Frndly TV Review - An Affordable "Skinny Bundle" TV Streaming Service

[@TheDTXDan]

Been a Frndly subscriber for roughly 2 years. As a YTTV subscriber, this was the cheapest option for us to get access to Lifetime and MAFS. Navigating your DVR shows can get a little messy - it doesn’t always do the best job in tagging episode numbers and instead favors airing dates and times, in our experience. I’ve been really pleased with the depth of the VOD library. They’ve added a handful of channels since we subscribed, so there’s been some growth with the offering. I highly recommend this as a companion to another service provider for local/sports/premiums/etc…

[@richpearce3814]

I've had Frndly for three years and it's a great service. Three years ago they had maybe 15 channels and now have close to 50. In all that time they've had two price increases; both 1.00 each time.

[@adamrobinette6832]

They were very strategic when they picked their channels. I used to work for a cable company. They managed to pick essentially every channel elderly people watch, which are all not that expensive for a company to carry, trim away local channels, since IP TV isn't legally bound to carry them, Trim away sports, and News, which also drive up costs big, squeeze in the smaller channels that will literally pay the carrier to keep them, and make a perfect Elderly bundle they can afford. Very, very smart. The Elderly is a forgotten market these days, but it's a huge one.

[@shackdaddy7106]

One thing about friendly TV. A lot of their channels are available for free over the air with an antenna.

[@Forest77Wood]

there issome truth to that but Frndly is a convenient and efficient way to watch your favorite programs on DVR and on demand.

[@jayp3564]

True but, if you are in an area that is hard to get them or all of them this is a very good option. Plus Channels in the classic plan are HD.

[@shackdaddy7106]

@@jayp3564 you’re absolutely right. My comment was more directed at people who could get over the air reception. But if you can’t get over the reception, friendly is an excellent option. I had it for a month to watch the adventures of Superman on the H & I channel. I am a binge watcher. And I was disappointed that they were not running the episodes in order from week to week. They have four episodes on each Saturday and Sunday morning. I would DVR it and binge watch it later.

[@PixelatedH2O]

@@jayp3564 Certain channels are only available in SD either way though, like MeTV

[@mikemcgee8997]

Thats true but antennas can be unreliable depending where you are which is what they are appealing to.

[@XVa-uj8m]

Ron is the best because the way he presents his show looks like Public Access, but in a good way.

[@justinwilliams426]

Frndly is like a slimmed down cheaper version of Philo. I use to to help fills in some gaps for stuff youtube tv doesn't have

[@Nylgk]

I used them once for a Ben Franklin special on History Channel. As a KZbinTv subscriber I’d been shut out of AETN networks/programs. So I gave them a shot. And really, I found them good enough, particularly for the price. But once the show was over, I dropped them as I pick up most of their other channels with an antenna. But for those people who have bad reception in their areas, I think Friendly TV is a good option.

[@TexMarque]

Frndly TV is great. I've had for 3 years the basic plan (SD, TV upconverts) and find the 72 hour lookback and start over (if show is into the first hour) to be all one really needs. 3 Hallmark channels, Great American Family, UPtv, Dove channel, Cowboy Way and others are my favs. It has thousands of hours of on-demand.

[@robertfletcher]

I have had Frndly now for 2 or 3 years now, and have used it a lot. I esspecially like the Gameshow Network. I've found with the 72-hour look-back feature that you can still have it record the back-dated shows and it will be in your DVR immediately and then you can pause/reverse/ffw through it at your convienience. Sometimes when I see my wife watching a show that I'm interested in, I will ask her the title and what channel it's on and I can go back in the guide when it's over and record it.

[@carolbenedict7437]

I've had Frndy since it first came out. It has everything I want or need. I pay annually for the classic plan so I can record and watch on my schedule

[@Paul-cv9ne]

Not all channels go back before the start of the show. Not sure about others but MeTV, MeTV+, and Catchy Comedy are live only. Also, some shows on these three channels do not necessarily match up with what is showing live over the air. Probably due to licensing agreements?

[@stephenhavilland]

I subscribed to Friendly TV mainly to get the offerings from METV (great selection of classic TV shows) . The local Sinclair station used to carry METV as an over-the-air sub-channel, but dropped it for Charge!, which they own.

