Best TV Packages and Deals for 2021

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States That Watch the Most TV

We get asked about the best cable TV packages all the time, so we’ve combed through the offerings of several top providers to find the good stuff. But, while these packages are the best, they’re not exactly cheap. The good stuff never is. But if you invest in one of these prime plans from DISH, DIRECTV, Spectrum, and Hulu, you’ll really level up your TV experience.

To see if you can get these primo TV plans in your area, enter your zip code below.

Best TV packages

These cable bundles and deals have so much to offer it may be hard to choose just one.

• DIRECTV ULTIMATE All Included—Best sports package
• DISH America’s Top 200—Best family package
• Spectrum TV^® Gold—Best movie package
• Hulu + Live TV (No Ads)—Best streaming package

Compare the best TV plans and pricing

Data as of 04/23/21. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
* for 12 mos. plus taxes and Regional Sports Fee w/24-mo. agmt. Autopay & Paperless bill req’d. Prices higher in 2nd year. Regional Sports Fee up to $9.99/mo. is extra & applies.
† for 24. months. Everyday Price $109.99/mo. New customers only. All offers require 2-year commitment with early termination fee and eAutopay. Price includes Hopper Duo for qualifying customers.
‡ For the first 12 months.

Best for sports: DIRECTV ULTIMATE All-Included

DIRECTV has a strong reputation for being the best TV provider for sports programming. Although it may be tempting to opt for its most massive package—DIRECTV PREMIER™ for $134.99 per month—we recommend you keep your eye on the ball with DIRECTV ULTIMATE at $84.99 per month. But watch out, because DIRECTV has serious price increases in the second year of your contract.

DIRECTV ULTIMATE has all the big sports channels, including NFL Network, NBA TV, MLB Network, and NHL Network. You’ll even get a year of NFL SUNDAY TICKET at no extra cost. If you never want to miss another big game, this is the package for you.

Best for families: DISH America’s Top 200

DISH offers Disney Channel in America’s Top 150+, but America’s Top 200 is where you start getting more specific family favorites. If you’re an Animal Planet, Disney XD, or Nick Jr. fan (or if at least your kids are), America’s Top 200 will meet all your needs at a reasonable price.

What really sets DISH’s plan apart is its partnership with Common Sense Media. Using the Hopper 3 DVR, you can tailor your child’s viewing experience with age-appropriate recommendations and ratings in eight different categories:

1. Educational value
2. Positive role models
3. Positive messages
4. Sex
5. Violence and scariness
6. Language
7. Drinking, drugs, and smoking
8. Consumerism

For keeping kids happy on the go, you’ll appreciate the DISH Anywhere App. It plays your favorite shows away from home while still allowing you to filter content by age and set up separate accounts for each of your children. That’s a lot of peaceful car rides for you—and no worries about inappropriate shows popping up for your kids.

Best for movies: Spectrum TV Gold

Premium channels have a reputation for being prohibitively expensive. Not so with Spectrum! The Spectrum TV Gold package comes with all your favorite premium channels included for endless hours of movies that won’t cost you a Taj Mahal to watch.

If you’re sick of your current TV plan but worried about paying cancellation fees, Spectrum is eager to steal you away. When you bundle Spectrum TV with Internet and phone services, it’ll buy out your contract (up to $500) to rescue you from the dungeon of your current provider’s plan. Don’t keep settling for a plan you’re not in love with.

There is one important note with Spectrum: its DVRs are behind the times. Nobody’s perfect, right? To record all the great movies this package includes, treat yourself to a TiVo BOLT VOX instead of the Spectrum DVR. With the 1 TB model, you can record up to four standard and HD channels at once and save up to 150 HD hours. That’s enough to record the entire Fast and the Furious franchise nine times.

Best streaming package: Hulu + Live TV (No Ads)

Whether you’ve been streaming for a while or just want to test the waters, Hulu + Live TV is a pretty sweet offer. Its live channels are available in Full HD (1080p) instead of just HD Ready (720p) like most other streaming services, which means the picture is much clearer than the competition.

What sets Hulu apart from other contenders (and makes it our pick for best streaming package) is its expansive streaming library, which includes popular TV shows and original series like The Handmaid’s Tale and Castle Rock. And you can record any of your favorite new shows with Hulu’s Cloud DVR. It comes with 50 hours and upgrades to 200 hours for $14.99 per month.

While Hulu has a small channel count, you’ll find that they’re some of the top channels out there—local channels included. But if you’re more interested in channel count than image quality, AT&T TV’s ULTIMATE package ($94.99 a month*) has 130+ channels available in 720p.

* for 12 mos. plus taxes and Regional Sports Fee w/ 24-mo. agmt. Prices higher in 2nd year. Regional Sports Fee up to $8.49/mo. is extra & applies.

Best streaming services

If you’re interested in live or on-demand streaming services, we rate them in our guide to the Best TV Streaming Services. We’ve included a sneak preview below.

