Philo or Discovery+

Philo has been one of my favorite live streaming services for some time. It offers a good selection of content for a reasonable price. However, there are a two major types of programming that you won't find on Philo: local channels and sports channels.

Philo has some news channels: BBC News, Bloomberg TV and Cheddar News, but that's it.

Philo does offer 73 live streaming channels for $25/month. That's pretty good. But, you need to ask, does it offer the services you want?

For example, if the Discovery networks are something that you're after, you may find that the $5/month Discovery+ service might be a better deal.

Is Live Required?

The first thing you have to ask yourself is: Do I need a live streaming service? Will an on-demand service get me what I want?

If it's not important to have a live streaming service of the channels available on Discovery+, then it's till an option.

However, if live streaming is a must, then you have your answer: Philo. You see, Discovery+ is an on-demand service, with no live streaming option.

The Channels

Next, if on-demand is okay, then it comes down to the actual channels. Look at this list of channels:

• A&E
• American Heroes Channel
• Animal Planet
• Cooking Channel
• Destination America
• Discovery Channel
• Discovery Life
• Food Network
• HGTV
• History
• Investigation Discovery
• Lifetime
• Magnolia Network
• Oprah Winfrey Network
• Science Channel
• TLC
• Travel Channel

Are those enough? If so, then Discovery+ is the answer. Those 17 channels are available on both. Philo has them live, and Discovery+ has them on-demand.

Discovery+ Only Channels

Discovery+ also has three channels that are not available on Philo:

• Planet Earth
• The Dodo
• Discovery+ Originals

If those are important, then Discovery+ is (again) the answer. Or an answer (more about that in a bit).

Philo Only Channels

Philo has a large list of channels that are not part of Discovery+. There are 56 channels that you won't find on Discovery+ but are in the Philo lineup:

• AccuWeather Network
• AMC
• aspireTV
• AXS TV
• BBC America
• BBC World News
• BET
• BET Her
• Bloomberg Television
• Cheddar News
• CLEO TV
• CMT
• Comedy Central
• Crime + Investigation
• Decades
• Discovery Family
• FYI
• G4
• GAC Family
• GAC Living
• Game Show Network
• getTV
• Gusto TV
• Hallmark Channel
• Hallmark Drama
• Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
• IFC
• INSP
• Law & Crime
• LMN
• Logo
• Motor Trend
• MTV
• MTV2
• MTV Classic
• MTV Live
• Nickelodeon
• Nick Jr.
• Nicktoons
• Paramount Network
• PeopleTV
• PlayersTV
• pocket.watch
• REVOLT
• Revry
• Ryan and Friends
• Start TV
• Sundance TV
• Tastemade
• TeenNick
• TV Land
• TV One
• UPtv
• VH1
• Vice
• WE tv

If those channels are something you want, then Philo is the answer for you. Or an answer (again, more in a bit).

One Other Option

There is still one other option you have that we haven't talked about. Simply put, why not both?

Philo is only $25/month. It comes with a good selection of 73 live streaming channels. Discovery+ is only $5/month. It comes with a good selection of 20 on-demand channels, including 17 of the live channels from Philo.

For only $30/month, you get it all. You get your live channels, and you have your on-demand service.

One Other Option, Variation

There is a variation on the "get 'em both" option. Get them both, but not at the same time. Remember, all this is month to month. You can subscribe to one of the services for a month, maybe longer. Then cancel and subscribe to the other.

Of course, if you absolutely must have live streaming, then you'll want to keep Philo year-round. But you can occasionally add Discovery+ every so often for a month at a time. Or, you may find that there's nothing on the live service that you need to watch live -- say, when your favorite series ends and you're watching reruns -- in which case you could drop the live service (Philo) for the on-demand service (Discovery+).

However you decide to do it, you may find that either Philo, Discovery+, or both, are a way to improve your Streaming Life.