AT&T TV NOW Review | Channels, Packages and DVR

To see how we calculated these scores, you can find a full explanation of our methodology here.

Pros	Cons	Verdict
✔ Has every local channel ✔ 500 hours of DVR storage ✔ Three simultaneous streams ✔ Only streaming service with Spectrum SportsNet	✘ Expensive ✘ One of the worst channel lineups ✘ Poor choice for sports fans	AT&T TV NOW has plenty of DVR storage and a discounted HBO subscription, but there’s not much else going for it.

AT&T TV NOW review summary:

Formerly DIRECTV NOW
Seven packages ranging from $55-$135/mo.
Not compatible with any gaming consoles
500 hours of cloud DVR storage
Three simultaneous streams

In the early days of cord cutting, AT&T TV NOW (then named DIRECTV NOW) was the best live TV streaming service by far. It started at just $35/mo., included HBO in all of its plans and had the best all-around channel lineup of any service.

Since those early days, AT&T TV NOW has raised prices at a faster rate than any of its competitors, and dropped many of its best channels in the process. Today, you can only get HBO and regional sports networks in its $80/mo. plan.

That said, AT&T TV NOW has upped its DVR storage from 20 hours to 500, and its simultaneous streams from two to three. But those improvements around the margins don’t make up for the fact that you’ll get better channels for a lower price almost everywhere else.

Channels
AT&T TV NOW vs. other streaming services
Sports
User experience
FAQs
Should you sign up?

AT&T TV NOW channels

There are seven different AT&T TV NOW plans with varying channel lineups, although the Plus and Max plans are featured most prominently. Here’s how they compare:

Plan	Monthly price	Number of channels
Plus	$55	50
Max	$80	71
Entertainment	$93	74
Choice	$110	100
Xtra	$124	129
Ultimate	$135	138
Optimo Más	$86	106

Pricing per month plus taxes for length of contract. Additional fees and terms may apply. Pricing varies by location and availability. All prices subject to change at any time. May or may not be available based on service address. As of 05/22/20.

Plus ($55/mo.): ABC, BET, Boomerang, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CBS, CNBC, CNN, Comedy Central, The CW, Disney Channel, Disney Jr., ESPN, FOX, FOX Business, FOX News, FS1, Freeform, FX, FXX, Hallmark Channel, HLN, MSNBC, MTV, National Geographic, NBC, NBC Sports, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Ovation, Oxygen, Syfy, TBS, TCM, Telemundo, TNT, TruTV, Universal Kids, USA, VH1
Max ($80/mo.): Everything in Plus, Big Ten Network, Cinemax, CMT, FOX Sports regional networks, Golf Channel, HBO, MSG, MSG+, Paramount Network, Spectrum SportsNet, TV Land

For a complete listing of channels in your area, enter your ZIP code on AT&T TV NOW’s website.

What channels is AT&T TV NOW missing?

AT&T TV NOW has a fairly low channel count compared to other live TV streaming services. And while it’s not as padded with filler as some, it’s also missing some big names. Here are some of the popular channels that aren’t available in the Plus or Max plans:

A&E
AMC
Animal Planet
BBC America
CMT
Cooking Channel
Discovery Channel
Disney Jr.
Food Network
HGTV

History
IFC
Investigation Discovery
ION
Lifetime
MLB Network
Music Choice
NBA TV
NFL Network
NHL Network

Paramount Network (formerly Spike)
PBS
Science
Sundance TV
The Weather Channel
TLC
Travel Channel
TV Land

AT&T TV NOW vs. other live TV streaming services

There’s no way around it: AT&T TV NOW has one of the worst channel selections of any live TV streaming service. And at $55/mo. for its cheapest package, it’s also one of the most expensive.

To gauge how AT&T TV NOW compared to the competition, we used a recent survey from TiVo that asked over 3,300 respondents, “Which channels would you be interested in including in your TV package?” The more people included a channel, the higher it ranked.

