It’s no secret that I love me some Hallmark Channel movies. From Halloween until January 2nd my TV is constantly tuned in to the channel. So, when I cut the cord to our satellite TV subscription years ago, Hallmark Channel was almost a deal breaker for the whole thing. Fortunately for me, last year SlingTV added Hallmark Channel to their lineup, and all was right with the world again. What I really wanted, though, was a standalone Hallmark streaming service.
I’ve kept SlingTV because I really do like the service, but I always try out new streaming services as they become released. I have yet to find one that I like enough to replace SlingTV so far. There are only a few things missing from SlingTV that I would love to have included. One being local network stations, which has now been resolved, and the other being the Olympic channel. YouTubeTV has local networks in my area (Salt Lake City), as does Hulu’s new Live TV service, but both Hulu Live and YouTube TV do not have the Hallmark Channel.
So, when Hallmark Channel announced this month it was releasing its own OTT (over-the-top) Hallmark streaming service channel I was excited at the prospect of what that could mean! I could choose any streaming service I wanted, even if it ends up still being SlingTV, and just use the Hallmark Movies Now app to get my Hallmark Channel fix. Alas, it is not to be, the channel in its current form is terrible.
Does the Hallmark streaming service offer the same content as the channel?
I subscribed to the channel via my Roku, and loaded it up. I tried to find some of the new Fall Harvest movies that Hallmark has been airing the last couple months, and none are to be found. They don’t even have the great TV series’ like When Calls the Heart or Chesapeake Shores. Sure there are some great movies and TV shows available, but not nearly to the point where I could cancel having the actual channel.
The Hallmark streaming service actually takes the place of the old app called Feeln, which offered Hallmark movies. It feels like there is a bigger selection of movies now than when it was called Feeln, but definitely not nearly the amount of movies it should have.
Hallmark also launched a brand new channel to add to its regular channel and the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel called Hallmark Drama. The new channel is currently not available on any streaming service, including SlingTV, but is available through several cable and satellite providers.
I was excited for this service to launch, but am left fairly disappointed. Save your money and stick with a subscription to SlingTV, or DirecTV Now if you want your Hallmark Channel fix. There are several Hallmark Channel streaming options, so be sure to find the right one for you.
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Check out Philo TV. Too bad Hallmark does not get the cord cutting business. Maybe they will offer a service that we who love their channels would love to see. Seems like they would make more money if they sold their channels direct vs. via a 3rd party provider.
I made the mistake of buying the one year plan. Hear on the reasons it isn’t worth buying:
– Content is not very good. The amount of available movies is not very big.
– It is the worst paid app that I have ever kept on my phone. The app frequently crashes. But since I couldn’t watch full screen on my TV using my computer and Chromecast for at least 6 months, I had to use it.
– Search engine is 15 years out of date. Perfect title name or it can’t find it.
– “History” loses movies, so you have no way of finding out if it is what you’ve seen without starting it again. (So many movies are so similar, you can’t keep them straight.)
– One movie is “innocent” and the next has the main characters “sleeping together,” and seemingly everyone is divorced, but there is no way to determine this except by watching.
– Simply put, they are marketing the name and have no respect for their customers. Or they are totally incompetent and clueless.