If you’re hunting for a low-cost live TV bundle that won’t flood your living room with edgy reality shows or late-night gore, Frndly TV is probably already on your radar.
You get a curated, feel-good lineup built around Hallmark, A&E/HISTORY/Lifetime, Great American Family, classic TV diginets, The Weather Channel, and so on.
In this Frndly TV review, you’ll learn exactly what you’re getting, what you’re not, and more.
1. Frndly TV available locations and compatible devices
First, geography: you can only stream Frndly TV in the United States. If you travel abroad, shows won’t play because of content rights, even if you signed up in the U.S.
On devices, Frndly covers the major living room and mobile platforms. They include:
- Roku boxes or sticks
- Amazon Fire TV
- Apple TV but 4th gen and above
- Google TV/Android TV
- Chromecast
- Recent Samsung and VIZIO smart TVs
- Modern web browsers. Some include Chrome, Brave, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
- Mobile devices on iOS and Android.
2. Frndly TV review on channels and the kind of content you’ll watch
Frndly markets “50+ feel-good” channels. These span comfort TV, wholesome movies, light unscripted, weather, westerns, and nostalgia. Expect the following lineup plus more:
- Hallmark Channel
- Hallmark Mystery
- Hallmark Family
- A&E
- The HISTORY Channel
- Spirit of the Heart Land
- Start TV
- Lifetime and LMN
- The Weather Channel
- Great American Family
- Great American Living
- INSP
- UPtv
- Catchy Comedy
- getTV
- Heroes & Icons
- Movies!
- FETV
- Grit
- Dove Channel
- Dove Family Movies
- Military History
- Outdoor Channel
- PixL
- Pursuit Channel
- QVC
- Reelz
- Stingray Music stations
- Family Movie Classics
- FYI
- Game Show Network
Once again, the above is just a snapshot of 50 channels. Also, the provider regularly tweaks the lineup and has even added new diginets like MeTV Toons through broader carriage deals announced industry-wide.
Frndly’s app structure gives you three main ways to watch a given show or movie:
- Live channel: The linear feed with normal ad breaks, just like cable.
- 72-Hour Look Back: A rolling buffer that lets you jump back up to three days and watch from the program guide.
- On Demand: Some titles remain for months; others rotate weekly depending on licensing. Unlike Look Back, which expires after three days, On Demand acts more like a catch-up vault. There are episodes from the current season of ongoing shows and a curated selection of past titles.
3. Pricing and plans
Currently, Frndly offers three monthly plans: Basic, Classic, and Premium. The differences are video quality, number of simultaneous streams, and DVR retention. Here is a breakdown:
- Basic: Priced at $8.99 per month and gives you 1 stream, SD video, and no DVR. Best only if you’re truly solo and okay with lower resolution.
- Classic: Costs $10.99 per month for 2 streams, HD video, unlimited DVR with 3-month retention. This is the sweet spot for most households.
- Premium: At $12.99, you can watch on 4 devices simultaneously. You also get HD video and unlimited DVR with a 9-month retention period. Choose this if you share with several family members or want a longer DVR life.
There’s a 7-day free trial, and you will also see an annual option that saves more than 15% compared to paying monthly. Prices can change, but these are the current official numbers on Frndly’s plan pages.
The platform also sells optional add-ons billed through your Frndly account. They vary, for example, there are add-ons for Hallmark+, Lifetime Movie Club, HISTORY Vault, Great American Pure Flix, and A&E Crime Central.
So if you love a particular library, you can bulk it up without leaving the app.
4. DVR, downloads, and ads
Frndly’s cloud DVR is unlimited, but the retention window is what matters. Classic plan retains recordings for 3 months, Premium for 9 months, and Basic has no DVR at all. You can schedule from the guide, record single episodes, or all future airings.
Also, many channels on Frndly TV allow you to record shows that have already aired within the 72-hour Look Back window. That makes it hard to miss something you forgot to queue.
As for advertisements, Live TV carries the same commercial breaks you’d see with cable or satellite. On-demand libraries sometimes drop the ads, but not always. One way around these is to use a DVR + fast-forward to skip them when allowed by the channel.
One more nuance you should know exists in the fine print is limited downloads. Frndly’s Terms mention that temporary downloads for offline viewing may be available on specific devices, depending on your service offering.
Frndly is a live-TV-first service, so don’t expect downloads everywhere, but it’s a capability the company reserves, and you could see it in limited contexts or future rollouts.
5. Frndly TV review for locals, mainstream sports, and news
Frndly does not aim to replace cable top-to-bottom. Local broadcast stations like ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, and so on are not broadly included.
The platform rolled out a select-market local-station program in 2024, but unless you live in one of those areas, you shouldn’t expect locals in your guide. If you need locals for news or the NFL, you’ll need an antenna or a different live bundle.
Mainstream sports networks like ESPN, FS1, and regional sports aren’t part of the offering either. Frndly’s channel strategy is intentionally “feel-good” and family-centric. If Saturday means college football or mid-week means NBA/NHL, you’ll want to pair Frndly with another service just for sports.
Who Frndly TV is for and who should skip
If your household leans toward comfort viewing and you don’t care about ESPN or local stations in your streaming app, Frndly is a terrific value.
The Classic plan’s two streams and 3-month unlimited DVR cover most family scenarios, and the 72-hour Look Back is genuinely helpful when you forget to set a recording.
If you want a one-stop cable replacement with locals and live sports, Frndly isn’t designed for that. You’ll need to pair it with an antenna for locals and a separate sports streamer for games.