Verdict
DirecTV Stream effortlessly transitions from satellite to streaming, retaining an interface that viewers new to cord cutting will appreciate, while also offering plenty of streaming-focused features. Now with 4K content, HDR and new skinny bundles that bring down the ever-burgeoning price of full packages.
Pros
- Excellent TV guide
- Restart feature is very useful
- Alerts when content is available in 4K
- Skinny bundles and lots of customisation options
- Regional sports networks (RSNs) available in some bundles
Cons
- "Unlimited" DVR is only 30 episodes of a show
- Gets expensive beyond the lowest price full package
Key Features
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Live and on-demand HD TV streams A familiar TV guide makes the transition from a traditional Pay TV provider seamless
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4K HDR Some live sports are now available in Ultra HD resolution with HDR also compatible on a few streaming devices.
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Regional Sports Networks New in February 2025, these skinny bundles offer some cable channels in a smaller bundle with streaming services tied in.
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Genre Packs New in February 2025, these skinny bundles offer some cable channels in a smaller bundle with streaming services tied in.
Introduction
The old guard was never going to let YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, FuboTV and the rest of the streaming-centric crowd dominate the new era.
Like Sling TV, DirecTV is a legacy provider grabbing a piece of the live TV streaming pie. You can still get the full satellite package from DirecTV – now mostly owned by AT&T – but this alternative, gives you more flexibility, minus the long contract and endless extra fees associated with legacy providers.
With a comprehensive live channel line-up, varied packages, a familiar channel guide, regional sports channels, and tons of add-on content, DirecTV Stream (formerly DirecTV Now, and AT&T TV) is the service that feels most like a traditional television service, within the streaming realm.
When I last reviewed DirecTV Stream in 2022 it was a reliable but expensive streaming platform lacking some high end A/V features. Has that changed in 2025?
After the introductory offers you get for signing up, prices start at $86.99 for the Entertainment Package, which includes 90+ channels, unlimited cloud DVR (except it’s not) and unlimited devices (only three outside of the home network). There are also new skinny Genre Pack bundles starting at $34.99 a month. More on those in the Library section.
Platforms
- Support not as comprehensive
It’s a mixed bag with no support for LG TVs or the games consoles, but decent support from the major set top box providers, mobile operating systems and Samsung smart TVs.
There’s also a Gemini set top box you can get from the company. However, this review was done on an Apple TV 4K, an iPhone 16 Pro Max and via the Safari web browser on a MacBook Air M2. Here’s the full list of supported platforms from the horse’s mouth. Perhaps the most interesting devices in the list are Apple’s Vision Pro and Peloton workout gear.
User Experience
- The most TV-like of the live streaming services
- Restart enables you to go back to beginning
- Channel numbers endure
The live guide is the most akin to a traditional cable or satellite TV service, so it’s ideal for people cutting the cord for the first time. There’s also an option to sort the guide by the traditional channel numbers those folks will be familiar with.
You can also sort by the A-Z TV guide or jump to a specific day. Channels can also be filtered by categories – All, Recent, Favourites, Sports, Kids, Movies and TV shows. Or by channel number order.
It’s also quite unique among live TV streaming services due to two-week TV EPG guide you can jump through.
Speaking of favourites, they can be added to those you established during set-up holding the select button on the remote, next to the channel icon within the guide.
Your favourites also underpin the Home page experience in a very intuitive way. Favourites and recently viewed channels sit in a carousel and moving between them loads a live feed from that channel, including info on how long’s left in the program and other informing details.
We also loved being able to restart a large section of the channels and live programming if you miss the start. Restartable shows are helpfully identified in the guide by a back arrow icon in the guide. However, it’s still necessary to begin playing the show live to access the restart function within the TV app. Especially for sports games, it’d be preferable to have the option before hitting play.
YouTube TV has a similar capability, but you need to add the show to your library and be recording to restart.
The Home page features a neat carousel of your favourite channels with one playing in a smaller window, you can scan between them. There’s only a slight pause as the content loads. Another handy feature is showing “more like” area, which is available on demand. So, if you don’t want to tune into Friends live on TBS, you could quickly access Modern Family, Seinfeld and more. This is preferable to showing other content from the same network.
There are also more familiar cord cutting menus within the Home page. You can see a carousel of live and upcoming sports, live TV you might like, popular shows available on demand, and themed content like Valentine’s comedy and romance. There are also helpful reminders to set your cloud DVR to watch upcoming content.
Other sidebar menus include My Library that features DVR recordings and any rentals and purchases you’ve made via your DirecTV device. The helpful Sports Central portal brings a shortcut to your favourite teams, including recordings and next fixtures. There’s some weird team naming conventions when selecting your teams, which will be upsetting to Brits. The Arsenal Gunners, The Manchester United Red Devils, etc..
