Ditching your cable provider is easier than ever thanks to the growing number of video streaming services that focus on live TV, such as DirecTV Stream (formerly known as AT&T TV). This cable-replacement service performs well, offers many channel options, and has relaxed some of its harsh DVR restrictions. That said, the improved service remains relatively expensive compared with competing live TV streaming options.
(Credit: DirecTV)
How Much Does DirecTV Stream Cost?DirecTV Stream’s package lineup is simpler now that the company’s ditched the two-year contract requirement. Now, like every other live TV streaming service we’ve tested, DirecTV Stream operates on a month-to-month basis. DirecTV Stream lets you cancel a subscription within the first 14 days of service for a full refund, but you can’t cancel the service on your own; you must contact a customer support rep via DirectTV’s website chat tool.DirecTV Stream offers four monthly plans: Entertainment, Choice, Ultimate, and Premier. The only difference between plans is the number of channels you get. We prefer services, such as Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV, that offer straightforward, single-package lineups. Fubo and Sling TV also annoyingly segment their plans into several different tiers.
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The 75-channel Entertainment Package is the cheapest option at $79.99 per month. This plan includes all the local broadcast affiliates from ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, plus news channels, such as CNBC, CNN, CNN International, C-SPAN, FOX Business, FOX News, and MSNBC. Entertainment and lifestyle channels include Animal Planet, Discovery, Disney Channel, Food Network, FX, HGTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount, SYFY, TBS, and USA. You also get sports channels, such as FS1, ESPN, ESPN2, NBC Sports Network, and TNT. You do not get regional sports networks (RSNs) at this tier.
The $108.99-per-month Choice plan increases the total channel selection to roughly 105. You get all the channels from the Entertainment Package, as well as Cheddar, CNBC World, Cooking Channel, Fuse, Game Show Network, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, OWN, Science, Tastemade, The Weather Channel, and Travel Channel. You also get additional sports networks such as ACC, ESPNews, ESPNU, MLB Network, NBA TV, and Tennis Channel.The biggest advantage of the Choice plan (and every higher-price tier) over the Entertainment plan is that you get RSNs. RSNs are important for sports fans who want to watch local MLB, NBA, and NHL games that air on RSNs owned by one of three media networks: Comcast (NBC Sports), Sinclair (Bally Sports), or Spectrum (SportsNet). Check out each RSN’s page to see which one carries your local team’s games. The $119.99-per-month Ultimate plan expands the lineup to 140 channels. You get all of the Choice’s plans channels along with American Heroes Channel, Aspire, BBC World News, CBS Sports Network, Discovery Family, Discovery Life, DIY, FS2, FX Movie Channel, Golf Channel, Logo, MTV Classic, Nat Geo Wild, NHL Center Ice, Olympic Channel, Oxygen, several Starz Encore channels, Smithsonian Channel, and Universal Kids. To get even more channels, you can spring for the $164.99-per-month Premier lineup, which includes 150 channels. The most significant additions in that lineup are HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, and Starz.As with most other services, DirecTV Stream lets you subscribe to add-on packages. For instance, you can add Premium Channels, such as Max ($16 per month), Cinemax ($11 per month), MGM+ ($6 per month), Showtime ($12 per month), and Starz ($11 per month). There are also Brazilian ($30 per month for two channels), Korean ($30 per month for 11 channels), and Vietnamese ($20 per month for nine channels) package options. The $15-per-month Español add-on includes 15 channels, such as CNN en Español, Discovery en Español, ESPN Deportes, Fox Deportes, Telemundo, TUDN, and Univision. The $5-per-month Deportes option includes a sports-focused subset of the Español add-on (ESPN Deportes, FOX Deportes, TyC Sports, and Univision Deportes). Note that some add-ons may be unavailable since they are already included in your streaming package.Can You Watch Sports on DirecTV Stream?DirecTV Stream’s main advantage for sports fans is that it is one of the few live TV streaming service we’ve reviewed that offers RSNs from Comcast, Sinclair, and Spectrum. Note that AT&T has exited the RSN business following the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. DirecTV Stream also has all the local broadcast affiliates (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC) you could want, and many of the popular sports channels. One problem is that you need to pay quite a bit more than other services to get all those channels. For instance, you don’t get access to RSNs until the Choice tier, and Golf Channel and NHL Center Ice are restricted to the Ultimate plan.One bonus for NFL fans is that DirecTV Stream’s packages now include NFL Network, a feature also offered by Fubo, Hulu, Sling TV, and YouTube TV. Likewise, Direct TV and these other services offer add-ons with the NFL RedZone channel. However, you can no longer enjoy NFL Sunday Ticket. After the 2022-2023 football season concluded, DirecTV lost the exclusive NFL Sunday Ticket rights it has had for nearly 30 years, as Google has now picked up those rights for YouTube TV. If you want to dig deeper into watching sports online, check out our picks for the top MLB, NBA, and NHL streaming services.How Do DirecTV Stream’s Prices Compare?All of DirecTV Stream’s plans are expensive. For instance, Sling TV’s Orange and Sling Blue plans cost just $40 per month each, while the combined Sling Orange & Blue plan costs $60 per month. YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and Fubo start at $72.99 per month, $76.99 per month, and $79.99 per month, respectively. They all offer more channels than DirecTV Stream’s base plan. Philo’s $25-per-month, 63-channel plan offers a comparable number of channels to DirecTV Stream’s Entertainment package at a fraction of the cost, though its lineup lacks news, sports, and local broadcast channels.If you need help deciding which streaming service to purchase, consult our guide to the best video streaming service for your budget.In addition to streaming DirecTV Stream on the web, you can download apps on media streaming devices (Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku) and mobile devices (Android and iOS). Notably missing from this lineup are the PlayStation and Xbox game consoles. Both Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV support both those gaming consoles.
