Staff rating

3.8

Customer rating

4.4

(5)

Plans starting at $25.00

60 channels

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Staff rating

3.1

Customer rating

4.0

(2)

Plans starting at $9.99

n/a channels

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Staff rating

3.8

Inexpensive live TV streaming with 70+ channels & AMC+

Philo is a great value with 70+ live TV channels, the full AMC+ library, and channel add-ons available. You can watch TV live and watch over 75,000 on-demand titles from the streaming library. If you love feel-good movies, reality TV, and shows about home and family, you'll love Philo. We tested Philo across browsers, phones, and streaming sticks, and it performed really well. Get started for just $28 a month or try a 7-day free trial.

What we like

Affordable
Entertainment & lifestyle channels
Easy setup and navigation

What we dislike

No sports or local channels
Limited news coverage

See full review

Savings tip: Philo often has

sign-up promotions

for first-time customers. Call to ask a rep about current deals and discounts.

Check deals

Staff rating

3.1

Easy cord-cutting, limited DVR

WOW! (short for Wide Open West) offers a compelling case for switching to internet-based TV. You get a solid channel lineup at a great rate, all using top-notch Wi-Fi gear from eero—provided you’re willing to have a chillier relationship with your DVR and you don’t mind beta-testing the WOW! tv+ app.

What we like

Low prices
Top-notch Wi-Fi gear
Good sports lineup

What we dislike

Meager DVR features
Low-rated streaming apps
Limited availability

See full review

Savings tip: WOW! often has

sign-up promotions

for first-time customers. Call to ask a rep about current deals and discounts.

Check deals

Content

3.0

Plenty to watch, but no sports

If you love home renovation shows, feel-good movies, and reality TV, Philo has a channel lineup you’ll love. But you won’t find sports, local channels, or news.

Local: 0/5
Philo doesn’t offer any local channels, so that means no local news, no primetime favorites, no local sports, and no awards shows. If you want this programming, we recommend checking out live TV streaming options YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV or a traditional TV provider like your local cable company or satellite TV providers DISH or DIRECTV.

Sports: 0/5
Like with local channels, Philo doesn’t offer any sports coverage. You can catch some sports content on ESPN+ or get a decent variety on services like Fubo or Sling TV. If you want to catch every NFL game, you could even try the NFL Sunday Ticket premium channel from YouTube.

More Resources:

How to watch NFL Games

How to watch NBA Games

How to watch NHL Games

How to watch MLB Games

Family and education: 4/5
Philo is a great choice for families and kids. You get multiple channels from Discovery with the base package price, plus Animal Planet, Great American Family, Family Entertainment TV (FETV), three Nickelodeon channels, Story Television, and Science. There’s no Disney, Cartoon Network, or PBS, but we love that Philo makes it easy to access free programming from services including Crackle, Cheddar News, Gusto TV, and RetroCrush, the new station featuring classic anime hits.

News and politics: 2/5
While you can catch BBC America and BBC World News on Philo, there’s virtually none of the news or analysis you would expect from traditional TV. There’s no Late Night Tonight, and no 60 Minutes or PBS Newshour. You don’t get Fox News, MSNBC, HBO, or CNN either, and we didn’t find any foreign-language news programming in our tests.

Entertainment and lifestyle: 4/5
Philo really shines when it comes to stories, movies, and inspirational shows. You get all the Hallmark and Lifetime channels before add-on pricing. Plus, you get A&E and the INSP channel. We also found shows from TV’s rich past, including I Love Lucy, Father Knows Best, Matlock, Doctor Who, and even Touched by an Angel. There’s a strong selection of shows about the Black experience, too, including Rasheeda Frost's Boss Moves and much more. Even better, you get to choose from four different MTV channels before add-ons.

Optional add-on channels include Fandor, FMC, HDNet Movies, Movies!, Reelz, Sony Movies, MGM+, MGM+ Hits, MGM+ Marquee, Starz, Starz Encore, and Starz Kids and Family.

Local news, sports, and entertainment channels vary based on your location. Check out

Philo channel offerings

in your area.

