Hulu,Netflix,Crave,Showmi Choices

 

Hulu allows access to much of their content for free on their desktop computers. This typically includes currently-airing shows and some archival material. However, if you have a cable TV account Hulu will restrict certain content, and require that you connect your cable provider account to Hulu in order to allow you to access that content. Remember: Hulu Plus used to be the branding the company used for the pay services, but in April of 2015 they dropped it to consolidate all of their offerings under the Hulu banner , so keep that in mind if you’re looking to subscribe to what just about everyone still refers to as Hulu Plus.

Netflix provides a massive library of television shows that have already ended, as well as previous seasons of many currently running shows from a broad variety of networks (except HBO, sorry). One note about Netflix’s streaming offerings is that they can change month to month as licensing agreements expire, so a show you’re watching one day might not be available the next.

Netflix is kicking ass on original content and has a massive library for you to binge on. Their tech is solid and ubiquitous across platforms, and only hits snags when demand is huge.

Hulu has one strong advantage, which is currently airing series. There is literally no other streaming media service that offers recent episodes of shows from as many different networks, making it somewhat irreplaceable. However, as media consumption changes and binge-watching becomes more common, that viewing experience might not be as valuable.

It’s also worth noting that there are a few additional players in the streaming media space picking up steam. Amazon Prime has a library rivaling Netflix with the ability to pay to buy or rent movies and shows, along with past seasons on networks Hulu doesn’t cover (like HBO) and original programming (including critical hit Transparent). Yahoo! is also making inroads into the original video space by picking up Community. We’ll wait and see how these efforts pan out.

If the spikes of that deathtrap are closing in on your face and you have to pick just one, we’d go for Netflix, but it’s still not an easy choice.

Crave and Shomi have more HBO and “pay TV” content than Netflix, so if you want to get your HBO fix without subscribing to HBO, these are good services to look at. Crave also has some Amazon content, including the Michael Connelly series Bosch, based on his best-selling novels. Both Shomi and Netflix have a one-month free trial so you can have a marathon viewing session to figure out which one you can’t live without.

Streaming video on your mobile device won’t run up your cellular data use as long as you’re on Wi-Fi. However, if you’re on cellular, watching video can cut into data quickly — make sure you are tracking your data usage if you’re watching streaming video on your phone or tablet.