streaming packages are ostensibly about ease of use, allowing you to watch live TV where and how you want. But they all come with significant trade-offs, quirky sports blackout rules, and small caveats that up the frustration level, maybe more than any current cable package does. What’s more, many cable networks, including CSN, allow you to stream on your mobile device using your current cable credentials, so it’s not like you need YouTube TV to stream a Phillies game on your phone.

Anyway, I’ll have that full YouTube TV review soon. For now, you can check out Hulu Live. But other than offering TCN, it has little else that makes it stand out.