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In a market full of exciting skinny bundle options, Philo stands out for being just a little different from the others. What is Philo? It’s a live TV streaming service, but it’s a bit different from competitors like Sling TV and DIRECTV Stream, Philo deliberately excludes most cable news networks, local TV stations, and sports channels from its channel lineup. That's because those particular channels account for a disproportionately large part of a typical pay-TV bill. Since Philo is skipping the pricier channels, it can offer the channels it does have for a whole lot less than the competition charges. Philo has carved out a niche for itself in the budget streaming space, and it's certainly worth looking at if you're interested in an affordable live TV solution. Below, we'll lay out everything that you need to know about Philo, including how to get a Philo free trial, what channels Philo has, how to cancel Philo, and more.
Philo's claim to fame is its low price. Skinny bundles always aim to undercut cable and satellite packages, but Philo takes things a step further by actually undercutting other skinny bundles, too. No other skinny bundle can compete with Philo's price: It's just $25 per month. Philo’s pricing is one of the things that impressed us the most in our Philo review.
Philo offers a few add-ons. The most notable are Epix for $6 a month or Starz for $9 per month.
The reason that Philo's pricing is lower than YouTube TV's pricing or Hulu + Live TV's pricing is that Philo's channel selection excludes certain channels — namely, most news channels, local networks, and sports channels.
Philo's low price is due to the channels that it doesn't have: local stations, cable news networks, and sports channels. That's a significant thing. Most options on the skinny bundle market offer ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, FS2, NBCSN, and even regional sports networks. Most offer at least a few of the major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC), with live local feeds in select areas. And most offer CNN and, sometimes, other cable news networks. Philo, by contrast, has none of these.
But that's the whole point of Philo! Philo is designed to target the folks who don't care about these omissions. It's supposed to provide that non-news, non-sports network TV goodness: reality shows, sitcoms, dramas, movies, and more. So if you're going to subscribe to Philo, the question to ask isn't what Philo doesn't have — it's what channels does Philo have?
Aside from the aforementioned exceptions, Philo's channel selection is pretty comprehensive. From history to sitcoms to dramas, you'll have a lot to choose from. Though ESPN is nowhere to be found, other skinny bundle staples — like AMC and HGTV — are present and accounted for. Here's the full list:
Streaming live TV is great, but nobody wants to use a streaming service that doesn't let them watch their content on their television and their other favorite streaming platforms and devices. Here are the devices that you can use to stream Philo today.
In-browser app (Mac and Windows)
Philo is already a pretty great deal, but that doesn't mean that we're not always on the lookout for ways to save you even more money. Keep us bookmarked to find out the latest deals and promotions on Philo.
One Philo promotion that's always active is the service's free trial offer – so let's talk about that next!
One way to save money on Philo is always available. It’s the free trial offer, which is as good as the ones offered by Philo's many competitors. Philo will let you test-drive its live TV streaming service for a week, risk-free. If you decide it isn't for you, no problem: Just cancel before your free trial period is up, and you won't pay a dime.
To sign up for Philo's free trial offer, just click here.
Contracts? With a skinny bundle? No way. Philo is strictly a month-to-month commitment; you can cancel at any time and have your subscription wrap up at the end of your current billing period. If you don't cancel, Philo will simply auto-renew your current subscription. You'll be billed for the upcoming month (that's your “billing period”), and the cycle will continue — until you cancel, of course.
This means that if you cancel right after you're billed, you have Philo service for the rest of the month (but won't get your money for this month back). You'll never be billed again after you cancel. If you cancel during the free trial period you will, of course, not be charged at all.
Skipping the restrictive contracts is one of the best reasons to watch TV without cable.
Philo is a great choice for lots of people, but it's not for everyone. If you're ready to part ways with the service, you're going to want to know how to cancel Philo. Here's how to go about it.
There's nothing too tricky going on here. Just head to Philo's website and sign in. Head to the Account page and scroll down. You should spot a “Cancel my account” button at the bottom of the page. Click that and then confirm your decision.
Philo is a really interesting skinny bundle option. Its market-beating prices and its innovative strategy for making those prices profitable could have a huge impact on the future of streaming and cord-cutting. So, naturally, we're all over it here at CordCutting.com. You'll find tons of coverage of Philo on our site, including in the stories that we've linked to on this page. For more, just type “Philo” into our search bar or check our home page regularly. You can count on us for the latest news, tips, how-tos, and more, both about Philo and about the cord cutting world at large.