Finally, there’s an On Demand menu that offers access to the suite of on-demand programming and lets you filter content via networks, movies and TV shows.
Right now, rivals like YouTube TV do a better job of intelligently surfacing the content you enjoy when the time comes, but perhaps DirecTV Stream improves with more usage beyond my month-long test period.
When you do choose a show, there’s a slight pause for a title screen. It doesn’t last more than a couple of seconds, usually. However, the programme usually loads at full resolution thereafter. Again, it’s akin to the experience of turning on a TV channel and it just being there rather than waiting for it to hit full res’ from a stream. Another bonus for those coming straight from satellite.
Features
- Live 4K sports now available
- Some channels max out at 720p
- Lookback feature has been watered down
- Unlimited number of devices supported in the home
The major update since my late 2022 review is the addition of some 4K content. There are now three 4K channels, although it’s mostly live sports. The Super Bowl and all the Super Bowl Pregame content from Fox was shown in 4K on DirecTV 4K Live. Other content included live Premier League, NBA and NCAA basketball games.
Helpfully, when you tune into the regular channel, DirecTV alerts you the game is available in 4K with one-click access to take you there.
It’s good to see DirecTV catching up to its satellite service for streaming customers here. For non 4K content Direct TV stream offers HD resolution (some 720p, others 1080p/1080i @30fps, depending on the channel).
Options within the video settings are “best” “better” and “good”.
HDR content, adding greater richness to colour and contrast, is now available and automatically enabled on top streaming devices from Roku, Apple, Google, Amazon and the company’s own Gemini boxes. Depending on your device there are options to manually enable HDR.
Audio formats are limited without options for change at an app level. However, there is support for Dolby Digital 5.1 systems. And DirecTV Stream was the first of the major over-the-top live TV providers to do so.
DirectTV does offer new customers an “unlimited” cloud DVR. Except it’s actually quite limited. Recordings are kept for nine months, and you’re only allowed 30 episodes of a particular show with the oldest deleted to make way.
On the plus side, recording options often provide the home or away commentary feeds for sporting events, so you’re not stuck with the other team’s annoying announcer rooting against your team.
I’ve covered the Restart feature, but the other noteworthy option is Lookback, which is available on selected streaming devices. It lets you watch TV from the last 72 hours on demand.
It appears to have been significantly downgraded since the last time I used DirecTV stream. In 2022 it felt like you had a time machine to look back through the guide and watch almost as if most things had been recorded via a DVR.
Now it only offers some limited options from the on-demand library. For example, Comedy Central’s only offerings are the last two nights of The Daily Show. This used to be a good way to find the sports game you didn’t get around to watching, but ESPN and loads of others offer nothing through Lookback.
DirecTV Stream does fall a little flat compared to rivals in terms of intuitive streaming friendly features, though. Live sports access is great, but YouTube TV has amazing live stats options for sports like the NBA and you can catch up on most others through key plays.
You can now see sports scores (live and post-game) within content thumbnails but if you’re to watch these games, I don’t really see the point. Perhaps it’s handy in live game situations where you can see other team’s scores?
Library
- Lots of package options, but can get expensive
- Base package isn’t as comprehensive as rivals’
- Regional Sports Networks available in more expensive plans
Again, DirecTV Stream is the live TV streaming service most akin to old school cable or satellite television. Depending on the package you opt for, there’s very little you’ll be without, and DirecTV has done an excellent job of parlaying its relationships with the content providers into the streaming realm.
The big news here came in late February 2025 when DirecTV shook up its offering with skinny bundles called Genre Packs that include some primo steaming services.
The Genre Packs start at just $34.99 for MyEntertainment. It bundles the Disney+, Hulu and (pretty soon) Max with ads. Linear channels include A&E Network, Bravo, Discovery, E!, Food Network, FX, Freeform, FYI, HGTV, Lifetime, Oxygen, Syfy, The HISTORY Channel, TLC and Vice TV.
For $39.99 you can get a MyNews bundle (given the state of cable news in the US, kill me now!). That’ll get you CNN, MSNBC, Fox and others. In my experience those who watch Fox don’t watch CNN! There’s less value in that.
MySports is $69.99, but it includes ESPN+ along with the linear ESPN Channels, Fox Sports, USA, TNT, TBS, NBA Network, NFL Network, MLB Network, but also some news channels like CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and local NBC channels. Such is the expense of a full live TV streaming service in 2025 that $70 actually sounds quite attractive, although regional sports networks are extra.
The regular packages akin to a full satellite TV service are much more expensive. The Entertainment Bundle is $86.99 a month + tax and includes 90+ channels from across the content spectrum, as well as your local free-to-air channels. In 2022 the entry level was $69.99 a month + tax, so it’s a pretty large increase. 4K may have been added, but still!