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Content

3.0

Mediocre channel lineups get the job done

WOW! doesn't have an incredible channel lineup, but it has a decent amount of content for just about everyone. That is, unless you want to watch in Spanish.

Local: 2.5/5
WOW! tv+ give you only about half the local channels you might expect. You get the big ones like NBC, ABC, FOX, CBA, and PBS, but you won’t get Ion, Cozi, or Comet. You won’t get a single Spanish-language local channel either. So if you want Telemundo, UniMas, Estrella, or Univision, you’re out of luck.

Sports: 3/5
When it comes to sports channels, you win some and lose some. You get the Tennis Channel in a Medium plan, whereas some providers only include it in their top-tier plans or as an add-on. NFL Network and NFL RedZone are both included in the Large plan, which is hit or miss among competitors. However, WOW! tv+ strikes out completely when it comes to the MLB channel, and there’s no way to get NFL SUNDAY TICKET.

More Resources:

How to watch NFL Games

How to watch NBA Games

How to watch NHL Games

How to watch MLB Games

Family and education: 3/5
With WOW!, you’ll get a decent amount of family-friendly content, but we’d like to see more channels for toddlers and young kids. You’ll get Cartoon Network, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, and the History Channel. But you’ll get only one Disney, Nickelodeon, and National Geographic channel. Disney Junior, Nick Junior, and Nat Geo Wild are all missing, leaving less content aimed at the youngest kids.

News and politics: 3.5/5
WOW! has enough news and political coverage for most English-speaking viewers. You can keep up with Congress on C-SPAN and world events with BBC America. You’ll also get the biggest news channels like CNN, CNBC, Fox News, and MSNBC, along with Newsmax, HLN, and The Weather Channel. The biggest hole in coverage is Spanish-language news, but you’ll also miss CNN International, Bloomberg, CBS News, and Fox Business News.

Entertainment and lifestyle: 3/5
WOW! tv+ gives you a wide variety of entertainment and lifestyle, with at least one channel in some of our favorite categories: comedy, westerns, feel-good movies, food, and travel. But you might find only one channel that delivers your favorite genres. You’ll get Grit but not INSP (westerns) and Food Network but not the Cooking channel. But you’ll get all the best music channels—CMT, VH1, and MTV—and the top DIY channels HGTV and TLC. WOW! tv+ doesn’t include premium channels in any of its plans. You can add them to a Medium or Large plan, but they’ll cost more than other providers charge.

Local news, sports, and entertainment channels vary based on your location. Check out

WOW! channel offerings

in your area.

View plans

Value

4.0

Less than half the cost of top competitors

Cleverly named after the inventor of the television, Philo is one of the cheapest live TV options available. It’s a great value for live TV and vast array of movies, entertainment, and lifestyle shows. There are other add-ons, but even if you pay for them all, you’ll still pay less than most of the other live TV services. You’ll also find more than 75,000 titles in the on-demand library.

Philo stays super cheap by skipping local channels, sports, national news, and many of the most popular national networks. (1) You’re also locked out of recently aired entertainment from PBS, NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox. A digital antenna is an easy workaround that can enable you to watch your local news.

Philo is easy to sign up for, and it's easy to manage your subscription. Philo comes with a free, 7-day trial, and it's easy to cancel online.

Get the best value by speaking directly with a sales rep or check your address at

Philo's website.

Check address

Value

4.0

Decent lineups at great prices

WOW! Has some great introductory prices, but we’ve seen longer channel lineups from other companies. Channel quality is decent, but nothing to write home about. The real bargain comes when you realize your plan price already includes regional sports and broadcast fees, which can add $20–$40 in monthly fees with other providers.

You’ll have to get a WOW! internet plan, since this TV service is internet-based, but that comes at an excellent price too. All things said, WOW! provides a ton of value, but if you want all the channels and premiums to boot, it’s probably not the company for you.

Get the best value by speaking directly with a sales rep at 1-844-898-8626 or check your address at

WOW!'s website.

Check address

Features and usability

3.5

Simple interface and easy login

Philo is pleasant on a day-to-day basis, and works better than some of its higher-priced competitors. There's no 4K, though, and we found some platform-specific quirks.

