Budget-friendly streaming pay TV provider Philo is going the route of some others and bundling more SVODs into its packages.
On Tuesday Philo announced an expansion to its paid “Core” package, adding access to the ad-supported tiers of HBO Max and discovery+ as part of customers subscriptions through a new partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery.
But while cheaper than purchasing both SVODs on a standalone basis, the new SVOD access also comes with a corresponding price bump on Philo’s base package.
Available starting today, current Philo Core plan subscribers will get both WBD-owned streaming services at their existing Philo pay TV rate of $28 for one month and then see their bill increase to $33 per month moving forward. New Philo subscribers will be charged $33 per month out of the gate when they sign up for the enhanced package billed through Philo (or pay $38 for subscribers billed through third-party platforms).
The Philo Core package includes more than 70 cable channels, 110 FAST channels, one-year DVR, plus content from AMC+ and now ad-supported subscriptions to HBO Max and discovery+.
Note, legacy-billed Philo plans won’t be forced to upgrade to the new core plan and will keep their price, but those packages will not include the premium SVOD services.
SVOD bundling core to Philo’s future
It’s not the first time Philo has added SVOD access to its skinny virtual MVPD offering. In 2024 it added AMC+ content to its live TV package – which also corresponded with a $3 price increase (Philo’s first in in three years) for new customers.
That deal gave the vMVPD’s subscribers access to the full AMC+ library from within the Philo app, as well as niche streaming libraries of Shudder and Sundance Now (but does not provide access to the standalone AMC+ DTC app via Philo credentials). The deal also added a Walking Dead Universe 24/7 free ad-supported streaming TV channel in front of the subscription paywall.
At the same time in 2024 Philo launched its standalone free streaming FAST offering, featuring over 100 channels, meant to serve as an accessible entry point or “front porch” into the broader Philo ecosystem for those not subscribed to its paid offering.
Those moves go to a few of the company’s strategic efforts, including offering consumers different content options – be it live, FAST, on-demand, or premium content, including appointment TV entertainment available on WBD SVODs - at free and paid price points.
Philo COO Mike Keyserling told StreamTV Insider that “bundled SVOD service are absolutely core to Philo’s future” and that the partnerships with AMC+ and now WBD are examples of the strategy in action. Going forward the company intends to continue to be “strategic and selective” about which premium services it brings into its Core package.
“We're not just adding services to add services,” Keyserling said. “It's about quality and value—finding the partners and content that genuinely enhance what we're already offering, not just checking boxes, while keeping prices at a reasonable rate. The goal is to keep building the best entertainment value in streaming while maintaining that seamless experience our customers expect from Philo.”
The content ingestion question
And while still a little further down the line, the addition of HBO Max and discovery+ also plays into Philo’s work and aim to deliver and position itself as a wallet-friendly streaming provider that brings together various entertainment programming options into an integrated and unified experience for users.
For now, to access HBO Max and discovery+ content, Philo subscribers will still need to go into the respective apps once they’ve activated subscriptions through their Philo account. But by early 2026, Philo promises users will have the ability to watch discovery+ and select HBO content within the Philo app itself (as well as the ability to upgrade to ad-free versions of the apps at that point) – going to its brand ethos of simplicity.
Asked by StreamTV Insider further about plans to ingest SVOD content within the Philo app, company Keyserling explained that starting in 2026 “all discovery+ programming will be available directly within Philo.” But to watch the full HBO Max lineup, including exclusive series and films, customers will need to continue to use the standalone WBD app.
That said, he noted plans for an ad-free upgrade option of HBO Max for Philo subscribers, which includes HBO’s linear channels in the Philo app, as well as accompanying VOD content.
“From a Philo perspective, we’ll do everything we can to make this a tightly integrated experience in the future, which includes search and discovery features, where possible,” Keyserling told StreamTV Insider.
While major pay TV providers – namely cable operator Charter – led the charge on reimagining pay TV packages to include SVODs at no additional cost and has seen early momentum from the strategy, another factor recently brought to light by analysts at LightShed partners is the so-called potential ingestion wars among distributors and programmers.
The situation was raised in a blog by Rich Greenfield around the current carriage dispute between NBCUniversal and YouTube TV – amid which YouTube asserts NBCU is seeking higher payment than what they charge consumers for the same content on Peacock but where the analyst doesn’t think rate fees are necessarily the issue. Instead, he believes it’s more about YouTube TV’s desire to have NBCU content incorporated or ingested within its own app and user experience – driving YouTube TV usage and engagement rather than sending subscribers (and that viewing data) off to a separate DTC app.
“Put yourself in YouTube TV’s shoes,” Greenfield blogged. “Peacock includes the linear feed of NBC and much of the content that airs live and on demand across the NBCU family of channels available on YouTube TV. Despite YouTube TV paying over $10/sub/month for the NBCU suite of channels, it sees Peacock run promos for $25/year (link). Concurrent with the aggressive discounting of overpriced DTC streaming services (relative to content and engagement), programmers are now pushing/adding their streaming services into existing MVPD/vMVPD bundles.”
Asked by StreamTV Insider how important content ingestion within its own app user interface and experience is for Philo as it adds SVOD partners to the lineup, Keyserling affirmed that the vMVPD’s ultimate goal is to deliver a more unified and seamless TV experience for users – something he said that having premium content integrated directly in-app helps provide.
“We realize that success depends on meeting people where they are– which is why we’ve combined the best of linear, free ad-supported, and premium SVODs into the Philo experience,” he noted.
Still, while Philo may want to ingest SVOD content, the COO suggested some partners aren’t quick to allow for access outside of their own DTC apps.
“We do believe having SVOD content fully integrated into the Philo platform is the ideal experience for customers, but we do also understand that certain premium SVODs prefer to keep their content within their own ecosystem,” Keyserling noted.
And in terms of influence over programmers, Philo isn’t exactly in the same position as YouTube TV – sans a tech behemoth giant for a parent and with its significantly smaller vMVPD subscriber base (LightShed estimates YouTube TV has expanded to north of 10 million paid subscribers).
Privately-held Philo, meanwhile, gave a rare update in early 2025, disclosing 1.3 million paid subscribers as of Q4 2024 and $450 million in revenue for 2024. As of March 2025, Philo had 3.4 million monthly active users, including both paid and free.
Philo CFO Julianna Hayes told StreamTV Insider in February that it expects to achieve profitability in 2025 and would be ramping up FAST marketing efforts this year – a free streaming offering that’s being optimized to serve as both an upsell opportunity into paid subscriptions and keep unpaid or paused subscribers engaged with the platform, while also providing an ad revenue stream.
“While adding FAST channels to our Core product has likely contributed to subscriber retention, our standalone FAST service is designed to broaden Philo’s audience and grow our ad-supported revenue streams rather than directly drive paid subscriber growth,” Hayes told StreamTV Insider earlier this year regarding the FAST strategy. “That said, we expect standalone FAST to play a significant role in subscriber growth and profitability in 2025.”