The 5 Best Streaming Services for Seniors in 2024

Overview

Cost: Starting at $7.99 per month

Hulu offers bundles with Disney+, ESPN+, and live TV, which should satisfy everyone in your household for less than the cost of a cable TV bill.

What Stood Out

Hulu offers a wide library of both old favorites and original programming. My personal favorite show from the streaming service is “PEN15,” an original show about two middle school girls that takes place in the early 2000s, but I also love sitcoms like “New Girl” and more serious shows like “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

But Hulu is one of the few streaming services that offers discounted bundles with other services, such as Disney+ and ESPN+, as well as live TV. This diversity of offerings makes it a one-stop shop for some households, and with versions with and without ads, there’s a plan for every budget. That brings me to my next point.

Pricing

Hulu on its own costs either $7.99 per month, or $79.99 per year, with ads or, without ads, $17.99 per month. However, there are numerous bundles with combinations of live TV, ESPN+, and Disney+, with and without ads, available for anywhere from $76.99 to $89.99 per month. Live TV on its own costs $75.99 per month. There are also add-ons for premium channels:

• Max: $15.99 per month
• Cinemax: $9.99 per month
• Paramount+ with SHOWTIME: $11.99 per month
• STARZ: $9.99 per month

As well, there are live TV add-ons for entertainment in Spanish, more sports, and unlimited screens.

Drawbacks

Hulu allowed me to stream on only two devices at the same time, unless I paid an extra $9.99 per month for live TV on unlimited screens. If more than two people want to watch TV at the same time, Hulu won’t work. I’d recommend fuboTV, which allows up to 10 simultaneous connections, or Netflix, which allows up to four.

Our Verdict

With a large library and convenient bundles, Hulu is an affordable but comprehensive streaming service. To learn more about this service, read my guide to Hulu for seniors.

Overview

Cost: Starting at $32.99 per month

If you’re a huge sports fan, you probably don’t want to shell out hundreds of dollars each month just to catch your weekly games. Meet fuboTV, which offers live TV, ideal for the sports fan who wants to spend less than $100 per month.

What Stood Out

Sports fanatics will love fuboTV because of its focus on live sports channels. For example, where I live, in Providence, Rhode Island, I had a total of 403 channels available, including sports channels such as:

• ESPN
• ESPN2
• ESPNews
• Fubo Sports
• MLB Big Inning
• MLB Network
• NFL Network
• Sports Boston

There are also a number of sports add-ons, like Fubo Latino, ESPN HD Deportes, GolTV, and Fox Soccer Plus.

But don’t worry; for the rest of your family, you’ll still get all the regular channels, from local channels to cable channels like Bravo, FX, and E!. For premium channels, you can add on MGM+, STARZ, SHOWTIME, and Paramount+, among others.

Pricing

You can pay anywhere from $32.99 to $99.99 per month for fuboTV, but the English options start at $79.99 per month (the $32.99 option is in Spanish.) The more you pay, the more channels you get, along with up to 10 simultaneous screens and up to 1,000 hours of cloud DVR storage. All plans include live TV.

Drawbacks

Out of all the streaming services on this list, excluding its Latino option, fuboTV has the highest minimum cost of $79.99 per month. Of course, part of the reason for this inflated price is because it includes live TV with all the plans, which isn’t the case with Hulu or Netflix. But even Sling TV, a similar live TV service, starts at $40 per month. What you’re really paying for with fuboTV is all the sports and channel options, which Sling TV lacks.

Our Verdict

If live sports is what you’re seeking, fuboTV will give you the biggest range of options. To learn more about this service, read my full rundown of fuboTV for seniors.

Overview

Cost: Starting at $40 per month

When streaming services hit the scene, many people canceled their cable packages, so cable companies created what they called “skinny bundles,” smaller packages of channels for discounted prices. Sling TV is the streaming version of skinny bundles, offering anywhere from 32 to 46 live channels for prices ranging from $40 to $60 per month.

What Stood Out

Sling TV has simplified plans, all of which include live TV. No matter which plan you choose, you’ll get 25 channels, including:

• A&E
• AMC
• BET
• CNN
• Cartoon Network
• Comedy Central
• Food Network
• Fuse
• HGTV
• History Channel
• IFC
• Lifetime
• MGM+ Drive-In
• Nick Jr.
• TBS
• TNT
• Travel Channel
• Vice

Other plans include sports channels like ESPN, networks like ABC and NBC, and my personal favorite cable channels, Bravo and TLC. Juicy reality shows, anyone?

Along with live TV, Sling offers add-ons like Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, STARZ, MGM+, AMC+, Discovery+, and more. I got to try everything out for a week without paying.

Pricing

Sling costs either $40 per month for 32 channels, $45 per month for 42 channels, or $60 per month for 46 channels. All of the plans include 25 of the same channels. The $40 plan includes the Disney Channel and ESPN, among others, while the $45 plan includes the networks and Bravo, the Discovery Channel, E!, and other fun cable channels. To get everything, choose the $60-per-month plan. All plans include live TV, and premium channels are available as add-ons.