(Credit: DirecTV)
Watching DirecTV Stream on the WebDirecTV Stream’s web interface is less splashy than what competitors offer, with a lot of white space and uniform-looking lists. It is easy to navigate, however, and we did not encounter any stuttering pages or crashes during testing. We would like to see a dark mode option, though, since the bright, light color scheme can be somewhat uncomfortable to look at in low light.The top navigation menu breaks down into four options: Watch Now, My Library, Discover, and Guide. In the top right, there’s a search bar and a gear icon for your account settings. The search function offers basic functionality, but it works fine for finding movies, networks, and TV shows. One helpful thing is that you can filter results by content type. For example, when we searched for soccer, we could filter results by TV shows and Sports. YouTube TV’s search feature is more advanced, as it lets you combine multiple terms in a search, such as a genre and a year. In the Account Settings section, you can manage subscription settings, turn on parental controls, and switch the captioning display option. Oddly, one option, Play Live TV on Launch, cannot be turned off on the web.The main Watch Now screen highlights some of the top content available to watch on the service, organized in horizontally scrolling lists, such as Action Movies, Featured TV, New This Month, Just for Kids, and Trending. The top section is dedicated to playing whatever channel you last launched but it persistently—and annoyingly—overhangs from the top of the screen when you scroll down and effectively blocks part of the interface. The Discover tab is similar. In that section, you can browse for shows, movies, and networks, or by any of the premade collections. The Guide section works as expected; you can navigate through the programming list by channel or select a content type, such as movies, sports, or kids, to see what is currently playing. The My Library section is where your DVR recordings and bookmarks of favorite channels live.To watch a live TV program, just click on the thumbnail to start the stream. Selecting a thumbnail for on-demand content brings up a dedicated page with more details, including what episodes and seasons of that show are available to watch.Mobile AppsDirecTV Stream offers both Android apps and iOS apps. We tested the DirecTV Stream app on an Android 11 device, and had no issues signing into our account. The mobile app looks consistent with the desktop experience, but it’s not particularly impressive. One annoyance is that you can’t disable the Picture-in-Picture view in the app, so it ends up covering part of the interface.You navigate the app via the three menu items at the bottom of the screen: Watch Now, My Library, and Discover, or you can use the Guide, which is accessible via an icon in the top left. You can’t update your subscription settings from within the app, but you can change closed-captioning settings, set streaming quality preferences (Good, Better, and Best), and enable parental control restrictions.
(Credit: DirecTV)
Streaming Experience and DVRDirecTV Stream’s web player looks clean and offers all the expected playback features. In addition to the standard playback controls, you get 15-second rewind and fast-forward buttons (on select channels), a DVR record button, a Restart button (on select channels), basic channel information, arrows for moving to the next or previous live channel in your lineup, and closed captioning options.DirecTV Stream supports up to 20 simultaneous streams per account on the same home network, and up to three away from it. YouTube TV supports three concurrent streams by default, but an add-on lets you stream on an unlimited number of devices on your home network. Fubo and Hulu + Live TV allow for three and two simultaneous streams by default, respectively, but both offer add-ons that expand those limits.The top live TV streaming services we’ve reviewed, such as Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV, support 1080p/60fps live channels on select platforms. A representative from DirecTV Stream stated that the service uses an adaptive bitrate that maxes out at HD. We could not confirm the exact resolution of DirecTV Stream’s HD channels, but they didn’t appear to reach 1080p, and the framerate seemed to be locked at 30fps on the devices we tested. Fubo is the only live TV streaming service we tested that supports 4K streaming without any add-ons. YouTube TV has a 4K Plus add-on which unlocks 4K streaming on select channels, the ability to download DVR recordings for offline viewing, and an unlimited number of simultaneous streams on a home network.DirecTV Stream’s DVR storage features are now much closer competitors’. With unlimited storage, the service lets you record up to 30 episodes and keep those recordings for up to nine months instead of a scant 90 days. YouTube TV imposes no storage limits on your recordings and keeps them for nine months. Hulu + Live TV and Fubo respectively keep up to 200 and 250 hours’ worth of content by default for as long as you subscribe. Sling TV lets you save 50 hours’ worth of content by default for as long as you subscribe. Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and Sling TV, all let you upgrade DVR storage capacities.
