It may well be the most competitive time in live TV streaming, a massive pro and con as a consumer. On the one hand, you have more choice than ever with each streaming service attempting to outdo the other but it can be hard to navigate your way around these countless streaming services...
One of these many choices is DirecTV: a very popular live TV streaming service which offers a generous selection of premium cable-cutting options for entertainment, news and sports fans to immerse themselves in. Is this the best plan for you though?
Comparing it to its other competitors, DirecTV has various plans that compete with its close rivals like Fubo, YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV. This live TV streaming service also has tiers that go way higher than the competition; both in terms of channels offered and price. Keep reading to find out if the pros outweigh the cons of DirecTV.
DirecTV prices and plans
There are four tiers of DirecTV. They vary by price and channel count mainly, and here are the main differences:
There are some extra differences too. Premier includes certain streaming services including Max, Showtime, Starz and Cinemax. It also includes the DirecTV Sports Pack, which the other plans only get three-month trials of.
Just note with regards to prices, that these costs don't include tax, or regional sports fees where appropriate.
DirecTV channels
As we've said, each plan has a huge amount of channels, so we can't list them all. However below we'll list some of the highlights for each plan. Bear in mind that with each tier, you get all of the options on the previous plan too.
You can see the full channel line-up, along with a comparison chart, on DirecTV's website.
DirecTV Entertainment channels
- AccuWeather
- AMC
- Animal Planet
- BBC America
- BET
- Bravo
- Cartoon Network
- CNBC
- CNN
- Comedy Central
- Discovery
- Disney Channel
- E!
- ESPN
- Food Network
- Fox News Channel
- FX
- Hallmark Channel
- MTV
- Music Choice (various)
- NASA TV
- Newsmax
- Nickelodeon
- Paramount Network
- Syfy
- The History Channel
- TNT
- TruTV
- USA NEtwork
- VICE
DirecTV Choice channels
- ACC Network
- Big Ten Network
- Cheddar News
- CNBC World
- Cooking Channel
- ESPNU
- Fuse
- Golf Channel
- MLB Network
- NBA TV
- Nicktoons
- Science Channel
- Tastemade
- Tennis Channel
- Travel Channel
- Weather Channel
DirecTV Ultimate channels
- American Heroes Channel
- BBC News
- CBS Sports Network
- Destination America
- Discovery Life
- FM
- Fox Sports 2
- FX Movie Channel
- Logo
- Nat Geo WILD
- NHL Network
- Smithsonian Channel
- Sportsman Channel
- STARZ ENCORE (various)
DirecTV Premier channels
- ActionMAX
- Cinemax (various)
- HBO (various)
- NFL RedZone
- Outdoor Channel
- Showtime (various)
- STARZ (various)
- Willow
DirecTV FAQs
Does DirecTV have DVR?
DirecTV does have DVR, but the quality of what you're getting depends on whether you sign up via Satellite connection or via the internet.
A Satellite plan gets you up to 200 hours of HD content that's stored on your device and never expires. You can also store 4K but that'll reduce your storage
An Internet plan gets you an unlimited amount of 4K footage that's stored in the cloud, and expires after 9 months. You can also only save 30 episodes of a series, and if you go over that count the oldest recording will be wiped, whether or not 9 months has passed.
What is DirecTV Now / DirecTV Stream?
Confusion has arisen from the fact that DirecTV has changed the name of its streaming service quite a bit. In the past few years it's been DirecTV Now, AT&T TV and DirecTV Stream.
These are all names for the same thing, though: DirecTV's streaming service.