Best live TV streaming services

• YouTube TV – Best overall ($64.99/mo.)
• Hulu + Live TV – Best value ($64.99–$70.99/mo.)
• Philo – Cheapest ($25.00/mo.)
• fuboTV – Best for sports ($64.99–$79.99/mo.)
• Sling TV – Best for kids ($35.00–$50.00/mo.)

Best on-demand streaming TV services

• Netflix – Best overall ($8.99–$17.99/mo.)
• Prime Video – Best value ($12.99/mo.)
• Peacock – Cheapest (free–$9.99/mo.)
• ESPN+ – Best for sports ($5.99/mo.)
• Disney+ – Best for kids ($8.00/mo.)
• HBO Max – HBO originals and exclusives ($14.99/mo.)
• Paramount+ – Deep TV and movies library ($5.99–$9.99/mo.)
• Apple TV+ – Good for Apple fans ($4.99/mo.)

What to look for in TV packages

Not convinced these bundles are for you? Let us explain what to look for on your quest for the perfect TV package.

TV service types

You should know the different TV services types so you can see which is best for your lifestyle.

Cable TV

This is the classic, transmitted (as you’d expect) via a cable. Availability is often limited to a defined service area. Top cable TV providers include Cox, RCN, Optimum, Spectrum, Suddenlink, and Xfinity—all of which offer cable and internet packages that bundle high-speed internet with hundreds of live channels. This is the service to pick if you have a large household that does a lot of streaming and gaming.

Fiber-optic TV

Some providers, like Verizon Fios, deliver your TV channels via fiber-optic networks. These super-fast connections can handle a lot more data, which mean you’ll have a more consistent—and prettier—picture (ya hear that, 4K TV owners?). Fiber is great for big streaming and gaming households, too.

Satellite TV

Also somewhat of a classic, satellite TV signals get beamed from Earth to space, then back to a dish mounted on or around your home. For that reason, satellite TV is the mostly widely available—which is great if you live in a rural area or an ever-rambling RV. DIRECTV and DISH have a duopoly on satellite TV service.

Streaming TV

Streaming TV services transmit via internet and fall into two categories: live streaming (Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, Sling TV, etc.) and on-demand (HBO Max, Netflix, Prime Video). You can combine live and on-demand services into a killer little custom package for the same price as most cable, fiber, or satellite TV plans—all without a contract. If you’re constantly on the move—or just want a simpler TV-watching experience, streaming is for you.

Channel lineup

The perfect package for you might look completely different from anyone else’s because you have your favorite channels you don’t want to miss out on. Look for packages that include all the channels you want at a good price.

If you’re willing to invest time in examining each package from providers that service your area, you’re much more likely to find exactly what you want.

Area availability

Despite your quest for the best TV package in all the land, you’re limited by what’s in your area. Unless you want to move to a place with all the best TV providers (like Wake Forest, North Carolina), you’re stuck with what you got.

Enter your zip code below to compare TV services near you.

Final take

For those ready to commit to a superior TV experience, allow us to recap our best cable TV packages:

• The best package for sports fans is DIRECTV ULTIMATE All Included ($84.99/mo.) because it has the most sportsball channels.
• The best cable TV package for families is DISH America’s Top 200 ($89.99/mo.) for its exceptional parental controls and many kids channels.
• Movie fans’ best package is Spectrum TV Gold ($94.99/mo. for 12 mos.) thanks to its included premium channels.
• The best streaming package is Hulu + Live TV (No Ads) ($70.99/mo.) for its channel lineup, on-demand catalog, and included cloud DVR.

Any of these plans should help you binge-watch to your heart’s content. But before you fall in love with one, enter your zip code below to see if it’s available in your area.

Our methodology

To come up with our recommendations, we spent hundreds of hours researching and testing top TV services across the US, then evaluating them based on pricing, channel counts, reliability, service type, and customer-satisfaction scores. To learn more about our methods, check out our How We Rank page.

TV packages FAQ

Which is the best TV provider?

According to our “Best TV Providers in Customer Satisfaction” survey, DIRECTV is the top provider when it comes to overall customer satisfaction.

What is the best TV streaming service in 2021?

In our guide to the “Best TV Streaming Services,” we named YouTube TV the best streaming provider among six other streaming TV services. For $64.99 per month, you get 100+ channels—including tons of sports networks, thousands of on-demand movies and shows, three simultaneous streams, unlimited cloud DVR storage (recordings expire after nine months), and up to six user profiles. The app is also easy to use and runs like a champ on an array of compatible streaming devices.

Which TV provider is cheapest?

In our guide to the “Best TV Providers,” we compared 11 top TV service providers and found that RCN is the provider you want if you’re looking for cheap cable TV packages. RCN’s plans have up to 304+ channels at the lowest cost per channel ($0.20–$0.41) we’ve seen. And, out of RCN’s cable and internet bundles, we recommend Signature TV + Gig Internet ($79.99–$109.99/mo., depending on where you live) which has nearly 300 channels plus 940 Mbps cable internet speeds.

