9 Streaming Bundles to Replace Cable

With no contracts and simple-but-affordable packages packed with popular channels, streaming TV is an attractive alternative to cable TV. But streaming TV also offers a unique customization opportunity: the ability to create your own streaming TV bundles tailored to your interests, while still saving you money over cable.

We compared plans, channel lineups, features. and more from top live TV and on-demand streaming TV services and used the data to build nine custom streaming bundles aimed at specific interests and lifestyles. We also show our work, giving you the information needed to create your own mix-and-match action.

Jump to:

• How to create custom streaming bundles
• Best streaming bundles
• Sports bundle
• Cheap or free bundles

How we created these streaming bundles

Although we suggest nine different streaming bundles, we want you to be able to create your own dream streaming TV bundles, too. Our tips on pricing, resolution, content, device compatibility, and customization options will help you.

Pricing

We recommend ad-free plans for the best experience, so that’s what we use in these custom streaming bundles. But if you don’t mind watching another Flex Seal spot in order to save a few bucks each month, go ahead and get the ad-supported plans. It’s your bundle, after all.

Free trials: Most of our recommended streaming services have free trials ranging in length from 7–30 days. If you’re unsure about a service, take it for a test drive.

Customization options: You can customize them to adjust the price (and the content). See our customization suggestions following each section.

Resolution: Most of these services support 4K. Note: To watch Netflix in 4K, you’ll need the Netflix Premium Plan ($19.99/mo.)

On-demand libraries: Not all streaming TV services advertise a specific library size, but the smaller ones tend to have several hundred titles and the larger ones have thousands to tens of thousands of titles.

Overlapping content: Redundant content is hard to avoid when bundling streaming TV services, but if you find excessive redundancies between any of these services, you can easily drop one.

Device compatibility: Most streaming TV apps support many of the same streaming devices, so you shouldn’t have trouble there.

Now, to paraphrase George Clooney in From Dusk Till Dawn: “Bundlers, let’s get bundlin’.”

Best streaming bundles in depth

Sure you can go with a “prefab” streaming bundle, like the Disney bundle, but we like to get creative with our TV streaming here at CableTV.com.

Scroll on to see nine custom streaming bundles that we created for movie lovers, binge-watchers, sports fans, busy parents, and the budget-conscious. You can get a lot for about the same cost as your average cable subscription—and avoid hidden fees and long-term contracts.

Customize it

• Save $5.00/mo. by signing up for Max with ads.

Ready to demand the best?

• Sign up for YouTube TV | Read our review
• Sign up for Max | Read our review

Are you the best couch potato? Do you derive energy from the cool, blue light of your TV? Before you cut the cord, you probably splurged on your cable provider’s top-tier package so you’d have every channel, even the premiums. Our #9 Combo, made up of nine services, has you in mind.

With YouTube TV’s 85+ live channels (plus three streams and unlimited DVR) and the other services’ on-demand content, you’ll have an all-killer, no-filler menu of live TV channels plus a multitude of movies and shows to watch. And you get all that for the same as price as cable and satellite TV providers’ most stacked packages. Plus, you won’t have to worry about contracts, equipment rental fees, and other cable hassles.

So the #9 Combo is an outstanding value. But if the price is still too high, you don’t have to use YouTube TV. You can substitute a cheaper live TV streaming service (see below for a supercheap suggestion) or even drop one or two of the on-demand streaming TV services to lower the Combo’s price.

Customize it

• Try Philo instead of YouTube TV and get 61+ live channels, 3 streams, and unlimited cloud DVR with a 1-year storage limit (saves $39.99/mo.).
• If you’d rather get the Hulu + Live TV/Disney+/ESPN+ bundle instead of YouTube TV, it has 85+ channels, 2 streams, unlimited cloud DVR, and a ton of on-demand content (adds $14.00/mo.).
• Students save 50% ($7.50/mo.) on Amazon Prime and get a free 6-month trial.
• Upgrade to Netflix Premium for 4K UHD support plus 2 more streams (adds $4.49/mo.).

Ready to order this combo?

Ready to binge-watch?

There are those among us who would spend all day in a darkened theater, losing ourselves in silver screen magic while shoving nachos into our gobs. For you, I suggest The Endless Film Festival.

With these seven services, you can catch obscure art-house gems, classics from all eras, cult films/midnight movies, newer releases, summer blockbusters, and more. And, just like Binge-a-palooza, the price is right at about $75–$80 a month—but it can get even better (see below).

Customize it

• Choose annual subscriptions to save on The Criterion Channel (saves $2.66/mo.), and Shudder (saves $1.24/mo.).
• If you have Prime Video, you can add more cult films (and TV series) with Prime’s ad-free version of Shout! Factory TV (adds $2.99/mo.)
• Another cheap Prime Video add-on is Fandor, which gives you even more arthouse and cult films (adds $3.99/mo.)
• Students save 50% ($7.50/mo.) on Amazon Prime and get a 6-month free trial.
• Netflix Premium gets you 4K UHD support plus 2 more streams (adds $4.49/mo.).

