Video streaming sites are a great way to watch live sports and primetime shows. They don’t just replicate but improve your cable TV experience. fuboTV is one of the most popular TV streaming options available today. It has a sports heritage and gives you a wide choice of more than 90 channels. These channels cover sports, entertainment, and news. fuboTV has reliable performance and easy to use DVR.
It covers almost all the major sports events from local leagues to national and international level games. So, is fuboTV worth the money or not? In this fuboTV review, we will give you a detailed analysis of fuboTV. This will help you make an informed decision before you subscribe to the service. fuboTV started as a soccer-only service and has grown to become a full-fledged multi-channel IPTV service.
It now presents significant competition to less diverse bundles such as Sling TV and other cable and satellite TV services. You can easily install fuboTV on Amazon Fire TV, Fire Stick, Fire TV Cube, NVIDIA Shield, and many more.
What is IPTV?
Let’s begin this fuboTV review with a short definition of IPTV. If you are not familiar with IPTV, these are basically streaming services that provide subscribers with live TV channels at a given time over the internet.
With live TV you can watch sports events, news, and sitcoms at a comparatively cheaper subscription-based price. All you need to stream Live TV via an IPTV service is a stable and high-speed Internet connection and of course a streaming device such as Amazon Firestick or smart TV.
Keep in mind that IPTV is a paid service. You’ll also need to have a subscription plan with the streaming service. You will also need to install a digital antenna if your Live TV service doesn’t provide over-the-air channels such as FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS. Live TV gives you flexibility and endless entertainment rarely found in other regular TV services.
So, What Exactly is fuboTV?
fuboTV is a popular IPTV service for sports and entertainment fans. It gives you a perfect blend of sports and entertainment at an affordable cost.
Its standard plan offers a good selection of channels with the option to upgrade for more channels. One of the best things about fuboTV is the fact that it is fully compatible with a wide number of streaming devices used today. This includes Amazon Firestick, which is a favorite for many cord-cutters.
Launched in 2015, fuboTV started out as a soccer service before expanding its coverage to other sports and entertainment. Today, fuboTV is a leading IPTV service provider in the US. It is also growing in leaps and bounds.
By the 3rd quarter of 2018, fuboTV announced that it had 250,000+ subscribers consuming over billion minutes of content.
fubuTV Channel Lineup
The first thing we’ll look at in this fuboTV review is its channel lineup. fuboTV brands itself as the perfect mix of sports and entertainment. It is a Live TV option with some of the best sports and entertainment channels for cord-cutters.
For example, when you subscribe to the Standard Plan, you get access to 115 channels and over 130 events in crystal clear 4K quality.
The channels you get will depend on your location but generally include the following major sports channels:
- NFL Network
- Eleven Sports
- NBC Golf
- CBS Sports Network
- BeIN Sports
- Olympic Channel and many more
fuboTV also offers some channels from its own homegrown Fubo Sports Network that is also available free of charge for customers of LG’s Channel Plus app and Xumo, a popular over-the-top content provider. However, the major downside in fuboTV’s channel lineup is the fact that the streaming service does not provide ESPN and any of ESPN subsidiary channels as you can see in this fuboTV review.
So why does such a popular sports streaming lack ESPN? In a recent Reddit post, the company stated that it cannot be forced to license all bundles from Disney, which owns 80% of ESPN.
If it should add ESPN then it would have to include all Disney channels on its packages and hike their pricing by over 16% of what they currently charge. This basically means that fuboTV is holding off ESPN at present to make their services more competitive and affordable to consumers.
It is also important to note that while there are generally no restrictions to broadcasting national sports events, some sports events can only be broadcast by local networks. Sports leagues also have a major say in the games that can be shown on Live TV depending on the local channel covering the event.
The good news is that fuboTV is continually adding more features to attract more subscribers and maintain customer loyalty. The company even partnered with a major sports betting firm, FanDuel, in mid-2019 to become the first Live TV service that provides sports betting data on its live broadcast of sports events.
Non-Sports Categories
This fuboTV review also looks at other non-sports categories available at this Live TV streaming service. fuboTV is not just a sports Live TV streaming service but also provides other non-sports programs in diverse categories including lifestyle, documentary, news, history, travel, family, and of course movies.
