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In its six-year life span, has had one of the most tumultuous histories of all of the . After starting life as DirecTV Now in 2016, it’s endured three different name changes, flip-flops on compulsory hardware and a series of price hikes. The current version of DirecTV Stream is separate from the DirecTV satellite service, and instead competes against cord-cutter services and .
DirecTV Stream is not cheap. A monthly subscription starts at $70, and to get access to your local regional sports network you’ll need to pay for the $90 Choice package (which just , while higher tiers are now $10 more). Those local sports channels, which carry the regular season games of , and teams, are the best reason to subscribe to DirecTV Stream. No competitor has nearly as many RSNs, so for fans who want to catch all the action of their teams live, paying $90 a month to DirecTV Stream is often the only streaming option. As a bonus, that price also includes three months of . A cable TV subscription, which typically also offers RSNs, is likely cheaper, however.
DirecTV Stream
Like
- Offers most regional sports networks on $90 tier
- Great for channel surfing
- Live pause works well
Don’t Like
- Expensive
- Not as many nonsports channels as competitors
- Channel changing slow on Roku
- No Google TV or Android app
In daily use the DirecTV stream app also feels more cable-like than any of its competitors, in part because you can easily flip channels. While it’s compatible with multiple platforms, I liked it best on an , which loads channels twice as fast as . If you crave a familiar interface and want access to its extensive sports coverage DirecTV Stream is worth a look. However, if you don’t need your local RSNs, then YouTube TV — which costs less and has more channels overall — is a better choice, .
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Multiple channel packages, with RSNs starting at $90
DirecTV Stream is a live TV streaming service (), Apple TV, Roku, Android and iOS, TVs and browsers. It doesn’t currently support Android or Google TV devices, however.
One of the benefits of choosing a streaming service over cable is that you’re not tied to a contract, so you can cancel at any time without penalty. DirecTV Stream’s basic package starts at $70 a month with 65-plus channels and a 20-hour DVR, but it does miss channels such as MLB Network, 連三跨五 NFL Network and Travel Channel found on the competition.