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Frndly TV is the newest kid on the block, in terms of live TV streaming, and it’s a pretty cheap one. With plans starting at $6.99 for 40 channels. So what’s the catch? When we have other live TV Streaming services charging $65 per month for about twice those channels. Well, that’s we’re aiming to get to the bottom of with this article.
Here, you’ll learn everything you need to know about Frndly TV, and whether it’s worth signing up for and adding to your streaming library of apps.
What is Frndly TV?
Frndly TV was built by a number of employees that used to work in the big Pay TV world. These co-founders knew that the programming challenges providers faced and knew the cost challenge that consumers faced with cable and satellite. So they decided to make something affordable, with quality programming. And here’s Frndly TV.
It was built in the US, in Denver actually, and it’s one of the few streaming services that is not backed by corporate money.
Frndly says that it has handpicked its channels so it has “feel-good” programming. It has ensured a starting price that fits everyone’s needs, and it has an app that is easy to use. So what’s not to like about Frndly TV?
How much is Frndly TV?
You’ve likely seen ads for Frndly TV that say it starts out at $7.99 per month. Which is one of the cheaper streaming services out there today. Frndly TV does offer a couple of different plans, going up to $11.99 per month. Don’t forget that you can also switch to annual billing and get it for 15% less.
The Basic plan is the one that is advertised the most. This starts at $7.99 per month and gets you SD video quality (that’s around 480p), along with allowing you to watch on one-screen at a time, and live TV plus on-demand. There’s no cloud DVR here, which is why it’s cheaper.
On the Classic Plan, which is $9.99 per month, you do get bumped up to HD video quality. That’s going to be around 720p, maybe 1080p depending on the channel. This also gives you two screens to watch simultaneously, and unlimited cloud DVR. Though your shows and movies will remain on your DVR for about 3 months here. You also get live TV and on-demand of course.
Finally, we have the Premium plan. This one is $11.99 per month, the most expensive but still not to bad. It does everything that the Classic plan does, but it increases your screens to four, and unlimited cloud DVR to 9 months (right on par with YouTube TV).
Does Frndly TV offer a free trial?
Yes, Frndly TV does have a free 7-day trial that you can check out. It’s not long, but with a lot of these streaming live TV services deciding to ditch the free trial, it’s good to see that Frndly TV still has it.
What channels does Frndly TV have?
Frndly TV says that it has 40 channels, which is true. But only about four of them are in the top 100 cable channels. So you’re getting a lot of smaller channels here.
This includes:
- A&E
- Lifetime
- The Cowboy Way
- The History Channel
- Lifetime Movie Network
- Hallmark Channel
- Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
- Hallmark Drama
- GAC Family
- Ion TV
- Ion Mystery
- GAC Living
- UpTV
- Insp
- Game Show Network
- Curiosity Stream
- The Weather Channel
- FYI
- Vice
- Outdoor Channel
- BYU TV
- Sportsman Channel
- World Fishing Network
- BabyFirst TV
- PixL
- QVC
- Recipe.TV
- GetTV
- Local Now
- Dove Channel (on-demand)
- Circle
- fetv
- FMC (Family Movie Classics)
- frndly On-Demand
- DECADES
- Heroes & Icons (H&I)
- Start TV
- Grit
Out of the top 100 cable channels, it has A&E, Hallmark Channel, History, and Lifetime. Now the interesting thing here is that most other streaming live TV services do not have these channels. A lot of these are A&E channels, which are really only available on Frndly TV, Philo TV and Hulu + Live TV. Which makes Frndly TV a good addition to something like Sling TV or YouTube TV.
How to watch Frndly TV?
Frndly TV is luckily available on most streaming devices. So you can watch it virtually anywhere, even on the web via a web browser like Chrome or Firefox.
Here’s the full list of supported devices:
- Android
- Android TV
- Chromecast
- Apple TV
- iOS
- iPad
- Amazon Fire TV
- Roku
As you’ll notice here, gaming consoles like PlayStation and Xbox are not included. So if that’s what you use for your streaming needs, then Frndly TV won’t be a good option for you.
What features does Frndly TV have?
Given the price of Frndly TV, there’s not a lot of features here, other than just watching TV. Which is not a big surprise, and since there’s no sports, there’s not a lot of features that are really needed here. But there are a few that stand out.
Unlimited Cloud DVR
This is a feature that YouTube TV pioneered, but many other services are adding now. And that includes Frndly TV. On the Classic and Premium plans, you get unlimited cloud DVR. On the Classic plan, the titles will stay on your DVR for 3 months, and 9 months on the Premium plan.
This allows you to watch content that might not be available on-demand, whenever you want. With all of the Hallmark channels here, this is a good way to watch some great movies whenever you want.
72 hour look back
Now this one is actually a feature that Sling TV had pioneered many years ago. If you forgot to DVR something, you do have three days, or roughly 72 hours, to look back at it. So if you missed out on watching a show on Sunday night, you can watch it the next day or even the day after. The app will show you when the episode is set to expire though.
Should I sign up for Frndly TV?
I’ve been using Frndly TV for a little bit and I actually really enjoy it. There are some shows on a few channels that I really enjoy, but can’t watch on YouTube TV because it doesn’t have A&E or History channel. And for just $9 per month I can get those, and a number of other channels that YouTube TV doesn’t have. Now this won’t make it simpler to find content to watch, as it is yet another app to find. But it does work.