Examples of popular non-sports channels on fuboTV include:
- HGTV
- TLC
- A&E
- VHI
- Discovery Channel
- Nat Geo
- MTV
- Food Network
- And many more
fuboTV Pricing Plans
fuboTV has 3 pricing plans each offering different channel lists and other features such as Cloud DVR and many more.
The three pricing plans are:
1. Standard Plan
The Standard Plan costs $54.99 per month. It comes with 115 channels and 30 hours of Cloud DVR recording as well as the option to stream content on two devices simultaneously, popularly known as the Family Share feature.
2. Family Plan
The Family Plan is currently available at a 15% discount price of $59.99 per month. The original price is $70.97. The plan comes with all the inclusions of the Standard Plan but with additional allowance to stream content on three devices at the same time.
3. Ultra Plan
The Ultra Plan is also available at a 20% discount price of $79.99. The original price is $98.94. it comes with 183 channels, access to fubo Extra programs that have over 36 more channels, Sports Plus, and SHOWTIME. With the Ultra Plan, you get 500 hours of Cloud DVR recording and Family Share of three screens or devices.
You can also buy fubo Extra as an add-on for the other plans at a cost of $5.99 per month. Other available add-ons that can be purchased separately include NBA League Plus, Adventure Plus, and fubo Cycling.
Fans of Latin TV can also buy the Latino Quarterly package for just $19.99 per month. The original price for this package was $34.98. With Latino Quarterly you can watch 33 channels and enjoy 500 hours of Cloud DVR recording. The package is billed every 3 months and allows you to watch content on a maximum of two devices at the same time.
fuboTV has great exciting streaming content as we show in this fuboTV review. But as you may have noticed they have more expensive pricing plans compared to other Live TV streaming services. There are other low-cost IPTV services with more channels available at a lower cost than fuboTV.
fuboTV Web User Interface
fuboTV is also available on the web. The web version has an organized user interface that is categorized in different sections including sports, shows, movies, recordings, and guides. It is an easy to use interface with clear navigation buttons and links.
You’ll even get a Lookback feature on the dashboard that allows you to watch sports events previously streamed in the last 72 hours. You no longer have to worry about missing those special moments in last night’s games.
As for entertainment options, they are clearly organized in movies and shows categories. However, it may take you some time to get the best on-demand content from the results generated by the search function. The guide section helps you plan what you want to stream in the next 5 days. The Cloud DVR recording feature works perfectly too.
fuboTV Mobile Version
fuboTV is also available on both iOS and Android mobile devices. Their app downloads and installs without a problem on smartphone and tablet mobile devices. The app has all the features and functions available on the web version.
Picture Quality
fuboTV just needs a minimum of 25Mbps to stream content. With a 200Mbps internet connection, you can have the best 4K entertainment experience on different channels and programs. The streaming is stable and doesn’t lag.
The picture quality, as expected is crisp, sharp, and of the highest quality. For web and mobile streaming, you should get an Internet connection of at least 10Mbps to enjoy perfect quality streaming in 1080p resolution.
Cloud DVR Functionality
One of the best things about fuboTV is its Cloud DVR recording ability, which is available in all plans. You can easily access your recordings via the Recordings section, where you’ll find a handy search feature with filters for title, league, channel, and team name. However, there’s no date filter on the search function.
What We Didn’t Like About fuboTV
fuboTV is a great Live TV streaming service but we noted a few things we didn’t like besides the obvious fact that it doesn’t have ESPN. For instance, fuboTV doesn’t have parental controls that parents can use to monitor what their young ones watch.
Users have also complained about interruptions by long commercials, which is quite true. Commercials are a necessary evil but they shouldn’t be too long. You can fortunately fast forward the commercials if you are recording the show using DVR.
Lastly, fuboTV is limited to customers in the US, Canada, and Spain because of network agreements and restrictions. So, if you are traveling to another country, you may have to miss some of your favorite shows or get a reliable VPN service to help you stream content without restrictions.
Conclusion
Despite the few downsides mentioned above, fuboTV is a great Live TV streaming service with a unique lineup of sports and entertainment channels. As stated in this fuboTV review, you can watch high-quality 4K content and even record your favorite games and shows via the Cloud DVR feature.
Have you used fuboTV lately? Let us know more about your experience with this Live TV service in the comments below.
