LIFE FOR A BUSY professional is complicated. It can be hard to carve out time in the evenings to watch TV, especially in real-time. Luckily, streaming services make it a lot easier to watch TV on your own schedule, especially with features such as on-demand content and digital video recorders to help you have more control over when and how you tune in. Even better, many of these are fairly inexpensive – perfect for the budget-conscious worker.
Read on for some of the best streaming services for professionals.
Netflix. This streaming service is a popular choice, and for good reason – its low price and large library of on-demand options make it a budget-friendly source for any TV fan. As a purely on-demand service, Netflix offers past movies and TV shows at any time, so for a busy professional trying to squeeze an episode into a crowded schedule, that control makes for a convenient streaming experience. In addition, if there are other people in the household tuning in during those same few free moments, some of the pricier packages allow for simultaneous streaming on multiple screens.
Netflix comes at three different price points:
- Basic package: $8 a month, one screen.
- Standard package: $11 a month, two screens.
- Premium package: $14 a month, four screens.
[See: 10 Steps to Cut the Cable Cord.]
Prime Video. Amazon’s streaming service comes packaged with its regular Prime subscription, so if you’re already paying for its other services, it won’t cost anything extra to take advantage of its on-demand offerings. The rest of Prime membership is great for a busy professional – free shipping and member-exclusive deals are useful for those who don’t have time to do all their shopping in brick-and-mortar stores – but the streaming service adds a lot of value.
Like Netflix, Prime Video offers exclusively on-demand content, and with plenty of award-winning original series and a library jam-packed with movies and television, this service has plenty to offer. Even better, Prime offers three simultaneous streams with every subscription, so households with varied tastes can avoid fighting over the remote.
Amazon Prime has two separate pricing options:
- Annual membership: $119 a year, three screens.
- Monthly membership: $12.99 a month, three screens.
YouTube TV. YouTube’s streaming service offers many live channels cable-free, so if you want to watch current shows and sports in real time, it’s a solid pick. But a busy professional can’t watch everything live, especially with a crowded schedule. This is where the DVR comes in. A subscription to YouTube TV comes with an unlimited cloud DVR, which is a rare benefit among streaming services. On top of that, you can watch on up to three screens at a time.
YouTube TV has just one price with all features included:
- Standard package: $40 a month, three screens.
FuboTV. Like YouTube TV, fuboTV is a live-streaming service with many channels available for live viewing. For the busy schedule, it has strong DVR offerings, with 30 hours included in the standard subscriptions and another 500 available for an extra $10 a month. Those 500 hours mean you can save a lot of TV, so if you’ve got too much to watch but too little time, this upgrade option is probably worth that additional cost.
FuboTV has two different package options:
- Fubo: $45 a month, two screens.
- Fubo Extra: $50 a month, two screens.
Hulu with Live TV. Hulu was originally known for its library of on-demand titles, but has since added options for live channels as well. One big benefit for busy subscribers is Hulu’s on-demand current episodes, many of which are added the day after they air on supported networks. You can also record up to 50 hours of content using the included cloud DVR, or upgrade to 200 hours for an additional $15. Depending how much you record, that added cost may or may not be worth it, but that’s a whole lot of space for someone who’s constantly on the go.
Hulu has two basic package options:
- Hulu Limited Commercials with Live TV: $40 a month, two screens.
- Hulu Streaming Library: $8 a month, one screen.
If you’re a busy professional, it’s important to have a TV setup that can meet your needs. These streaming options offer control and great content without breaking the bank and can help you tune in whenever you finally have a free moment.