To add regional sports networks showing your local teams, plus some additional sports networks like MLB, NBA and college football you’ll need the Choice package. However, after a $25 a month discount for the first three months, that Choice bundle costs $114.99 a month + tax. And there’s still more you can add too in Ultimate that’s $129.99 a month + tax. And if you’re wondering, NFL Redzone isn’t included. That’s extra, but at least it’s available now. In my 2022 review it wasn’t present at all.
Comparatively, the top bundle from Fubo is $94.99 (yes 4K, yes RSNs), YouTube TV is $84.99 (4K $10 extra, no RSNs), Hulu with Live TV including Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ starts at $82.99 a month (no 4K sports, no RSNs). Sling TVs offerings are designed to be skinny and are more akin to DirecTV’s Genre Packs.
You can see DirecTV Steam’s full line-up here in a helpful graph that shows the line-up for each package with available add-ons.
The value is in the eye of the beholder and DirecTV does offer 4K live sports at no extra cost, while YouTube TV charges an extra ten spot. And DirecTV Stream is one of the few remaining services offering access to Regional Sports Networks (albeit through the expensive Choice bundle). Fubo is the other. RSNs are the channels that have the rights to some of the sports teams in that market. In most cases it’s the NBA, MLB, and NHL. In South Florida, where I live, that’s means the Fan Duel networks for Miami Heat and Miami Marlins. These networks were always part of a traditional cable TV bundle but were a huge loss from Live TV streaming services like YouTube TV.
As with all of the Live TV streaming services, Premium networks like Max, Showtime, Starz etc are available as add-ons.
Performance
- Reliable streams don’t require ultrafast connections
DirecTV Stream works excellently across a number of platforms. I tested it on an Apple TV 4K connected to an LG C1 OLED, an iPad (8th gen) and the Safari web browser and experienced no issues.
Of course, the larger your screen, the addition of 4K and HDR means our review is more favourable than it has been in the past.
To access HDR content you’ll need a Roku Ultra (2024), Google TV Streamer, Google TV with Chromecast, Apple TV 4K, Amazon Fire Stick 4K Max, or one of the DIRECTV Gemini streaming devices. The HDR enabled content is automatically enabled at app level, provided it is enabled at device level.
The recommended speed required for stable streaming is 8Mbps per streaming device. So, if you’re watching TV on ten different sets throughout the home, you can expect to require 80Mbps. However, if you’re streaming in 4K, the company recommends 25Mbps.
Regardless of the quality of the content, DirecTV stream is probably the most reliable and consistent of all the major providers. It was a joy to use.
Should you buy it?
If you want the closest thing to satellite TV via streaming
If you like your traditional TV service, but want more flexibility and no binding contracts, DirecTV Stream comes closest to replicating the experience and overall interface. It also has 4K sports now, with some intriguing Genre Packs to help save money, and the option to include regional sports.
If you're looking for the best deal
If you’re looking for the best deal. The $86.99 starting price has gone up significantly (but so has everyone’s) and regional sports networks are now extra. Things get really expensive with further additions. If you want a more streaming-centric interface YouTube TV does it better.
Final Thoughts
DirecTV Stream has significantly bolstered the offering since our last review and it’s not an equally good option alongside YouTube TV, Fubo and Hulu.
The addition of 4K is the key upgrade, alongside an interface that blends the best of TVs past with the best of TVs streaming-forward future. The skinny Entertainment Genre Pack softens the blow of price increases to standard packages. Bottom line though, if you want a traditional-style TV service with some streaming-forward features with more freedom and less commitment, this is the live TV cord cutting service for you.
Trusted Score
How we test
How we test
We test every live TV streaming service we review for at least a month as our main means of consuming television, using smart TV apps, mobile apps and, where available in a web browser. Tests are done inside and outside of the home. Services are compared in detail with rival offerings to give you the best idea of which service is best for you.
- Tested 4K HDR content on an Apple TV 4K set top box plugged into an LG C1 OLED television
- Used DirecTV stream on macOS using the Safari browser
- Consumed live and on demand content on the go through the iOS DirecTV app
FAQs
There is a limited free trial, currently at five days for new subscribers
Yes, since our last review in 2022 DirecTV Stream has added 4K and it’ll even let you know when a game you’re watching is available in 4K. HDR is available on selected devices too.
DirecTV Stream one of the only cord-cutting live TV service with RSNs. You can see whether yours are covered here: https://www.directv.com/stream/channel-lineup/
Full Specs
| DirecTV Stream Review | |
|---|---|
| USA RRP | $34.99 |
| Manufacturer | – |
| Release Date | 2021 |
| First Reviewed Date | 17/10/2022 |
| HDR | No |
| Audio Formats | Dolby 5.1 |
| Resolution support | upto 4K |