Frndly TV Review: Is the $9 Live TV Service Worth It?

Frndly TV is designed to be an affordable live TV streaming service, and with plans starting at just $8.99/mo, it is significantly cheaper than most others. However, that cheaper price does come at a cost, and some of them might be too great for many homes to overlook.

Streaming Better Rating

★★★★☆

Frndly TV is a cheap live TV service, and as long as the channel lineup meets your needs, we don’t think there’s much point paying more each month for a different live TV service.

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Frndly TV intentionally doesn’t offer certain channels and features in a bid to keep the costs low. This means figuring out whether Frndly TV is the right service for you will likely come down to how important those missing channels and features are.

After spending some time with Frndly TV, we feel confident in saying if the channel lineup meets your needs, and Frndly TV is available on the devices you use the most often, we can’t see any real reason to justify paying for a more expensive live TV service.

Frndly TV Full Review

If you would like a more detailed look at what you get (and don’t get) before signing up, here’s our full review of Frndly TV.

Frndly TV Experience

It is a little hard to review Frndly TV without constantly taking the price into consideration. It is a very cheap way to stream live TV and, understandably, this means it comes with some compromises.

The general experience is certainly one of them.

Personally, I didn’t run into any major issues when using Frndly TV, and did consider it to be a positive experience overall. The apps worked well, there were no major streaming quality or consistency issues, and everything just tended to work as expected.

That said, it is a very basic experience. One issue that is a little annoying is that the TV apps can be a little slow to load. This especially in terms of thumbnail issues which take a moment or two to show up when navigating the interface.

The apps are also limited in terms of features and everything just felt a little budget. While that’s not a major issue in itself, it is something many will notice when switching from another live TV service.

Device support is something that’s also a little basic. In general, the main platforms are supported so many homes will find they can download an app on their devices.

A notably exception here is LG, as there is no support for LG smart TVs running on the company’s webOS.

Another example of how the service lacks premium touches is the general lack of profiles. Something that’s likely to prove a big issue for families and households sharing a subscription.

As Frndly TV doesn’t currently offer any way to create separate profiles, everyone sharing a subscription will have to share the same profile. This also means sharing the same recordings, watchlist, and so on.

It’s also not possible to sign up through any of the TV apps, with users needing to first create an account on the Frndly TV website and then sign in to the app afterwards.

Another issue that relates specifically to the cheapest Basic plan, is the lack of additional streams.

While the more expensive Classic and Premium plans offer the option to stream on multiple devices at the same time, Basic subscribers can only watch on one device at a time.

Then there’s TV Everywhere support, a live TV-related feature that’s totally missing from Frndly TV.

Without TV Everywhere support, subscribers are unable to access network apps and websites directly, and will need to watch live TV (as well as on-demand) content through the Frndly TV app and website.

Many of these complaints are understandable, when considering the low price, but they do highlight that a cheap live TV service comes with a limited experience in general.

Frndly TV Channels and Live TV

Live TV is evidently the main reason to consider signing up to a service like Frndly TV, and the channel lineup will suit some homes. For others, it won’t even nearly be varied enough.

While some live TV services, like Fubo and YouTube TV, offer access to more than 100 live TV channels with their base plans, a Frndly TV subscription unlocks access to a little over 50 channels right now.

The good news is that the channel lineup does include many popular channels including A&E, Hallmark, History, Lifetime, and The Weather Channel.

The bad news is Frndly TV is missing many other popular channels.

For example, if you want access to the likes of Bravo, Discovery, HGTV, Food Network, FX, Paramount Network, TBS, TLC, TNT, and USA Network, Frndly TV isn’t for you.

Frndly TV also won’t be an option for sports fans, as a subscription does not include access to ESPN, Fox Sports, NFL Network, Tennis Channel, or any other sports channels.

Likewise, Frndly TV also won’t be an option for homes wanting access to local channels.

The only real option subscribers have is Local Now, a service that provides access to local weather, news and stories, based on the device’s IP address.

Even here, however, Local Now is only available to watch live and cannot be recorded.

If in need of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and/or PBS, you will need to consider an alternate way to access these channels.

National news is also an issue, as Frndly TV doesn’t include access to CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or any other major news networks.

Adding to the problem of Frndly TV’s limited channel selection is that there isn’t really any way to improve the lineup.

Unlike other live TV services, Frndly TV offers a very small selection of add-ons, and all of which don’t really plug genre gaps but are extensions of the genres Frndly TV already excels in.

Add-ons available to bundle with a Frndly TV subscription include:

In terms of the actual live TV experience, there isn’t too much to really complain about.

Frndly TV includes a standard Guide section, making it possible to see what’s on now, later in the day or week, and jump to a specific channel.

The live guide allows subscribers to see what’s due to be broadcast up to 10 days in advance.

It is also possible to skip back and watch from the beginning of a program while watching live, and even if you weren’t watching the channel when the program started. A handy feature when flipping to a channel mid-way through a program.

However, skipping back won’t skip the ads. While you can rewind while watching any program that’s on a short delay, you cannot fast-forward while ads are playing.

A nice benefit is Frndly TV’s ability to skip back beyond the current program, as the live TV service provides subscribers with a full 72-hour playback feature.

