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Grab Philo for $20 a month before price hike kicks in

The home screen of the streaming TV service Philo. (Graphic by The Desk)

If you’re looking to stream general entertainment, knowledge, reality shows and lifestyle programming at one of the cheapest rates around, you have only a few more days to lock in your subscription until the cost of programming goes up.

Since it was introduced to the masses four years ago, Philo has worked hard to be the best, wallet-friendly streaming cable TV replacement on the market. The service currently offers more than 60 top-tier pay TV networks for just $20 a month.



Over the last few months, Philo has prided itself on adding new channels like Sony’s Get TV and the AccuWeather Network without raising the price on its existing subscribers. But industry trends point toward rising programming costs for providers like Philo, and the service recently announced that it would have to raise its base subscription price to $25 a month for new customers starting June 8.

But there’s some good news: Customers with an active Philo subscription won’t see their price increase from the usual rate of $20 a month. And that same benefit is being extended to new customers who sign up before June 8 as well, meaning anyone who has thought about grabbing a subscription to Philo may want to act much sooner than later.



There’s a lot of good things to like about Philo: The service offers live, streaming access to more than 60 cable networks from Discovery Networks (Discovery, Animal Planet, Science Channel), AMC Networks (AMC, IFC, BBC America, Sundance), A&E Networks (A&E, History Channel), ViacomCBS (Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, TV Land) and others.

At $20 a month, Philo is packed full of features: The service offers an unlimited cloud DVR perk that saves movies and TV shows for 30 days. Philo also offers a video on demand library for many of the channels it supports, and the service supports the TV Everywhere feature, which allows streamers to watch an extended library of content on network apps like Discovery Go and Comedy Central.



New and returning customers who activate a Philo subscription before June 8 will be able to lock in the $20 a month rate as long as their subscription remains active — and they’ll still get the company’s generous 7-day free trial to try out the service before they commit to spending $20 a month for it. To lock in the $20 a month rate before the fee increase kicks in, follow these steps:

Customers who sign up after June 8 will have to pay $25 a month in order to stream Philo’s live channels, but they’ll receive an added perk as part of the fee increase: Any programs saved to Philo’s unlimited cloud DVR will be accessible for one full year instead of the current period of 30 days. Existing customers can take advantage of the unlimited, one-year cloud DVR storage feature by converting their subscription from the $20 a month plan to the $25 a month plan, the company says.

The real question is, with people converting from cable and satellite toward on-demand streaming options, is Phlio worth it, even at $25 a month? According to the company’s existing customers, it definitely is, with most subscribers shrugging off the price increase and appreciating the company’s willingness to grandfather in their existing $20 a month plans as long as they keep their accounts active.

Others seemed ready to convert their subscriptions to take advantage of the generous unlimited, one-year cloud DVR storage, which beats rival streaming service YouTube TV’s offering of unlimited, 9-month cloud DVR storage with a lower price point (YouTube TV charges $65 a month for access to live channels and its unlimited DVR feature).

“$25 is still cheap for what you get, compared to others,” customer Dustin Bell wrote in a popular Facebook group for Philo users.

Customers also vocalized their appreciation of Philo’s commitment to maintaining a discount for T-Mobile subscribers, who currently receive $10 a month off the streamer’s base package under a special partnership with the wireless phone company.

Those who signed up for Philo before June 8 and who maintain an eligible line of service with T-Mobile will continue to receive the streamer for just $10 a month, as long as their subscription remains active, while new customers and those who interrupt their subscription will be asked to pay $15 a month as long as they maintain an eligible T-Mobile line of service.


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About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is a nationally-recognized, award-winning journalist who has covered the business of media, technology, radio and television for more than 11 years. He is the publisher of The Desk and contributes to Know Techie, Digital Content Next and StreamTV Insider. He previously worked for Thomson Reuters, the Walt Disney Company, McNaughton Newspapers and Tribune Broadcasting. Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn by clicking or tapping here.
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