	Price/mo.	Top 25 channels	Top 50 channels	Top 100 channels
AT&T Watch TV	$15	13	21	35
Philo	$20	9	19	36
Sling Orange + Blue	$45	18	33	42
YouTube TV	$50	18	34	53
AT&T TV NOW	$55	13	28	42
fuboTV	$55	19	37	57
Hulu + Live TV	$55	19	34	47
AT&T TV	$70.66*	21	40	63

AT&T TV NOW has the same number of channels in the top 100 as Sling — and it costs $10 more per month. Any way you look at it, it’s one of the worst.

That said, it does boast one slight advantage: HBO only costs $10/mo. to add to its base plan, and the channel is included in all packages above $80/mo. For comparison, HBO costs $15/mo. to add on to any other streaming service or to purchase independently through HBO NOW. Taking that added value into account, AT&T TV NOW’s channel lineup starts to look a little more appealing.

But even if HBO is a must-have for you, it’s probably not worth subscribing to AT&T TV NOW for that reason alone. You’ll likely have to make other concessions — see the long list of missing channels above — but a discounted HBO is something no other service offers.

Still, most people will be better off subscribing to a service like YouTube TV and purchasing HBO separately. It would still be the same price as AT&T TV NOW, and you’ll get a much stronger channel lineup and user experience.

	AT&T TV NOW	Hulu + Live TV	fuboTV	YouTube TV	Sling Orange + Blue	AT&T TV
FOX NBC TNT TBS USA SyFy Cartoon Network CNN	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
ABC	✔	✔		✔		✔
CBS	✔	✔	✔	✔		✔
Discovery Food Network TLC HGTV		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
A&E History Lifetime		✔	✔		✔	✔
AMC			✔	✔	✔	✔
ESPN FX Disney Channel Freeform Nat Geo	✔	✔		✔	✔	✔
Comedy Central	✔		✔		✔	✔
Animal Planet		✔	✔	✔		✔
PBS				✔

For a more in-depth explanation of how we evaluated streaming services, you can find our full methodology here.

Available add-ons

Like most live TV streaming services, AT&T TV NOW has a number of premium networks you can add to your package for an extra fee, but none of them offer a discounted rate.

HBO ($10/mo.)
Cinemax ($11/mo.)
Showtime ($11/mo.)
Starz ($11/mo.)
EPIX ($6/mo.)

In fact, almost all of them can be had for less. Starz only costs $9/mo. when you subscribe to it directly, Cinemax is $10/mo. from Hulu + Live TV and Showtime is $10/mo. from Sling TV.

Spanish packages

Where you might find some value is with AT&T TV NOW’s Spanish language add-ons. For an extra $5/mo., you can add on five core channels like ESPN, FOX and History in Spanish. For $15/mo. extra, you can add on 59 Spanish channels, essentially recreating AT&T TV NOW’s Plus package. It’s the best Spanish language channel lineup of any live streaming service.

International packages

In addition to its Spanish options, AT&T TV NOW also offers three international packages that can be added to any of its plans. Here are the options:

Vietnamese ($20/mo.) – Nine channels
Brazilian ($30/mo.) – Two channels
Korean ($30/mo.) – 12 channels

Is AT&T TV NOW good for sports?

AT&T TV NOW is one of the worst options for most sports fans. It is missing several key channels that air nationally televised games, and it forces you to upgrade to its $80/mo. Max plan to watch your local teams.

National games

In both its $55 and $80/mo. packages, AT&T TV NOW is missing at least one channel that airs games from each major American sport. The $55/mo. Plus plan is an especially terrible option for college sports, as it’s missing every conference network.

