What is Vidgo? Everything You Need to Know in 2020

What is Vidgo? What are the main features, how much does it cost– and why in the world is yet another company entering the streaming service market? Keep reading for the answers to all these questions and more.

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What is Vidgo? 30-second summary

Vidgo is a new sports-oriented live TV streaming service that made its official English-language debut late last year. The most unique thing about the service is a chat feature Hangs, which lets you socialize with other Vidgo users when you watch TV.

Perhaps because Vidgo is so new, many of the standard features that you’d expect to get with a streaming service– like cloud recording and local TV support, for example– are limited. Vidgo works with Chromecast and there are Vidgo apps for Android, iOS, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, but you can’t view Vidgo streams through a web browser. Occasional bugs and performance issues should be expected as well. New streaming services tend to experience these kinds of growing pains in their early days.

Related: Vidgo Review 2020: A Buggy But Innovative Social Streamer

Vidgo features: key differentiators 

Vidgo has a lot in common with other live TV streaming services in terms of its channel offerings– and with time, it will probably bring its features up to par as well. So what is it that makes Vidgo unique relative to the competition?

• There’s a built-in chat feature. In terms of uniqueness, Vidgo’s Hangs feature is the streaming service’s most notable one. When you watch TV on your smartphone, Hangs lets you interact with with other Vidgo users. Since Hangs isn’t yet available on Roku, Apple TV or any of Vidgo’s other apps, there’s no way to socialize when you use your TV to tune into Vidgo– but most will probably prefer to use their phones to do that anyway.
• The main focus seems to be sports. 18 of the 66 channels that come with Vidgo Core can be categorized as sports channels. This emphasis makes Vidgo look similar to fuboTV, which has also attempted to corner this market. Attempting to specialize in sports makes sense, because sports is one of live TV’s strongest attractions. Another good reason to watch live TV is news, but Vidgo doesn’t offer much in this category. Various Fox-owned news channels are a part of Vidgo’s lineup, but CNN, MSNBC and CBS News are notably absent.
• It’s cheaper than most other streaming services. All of the major players in the live TV streaming service business– like YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV, for example– are charging $50 or more for basic service. Vidgo’s $40 Core plan places the service at the lower end of the pack. Sling TV’s $30 Orange base plan is similar to Vidgo’s lineup in that ESPN is a part of its lineup, but Vidgo offers more sports channels. Philo is only $20, but it doesn’t offer any sports channels at all.
• There’s a Spanish language version of it. Vidgo Latino costs only $15 and it comes with a strong lineup of Spanish-language channels that includes ESPN Deportes, Fox Deportes, Telefe and Azteca America. There are 15 channels in all, which works out to $1/month per channel. Vidgo Latino Mas comes with twice the number of Spanish-language channels and it costs $25/month. With these offerings, Vidgo seems to be attempting to compete with fuboTV and Sling TV. They both have Spanish-language subscription plans, as well.

How much does Vidgo cost?

The cheapest plan is $40, but various discounts and deals can reduce your monthly fees below that. The $40 price point makes Vidgo about $10/month cheaper than the average streaming service.

YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, fuboTV and AT&T TV Now are all pricier than Vidgo. However, the lifestyle-TV oriented streaming service Philo and streaming pioneer Sling TV are both cheaper.

It’s worth noting here that all the streaming services mentioned above have raised their subscription fees several times since their debuts. The general strategy among streaming services seems to be: offer low prices at first to reel in subscribers and to compensate for half-baked features and missing channels, then increase fees, improve features and add channels as time goes on. Only time will tell if Vidgo will follow in the footsteps of its competitors in this way.

Who are Vidgo’s major competitors?

Out of all the streaming services mentioned above, Vidgo seems to be aimed at competing with fuboTV and Sling TV.

fuboTV

Like Vidgo, fuboTV‘s main emphasis is on sports. In fact, half the channels you get with any fuboTV subscription are sports-related.

In terms of features, fuboTV has the clear advantage– especially when it comes to its cloud DVR. The fact that Vidgo doesn’t have a DVR yet is a huge weakness. However, the company has said that it is working on adding one. All fuboTV subscribers get 30 hours of recording time. The DVR is very convenient if you’re a sports fan because it lets you catch games that you don’t have time to see live. 

fuboTV’s Achilles’ heel has always been the fact that ESPN is not part of its channel menu. Instead of ESPN, you get fubo Sports Network. On the other hand, NFL fans might take note that fuboTV carries NFL RedZone– an indispensable channel for those that hate commercials as much as they love to watch pro football. Vidgo doesn’t have that channel yet, but it does carry NFL Network.

The fact that Vidgo is both cheaper than fuboTV and offers ESPN might make it a worthy competitor.

Sling TV

Industry trailblazer Sling TV came out in early 2015. Its low prices have helped it survive after behemoth brands like Google and AT&T brought their competing services to the market.

Sling TV’s Orange base plan is still the cheapest way to get ESPN without cable. Even though Orange doesn’t have as many channels as Vidgo Core, it’s $10 cheaper.

Sling TV Pricing and Packages