Ready to start your film festival?

Real movie hounds know there’s more to cinema than blockbusters and Oscar winners. You frequent the local arthouse to screen the really good stuff, which comes in so many different flavors. And while you prefer to watch films in a theater, you have a massive collection of physical media and, of course, streaming services.

For you, we present The Mondo Bundle, a customizable world of streaming cult cinema.

With 17 on-demand streaming services, around 50,000 titles (40,000 from Prime Video), and even a few live TV channels, The Mondo Bundle is the biggest custom streaming bundle we’ve created. Look at the genres it includes:

The Mondo Bundle also has a pretty hefty price tag at $100.85 a month. Fortunately, you can slash that price—in some cases, by up to 32%—with the following customization options.

Customize it

• Save $35.52/mo. by choosing annual subscriptions for Arrow Player, Brown Sugar, The Criterion Channel, Fandor, Full Moon Features, Kino Cult, Midnight Pulp, Mubi, Night Flight Plus, Shudder, and Troma Now. Note: This is practical only if you can spend $701.86 up front.Or save $14.47/mo. by doing annual subs on only the services that have the biggest discounts—Arrow Player ($4.00/mo.), The Criterion Channel ($2.66/mo.), Fandor ($1.82/mo.), Full Moon Features ($1.99/mo.), Arrow Player ($4.00/mo.), and Mubi ($4.00/mo.). This way, the up-front cost drops to $313.84.
• Save $22.49–$25.95/mo. by using the free, ad-supported versions of Brown Sugar, CONtv, Fandor, Kino Cult, Midnight Pulp, and Shout! Factory TV. But you’ll lose access to some titles and have to watch ads.
• If you don’t want or you already have Amazon Prime, drop it and save $14.99/mo.—but see next.
• If you drop Prime, you’ll need to subscribe to Fandor directly (adds $5.99/mo.) and use the free version of Shout! Factory (saves $2.99/mo.). That’s still a net savings of $11.99/mo.
• If you don’t want full Amazon Prime membership, you can save $6.00/mo. by getting only Prime Video.
• Students save 50% ($7.50/mo.) on Amazon Prime and get a 6-month free trial.
• If you want all the movies—not just cult classics—and tons of original series, you can add Max (add $15.99/mo.), Netflix (add $15.50/mo.), and SHOWTIME (add $10.99/mo.).

Let’s get weird!

Are you a parent working from home during the pandemic? Then you know how tough it can be to balance work and parenting duties. I dedicate The Babysitter to you.

Yeah, TV isn’t Mary Poppins—but when you need a couple of uninterrupted hours of work time, that mesmerizing box is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

The Babysitter starts with Sling TV—CableTV.com’s Best for Channel Add-Ons. With the Sling Orange plan and its 4 Extras Deal add-on ($13 a month), which includes the Kids Extra Pack, you’ll have Baby Jr., Boomerang, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, Duck TV, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, and TeenNick. Yes, that creates some live-channel overlap with Disney+, but the reason you want Disney+ in this bundle is for its on-demand content.

Max has loads of family-friendly movies and shows, all organized into age groups and even content “hubs” for networks and studios like Sesame Workshop (Sesame Street), Cartoon Network, Studio Ghibli, and Looney Tunes. You can also create a profile for each child, which lets you customize parental controls according to each kid’s age/maturity level/chore-completion status.

One drawback to this bundle is that Sling TV doesn’t carry a lot of local broadcast affiliates. But you can get those channels by purchasing an OTA antenna. You can get one for as little as $30, but Sling TV will give you one free if you prepay for two months of service.

Customize it

• Sling Blue is the same price as Orange, but it doesn’t have Disney Channel—fortunately, you’ll still have that huge Disney+ on-demand library. And with Sling Blue, you can add the à la carte Kids Extra pack for $6.00/mo. instead of 4 Extras (saves $7.00/mo.).
• If your budget’s super tight, Sling Free has Cartoon Network, DuckTV, Kabillion, Pocketwatch, and Ryan Friends (saves $53.00/mo.).
• Instead of Disney+, you can add the Disney Bundle (Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+) for tons of additional on-demand content (adds $9.99–$82.99/mo.).

Ready for a break?

Sling TV is easily the most affordable way to get your live sports fix. The Sling Orange + Sling Blue package ($55 a month) alone gives you access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, FS1, NBC Sports, NBCSN, NFL Network, Stadium, TBS, and TNT. If you prepay for two months, you’ll also get a free OTA antenna so you’ll have sports content from your local broadcast affiliates.

That’s a lot of sportsballs bouncing around, so you could stop there. But sports fans go hard, so they’ll probably want to add Sling’s Sports Extra Pack for Orange + Blue. You’ll get 20 new sports portals: beinSPORTS, FS2, GOLF, MLB Network, MLB Strike Zone, NBA TV, NFL RedZone, NHL Network, Olympic Channel, Outside TV, Pac-12, Tennis Channel, and more.