League	What it has	What it’s missing
NFL	ESPN, FOX, NBC, CBS	NFL Network
MLB	ESPN, ESPN2, FOX, FS1, TBS,	MLB Network
NBA	ABC, ESPN, TNT	NBA TV
NHL	NBC, NBC Sports, USA, CNBC	NHL Network
NCAA Football	ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FOX, ABC, CBS	ESPNU, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network

If you upgrade to the $80/mo. Max plan, you get the Big Ten Network, CBS Sports, ESPNU, NBC Sports and the SEC Network, but services like YouTube TV include all these channels at a lower price.

Regional sports networks

Where AT&T TV NOW will probably lose most sports fans is its coverage of their local team’s games. MLB, NBA and NHL teams all play on your market’s regional sports network (RSN), and AT&T TV NOW only offers these in its $80/mo. and above plans.

	AT&T TV	AT&T TV NOW	fuboTV	Hulu + Live TV	Sling TV	YouTube TV
Lowest plan with RSNs	$82.50/mo.*	$80/mo.	$55/mo.	$55/mo.	$30/mo.	$50/mo.
FOX Sports	✔	✔		✔		✔
MSG Network	✔	✔	✔
NBC Sports	✔**	✔**	✔	✔	✔**	✔
NESN			✔			✔
SNY	✔	✔	✔	✔		✔
Spectrum SportsNet	✔	✔
YES Network	✔	✔	✔	✔		✔

If you care about sports, these are probably essential channels for you, and they can be had for much cheaper through other streaming services. Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV in particular carry almost every RSN for $55/mo. or less.

That said, AT&T TV NOW does carry most RSNs as any streaming service, including every FOX Sports network and most NBC Sports markets. What’s more, AT&T TV NOW, AT&T TV and fuboTV are the only streaming services that carry MSG Network, the exclusive broadcaster of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils in market.

AT&T TV NOW and AT&T TV are also the only streaming services that carry Spectrum SportsNet. If you want to live stream Lakers games, these are your only legal options.

Poor user experience

To test out AT&T TV NOW’s user experience, we used it on four devices throughout the week: an Amazon Fire TV Stick, an Apple TV, a Roku Streaming Stick and a MacBook Pro. Overall, it wasn’t much of a departure from most live streaming services we’ve tested — or cable TV guides we’ve used. We liked it better than Hulu + Live TV’s, but it didn’t wow us like YouTube TV.

AT&T TV NOW uses a guide you’re probably already familiar with. We liked how you can see as many as six channels at once when using a browser and four on streaming devices. The service keeps the channel you’re currently playing on in the background as you browse.

After a while, though, we found ourselves hardly ever using the guide. AT&T TV NOW saves your most watched channels on the home screen, so we usually found what we were looking for within a couple clicks.

Unfortunately, AT&T TV NOW did glitch out more than other services we tested. Occasionally when we opened the app on a streaming device, channels would fail to load. Usually restarting the app or device would do the trick, but if you want to catch a game or show on time, we could see how this could easily turn into a major frustration.

Mobile app

AT&TV NOW’s mobile app shared a lot of the problems we had testing it on our TV. The app would occasionally require a restart to work, or it would just close out unexpectedly. This experience was echoed in user reviews as well: It received 3.4 stars on Google Play and 4.5 on the App Store, with many reviews complaining about the difficulty of recording shows to the DVR.

If you’re not planning on using AT&T TV NOW away from your home, this probably isn’t a dealbreaker. But anyone who expects to use it regularly on commutes or trips — particularly Android users — might want to go with a different service.

AT&T TV NOW FAQs

How much DVR storage do you get with AT&T TV NOW?

After YouTube TV, AT&T TV NOW provides the best DVR storage of any live TV streaming service. You’ll get 500 hours of cloud DVR storage with every plan, and it doesn’t expire for a full 90 days.

	AT&T TV NOW	Hulu + Live TV	fuboTV	YouTube TV	Sling Orange + Blue
DVR storage	500 hours (stores for 90 days)	50 hours	30 hours	Unlimited (stores for nine months)	10 hours (stores indefinitely)
Simultaneous streams	3	2	2	3	4

How many simultaneous streams does AT&T TV NOW allow?

