TECH SUNDAY TWO SUB-$20 STREAMING TV BUNDLES

They don’t carry sports channels or local stations, but both AT&T’s WatchTV and Philo stream live TV for less than $20 per month. So which is better?

I reached out to the two services and they were nice enough to let me try their services.

Why are they cheaper?

These two services aren’t trying to create a bundle that pleases everyone. WatchTV and Philo are cheaper than other streaming options because they don’t carry as many channels as their larger competitors.

In fact, WatchTV and Philo don’t carry any sports channels. (I realize many of you are going to stop reading right here.)

You also won’t find very many news channels (although each service does have some news), and you won’t find any local channels.

But those of you who don’t care about ESPN and get your local channels from an antenna will want to take a look at one of these smaller bundles.

There are a few differences between the plans, but they do have many channels in common.

At a cost of $16 per month, you get 40 channels: A&E, AMC, Animal Planet, AXS TV, BBC America, BBC World News, BET, Cheddar, Cheddar Big News, CMT, Comedy Central, Discovery, DIY, Food Network, FYI, GSN, HGTV, History, IFC, ID, Lifetime, Lifetime Movies, MTV, MTV2, Nick, Nick Jr, OWN, Paramount Channel, People TV, SCI, Sundance TV, Tastemade, Teen Nick, TLC, Travel, TV Land, Velocity, VH1, Viceland and WE.

Philo has one option, a $4 per month add-on package of nine additional channels: AHC, BET her, Cooking Channel, Destination America, Discovery Family, Discovery Life, Logo, MTV Live and Nicktoons.

So no sports, no Disney channels or Bravo, and the only news channel is from relative newcomer Cheddar. But this is a pretty strong bundle for $16 to $20 per month.

You can watch Philo through a web browser on your computer, on your iPhone (with an app) or Android phone (through the Chrome browser) and on stream-

ing devices from Roku, Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV.

Philo uses a nontraditional authentication method. The first time you log in to a device, you enter the cellphone number associated with your account, and Philo will send a text to your phone with a code you have to enter on the device to sign in. I love not having to remember a password. I wish more companies used this method.

Philo also includes a cloud DVR that lets you save shows for up to a month. You can also pause live programming and jump backward and forward in your saved shows.

Philo is working on its guide. Through a browser, I was able to see a grid guide, but on my Apple TV, I had to scroll through a page of thumbnails to see the shows currently playing on each channel.

You can navigate to channel pages to see what’s coming up, and on those channel pages you’ll find all the shows that are available for on-demand streaming.

Philo allows customers to have three streams going simultaneously.

The Philo live stream started quickly, and the picture was very clear in my testing using a laptop, iPhone and Apple TV.

AT&T has been a player in the live-streaming market for a while with its DirecTV Now service, with bundles costing $40 to $75, which is in line with everyone else.

As a part of its merger with Time-Warner, AT&T announced a new $15-permonth streaming service called WatchTV that has 37 channels: A&E, AMC, Animal Planet, Audience, BBC World News, BBC America, BET, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, CNN, Comedy Central, Discovery, Food Network, FYI, Hallmark, Hallmark Movies, HGTV, History, HLN, IFC, ID, Lifetime, Lifetime Movies, MTV2, Nicktoons, OWN, Sundance TV, TBS, TCM, Teen Nick, TLC, TNT, Tru, Velocity, VH1, Viceland and WE.

AT&T is in an unusual situation in that it is not only competing with the other streaming companies, it’s also competing with itself.

The smallest DirecTV Now bundle is $40 per month, but it has more than 70 channels and some features like the cloud DVR that are missing on WatchTV.

The interface is very clean with a grid guide on the web interface, iOS app and on the Apple TV.

The stream started quickly and never stuttered or buffered on any platform.

I think WatchTV has just the right channel list for my needs, and I’m happy with the interface.

WatchTV includes a library of 15,000 on-demand shows and movies instead of a cloud DVR. You can also rewind 72 hours on all channels to watch shows you missed.

Before you cut the cord, let’s talk about the ongoing costs

If you are an AT&T wireless customer with one of its two new “Unlimited & More” plans, WatchTV is included as a free perk.

Customers can only stream to one device at a time.

Which one is better?

Both services have their strong points.

Philo has a nice channel lineup and a cloud DVR.

WatchTV has fewer channels and no DVR but it does have CNN and Turner Classic Movies and the automatic 72-hour rewind, which is basically a three-day DVR for all the channels.

Depending on the size of your family, the three streams at a time from Philo might be better for you.

We only have one TV in my house, so I’m picking WatchTV because I prefer their grid guide on my Apple TV, and we watch a lot of TCM.

LOS ANGELES TIMES Both services have their strong points. Philo has a nice channel lineup and a cloud DVR. WatchTV has fewer channels and no DVR but it does have CNN and Turner Classic Movies and the automatic 72-hour rewind, which is basically a three-day DVR.