Drawbacks

Compared to fuboTV, which offered me over 400 channels, Sling TV offers about one-tenth of that, a maximum of only 46 channels. That may be enough for some people, but if you like more variety in your TV diet, Sling TV may not be worth its low price.

Our Verdict

If you really have only a few channels you want to watch live and they’re included in Sling TV’s plans, it’s the most cost-effective way to watch live TV without paying for cable. To read my full rundown of everything Sling TV offers, read my guide to Sling TV for seniors.

Overview

Cost: Starting at $6.99 per month for government assistance recipients or $14.99 per month

Amazon Prime Video is pretty different from all the other streaming services on this list because it’s included with a Prime membership, which saves me money on deliveries, music, and even groceries at Whole Foods. Plus, with prices starting at $6.99 per month for people on qualifying government assistance programs, it’s tied with Netflix for the lowest starting monthly cost.

What Stood Out

With Prime Video, which was included with my Prime membership, I got a lot of movies and TV shows to choose from, including live TV and original programming from Amazon Studios. My personal favorite is “Fleabag,” a British comedy with that dry sense of humor I can’t get enough of, but according to Nielsen, its most popular original program in 2023 was Tom Clancy’s “Jack Ryan,” starring John Krasinski from “The Office.” Count me in!

Now, with Prime, not only did I get a bunch of on-demand content, but I could also watch live TV or upgrade my membership with add-ons to premium channels like STARZ, AMC+, Discovery+, MGM+, and Paramount+. And, much to my delight, it also has add-ons with partners like the Lifetime Movie Club and MLB.TV. Personally, the former attracts me more than the latter; I love a good Lifetime movie!

Of course, with this Prime Video offering, I got all the benefits of a Prime membership, from free two-day shipping to Grubhub+ to Amazon Music to discounts at Whole Foods, making it by far the most cost-effective streaming service.

Pricing

A Prime membership costs either $14.99 per month or $139 if you pay for a year upfront, which comes out to $11.58 per month. However, Prime offers a discount I think you’ll find appealing. For people on qualifying government assistance programs, Prime is available for just $6.99 per month, a 50 percent price cut.

To get Prime Access, you’ll need to receive qualifying government assistance or have a household within 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, which you can see below for 2024, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Persons in family/household	Poverty guideline
1	$15,060
2	$20,440
3	$25,820
4	$31,200
5	$36,580
6	$41,960
7	$47,340
8	$52,720

Drawbacks

Unless you pay an additional $2.99 per month, all of Prime Video’s content comes with ads, which is not what you want from a streaming service. Unfortunately, that’s the case for Netflix as well, which makes you pay even more for no ads, an extra $8.50 per month, to be exact. Hulu is the same way, charging an extra $10 per month to get rid of ads, so in this way, at least Prime Video is the cheapest!

Our Verdict

Especially if you’re on qualifying government assistance, getting a Prime membership is a great way to stream entertaining content and get discounts in a bunch of other areas, from groceries to books.

Overview

Cost: Starting at $6.99 per month

If Netflix was a restaurant, it would be McDonald’s. What do I mean by that? Well, it has, by far, the most popular TV shows and movies of any streaming service, which included, in 2023, fan favorites like “Suits,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Gilmore Girls,” and “Supernatural,” along with movies like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru”. Whether it’s reruns of your favorite shows or original programming, Netflix is hands-down the most popular service in terms of streamed content.

What Stood Out

Netflix dominates Nielsen’s list of the most streamed content in 2023, whether it was for syndicated TV shows like “Gilmore Girls,” a personal favorite, original streaming programs like “Love Is Blind” or “Virgin River,” or streaming movies like “Sing 2” or “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” Even Hulu and Prime Video can’t compete, each contributing only one of the top 10 programs among the most streamed programs and top original streaming programs, respectively.

When it comes to entertaining content, Netflix dominates in nearly every genre, from reality TV shows like “Selling Sunset” to cult documentaries like “Wild Wild Country.” There’s an option for you whether you want kids’ programming for when the grandkids visit, older movies like “Out of Africa,” or hilarious standup from comedians like Dave Chapelle.

And while Netflix doesn’t include live TV in the same way as fuboTV or Sling TV, for example, it does offer live events, typically reunions and comedy specials, a few times per month.

Pricing

Netflix starts at $6.99 per month with ads, $15.49 per month without ads, or $22.99 per month without ads and with 4K video, immersive sound, and up to four simultaneous devices instead of two. All plans include live events, but note that unlike Hulu, Netflix doesn’t offer any premium add-ons, bundles, or live TV channels like ESPN. Rather, it’s a more straightforward streaming service, which you can pay for on a monthly basis and cancel anytime.

Drawbacks

While Netflix has an extensive library of on-demand content, it’s not a good option if you want live TV, aside from those rare events, particularly live sports. You won’t be able to get any TV channels through Netflix, which isn’t the case for Prime Video and Hulu. Netflix is more dependent on its own streaming library, but with such popular shows, it doesn’t need to rely on outside partners.

Our Verdict

If you love being part of the cultural zeitgeist and watching the most popular shows and movies, Netflix should be the first streaming service on your list.