Amazon’s popular Fire TV may be the only device you need to get rid of your expensive cable bill forever. It works with all the most popular cable replacers, including Sling TV, fuboTV, Philo, PlayStation Vue and many others. These services offer all the same channels you’re used to watching, but for a fraction of the price you’re used to paying. There are even several excellent free TV apps for Amazon Fire TV, which are worth checking out as well.
Read on to find out everything you need to know about how to cut the cord with Amazon Fire TV.
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Live TV streaming services
Almost every cable TV channel imaginable is now available online. The vast majority of these companies have partnered with one or several of the streaming services listed below. Here is a quick look at the top streaming services that work with Amazon Fire TV.
Philo
Philo’s $16/month base subscription makes it the most inexpensive cable replacer on the market today. Though it lacks sports channels, it has a wide selection of other cable TV staples like A&E, AMC, BET, Comedy Central, Discovery and many others. If you don’t care about sports or get all the sports entertainment that you care about through your TV antenna, Philo could be right for you.
64 Channels
7-day free trial
$25.00/ month
Try Free
Even though it’s cheap, Philo has a competitive mix of features. The cloud DVR is unlimited, which means that it lets you record as many hours of TV as you desire. An innovative social sharing feature is in the works, as well. Once the TV sharing feature is rolled out, you’ll be able to watch TV with your friends via the internet through Philo’s social platform. A free seven-day trial is available to those who want to see what Philo has to offer.
fuboTV
Do you watch college basketball, soccer or other sports that often receive limited cable TV coverage? If the answer was yes, you’ll definitely want to get a free trial of fuboTV– a streaming service that’s designed to fill in those gaps. fuboTV’s $45 base subscription has over 90 channels, half of which are sports channels. Unfortunately, ESPN is not on the menu– but many other sports channels that other streaming services don’t carry are.
In addition to carrying sports channels that your local cable company doesn’t carry, fuboTV offers better picture quality than any other streaming service. fuboTV recently started rolling out support for 4K streams. Currently, only a handful of sports channels broadcast in 4K, but fuboTV plans to expand its 4K support in the coming months. If you own a 4K-compatible Amazon Fire TV device, check out the seven-day free trial and see the difference for yourself.
Sling TV
Sling TV is a good app to start with because it was one of the very first streaming services to hit the market. Low subscription prices are among the key advantages that it has over the competition. There are two base subscription options, Sling Orange and Sling Blue. They both cost just $25/month and come with 30+ channels. If you get both base plans, you can get all the channels in both for $40.
* You get 1 stream for Sling Orange channels and up to 3 simultaneous streams for Sling Blue channels.
Sling Orange
Great Value
$40.00/ month
Try Sling
Sling Blue
Great Value$40.00/ month
Try Sling
Sling Orange + Blue
Best Value
$55.00/ month
Try Sling
Once you pick out at least one base plan, you can pick from Sling TV’s wide assortment of add-on channel packs. There are over 20 of these. For example, Sling TV’s Sports Extra costs $10/month and includes NFL RedZone, NBA TV and several other sports channels. Check out the seven-day free trial to find out what else is available.
PlayStation Vue
Disregard PlayStation Vue’s brand name. It’s not a gaming app, it’s one of the best all-around cable replacers on the market today. With PlayStation Vue for Amazon Fire TV, you get unlimited cloud recording, five-device simultaneous streaming and a massive selection of channels to choose from.
There are four different plans that you can pick from when you sign up. The cheapest plan, Access, has 50+ channels and costs $45. Core costs an extra $5 more and adds more sports channels. Elite costs $60 and has all the live channels. With the $80 Ultra plan, you get HBO and several other premium cable channels.
PlayStation Vue’s selection of channels beats most other streaming services in almost every category. Hop over to the PlayStation Vue website to see what’s available. There’s a five-day free trial that you can sign up for if you like what you see.
Hulu with Live TV
In addition to on-demand TV shows and movies, Netflix competitor Hulu now offers live TV. Along with a strong lineup of cable TV channels, Hulu with Live TV offers a number of compelling features. Full access to the Hulu on-demand catalog is one of the main attractions, but the Unlimited Streams add-on is also a significant pro. The base subscription costs $45. For $15 more each month, you can stream all of Hulu with Live TV’s non-premium channels to an unlimited number of TV devices on your home network.
On-demand streaming services
With the exception of Hulu with Live TV, most live streaming services don’t offer much in the way of on-demand content. Fortunately for cord-cutters, there are more options in this area than ever before. You can use any of the services listed below to fill in any entertainment gaps that you may need to fill after you get rid of your cable subscription.
CBS All Access
This underrated streaming platform from CBS has 10,000 on-demand episodes of classic CBS shows and a growing number of originals like Star Trek: Discovery, Twilight Zone and others. You can even watch a live stream of your local CBS station through this app. The ability to stream your local CBS station might come in handy if you get all your entertainment through the internet and don’t have access to a TV antenna. The base subscription costs only $6/month, but you can get commercial-free access if you’re willing to spend $10. The free trial will let you test out the service for seven before you commit to a paid plan.
