What Is Philo? Everything You Need to Know Before Subscribing

If you want to cut the cord, Philo is a solid option with a lot of channels, a low price, and great perks.

Philo is a live TV platform founded in San Francisco in 2010. The service has gone a long way from the experimental dorm-room streaming project it began as.

In fact, over the years, it has grown into a great service with a good selection of channels and great perks offered to subscribers.

How Much Does Philo Cost?

Let's start with the beginning, namely the thing most people look at when trying to decide which live TV service to pick when they cut the cord: the price.

Philo is priced at a mere $25/month, which includes over 60 channels and all its perks—which we'll talk about in a moment. There are no alternative plans to pick from with Philo, simplifying things immensely.

No contract is attached to your subscription, meaning you get to cancel or restart the subscription anytime you want. Also, you can try the service for free for an entire week before any charges are made to your account.

What Channels Does Philo Offer?

Philo features over 60 channels in its plan, allowing you to watch content live anytime. Plus, you can stream many shows and movies whenever you feel like it, as the platform has over 60,000 titles available on-demand.

At the time of writing, Philo's channel line-up features some of the most well-known TV channels available, including Comedy Central, A&E, Nicktoons, History Channel, Bloomberg TV, and many more.

However, loads of major networks are missing, including Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC, and other similar channels that work through local broadcasts. If you live and breathe these specific networks, Philo may not be the live TV streaming service that offers the best value for you.

However, its collection looks great, providing content for music fans, children, those looking for news or cooking shows, drama or reality TV, and so on. Plus, at $25/month, it's an unbeatable offer.

Philo Also Offers Channel Bundles

While the platform may be a bit more barebones, especially when you compare Philo with Sling TV, another great streaming service, it does offer some perks to its subscribers.

For a long time, Philo only offered its channel collection. Nowadays, the service has a few bundle options available:

• Movies & More is a channel pack that costs $3/month and features Cinémoi, HDNet Movies, MGM HD, Reelz, and Sony Movies.
• The EPIX bundle costs $6/month and features EPIX, EPIX Hits, and EPIX 2.
• The STARZ bundle costs $9/month and features STARZ, STARZ Encore, and STARZ Kids & Family.

If you add all of these up, you'll end up with a monthly subscription of $43, which is still lower than what you get with other live TV platforms.

Philo Extra Features

One thing we know for sure about Philo is that it offers subscribers some great perks, even at such a low price point.

All subscribers get to watch content on up to three different devices at the same time. The rule is that if you start watching Philo on a fourth device, the longest-running stream stops.

All live content is streamed in 720p, while on-demand comes in 1080p, which should be more than ok for most TVs. However, you should know that video quality adjusts automatically based on your internet speed.

All live content comes with a 72-hour rewind, which means you can replay anything that aired within that timeframe. Alternatively, you can record any live content thanks to unlimited DVR. There is no storage space limit, and you can keep all recordings for up to one year. You can even skip the ads in the recordings, so you won't have to watch those.

Which Devices Can You Watch Philo On?

Philo works on a ton of devices, so you have at least one that will help you enjoy all this content.

Here's a list of devices Philo works on:

• Roku: all current models
• Fire TV: all models
• Apple TV: 4th generation and up
• Android TV: 5.0 and up
• Chromecast: 2nd generation and up
• PC: via Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge
• Mac: via Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge
• Android: 5.0 and up or Chrome
• iOS: 14.0 and up or using Safari, Chrome, or Firefox
• Fire tablet: 5.0 and up

As you probably noticed, the list does not feature any gaming consoles.

Should You Get Philo?

If you're thinking of cutting the cord and want a cheap live TV service that will still deliver a ton of channels and plenty of on-demand content, Philo is the way to go. With unlimited cloud DVR storage space, so many channels, and a low price, it's an ideal combination that only a few live TV platforms like Sling TV or fuboTV offer.