A closer look at Hulu+Live TV

I said recently that I would be looking at live streaming services. And it's only fair for you to know ahead of time that I don't regularly use a live streaming service. If you want to know why, read my recent post about that.

For now, I'm taking a look at one of the popular live streaming services: Hulu+Live TV.

I've been a Hulu user for years, over 10 years in fact. However, I use the standard Hulu on-demand service. What I'm looking at today is the live streaming service.

Hulu+Live TV is not just the name of the service, it's a description of the service. You have Hulu, which is a very good on-demand TV service that carries current season content from many of the networks. Not all the networks, mind you, but many. It's $7/month and you can watch new content within hours of it airing live. Think of it like a DVR service for, well, everything.

Some content goes away after 30 days, but some stays around longer. A lot longer.

The other thing that Hulu+Live TV has is ... live TV.

Not only can you watch on-demand content from Hulu, but you can watch live TV from a bunch of channels. That bumps the price up by $63/month. While Hulu is $7/month, Hulu+Live TV is $70/month. But, you do also get Hulu along with it. And you get Disney+ along with it. And you get ESPN+ along with it.

So, it's not really Hulu+Live TV, it's Disney Bundle+Live TV. Which means the $14/month Disney Bundle is included in the $70/month price. Which means you're actually paying $56/month for the live TV part. And that's a better price than most of the live streaming services. If you would otherwise have the Disney Bundle, that is. However you look at it, it's one of the better pricings on a premium live streaming service.

So, what channels do you get? A lot.

You get local channels, and you get lots of sports channels. Oh, and news channels. And a lot of entertainment channels. And, of course, you can add on some premium services. It's a full featured streaming service that's a lot like cable.

One thing that doesn't quite measure up to other services is that you can filter the guide by channel category -- sports, movies, kids, etc -- but you can't arrange them. You can't favorite a channel or move specific channels to the top. With YouTube TV, for instance, you can rearrange the channels any way you want. With Sling TV, for instance, you can mark a channel as a favorite and it shows at the top.

I prefer to keep my local channels together, and at the top of the listings. That's easy with YouTube TV, and it's fairly easy with Sling TV (which works with Air TV to put your local antenna channels in the Sling TV listings). It's impossible with Hulu+Live TV.

Despite that, it's still a good streaming service, and the pricing, considering you get the Disney Bundle, is pretty good, compare to other premium live streaming services.

Live Local Channels

• ABC
• ABC Localish
• CBS
• FOX
• NBC
• Telemundo
• The CW

Entertainment & Lifestyle Channels

• A&E
• ABC
• ABC Localish
• Adult Swim
• Animal Planet
• BET
• Bravo
• CBS
• CMT
• Comedy Central
• Cozi TV
• DABL
• Discovery Channel
• E!
• FOOD NETWORK
• FOX
• Freeform
• FX Network
• FXX
• FYI
• HGTV
• Investigation Discovery
• Lifetime
• Lifetime Movies
• Localish
• MotorTrend
• MTV
• NASA
• Nat Geo
• Nat Geo WILD
• NBC
• NBC LX
• NBC News Now
• OWN
• Oxygen Network
• Paramount
• Pop
• QVC
• Smithsonian Channel
• Start Tv
• Syfy
• TBS
• Telemundo
• The CW
• The History Channel
• The Travel Channel
• TLC
• TNT
• TruTV
• TV Land
• USA
• VH1
• Vice

Family & Kids Channels

• Boomerang
• Cartoon Network
• Disney Channel
• Disney Junior
• Disney XD
• Nick Jr
• Nickelodeon
• Universal Kids

Movies Channels

• FXM
• TCM

News Channels

• ABC News
• ABC News Live
• Bloomberg
• CBS News Live
• Cheddar
• CNBC
• CNN
• CNNi
• FOX Business Network
• FOX News Channel
• HLN
• MSNBC
• News Nation

Sports Channels

• ACC Network
• BTN
• CBS Sports Net
• ESPN
• ESPN College Extra
• ESPN2
• ESPNEWS
• ESPNU
• FOX Sports 1
• FOX Sports 2
• Golf Channel
• NFL Network
• Olympic Channel
• SEC Network

Add-on Premium Channels

• Cinemax
• HBO Max™
• SHOWTIME
• Starz

Sports Add-on

• MAVTV
• NFL RedZone
• Outdoor Channel
• Sportsman Channel
• TVG
• TVG2

Entertainment Add-on

• American Heroes Channel
• BET Her
• CI
• CNBC World
• Cooking Channel
• Destination America
• Discovery Family
• Discovery Life
• GAC
• Magnolia Network
• MHI
• MTV Classic
• MTV2
• Nick Toons
• Science
• Teen Nick

Español Add-on

• CNN en Español
• Discovery en Español
• Discovery Familia
• ESPN Deportes
• FOX Deportes
• NBC Universo
• The History Channel en Español

The live TV interface is usable. I like the interface for YouTube TV a little better, as I mentioned earlier. Even Sling TVs interface is a little better, but only because of the customizations.

If you're looking for a live streaming service with a great on-demand bundle (Disney Bundle), then Hulu+Live TV is a great option for your Streaming Life.