Frndly TV Review: Stream Live TV for Less, but Your Channel Options Are Limited

There is a high degree of choice when it comes to live TV streaming services, and where they vary most is in the number of channels they offer. The options with the most desirable and extensive lineups sit between $80-90 per month: Fubo, Hulu Live, Direct TV Stream and now, after a price hike, YouTube TV. Meanwhile, others provide a more limited selection and cost less. That's the case with the family-oriented streamer Frndly TV.

Frndly TV doesn't carry all of the popular channels that would make it a true cable replacement, for example, it's missing the commercial networks or TNT and ESPN. So what does it have? A&E, Hallmark, Lifetime, History and dozens of other channels that could appeal to you given the price, which is between $8-12 per month. The streaming service has a no-frills interface, a focus on "feel-good programming" and three essentials of a live TV streamer: a channel guide, on-demand programming and, depending on your plan, an unlimited DVR.

See at Frndly TV See at Frndly TV

What is Frndly TV and how much does it cost?

Frndly TV came on the streaming scene in 2019 and by 2022 it had surpassed 700,000 subscribers. Frndly TV joins cable alternatives Philo and Sling TV by offering a more modest channel selection than the premiums and at a better price. These services may not fill the void for local channels or sports, but they may better cater to some people's specific tastes and budgets. 

Frndly TV offers three plans, starting with its $8 per month Basic option, which streams in SD on a single screen. If you want HD video quality and an unlimited DVR, you'll at least need to go for the next tier up: Frndly's $10 per month Classic plan. With Classic, you can access DVR recordings for up to 3 months and watch on two screens at once. 

Frndly also has a $12 Premium plan which bumps the DVR storage to 9 months and the number of simultaneous screens to four. You can also choose to pay for 12 months of any plan upfront, and it can save you between $12 and $24 over a year. 

Separate from the unlimited DVR, all of the plans allow you to watch movies and shows you didn't record for up to 72 hours after they have aired. To watch a previously-aired program you can navigate back through the live guide and simply select the show you want.

You can stream Frndly in the US using Roku media players, Amazon Fire TV sticks and plenty more devices (you can check if yours is compatible here). The streamer is available through a web browser or iOS or Android apps. 

What channels do I get?

To decide if Frndly is for you, you need to get familiar with its channels. Of the more than 50 on offer, highlights include A&E, Bounce, Family Entertainment Television, Game Show Network, Get TV, Great American Family, Grit TV, Hallmark, Hallmark Family, Hallmark Mystery, Heroes & Icons, History, INSP, Ion, Ion Mystery, Laff, Lifetime, Lifetime Movie Network, MeTV, Start TV, The Weather Channel and UPtv.

Not sold on that selection? The list also includes BabyFirst, Catchy Comedy, Court TV, Dabl, Justice Central TV, the recently launched MeTV Toons, Outdoor Channel and Vice TV.

Hallmark Channel is the obvious draw in the streamer's lineup, especially during the holidays, and it has been in the thick of releasing its 2024 Countdown to Christmas movies. Frndly is an inexpensive way to watch new Hallmark flicks live or to record and skip through the commercials. It isn't the only way to watch these films on the cheap: you can also do this with a Peacock subscription, which starts at $8 per month. 

One detail to consider is that new Hallmark Channel movies can only be watched on-demand on Peacock during a 72-hour window or live as they air on the East Coast; if you tap Frndly's DVR, you should have more time to watch.

As of this year, Frndly also offers a handful of local channels. The Scripps (including a CW affiliate) and Marantha offerings are for those in six DMA markets: Denver, Detroit, Green Bay, Kansas City, Philadelphia and West Palm Beach.

Frndly also offers five on-demand add-ons you can purchase separately: Hallmark Plus (has exclusive Hallmark movies and series; in 2025, it'll start to carry new Hallmark channel movies the next day), Lifetime Movie Club, History Vault, Great American Pure Flix and A&E Crime Central.

Using Frndly

Frndly's interface is straightforward and I found it easy to get the hang of, with tabs at the top for Home, Guide, Movies, TV, My Stuff. On the Home tab, there's a rotating carousel of titles, including some timely options with "premieres tonight" or "new episode tonight" buttons. Clicking on those gave me the option to record. 

For my testing, I spent several days poking around the web version of Frndly, and I didn't notice any major differences when I then accessed the Roku app on my TV. 

The homepage has useful rows near the top like "Live Now," "Continue Watching" and "Recommended for You." Scrolling further down, I saw a row for "Most Watched," with titles like History's The Curse of Oak Island, the '50s Western series The Rifleman and A&E's Storage Wars.

The Guide tab is where you can flip all your channels. If you prefer to sort the channels alphabetically over the default order, you can change that in settings. When I wanted to record a TV show in the guide, I had the option to record a single episode or all episodes (including both new and repeats.) I couldn't pick new episodes only, but given the "unlimited" aspect of the DVR, it didn't seem like a huge deal.

The Movies and TV tabs include rows with titles you can watch on-demand, live and with the 72-hour lookback. This is also where I spotted a row for "networks" which takes you to handy hubs for Hallmark Channel, Lifetime and others. I could also navigate to these hubs by searching for them.

Meanwhile, My Stuff is a tab I'd imagine most people would spend a lot of time in, as it collects all of your recordings. With live TV, on-demand or 72-hour lookback on Frndly, you do have to watch the ads. Whereas hitting record means you can skip through blocks of commercials; it's the ideal way to watch TV. You could find the process of doing so on Frndly frustrating. 

When you fast-forward in Frndly, you're basically doing it blindly, as the streamer doesn't show you a preview as you're skipping around. Its closest competitor, Philo, doesn't lack that feature. You'll probably find that you have to use the 10-second rewind button to backtrack after you've fast-forwarded too far. 

You can also search for titles you've recorded, which I could see being useful as your DVR-ed haul piles up in the "My Stuff" tab. You can "favorite" a title with a heart and find it later in the My Stuff tab under "Favorite Movies" or "Favorite TV Shows." 

Frndly vs. Philo

When it comes to low-cost live TV, Frndly's closest competitor is Philo. That streaming service costs more at $28 per month but includes ad-supported AMC Plus (upgrading to ad-free adds an extra $4 per month to your bill). There are quite a few differences between the services, and I've outlined some of them in the chart below.

Philo and Frndly TV have some channels in common like A&E, Game Show Network and Hallmark, but the pricier Philo comes with additional heavy hitters like Animal Planet, BET, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, Investigation Discovery, Paramount Network, TLC and the Travel Channel. Philo lets you have up to 10 profiles, keeps your DVR-ed titles for 12 months and comes with AMC Plus, a notable perk that includes access to brands like Shudder, Sundance Now and IFC Films.

Final thoughts

When I first opened the Frndly app on a TV, it proclaimed that it was "the most affordable live TV." That's quite an attractive draw in a year where a ton of live TV streaming services have hiked their prices. Still, whether you should get Frndly really comes down to: 1) if you are interested in a live TV streamer that doesn't offer the full cable-replicating experience and 2) if you like the content on Frndly. If you want Hallmark and other Frndly channels, it's really a no-brainer to check out a streamer that costs roughly as much as a Chipotle burrito per month. If you have the room to spend a bit more and get a bit more, then Philo, like Frndly, runs a free trial.