Philo Information
- Type of Service: OTT Platform
- Price: $20.00/mo.
- Free Trial: 7 days
- Number of Channels: 63
- Number of Titles: 40,000+
- Simultaneous Streams: 3
- Streaming Quality: 720p Live TV; 1080p On-demand
What is Philo?
Philo (R) is an online streaming video service. Philo started as a service that offered streaming channels on college campuses but is now available to everyone. The company was founded by Harvard University and includes investors such as HBO, Facebook co-founder Andrew McCollum, and Mark Cuban. Philo is a no-contract live TV streaming service that delivers live television through your internet connection to devices such as computers, tablets, smartphones, or streaming devices. It requires no installation, there are no extra fees, and you can cancel anytime.
Philo is arguably one of the best streaming services available. Philo is a little different than most streaming platforms because it does not offer sports channels or local channels. Due to this, the price of the service is incredibly economical and affordable. This service focuses primarily on entertainment and lifestyle channels. In addition to streaming live TV, it also offers thousands of titles on-demand.
Philo is compatible with virtually every streaming device such as smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, browsers, and set-top boxes such as Roku and Amazon Fire. This means you can watch Philo at home or on-the-go. Subscribers will also get three simultaneous streams which means you can watch your household can watch multiple programs at the same time. Users can also make up to 10 different user profiles which allow each member of your household to customize their viewing experience.
Philo recommends at least 7 Mbps for one video stream, and 13 Mbps when multiple devices are streaming on the same network.
Philo Packages and Pricing
Unfortunately, subscribers only have one option for the pricing plan: Philo. However, the good news is that it is one of the best per-channel values out of all the available streaming services. The Philo package costs $20/month. It is available as a subscription with no contract. This plan includes live streaming TV and on-demand tv shows with the unlimited DVR.
Subscribers can also choose between two different add-on packages too. Philo offers EPIX for $9/month and STARZ for $9/month. The add-on offerings are worse than most other streaming services and there are no international TV language packages.
If you’re interested in this service try it out with Philo’s 7-day free trial.
Package Type | Monthly Price | Channels | Simultaneous Streams |
---|---|---|---|
Philo |
What Channels Does Philo Have?
The Philo plan contains 60+ different channels. Philo does not offer any sports or local channels and caters specifically to the entertainment and lifestyle cord-cutters. Here is a list of channels offered by Philo.
ABC | |
CBS | |
Fox | |
NBC | |
Telemundo | |
The CW | |
Univision | |
A&E | |
AMC | |
BET | |
Bravo | |
Cartoon Network | |
CNN | |
Comedy Central | |
Discovery | |
Disney Channel | |
Disney Junior | |
E! | |
ESPN | |
Food Network | |
Fox News | |
Freeform | |
FX | |
FXX | |
Hallmark | |
HGTV | |
History | |
Investigation Discovery | |
Lifetime | |
MSNBC | |
MTV | |
Nickelodeon | |
Paramount Network | |
Syfy | |
TBS | |
TLC | |
TNT | |
Travel Channel | |
truTV | |
USA Network | |
VH1 | |
WE tv | |
ESPN | |
ESPN2 | |
Fox Sports 1 | |
Fox Sports 2 | |
NBC Sports Network | |
TBS | |
TNT | |
Altitude | |
AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh | |
AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain | |
AT&T SportsNet Southwest | |
Fox Sports Arizona | |
Fox Sports Carolinas | |
Fox Sports Detroit | |
Fox Sports Florida | |
Fox Sports Indiana | |
Fox Sports Kansas City | |
Fox Sports Midwest | |
Fox Sports New Orleans | |
Fox Sports North | |
Fox Sports Ohio | |
Fox Sports Oklahoma | |
Fox Sports Prime Ticket | |
Fox Sports San Diego | |
Fox Sports South | |
Fox Sports Southeast | |
Fox Sports Southwest | |
Fox Sports Sun | |
Fox Sports Tennessee | |
Fox Sports West | |
Fox Sports Wisconsin | |
LA FC Sports Network | |
Longhorn Network | |