[@robtucker6303]

Have you tried to rescan your OTA channels? I get about 50 here in the Seattle area… including METV, METV +, Catchy, H@I. Grit, COZY, ION Antenna, Laff and others…

[@stephenhavilland]

@@robtucker6303 The station here in Portland is KATU, which has a different line-up from the Seattle market.

[@vkristof1]

We received MeTV OTA for a while from a CT (North) station, which was unusual: our antenna is pointed to Manhattan (West). As a boomer, I found their content interesting from a historical/blast-from-the-past aspect. For example, 77 Sunset Strip, which I knew of but had no current memories of really watching

[@Fin745]

I love Frndly TV. I watch story television a lot and it comes in handy a lot.

[@NIKKG]

Alot of these channels are free on antenna depending on your city.

[@jmr]

That's part of the appeal for some people. My parents property has only a single channel available even with a powerful outdoor antenna. You might get a second if you rotate the antenna and you get lucky. It's in the middle of nowhere and ever since ATSC 1.0 there is nothing to watch without satellite or streaming. I think there were 3 when analog was available. 😂

[@dub88acc]

For the hallmark and lifetime fans its worth those channels alone

[@CommodoreFan64]

Some of them are even on other FREE streaming services without having to pay. So yeah not worth it if ya ask me.

[@jmr]

​@@CommodoreFan64 That's kind of tricky because sometimes the "free" version of these channels on free streaming sites isn't really the normal channel experience. A good question is whether the Frndly version is the cut down second rate version of those channels. I'm not curious enough to explore that question though. 😂

[@johnandmegh]

@@jmr Exactly, for example Pluto TV has a lot of "channels" that carry content from different networks, but that at any one time only repeat a small fraction of that networks' library.

[@spellerlittlewing]

The weather channel I love

[@mattsanchez4893]

Good review Lon, there's not a single channel I'd watch in their line-up

[@lowandapapa]

Two things that could be added to the are if it is TV Everywhere compatible, for us Channels DVR users, and if a subscription allows one to log into the individual channels' application (Apple TV's History app as an example). It doesn't look like Frndly is listed in either of those services, which is unfortunate. Keep up the good reviews and the fight for somewhat affordable linear television!

[@gildaslefur2435]

Frndly TV is not compatible with TV Everywhere. However, if you look in the Channels forums, you will find that it is possible to integrate your Frndly TV subscription into Channels.

[@TVJAY]

72 hours of look back is awesome!

[@mikecarrington4297]

i have been able to playback a recording and skip adds using my Roku box. also if a show is expiring soon i believe it can be recorded.

[@richardremmele8685]

I keep saying that the problem is that there is nothing very good on the Cable Channels anymore. All the new stuff has moved to the new On Demand channels like Peacock, Paramount Plus, Apple Plus, etc. You might as well stay with the Fast Channels. When people figure that out then it will be a problem for Sling and Friendly as well as some of the others.

[@dlight2669]

I've had this for almost 1 year I decided I'm not going to renew it second year. Why? Many of these shows are free on other channels or over the air TV. Hallmark Christmas time all the time too much. I don't even like Hallmark. I signed up for it because I liked the weather channel and I liked the History channel and I like the curiosity channel and their regular movie channel. The last time went on it seems like a lot of the stuff is just repeated sitcoms that are already playing over the air. The other thing I didn't like is a lot of the crime shows are constantly showing women being tortured or killed. I get sick of all these crime shows and mostly the victims are women. The other thing I didn't like is the large presence of male-dominated shows . Streaming services need to get with it and start showing more variety for women things that are interesting and relevant in our lives.

[@jjones2582]

One thing Frndly seems to be missing is a way to record only new episodes. If you have a bunch of shows set to record between seasons, the DVR recordings are always full of reruns cluttering things up.

[@KyleRuggles]

So this is kinda like them taking free to air TV, packaging it up, doing what all the big boys do and that's bout it. No need for an antenna, you got it as long as you have INTERNET, and it's fine. :) Great review, but something... I dunno... it's like legal IPTV lol, ya know?

[@Fin745]

Frndly TV is like Philo in which both are legal. IPTV in of itself isn't illegal, just many many are because they aren't working with the proper licenses. Frndly TV and Philo and the like are.

