Cord Cutters: Check Out Philo If Sports Isn’t Your Thing

Cord Cutters rejoice, there’s one more option for low-cost TV making its way into the ever-more-crowded streaming TV landscape.

It’s called Philo, and while it’s new to the mainstream streaming world, it’s most definitely not a new service.

You see, Philo’s been around for a while, primarily serving the university market.  In September of 2015, Philo announced its “next generation TV platform” was now available at over 40 universities nationwide, providing live TV and DVR service to residential students on any device.

And now, just a few years later, Philo has launched its service beyond the educational community for all to enjoy.

Philo

Philo offers a nice selection of well-known cable channels for a very competitive price.  What you won’t get with Philo are any sports.  Which, I guess, is where it’s trying to build a niche.

Sports channels are the major cost drivers of any pay-TV service, especially ESPN.  Do away with sports channels, and the cost lowers greatly.

But, so does the audience.  Roughly 50% of TV watchers want to be able to watch sports, no matter the platform.

On the flip side, though, roughly 50% don’t care.

And that’s the viewer Philo is likely going after.

Pricing

Philo’s base channel offering provides 37 channels for only $16 per month.

Philo’s second, and only other channel package, gives access to 9 additional channels for a total monthly fee of $20.

Below is the lineup for each (click to enlarge):

Viewing Specs

Philo, like most other streaming TV services, can be viewed on a variety of devices.  However, it has not yet made its way to every device.

Currently, you can watch Philo on:

• Mac and PC via a web browser
• Apple iPhone/iPad running iOS 9 or newer
• Android phones and tablets running 5.0 or newer
• Roku

There are a few streaming devices that are missing – Apple TV and Chromecast to name two – but Philo says “more devices [are] coming soon.”

And, like the other streaming services, there is no contract.  You can start and stop your service whenever you want, as many times as you want.  Although I’m sure they don’t pro-rate your already paid monthly fee.

Viewing can be done on up to three devices at the same time, which is nice when your household has more than one person.  Or, ahem, when you might want to share the cost.

Give Philo a Try

Click this link to view the Philo website, learn more, and sign up for service.

You can get a 7-day free trial of Philo without providing any payment info.  Your mobile number is all that’s needed to check it out…if you want to continue your Philo subscription, you can enter your payment/credit card info at the end of the trial period.

Wrap Up

Philo’s $16 per month price point is hard to beat.

Of course, sports fans will need to look elsewhere for their low-cost streaming TV.

But, if you’re one of the roughly 50% who don’t care about watching sports, then Philo just might be the streaming service for you.

Have you tried Philo?  If so, let us know what you think.