Fubo review: One of the cheaper live-TV streamers, but there's a catch

Not to be confused with apparel company FUBU or U.S. Army slang FUBAR, Fubo is a streaming service that aims to replicate the cable-TV viewing experience. It competes with the likes of DirecTV , Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV , but offers more total channels and, surprisingly, slightly lower prices. However, there are a couple of significant networks missing from the lineup, including PBS, TBS, and TNT. Previously, Fubo had a long-running dispute with NBCUniversal, leaving subscribers without access to NBC, but that issue has since been resolved.

Fubo currently starts at $54.99 for your first month — one of the lower monthly rates for a live TV streaming service. But there remains a gap in Fubo's otherwise robust channel lineup if you are a sports fan looking to watch the upcoming NBA season — though, if you already subscribe to an HBO Max Standard plan, you can get access to live sports on TBS, TNT and truTV that way.

That's somewhat ironic, given Fubo's strengths as a sports streamer. (Your subscription includes ESPN Unlimited, among other things.) Meanwhile, the service has yet to address a few longstanding user-interface gripes. And what about that merger with Hulu + Live TV last year ? What impact has that had, if any, on Fubo's place in the live-TV streaming world ? You're about to find out; here's my Fubo review.

Fubo: What it costs and what's included

Like the cable-TV services it aims to replace, Fubo offers lots of popular basic-cable channels, along with most of your local networks (minus PBS). It's all wrapped up in a familiar channel guide, which I'll discuss more in the next section.

Although total channel count isn't necessarily the best measure of a streaming service — quantity doesn't always indicate quality — I struggled to accurately determine Fubo's number. I started by entering my ZIP code on the signup page, which indicated there were "427 channels available in my area." That's quite a lot — and far more than what's indicated in Fubo's plan-comparison chart.

The highest tier (Deluxe), for example, promises just 296 channels. The base tier, Pro, shows 206. That's still a lot, and considerably more than what you get from the base tiers of Fubo's rivals, most of which average around 100.

After consulting with a company spokesperson, I learned that the 427 number is based on the Deluxe tier plus every available add-on package (which, of course, would drive your costs even higher). But this isn't really clear to potential customers; I think Fubo needs to better explain the discrepancies in these channel counts.

Also rather misleading: If you look at the highlighted prices (in blue) for each tier, you'll see they all say "after trial." But right below that is the regular price for each, also "after trial." The Pro plan is not "$63.99 after trial," it's $63.99 for the first month. And so on.

Because all these lineups include around three dozen regional sports networks (RSNs), plus ESPN Unlimited, Fubo remains a solid choice for watching your preferred games and teams. However, while you still get local ABC, CBS and Fox channels, the platform lacks CNN, TBS, TNT and other channels owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. TBS and TNT are home to a smattering of sports (including baseball and basketball), meaning there might be games you simply can't get here.

Just to further confuse matters, Fubo now offers a "skinny" option as well: Fubo Sports serves up 25 sports and news channels, including the locals and ESPN Unlimited. But it costs $64.99 per month, saving you only $24 (excluding first-month deals) compared to Fubo Pro, which offers 175+ additional channels.

Fubo: A decent interface with room for improvement

I tested Fubo using both the Google TV operating system built into Sansui's S55VOUG and a Roku Ultra plugged into the same TV. Based on past tests of other services, there can be minor (or even major) differences between platforms — and that proved true here as well.

Signing into your account works the same on both apps: You can use your remote to enter your e-mail address and password onscreen, or open a browser (on your phone or PC) for a much faster code-based sign-in.

I like Fubo's familiar, attractive interface, which revolves around seven main categories that are easily accessible from a fly-out side menu. I don't like the banner ads that sometimes appear atop that interface. At least Fubo doesn't splash full-screen ads when you pause a program, something I've found increasingly common (and annoying) on other services.

The main program guide incorporates the usual network logos but adds show thumbnails alongside them, making it especially easy to tell at-a-glance what's on a given channel. (The downside is this reduces the space available for the guide itself.)

You can filter the listings based on a particular genre — local, sports, movies, family, trending, etc. — but those selections are splayed across the top instead of in a column on the side. With so many choices to scroll through (over two dozen, by my count), it's fairly cumbersome. Making matters worse, the filters are all in a seemingly random order, instead of alphabetical.

On Google TV, there's another UI annoyance: When you're watching live content and want to access the channel guide (or anything else), playback stops — with no immediate or obvious way to resume what you were just watching. (On Roku, you can press and hold the Back button to return to the previous live channel. And audio continues in the background while you browse the guide. Not so on Google TV.)

There's a pop-up menu you can access without leaving your current program, but it lists only categorical "more live TV."

I also found Fubo's search feature to be a bit lacking, as it doesn't support parameters like actor or genre: You can search for Top Gun and see a result, but "Tom Cruise" and "action movies" will return nothing. 

Parents and grandparents, take note: Other live-TV streaming services have at least rudimentary parental controls, meaning you can create child-user profiles that limit what kind of content can be viewed, but Fubo doesn't.

Fubo: The verdict

Fubo isn't a clear slam-dunk pick for sports fans as, despite the return of NBC, it is still missing TBS and TNT channels. That said, Fubo does serve up 200-plus channels, more than double what you get from the likes of Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV . (Whether or not those channels offer anything you actually want to watch is an entirely different question.) You also get unlimited DVR, which is fairly standard nowadays.

It remains a bit puzzling that Fubo still exists now that it's part of Hulu + Live TV (which is, itself, experiencing a different kind of identity crisis ). But it does, so if you're shopping for a live-TV streaming service, it's certainly worth a test-drive.

At a minimum, take advantage of Fubo's free 7-day trial to see if the service meets your needs.

Update, Sept. 1, 2026: We made changes to reflect the return of NBC networks to Fubo, and subsequent price changes.

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