Ability to watch: Good
We tested the Philo interface on iOS and Android mobile phones, a few different web browsers, and an Apple TV. The interface was similar across devices, and the setup was one of the simplest among all the live TV streaming services we tested. After we entered payment info, we got right into the guide. The original browser saved our login info. Signing in later on different browsers and apps required two-step verification using a mobile phone number or email address, but we never had to enter (or remember) a password.

We didn’t run into any issues when we tried multiple devices and browsers from different locations, which was a refreshing change from services like Hulu + Live TV, which tracks your IP address. Unfortunately, there is no way to watch in 4K—Philo maxes out at 1080p resolution no matter how you’re watching.

The viewing experience is about what you’d expect from a live TV provider, but with some oddities. Watching live, the only way to skip commercials is to record the episode in progress, wait several minutes, and skip ahead whenever the commercials come on. You can also fast forward through most commercials on DVR content, and some channels let you skip ads with one click on Roku streaming devices.

We ran into some buffering issues with Philo on the Apple TV we tested, particularly with the channel guide. It happened on different devices in multiple locations, so we’re pretty sure it wasn’t a bandwidth issue. The slow loading wasn’t a dealbreaker, but we can see how channel surfers would be annoyed.

Ability to record: Excellent
The DVR and on-demand experiences with Philo were pretty par for the course in our tests, and Philo recently upgraded its cloud DVR to save recordings for up to a year. We are impressed that you get three extra months to watch your recordings, compared to competitors Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV, which give you only nine months. Unlimited recordings is also pretty sweet, and we liked Philo’s 72-hour Rewind feature. You can use it to watch almost anything that’s aired in the last 72 hours, even if you forgot to add it to your library before it aired.

To get the most out of Philo, we recommend spending some time in the beginning to find and add your favorite shows. Within a few days, your Saved library will fill up with dozens of episodes to choose from.

Ability to find: Good
When you get to the Home screen on Philo, you’ll find a roundup of trending live and recommended shows, plus top movies and other categories. You can see whether a show is available on demand by clicking through to the episode description or by hovering your mouse over a particular episode, but there’s no way to tell at the series level. However, you can favorite shows at either the episode or series level, and saving a series means all future episodes will be recorded in your Saved library. You can also favorite channels, and that makes them show up first in the channel guide. It’s fairly simple to unfavorite, and the changes appear across devices instantly.

The channel guide itself is less impressive. Channel numbers aren’t listed (just logos) and you have to click into a program to get additional preview info. It works, but there aren’t a lot of bells and whistles to rave about.

Ability to share: Good
Philo offers many of the features you’d expect from a modern live TV streaming service. In our tests, it was easy to create profiles for different viewers, and the DVR libraries and favorites were kept separate. You can add up to 10 profiles and assign each a separate mobile phone number, so different users can sign in using their personal phones. However, there were no parental controls to be found.

You can watch Philo on up to three screens at a time, without a lot of verification or hassle.

Equipment and features

2.5

Meager cloud storage and low-rated (beta) apps

Because WOW! is internet-based TV, its equipment is makes it feel more like a streaming service than traditional TV. However, its features fall short of many streaming services when it comes to catching your shows where and when you want.

Ability to watch: Good
Since WOW! tv+ uses WOW! Internet, you need Wi-Fi gear. WOW!’s modem is free for your first year ($14/month after that), and its eero Wi-Fi system ($9.99 per month) is reasonably priced to rent. It’s also some of the best, most reliable Wi-Fi gear we’ve seen. WOW!’s TV boxes can get pricey if you want more than one ($10 per month), but since you can use WOW! tv+ with Amazon Firesticks, you shouldn’t need more than one box to get your shows on multiple TVs. You just need multiple Firesticks ($29.99 and up), but these will be one-time purchases instead of a monthly rental rate.

