Spectrum debuts $15 cable streaming service for Apple TV, iPhone, iPad users

For $15 per month, the Spectrum TV Essentials streaming service will provide more than 60 channels to an Apple TV or iPhone for customers of the company's internet service that don't have a cable television package.

At launch, Spectrum TV Essentials will be available for $14.99 plus tax. The lineup will be streamed through the Spectrum TV app, and will be available on a wide range of platforms.

Networks available on Spectrum TV Essentials include: A&E, AMC, American Heroes Channel, Animal Planet, AXS TV, BBC America, BBC World News, BET, BET Her, BET Jams, BET Soul, Bloomberg, Cheddar, CLEO TV, CMT, CMT Music, Comedy Central, Cooking Channel, Destination America, Discovery, Discovery Family, Discovery Life, DIY, Food Network, FYI, Game Show Network, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Drama, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, HDNet Movies, HGTV, HISTORY, IFC, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Lifetime Movie Network, Logo, MotorTrend Network, MTV, MTV2, MTV Classic, MTV Live, MTVU, NewsmaxTV, Newsy, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nick Music, NickToons, Outdoor Channel, OWN, Paramount Network, Science Channel, Sundance TV, Teen Nick, TLC, Travel Channel, TV Land, VH1, Viceland, The Weather Channel and WEtv. Broadcast channels are not included.

"As the video marketplace continues to segment across price points and offerings, we believe a high quality, lower priced option for internet-only subscribers is very important," said Viacom President and CEO Bob Bakish about the offering. "We're excited to have our global brands as part of Spectrum TV Essentials at launch."

The Spectrum TV app arrived on the App Store on January 3. With the release, Charter Spectrum became the first U.S. basic cable company to offer support for tvOS 12's zero sign-on functionality.

Apple's zero sign-on automatically authenticates existing subscriptions, allowing users to seamlessly access channels and on-demand content provided through their selected cable bundle. Zero sign-on is an evolution to single sign-on, which debuted in 2016 to streamline the log in process for a growing number of third-party video streaming apps.

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22 Comments

linkman

said about 5 years ago

Notably absent is ESPN. But with ESPN's restrictive licensing policies and high price there is no way Spectrum could offer this package at this price. Adding ESPN would probably raise it by $10-$15 per month.

My experience with Spectrum is that they advertise $14.99/month plus tax but there are always a bunch of fees that they tack on. I had their cable + internet for a while and the fees added up to something like $9/month. Franchise fees, broadcast subscriber fees, universal access fees, pork belly cleaning fees, blah blah blah. I'll look up one of my old bills later and detail the exact amounts.

fasterquieter

said about 5 years ago

I would likely have signed up for this if it had included broadcast channels. I can't get a signal where I live, so I cannot get them over the air. Oh well, at least we're getting closer to realistically priced crappy tv.

mike1

said about 5 years ago

linkman said:

Notably absent is ESPN. But with ESPN's restrictive licensing policies and high price there is no way Spectrum could offer this package at this price. Adding ESPN would probably raise it by $10-$15 per month.

My experience with Spectrum is that they advertise $14.99/month plus tax but there are always a bunch of fees that they tack on. I had their cable + internet for a while and the fees added up to something like $9/month. Franchise fees, broadcast subscriber fees, universal access fees, pork belly cleaning fees, blah blah blah. I'll look up one of my old bills later and detail the exact amounts.

We'll have to see what happens here, but most of the fees are just taxes mandated by one government agency or another for traditional cable connections. In theory, those shouldn't apply here as the service is not being regulated like a utility. But, as I said, we'll see.

waxxel

said about 5 years ago

So if you have this plan, would it allow you to sign into individual networks apps that require cable service provider login? Like ABC requires cable service provider login.