Can I Get My Local Channels On Directv

DirecTV vs. DirecTV Now: What'due south the Difference?

Editor's Note: Yep, DirecTV At present is becoming AT&T Tv Now , details here .

DirecTV Now has been up and running for more than than a year, and customers have ii important questions: What is it, and how is it different from regular quondam DirecTV? In the simplest terms, DirecTV is a satellite-TV subscription service, while DirecTV Now is an online streaming service that delivers live Tv set channels. Both are owned past telecom giant AT&T.

But if you want to know how each ane works, which channels each 1 offers and which one — if either — is right for you, those questions are a fleck harder to answer. We've gathered some of the most salient facts to help you make your ain decisions.

Oh, and are you lot confused every bit to why your DirecTV Now app merely changed its name to AT&T Boob tube At present? Well, check out our explainer guide here (hint: information technology'due south about corporate ownership and brand awareness).

MORE: Hulu Alive vs. YouTube Television set vs. Sling vs. Vue vs. DirecTV Now: Face-Off!

	DirecTV	DirecTV Now
How You Get It	Satellite dish	Cyberspace
Channels	145 to 315	lx to 120
Pricing	$90 to $187 per month* *Introductory prices: $50 to $125 per calendar month	$40 to $75 per month
Required Hardware	Idiot box, Genie box, satellite dish	Uniform device (Android, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, iOS, Roku), Television* *Not necessary for Android/iOS devices
Pros	More channels; DirecTV sets information technology upward for you	Relatively cheap; No contract
Cons	More expensive than streaming; Long-term contracts	Some functioning bugs

Availability

Before you start looking into the pros and cons of a DirecTV or DirecTV Now subscription, y'all should probably cheque to see if DirecTV is available in your expanse. While DirecTV Now is available everywhere in the United States, DirecTV is a satellite service, and so you'll need a satellite dish. While the beauty of a satellite dish is that yous can use it from but about anywhere, it does mean that you've got to start modifying the outside of your house. Flat dwellers or people who vest to especially strict housing associations can probably forget nigh it.

Channel option and cost

DirecTV Now offers a diversity of channel packages, ranging from Live a Niggling, with more than than 60 channels at $twoscore per month, to Gotta Accept It, with well-nigh 120 channels at $lxx per month. This may sound like a lot, merely even the nigh small-scale DirecTV satellite package offers a great deal more: The basic DirecTV package starts at effectually 145 channels, and the near extreme options range up to well-nigh 315 channels. There's a flip side, though: The packages likewise range in toll from $90 per month to $187 per month. (DirecTV offers considerable discounts to first-time subscribers, nevertheless.)

Giving an verbal channel breakdown would depend on as well many variables, including where yous live and what kinds of packages you're willing to buy. However, no affair which package you invest in, you'll go the basics: A&E, Bravo, CNN, Cartoon Network, Disney, History, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, Syfy and and then along. For both satellite and DirecTV At present subscriptions, the presence of local channels very much depends on both your location and on DirecTV's standing with those channels.

Just bear in listen that DirecTV Now'south DVR features are rolling out every bit a beta. By default, accounts come with 20 hours of recording capacity, and recordings last 30 days. In the summer of 2018, a more-expensive tier, — 100 hours of storage, with recordings that last ninety days — will launch for an extra $ten per month.

Necessary hardware

Of the two services, DirecTV Now has a lower barrier to entry. All y'all need is a computer, mobile device or streaming actor (Android, Amazon Burn TV, Apple TV, iOS, Google Chromecast or newer Rokus). While the service isn't available on Android Tv or game consoles (only really should be), yous tin spend about $30 on hardware and be upward and running within half an hour.

Non so for a DirecTV subscription, notwithstanding, which requires both the aforementioned satellite dish and an Hard disk DVR box known equally the Genie. If you're a new DirecTV subscriber, the visitor will install both the satellite dish and the Genie for you lot. The dish won't cost you anything extra, and the Genie fees (usually $7 per calendar month) are included with newer subscriptions, unless you want five or more than boxes.

MORE: Our Favorite 4K (Ultra HD) TVs Bachelor Now

Mobile access

One bit of proficient news is that you tin access your content on computers, mobile devices and streaming players, regardless of the service you use. The DirecTV (non DirecTV Now) app allows satellite subscribers to view programs on devices other than their TVs. DirecTV subscribers tin can download the app to both iOS and Android devices, then go on to watch both live TV and content from their DVR boxes (provided that their Genie is connected to the Internet, of course).

DirecTV as well sweetens the deal for AT&T mobile customers. If you're a client and you're out and about, y'all can stream DirecTV content to your telephone or tablet, and information technology won't count against your mobile data cap. While customers from other wireless providers can however employ the app, they'll probably want to practice and then on Wi-Fi connections; streaming video tends to consume up information pretty fast.

DirecTV At present, on the other paw, is a streaming app showtime and foremost. You lot can download it right to your mobile devices and watch it merely like any other streaming service. The same deal is in place for AT&T mobile subscribers: While anyone can access the DirecTV Now app, AT&T subscribers can stream equally much of information technology as they want without having to run into their mobile information plans accept a striking.

Which i should you lot get?

Bold y'all watch a lot of Idiot box, either DirecTV Nowor DirecTV is a viable option. Although Tom's Guide has encountered a lot of problems with DirecTV Now'southward service, the corporeality of content you lot get for the money is more than fair. DirecTV, on the other paw, provides consistent service, just it'south heir to the trouble that whatever satellite dish encounters: poor reception, especially during bad weather and the similar, and extremely loftier prices.

DirecTV is a more traditional service. As such, it'due south more than straightforward to lookout man on your Goggle box and it offers more than channels, but it'south also much more expensive and ties you lot into a yearly contract. DirecTV Now offers fewer channels, and information technology'due south considerably more express when it comes to the ways y'all can watch it, but the price tag is much easier to stomach, and you don't demand any expensive, specialized equipment.

Since DirecTV Now offers a free trial and doesn't require a contract, I'd recommend checking that out first. If it meets your needs, yous could save a lot of coin; if not, you can always abolish and switch over to the full satellite subscription.

Best Streaming Video Services
How to Buy a Streaming Media Thespian
What Is Miracast? Everything Yous Need to Know

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a scientific discipline writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of scientific discipline and technology. After hours, y'all tin find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.