While you can use your phone to watch WOW! TV, its Android and iOS apps are in beta, which means they’re still working out some of the kinks. The apps have a pretty low rating on both Android and iOS (1, 2), which is a bummer. If you end up throwing your phone across the room in frustration, you can circumvent the app altogether by going to an individual channel’s website and logging in with your WOW! credentials. But you might still end up frustrated—and watching your shows through a cracked phone screen.

Ability to record: Fine
The WOW! tv+ box and remote are pretty standard, and you can find content and set up DVR recordings using voice commands or navigating through a guide. The downside is that all three of WOW!’s plans come with 50 hours of DVR cloud storage, which is pretty low. You can jump up to 100 (for about $20 per month) or 200 (for about $30 per month) hours, but that’s a steep charge when some competitors include 1,000 hours in their top-tier plans.

Ability to find: Good
WOW! doesn't have its own voice remote, but it's compatible with Google Voice. Without voice, it's still pretty easy to find channels in the guide, and parental controls make it easy to block the content you don't want your kids to see—or restrict TV time altogether. However, finding recorded shows can be challenging without sorting and filtering capabilities, even if you only get 50 hours of storage. That's still a lot of scrolling.

Features and equipment may vary based on package. Visit

WOW!'s website

or call 1-844-898-8626 for more information.

Customer experience

5.0

Simple, clear, and intuitive options

Philo makes it easy to sign up for the service, easy to sign in on different devices, and easy to cancel if you so choose. It’s also fairly simple to find and understand add-on pricing, and we love that the free trial lasts a full seven days even if you cancel midway through.

If you run into trouble, there’s a nice Help Center, a chat line, or a phone number to call. In this category, we believe Philo’s perfect score is well-deserved.

Visit Philo's website

or call for more information on contracts and money-back guarantees.

Go to provider

Customer experience

3.0

No contracts and good customer service, but a lack of transparency

WOW! is a decent experience, and most customers feel good about this provider. We love that you don't have to sign a contract. And although you have to get WOW! internet to get WOW!'s TV service, we like WOW! internet even more.

Self-installation is free and fairly easy, but you can hire a pro to come by and get you set up for $75. The website has plenty of self-help content if you run into trouble, or you can use its chat service to talk with a specialist.

What we don't like is WOW!'s lack of transparency. Prices aren't listed on its website, and you can't order TV without talking to a sales representative on the phone. That's not a great start.

Visit WOW!'s website

or call 1-844-898-8626 for more information on contracts and money-back guarantees.

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Philo

4.4

(5)

5 Star

40%

4 Star

60%

3 Star

2 Star

1 Star

Jenniferfrom Cincinnati , OH

Philo Customer for 1+ years

Reviewed on: 9/15/2022

The value could be a little less expensive. Philo is the most expensive app I have. I do like all the shows I am able to watch though.

Hattiefrom Bellville , TX

Philo Customer for Less than a year

Reviewed on: 9/11/2022

Programs are shown with clarity very nice. Would like to have local channels in package

Toshafrom Cincinnati , OH

Philo Customer for 1+ years

Reviewed on: 7/20/2022

It's an affordable service, and one of the cheaper ones. They have a ton of channels for everything you want to watch. It's easy to use. Prefer it over cable or satellite.

Camronfrom Port Richey, FL

Philo Customer for 1+ years

Reviewed on: 6/28/2022

The DVR feature works great! I love that I can save movies but not that I can't access all of them all of the time.

WOW!

4.0

(2)

5 Star

4 Star

100%

3 Star

2 Star

1 Star

Jimmyfrom Columbus, GA.

WOW! Customer for 4+ years

Reviewed on: 8/27/2022

They show ever thing that I want to see and they could lower the payment

Rexfrom Roseville, MI

WOW! Customer for 8+ years

Reviewed on: 7/19/2022

They are ok but need to ofter more for the price

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Endnotes and sources

(1) “Network Ratings 2021 Top Channels.” Variety. Retrieved August 19, 2022.As an Amazon Associate, Switchful.com may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Endnotes and sources

1. "Watch WOW!," Google Play. Accessed 7 December 2022.2. "Watch WOW!," App Store. Accessed 7 December 2022.As an Amazon Associate, Switchful.com may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

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