You can stream on three devices at once with AT&T TV NOW, the same as YouTube TV and one fewer than Sling’s Orange + Blue package. FuboTV and Hulu + Live TV both allow two simultaneous streams.

Will AT&T TV NOW actually save you money?

Probably not. With its cheapest packages starting at $55/mo., AT&T TV NOW probably won’t shave off much from your TV bill. When internet costs are taken into account, it’s more expensive than the most popular bundles from satellite and cable TV providers.

	AT&T TV NOW	Sling Orange	XFINITY (Starter Pro Double Play)	Spectrum (TV Select + Internet)	AT&T Internet + DIRECTV
Monthly TV + internet cost	$55 (TV) + $60* (internet)	$30 (TV) + $60* (internet)	$90	$90	$75 year one, $121 year two
Installation fee	None	None	Up to $60	Up to $200	Up to $99
Equipment rental fee	None	None	$13/mo.	$5/mo.	None
Contract length	One month	One month	One year	One year	Two years
Estimated year one costs	$1,380	$1,080	$1,296	$1,340	$999 ($1,452 year two)
Number of channels	50	33	140+	125+	155+

That said, AT&T TV NOW offers a number of perks that you won’t get through traditional cable and satellite TV plans. You can stream on three devices at once and you’ll get 500 hours of cloud DVR storage.

Most importantly, you can cancel AT&T TV NOW at any time, where traditional TV providers typically lock you into year-long contracts.

Which streaming devices work with AT&T TV NOW?

You can stream AT&T TV NOW on the four most popular streaming devices — Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Google Chromecast and Roku — but not much else. It doesn’t work with PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, or any smart TVs that aren’t made by Samsung. If you go with AT&T TV NOW, you might need to purchase a new streaming device.

What internet speed do I need for AT&T TV NOW?

AT&T TV NOW recommends at least 8 Mbps for each device that’s streaming. So if two people are watching separate TVs in the same house at once, you’ll need at least 16 Mbps.

Not sure what kinds of speeds you’re currently getting? Use our speedtest below to find out.

Can you fast forward through commercials on AT&T TV NOW?

Unfortunately, you’re not able to fast forward through commercials on AT&T TV NOW — or any live TV streaming service. They work the same way as live TV through cable or satellite; commercials are part of the deal. That said, you are able to skip ahead on programs in your DVR. If you pause a show, you can also fast forward to catch up.

Does AT&T TV NOW stream in 4K?

AT&T TV NOW does not currently support 4K streaming on any of its channels, but there is a workaround. Select games on Fox, FS1 and Big Ten Network stream in 4K on the Fox Sports app. The app is available on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast, Xbox and Android TVs. Keep in mind, you will have to subscribe to an AT&T TV NOW plan that includes these channels.

Our other live TV streaming service reviews

We’ve written extensively about every live TV streaming service around. For more detailed information, you can check out our full reviews below:

AT&T Watch TV ($15/mo.)
Philo TV ($20/mo.)
Sling TV ($30/mo.)
Vidgo ($40/mo.)
YouTube TV ($50/mo.)
fuboTV ($55/mo.)
Hulu + Live TV ($55/mo.)
AT&T TV ($50/mo. in year one, $93/mo. in year two)
Best live TV streaming services

Should you sign up?

Our AT&T TV NOW review finds it’s only worth it for very specific customers. If you live in Los Angeles or New York and want to watch your local sports teams, AT&T TV NOW and AT&T TV might be your only options. And if HBO is a must-have channel, you can get it slightly cheaper through AT&T TV NOW.

Aside from those situations, it has one of the worst channel lineups of any live TV streaming service and its user experience is mediocre at best. It’s also one of the most expensive. You’ll only be able to catch your local MLB, NBA and NHL team’s games if you upgrade to the $80/mo. Max plan.

Originally written on 9/16/2019. Last updated 5/22/2020.

Compare streaming services