Amazon Video
90 million Americans subscribe to Amazon Prime. That means that roughly 63% of the population can access all the thousands of titles that Amazon has made available through Amazon Video. Since the Amazon Video app comes pre-installed on all Amazon Fire TV devices, getting started is easy. If you’re not already an Amazon Prime subscriber, you can pay your way into Amazon’s on-demand content library for $9 per month. But why do that when Amazon Prime only costs $99 per year?
Netflix
Over the last 21 years, Netflix has changed the way we consume movies and TV shows. Recently, the on-demand giant has made developing original titles a priority. However, it still carries quite a few titles from other production companies, too. Unless you own a 4K-capable Amazon Fire TV device, the basic $8 subscription is the best way to go. If you own a newer Amazon Fire TV device that can play 4K streams, you may want to consider upgrading to the $12 Premium subscription, which includes support for 4K video.
HBO Now
HBO Now gives you the ability to access premium cable TV content without a traditional cable TV subscription. You can even watch some of HBO’s marquee shows live through the HBO Now app. The $15/month subscription fee is a bit steep, but could be worth it if you’re a fan of HBO shows like Game of Thrones, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Silicon Valley, Westworld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Girls, The Sopranos and The Wire.
MUBI
MUBI is one of several new on-demand services that cater to art film lovers. The most unique thing about this particular app is that its content library is always changing. When a new film comes in, you have 30 days to watch it before it’s replaced by a new title. Subscribing costs $11/month after the seven-day free trial.
Fandor
Like MUBI, Fandor caters to fans of cult films and classic movies. Fandor’s library is larger than MUBI’s, but it doesn’t offer as many curated content lists. On the other hand, its subscription fees are lower. A $6/month subscription gives you access to over 3,000 titles.
Shudder
When it comes to horror, Shudder has the market cornered. No other on-demand service has a bigger vault of horror content. Lists cobbled together by famous horror actors and directors will help you find titles that suit your specific tastes. The $4/month subscription fee is low compared to other niche on-demand services.
Starz
If you’re a fan of blockbuster films, you may want to consider downloading Starz– an $8/month streaming service that carries many of the latest hit movies. The service recently started producing original content, as well. Sign up for the seven-day free trial to find out what Starz has to offer.
Showtime
Showtime distinguishes itself from other premium streaming services by offering access to live boxing matches in addition to movies, TV shows and original content. After the seven-day free trial, the subscription costs $11/month.
Free entertainment options
In addition to the growing number of ad-supported, free streaming services, there are also several streaming services that let you use your library card to access free streams. Here are some of the best free TV apps that work with Amazon Fire TV.
Plex
If you have a large library of content saved on your computer that you want to watch on your TV, an open source app called Plex will help you do just that. All you have to do is install Plex on your computer and download Plex for Amazon Fire TV. After you connect the two together, you’ll be able to watch all your stored video content on your living room TV screen.
Pluto TV
This innovative, free TV service relies on ads to keep the lights on. If you don’t mind sitting through the occasional commercial, Pluto TV is a great way to watch cartoons, news, music, viral videos and more.
Tubi TV
Tubi TV’s library is full of classic movies from the 90s and 80s. There are a few more recent titles to be found, as well. Like Pluto TV, Tubi TV derives all of its revenues from ads.
Hoopla
With Hoopla, you can stream not only movies and TV shows, but also music and audiobooks as well. All you need is a library card to create an account and get started.
Kanopy
Like Hoopla, Kanopy lets you virtually check out and stream content from your local library. The main difference between the two is that Kanopy has more to offer in the way of educational films and documentaries.
Crackle
Crackle– the home of Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee— was one of the first free, ad-supported streaming services to hit the market. The most unique thing about Crackle is that it’s one of the few services of its kind that produces original content.
Vudu
Though Walmart’s Vudu does offer paid on-demand content, there are many free titles that you can watch through the app as well.
The CW
The CW app is designed to help you catch up on CW episodes that you may have missed. Episodes are removed shortly after they air, so be sure to tune in before they disappear.
Hardware and accessories
The equipment listed below will help you expand the functionality of your Fire TV device.
HDHomeRun
Unless you own a Fire TV Recast, you won’t be able to plug your TV antenna directly into your device. This can be annoying, because it means that you have to switch inputs every time you want to see an over-the-air broadcast. The makers of HDHomeRun offer an alternative way to tune in. HDHomeRun devices connect to your TV antenna and then stream the over-the-air signal to your Fire TV device.
Mohu antennas
There are many TV antenna makers, but Mohu stands out because their antennas sport sleek designs and inexpensive price tags. Mohu Leaf is much slimmer than most wall-mounted TV antennas. The Mohu Curve, on the other hand, can be mounted on a table or any other flat surface.
Alex Munkachy is a freelance writer, game developer and hobby robotics enthusiast. You can find his blog about robotics news and reviews at robotfanatics.com.