What’s the cheapest satellite TV provider?

We’d say that DISH is the cheapest satellite TV provider. This is based on cost per channel ($0.33–$0.34) and the fact that DISH guarantees no rate hikes for two years. And we should mention that DISH is our pick for the Best Overall and Best for Kids TV provider. You can read more about that in our guide to the Best TV Providers.

Where can I find a list of TV providers near me?

To find a list of internet and TV providers in your area, enter your zip code below.

How much does it cost to get basic cable?

Basic cable packages start at around $20 per month, though this varies by provider and service area. We don’t really recommend paying monthly for basic cable packages, though. You can get the same local channels with an over-the-air (OTA) TV antenna that you only have to pay for once—and you can get a good one for only $30–$60.

You can learn more about OTA antennas in our guide, “What is Over-the-Air (OTA) TV?”

But, if you’re still interested in basic cable, check out our article on “Basic Cable Channels and Package Guide.”

Who has the best TV and internet bundle?

Our pick for the best overall TV and internet bundle is Verizon’s Fios Gigabit Connection + The Most Fios TV. It has 425+ channels and 940 Mbps download speeds or $169.99 a month.

How much is cable per month?

Standalone cable TV packages run $44.99–$139.99 per month. You can find cheaper basic cable TV packages, but we don’t recommend them. You can get all the same channels by buying an over-the-air (OTA) TV antenna for a one-time payment of about $30.00, which is much cheaper than paying a monthly fee.

States That Watch the Most TV: COVID-19 Increased Viewership

By Trevor Wheelwright

Americans spend more time watching TV than doing any other activity, and it has only increased due to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans spent an average of 2.8 hours per day between 2014 and 2018 watching TV, which accounted for just over half of all their leisure time.1

But which states love TV more than others?

Which states watch the most TV?

Average for 2014–18

All top ten states watched at least 3 hours a day, with West Virginia creeping closer to 4 hours per day. Kentucky and Arkansas tied for third by watching an average of 3.30 hours of TV a day.

While there are no strict guidelines on how much TV you should watch, the more time you spend watching TV, the less time you spend being active.

One study found high television viewing (more than 3 hours per day) and low physical activity in early adulthood were associated with worse midlife executive function and processing speed.2 That means reduced abilities to coordinate, organize, and make decisions, so you’re hurting your chances of becoming a Navy SEAL.

If you insist on watching over three hours of TV a day, consider using commercial breaks to stretch out, do some burpees and pushups, and drink some water.

With that in mind, we wanted to see which states were watching the least amount of TV.

Which states watch the least TV

Average for 2014–18

Alaskans watch an average of 1.71 hours of TV, making Alaska the only state that watches less than an average of 2 hours of TV per day. Utah barely crosses the threshold with an average TV time of 2.2 hours per day.

Increases in viewership with COVID-19 concerns

The number of COVID-19 cases in the US increased to 1,678 by March 15, 2020. By the beginning of the next week, that number exploded to 33,276. Along with it, cable TV saw a 156% increase in live impressions.

With COVID-19 measures taking place, Americans are spending a lot more time at home, but how much more? We took a look at how TV viewership has spiked during new coronavirus concerns.

Live TV impressions

In seven major Broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, Telemundo, Univision

Among the major broadcast networks, viewership increased dramatically year over year during March.

In the first week of March 2020, the US started with 62 reported cases, but by March 8, that number had risen to 213. By the end of the second week in March, live TV impressions also increased by 83% from 2019 numbers.

Even without live sports going on due to COVID-19 restrictions, March 2020’s live TV showed a 156% increase in viewership from 2019. That third-week spike coincides with President Trump’s announcement on March 17that asked the workforce to stay home.

The fourth week of March 2020 showed a 139% increase from 2019, which is a slight drop from the previous 2020 week but still a significant shift toward increased live TV impressions.

April 2020 continued with shutdowns, layoffs, and stay-at-home orders of varying degrees. Once the numbers for TV viewership are released for April 2020, it’s likely to show a dramatic increase from 2019’s numbers as well.

Methodology

To estimate the amount of TV the average person watches per day in each state, we sourced our data from the American Time Use Survey administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

We used IPUMS (a survey and census data company) to create an extract of the BLS microdata files. To get our final figures, we used an average of daily time spent watching TV for 2014–2018 to compare each state’s average.

Sources

Bureau of Labor Statistics, “American Time Use Survey Summary”
jamanetwork.com, “Effect of Physical Activity and TV Viewing on Cognitive Function”
TVB, “Broadcast TV Viewership During Coronavirus”
Aljazeera, “A Timeline of the Trump Administration’s Coronavirus Actions”
Lancasteronline.com, “What happened with COVID-19; a daily log of U.S. coronavirus counts”