This Look Back feature makes it possible to skip back and watch any of the shows, movies, or other content that was shown live on a channel within the last 72 hours.

Regardless of whether watching live or on a delay, the interface offers basic playback controls, including the ability to enable subtitles.

If watching live, there’s also the option to Start Over.

If you press down while watching live, you can access another menu and quickly jump to many of the sections, including Home, Guide, Movies, TV, My Stuff, Search and Settings.

Alternatively, if pressing up while watching live you can quickly jump to a different channel.

As mentioned, we didn’t really encounter any major issues with the streaming quality or reliability while watching Frndly TV, and this included watching live.

We also found the apps to be consistent across platforms and devices.

Here’s a look at Frndly TV’s mobile app.

Additional Features and Content

Typical of a live TV service, Frndly TV offers a selection of on-demand content. In total, Frndly TV claims to offer more than 5,000 on-demand programs at any given time.

While we can’t verify just how many there are, there was a decent selection of movies and shows to choose from.

Frndly TV automatically separates all available content into Movies and TV sections. These sections are largely identical in design, and include most of the same subsections, such as Live Now, Just Added, Networks, and Trending.

From what we could tell, a lot of the on-demand content is powered by the 72-hour playback feature. In other words, a good portion of the on-demand library is shows and movies that were shown on live TV within the last few days. This also means that they ‘expire’ fairly quickly.

Speaking of which, the Trending section is nearly always populated with titles that are about to expire, which seemed a little weird, but also further indicated that the on-demand section appears to heavily rely on the 72-hour playback support.

Outside of the on-demand sections, the ability to add to favorites, record programs, and the 72-hour playback, there isn’t too much in the way of features.

The only other notable element of the app is the Settings section, where subscribers can make some minor adjustments.

These include bundling add-ons; turning closed captions on or off; choosing between HD and SD video quality; setting the live guide to either Default, Custom, or Alphabetical; and turning Audio Descriptors on or off.

It is worth noting that the Settings section of the mobile app does include the ability to cancel the subscription without visiting the website.

This is notable as the option to cancel a subscription from within the app is not something that’s currently available through the streaming player and smart TV versions of the app.

Frndly TV DVR

One of the first things to note about the DVR experience is that Frndly TV doesn’t offer a DVR to those signed up to the cheapest base package.

Instead, subscribers need to be subscribed to either Classic ($10.99/mo) or Premium ($12.99/mo) to be able to record programs.

Choosing between these plans also affects how long recordings can be kept for. While those signed up to Classic retain access to their recordings for three months, Premium subscribers get to keep recordings for up to nine months.

Frndly TV doesn’t offer any option to upgrade the DVR without upgrading the plan in general.

Those limitations aside, the Frndly TV DVR is unlimited in the sense that subscribers are free to record as many programs as they like.

Recordings can either made directly in the live guide or by visiting a movies or series page through the Movies and TV sections.

If recording a series, it is also possible to decide whether to record just one episode or all new and repeat episodes.

Once recorded, recordings can be accessed in the My Stuff section of the app along with favorited programs.

Personally, I found this section to be a little messy. For example, if you favorite a show and record it, you end up with the show listed twice in My Stuff.

Frndly TV also tends to try and break the DVR library down into too many sub-sections, again resulting in a lot of duplicates.

In the image below, for example, The UnXplained with William Shatner shows up in Recorded Documentaries and then again under Recorded Reality TV immediately in the row underneath. You’ll also notice the same show appears in the row above Recorded Documentaries as well.

With enough recordings, we would expect the DVR section of My Stuff to get quite messy over time and harder to navigate due to the duplicates.

Frndly TV Cost and Value

One of the aspects that’s extremely difficult to criticize Frndly TV on is the price.

Frndly TV offers three main plans to choose from and even the most expensive costs less than $15 a month.

To put the price into perspective, Sling TV‘s cheapest monthly plans start at $20 a month, and Philo (another affordable live TV streaming service) starts at $25 a month.

With many of these services offering more channels, features, and benefits, this is where the value comes into question.

The reality is Frndly TV is designed to be as affordable as possible, so homes should not sign up expecting it to compete with more expensive services, including other cheap services like Sling TV and Philo.

Even when avoiding direct comparisons with other services, there’s still the issue of the limited selection of channels, streams, and premium features – all of which further reduce the value on offer.

Of course, if the channel lineup meets your TV needs, then you will likely find Frndly TV to be very good value for money.

Is Frndly TV Worth it? – What We Really Think

Yes, we do think Frndly TV is worth it, but only for those that find the channel selection meets their needs. If the channels you mainly want access to are included in the lineup then it is hard to argue why you should pay more for a different live TV service.

For most homes, however, that’s not going to be the case.

What we can say for certain is that we recommend avoiding the $8.99 Basic plan. The additional streams and the ability to record are easily worth the additional $2 each month.

Would we also suggest paying another $2 each month for Premium?

No. Not unless you really need another two streams, or the ability to keep recordings for up to nine months.

For us, the $10.99/mo Classic plan offers the best value overall, and is the right sweet spot for most consumers.

Considering none of the plans are that expensive, if you do want to test out the full experience then paying for Premium won’t set you back that much more than Classic.

★★★★☆

• 50+ channels
• DVR
• 1-4 streams

From $8.99/mo

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