(Credit: DirecTV)
DirecTV Stream offers two standout streaming features: Lookback and Restart. The Lookback feature lets you watch select programming from up to three days in the past. This would be particularly useful for sports fans who may have missed a contest from the previous day or so, but few sports channels appear to support it. You can find the full list of channels that are compatible with Lookback by searching for that term on DirecTV Stream’s support site.The Restart feature, on the other hand, enables you to play back a live program from the beginning. Many more channels, including A&E, Bloomberg, CNN, Food Network, FOX Sports, Travel Channel, and UniMas seem to support this feature, but again, this is dependent upon the individual program. You can find the full list of channels that are compatible with Restart by searching for that term on the support site, too. One drawback is that, once you restart a program, you cannot record it from the beginning, which seems like a missed opportunity. Philo can also restart streams of programs, while Fubo offers similar Lookback and Start Over features.For streaming live TV, DirecTV Stream recommends internet speeds of at least 8Mbps per stream. We tested DirecTV Stream over home Ethernet network (200Mbps) and, as expected, did not encounter any streaming difficulties. While watching a Divisional Round NFL playoff game during the last testing, the stream quickly ramped up to full quality and the audio remained in sync with the video. We didn’t notice any significant stutters. Both the Lookback and Restart features worked fine in testing.For more on streaming, check out five reasons to ditch your video subscription and keep cable. Learn how to pick streaming services that fit your budget, and enjoy all sorts of reality show trash. Finally, check out our recommended streaming video guides if you don’t know what to watch.
(Credit: DirecTV)
Accessibility and Parental ControlDirecTV Stream offers closed captioning options directly on the playback screen on the web and includes lots of customization options. You get white text on black background and black text on white background options, and you can also customize the font, text size, text color, and background color, too. In testing, the captions were accurate, although they ran several seconds behind live broadcasts. Similar to Netflix’s and Prime Video’s audio descriptions, DirecTV Stream now offers Descriptive Video Service for select on-demand content. Audio descriptions are audible narrations of on-screen events that cannot be picked up from the dialog alone.DirecTV Stream is one of the few live TV streaming services that offer parental control features. In the Settings section, you can block movies and TV shows by rating, as well as restrict access to everything that doesn’t have a rating. Restrictions apply to both live and on-demand content.Much like Sling TV’s implementation, the utility of this feature is limited since you cannot link these restrictions to individual profiles. Different members of the household would presumably not be bound by the same viewing restrictions, so it may become annoying to have to provide a four-digit PIN every time you switch channels or want to watch a movie.DirecTV Stream and VPNYou should use a virtual private network, or VPN, to secure your network activity, even though many video streaming services, such as DirecTV Stream, may prevent you from using one with their service. Sometimes video streaming services block VPN traffic to enforce regional broadcasting restrictions. DirecTV Stream, for example, is only available for US residents.For testing, we connected a desktop PC and a mobile phone to both Sweden- and US-based Mullvad VPN servers. On desktop and mobile device, we had no trouble streaming over the connection to the US-based VPN server on either device, but the service stopped working when we switched to the VPN server in Sweden.Even if your VPN and video streaming service work without issue for now, that’s no indication that they will continue to do so. Many video streaming services are continually finding new ways to detect and block VPN traffic. You can always just disable your VPN temporarily, so we recommend that you pick a VPN based on their privacy and security credentials, rather than whether they work with all your video streaming services.
Video Streaming Services: What You Should Know
Should DirecTV Stream Be Your Live TV Provider?DirecTV Stream is a reliable live TV streaming service, and we like its Lookback and Restart features. It’s also notably the only live TV service we’ve reviewed that offers RSNs from all three of the major providers. However, DirecTV’s plans are pricier than competitors’, even if its default DVR capabilities have improved.Netflix is our top pick for on-demand streaming because of its impressive library of TV shows and movies. Hulu is versatile and an excellent value given its combination of live and on-demand content. YouTube TV has a top-notch interface and a balanced channel lineup. All three are Editors’ Choice winners.
Pros
Reliable streaming performance in testing
Supports 20 simultaneous streams on home network
Lineup includes RSNs from Comcast, Sinclair, and Spectrum
Includes parental control options
View
More
Cons
Expensive
Some interface quirks
The Bottom Line
DirecTV Stream delivers a reliable, live TV streaming experience, with regional sports networks and improved DVR options. However, its plans are pricier than competitors’ offerings.
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