You should also download the free Pluto and Xumo apps to get beinSPORTS Xtra, Big Sky, CBS Sports HQ, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports, fubo Sports Network, NFL Channel, Major League Soccer (MLS), PGA Tour, PlutoTV Sports, UFC, and World Poker Tour.

Customize it

• Football fans could get only Sling Blue ($40.00/mo.) and its Sports Extra add-on for both NFL Network and NFL RedZone. You’ll lose ACCN, ACCNX, ESPNews, ESPNU, Longhorn Network, SEC, and SEC+, but save $19.00/mo.
• Selecting only Sling Orange ($40.00/mo.) and its Sports Extra add-on won’t include FS2, Golf Channel, NFL Network, and NFL RedZone—but you’ll save $19.00/mo.

LET’S GOOOOOOO! (Sorry for yelling.)

If you’re cutting the cord for financial reasons, you can get a ton of TV on the cheap with The Thrifty Bundle. Philo has 61+ channels, three streams, and unlimited DVR for $25 a month. Tubi adds thousands of on-demand movies and shows—plus a good selection of live TV channels, including some local FOX affiliates.. And, if you add an OTA antenna (a one-time purchase starting around $25), you’ll get your local channels and subchannels at no extra cost per month.

Then, download the Pluto and Xumo apps for another 200+ live channels—completely free, for a total of 261+ channels plus whatever your OTA antenna picks up.

Customize it

• Qualifying students—both new and existing subscribers—can get Hulu Basic (regularly $7.99/mo.) for $1.99/mo. (adds $1.99/mo. to bundle price)
• Add Netflix ($15.50/mo.), and you’ll get a ton of on-demand content while paying only $40.50/mo. You could even add Max ($15.99/mo.) and pay only $56.49 monthly.
• Cox internet customers with the Panoramic Wifi Gateway can get a Cox Contour Stream Player, basically a clone of Xfinity’s Flex service, for $5.00/mo.

Ready to get thrifty?

When your budget’s super tight, there’s a whole lot of free streaming TV out there. Meet Freebie the Love Bundle, which is a fancy name for using all of the free streaming TV services that you can find, along with an OTA antenna for local channels. Almost all of it is ad-supported, but you’ll be able to watch so many movies and shows, live and on-demand.

A downside of Freebie is that you’ll watch a lot of ads and do a lot of leapfrogging between apps on your phone and computer. But free is free.

Customize it

• If you’d like to have your local channels, buy an OTA antenna ($30 and up).
• If you qualify for Xfinity Flex, get it so you can have almost all of these apps in one spot, and a nice voice remote for navigating them.
• Cox internet customers that also have the Panoramic Wifi Gateway can get the Flex-like Contour Stream Player for $5/mo.
• Many streaming devices support most of these free apps. The Amazon Fire TV Stick is one such device.

Ready to get free (or close to free) TV?

Prefab streaming bundles

When we first published this piece, the only streaming TV bundle was the Disney bundle with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Now there are three. Let’s check ’em out.

AMC Plus bundle

AMC+ ($8.99/mo.) isn’t billed as a bundle but it includes BBC America, IFC, IFC Films Unlimited, Sundance Now, and Shudder. For perspective, the regular monthly prices for Shudder ($5.99 a month), IFC Films Unlimited ($5.99 a month), and Sundance Now ($6.99 a month) total $18.97. (You can’t subscribe to BBC America or IFC directly.) That’s more than double the cost of AMC+, so you’re getting a seriously good deal for a huge catalog of on-demand movies and shows.

But AMC+ has the same cons as Prime Video Channels: You can only use the AMC+ app, which is just okay—and it doesn’t show you all of the content available on the other included services. This is especially noticeable and frustrating if you’re a Shudder fan.

The Disney bundle

With the Disney bundle, you can get Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ for $9.99–$19.99/mo.. This bundle gives you a slew of on-demand movies, shows, and sports that will please everyone in your household.

Or, if you’d like to add 70+ live TV channels and 50 hours of cloud DVR storage, you can get a bundle with Hulu+Live TV, Disney+, and ESPN+ for $69.99– $82.99/mo..

SHOWTIME/Paramount Plus bundle

The SHOWTIME/Paramount+ bundle ($14.99/mo.) has two live SHOWTIME feeds (East Coast and West Coast), your live local CBS feed, plus every on-demand movie and show from the SHOWTIME and Paramount+ libraries. With these two streaming services combined, the bundle is almost—but not quite—as good as Max.

Final take

Hopefully one of these nine streaming TV bundles has the right mix of content—and the right price—for you. If not, you can remix all of the above information to concoct your own custom streaming TV service bundles. It’s a fun way to be frugal.

Streaming bundles FAQ

Methodology

Our TV experts have logged hundreds of hours—and counting—researching and testing live and on-demand streaming TV services. We compare them based on plans, pricing, features, functionality, device compatibility, and more—including, for this piece, how the services complement each other in these custom streaming TV bundles. To learn more about our methods, see our How We Rank page.