Marquee Sports Network | |
MASN | |
MASN2 | |
MSG | |
MSG+ | |
NBC Sports Bay Area | |
NBC Sports Boston | |
NBC Sports California | |
NBC Sports Chicago | |
NBC Sports Northwest | |
NBC Sports Philadelphia | |
NBC Sports Philadelphia+ | |
NBC Sports Washington | |
NBC Sports Washington+ | |
NESN | |
Root Sports Northwest | |
Spectrum SportsNet | |
Spectrum SportsNet LA | |
SportsNet NY | |
SportsTime Ohio | |
YES Network | |
MLB Network | |
NBA TV | |
NFL Network | |
NFL RedZone | |
NHL Network | |
ACC Network | |
ACC Network Extra | |
Big Ten Network | |
CBS Sports Network | |
ESPNU | |
Fox College Sports | |
Longhorn Network | |
Pac-12 Network | |
SEC Network | |
beIN Sports | |
Eleven Sports | |
ESPNEWS | |
Fox Soccer Plus | |
Golf Channel | |
Olympic Channel | |
Tennis Channel | |
Cinemax | |
EPIX | |
HBO | |
Showtime | |
Starz |
Devices Compatible With Philo
Philo has a very good list of supported devices. This is a strong improvement from just last year making it easier than ever to use this service. Users have the flexibility to watch their favorite shows and movies in a variety of different ways such as at home on your television or on your phone while you’re on the go. This service is now supported by virtually every single device out there.
The following are supported devices:
- Roku: All current models
- Fire TV: All models
- Apple TV: 4th generation or later
- Android TV: 5.0 or higher. The device must be certified by Google, i.e. officially approved to use the Play Store
- Chromecast: 2nd generation or later (i.e. firmware 1.42 or higher) using their Android mobile app
- PC: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Edge
- Mac: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Edge
- Android: OS 5.0 or higher using their mobile app
- iOS: Using the Philo mobile app. You can also use Safari, Chrome, or Firefox on your iOS device to manage your account and settings
- Fire Tablet: OS 5.0 or higher
Philo Cloud Based DVR
Another great feature of Philo is the DVR. Unlike other services that offer limited storage limits, Philo allows you to select entire TV shows which are available for binging. This feature really sets Philo apart from its competition.
However, these shows are only available for 30-days but there is no limit on how many shows you can save on-demand. You also cannot delete recordings but without storage caps why would you need to? Saving TV shows and movies with Philo’s DVR is very easy and intuitive. All you have to do is click save while watching or on the show page. All episodes of a TV will be available and movies only record once.
Also featured is the look-back feature which separates Philo from other services. This means that you can “look-back” up to 72 hours and watch TV programs you may have missed live.
Philo Interface
The interface is intuitive and very easy to use; however, it does vary slightly across devices. Philo’s color scheme is dark with black and blue which in our opinion makes it easy to see. TV shows are highlighted in brighter colors making them stand out and they contain details about the program.
Users will find the interface very easy to use. The top bar features a searchable channel guide, top titles, saved titles, search, and settings.
When the app opens up the interface opens on a Home screen, which features a Keep Watching section and a Saved Shows section. Below these are sections for Trending Live, Recommended, Top Shows/Movies, and New and Upcoming. This is nice because you can easily resume programs that you left off on and see which new TV shows recently aired.
One of the best features of the interface is the channel guide. Many cord-cutters often complain about other services that do not offer a traditional channel guide. It is easy to search and scroll through; however, we would suggest that Philo allows the current program to air in the background while you browse the guide.
The search is super easy to use which can sometimes be a painful process on other services. When you starting searching it auto-populates as you type and returns comprehensive results including channels, shows, movies, and individual episodes.