[@placesonthelist]

We have it because my wife wants Hallmark.

[@frommatorav1]

That was one of the main reasons we got Peacock. She ended up watching the live Hallmark more than through Hallmark Now app, so we dropped that. It was really nice to be commercial free but they hoard all the best new stuff from it. Their 2 hour movies play in 1:20 to 1:26 without ads. If they put the new movies and episodes up the next day or the next week, we probably wouldn't have dropped it. Peacock does allow several shows from Hallmark to be watched on demand without ads. Hallmark with ads drives me nuts but my wife likes it either way.

[@daisyblue7209]

Hi, I just purchased the onn 4K pro streaming box but I have not set it up yet. Should I exchange it for the $20 4K streaming box if I decide to get this frndly app? Because I think that would be all I would add to it because it looks like it has everything on it that I would want to watch except for local channels. But I also wanted to have good picture quality and run fast and smooth.😊

[@The_Ferbguy]

Frndly is helpful in states like Montana that don't have MeTV or any of the other subchannels

[@n1kkri]

you mentioned only 2 people can steam and they have the same profile. Are both users only able to see the same program or can both users watch different programs at the same time?

[@LonSeidman]

They can watch different things.

[@graysonpeddie]

I would like to keep up with the latest shows of The First 48, but I can only get that if I watch advertisements but I don't mind paying for episodes to watch... Yeah I never watched TV anymore.

[@Forest77Wood]

It may not be Frndly's fault but it seems like many of the channels have breaks every 7 minutes with 10 or more ads and it takes 3 hours to get through a 1 hr 45 minute move or so. That is major drawback.

[@graysonpeddie]

@@Forest77Wood My comment is not totally specific to one live streaming service, but with A&E that insists on advertisements.

[@richardbrobeck2384]

i really enjoy using this channel !

[@green929392]

The user interface is really well done, and I could see this service being useful for some but the channels that are available don't really appeal to me.

[@joe10117]

heads up not all tittled content streams through as the antenna side dose scan antenna vs streaming at sametime... you ll see

[@fearlessfreep]

I watched an interview once with Dick DeBartolo. He basically made Match Game into the bonkers hit it was. They used to ask very boring, mundane questions and he (in a last ditch effort to generate ratings and save the show) started writing the lewd, suggestive questions it would go on to be known for. Spoiler alert: It worked!!

[@nestofrobins1]

Does this service provide a m3u (or m3u8)?

[@ColoRadio6996]

Lon: Ya, Dicky D was my friend as well.

[@mst4984]

Can you get vh1

[@SFBenjaminK]

NOTHING beats the YTTV having since i cut the cord back in 2017 & Lovin it ...BEST of the BEST piss on the rest ...ya if u in budget this is good & less getting.

[@saraibucciarelli1821]

I love it!

[@ZacBobisKing]

NO LG TV SUPPORT???

[@leek4994]

When Frndly dropped Curiosity Stream recently I dropped them.

[@percival23]

A&E and History ....I'm holding out until they over to pay 10 dollars a month to watch those channels.

[@ericB3444]

The bundle only has the home shopping network and the Mets. This year the Mets are poor.

[@graysonpeddie]

If only KZbin has the ability to translate those non-English comments to English.

[@angeldetierra3855]

Copy & paste to Google Translate.... FYI: Do not waste your time. Most of the comments are rubbish.

[@CommodoreFan64]

If you run Chrome Browser, then right click, and click Translate to English, and it will do it's best to translate the entire page into English.

[@richardroberts2053]

Is it necessary to include "uh" in the transcript?

[@polarvortex6601]

i no longer watch network tevee. the quality of the shows leaves much to be desired. if it wasnt for gaming i would have thrown out my tv long time ago. most of the shows are jut garbage these days

[@PearleenThompson-ie6gb]

I,need,friendly, turned,off

[@fredreed2001]

No way I tried this streaming service and it’s terrible. The DVR that they have is awful. They still haven’t removed that stupid feature 72 hour look back terrible. You should be allowed to watch anything on the DVR any time day or night no time limit. I canceled my subscription with friendly TV because of that limitation with their DVR.

[@Jean0987654321]

A lot of diginets that could be picked up with an antenna but these diginets are in HD which gives this service an advance there