Cox Cable TV Review

Cox does give you the opportunity for a customized home, but Cox’s pricing is at least $20 more than the competition.

On the upside, Cox’s Contour TV Starter plan with local channels is only $61 for 75+ channels, which is cheaper than what you’d get with a live TV streaming service. But those 75+ channels do include 50 Music Choice channels, whereas live TV streaming services include only popular channels.

When you upgrade to Cox’s Preferred plan, you will have access to TV channels like ESPN, Food Network, Disney Channel, and MSNBC. We recommend this plan if you’d like the perfect channel variety for the family.

Upgrading to Cox's Preferred Plus plan will grant you access to premium channels such as Max, STARZ, Cinemax, and Paramount+ with SHOWTIME®.

And lastly, Cox’s Ultimate plan gives you the same premium channels as the Preferred plans as well as the Sports-channel pack and Movie Pack, which will get you MGM+.

Keep in mind that no matter which plan you choose, Cox allows you to add on more channel packs and premium channels for a more customizable package (more on that below).

Since you may be locked into a one-year contract with Cox, you’ll be happy to know that after promotional pricing ends, your price won’t increase at all.

Cox Cable TV plans come with the standard fees:

• Broadcast fee: $13.50/mo.
• Regional sports fee: up to $10.00/mo.

But depending on which standalone live TV package you get from Cox, you’ll face different additional fees.

Set-top box fees:

• Contour HD Box: $8.50/mo. 
• CableCARD: $6.00/mo.

Not only do you have to pay monthly for renting the set-top box, but you'll also have to pay a monthly price for the DVR service (unfortunately, these charges are normal with most TV providers).

Cox's DVR service fees:

• Essential DVR service: $13.50/mo.
• Preferred DVR service: $20.00/mo.
• Ultimate DVR service: $30.00/mo.

You can find more information about the set-top box and DVR services in the equipment section, but this gives you an idea of how much extra you'll need to add to your monthly bill.

The Starter package gives you the "local channels." Preferred is the average package with "local channels and basic cable TV channels" and Preferred Plus is the above-average package with "local and cable channels, including premium channels." And you'll get "local and cable channels including premium channels and channel packs" with the Ultimate package.

With that said, let's see which personality attracts you the most.

Cox's Contour TV Starter includes the following channels in its lineup:

Cox's Contour TV Preferred includes all of the above and the following:

Cox's Contour TV Ultimate includes all of the above and the following:

With Cox TV, you'll get the option to add five premium channels and five channel packs.

When you order the Preferred Plus plan, you'll get Max, STARZ, and Paramount+ with SHOWTIME® in your channel lineup.

When you upgrade to Ultimate, you can get all five premium channels and every channel pack.

But if you'd prefer the Contour TV Starter or Preferred plans, check out the table below to see how much you'll need to budget.

The channel packs are only available if you order the Contour TV Preferred package or above, so here's a little break down:

• Sports and Info Pack: This pack gives you about 19 sports channels, including ESPNU, ACCN, Tennis Channel, FOX Deportes, and Big Ten Network.
• Sports Pack 2: Get about 12 more sports channels, including the NFL RedZone Channel, MLB Network, NBA TV, and Longhorn Network.
• Movie Pack: Spruce up your TV service with 14 movie channels from MGM+, STARZ, and FX Movie Channel.
• Variety Pack: This pack is for everyone in the family. The 33 channels in this pack include Nicktoons, Disney Jr., Disney XD, BBC America, The Cooking Channel, and Boomerang.
• Latino Pack: Good news for you and your abuelita: you'll get 38 Spanish-language channels with this pack. Enjoy Galavisión, NBC Universo, FOX Deportes, Cine Latino, Univision Telnovelas, and CNN en Español.

Your set-top box will require two fees: the monthly fee for renting the actual box and a DVR service fee (which, unfortunately, is normal with TV providers).

A Contour HD box is included with every TV plan, and this set-top box gives you access to on-demand content and streaming apps. Not only is it convenient to have everything in one place, but you'll also get a voice remote to make your TV experience smoother.

Now, for the DVR service. This is where you'll have to predict how often you and the family will be recording live games, daily or weekly TV shows, and movies.

The Essential and Preferred DVR service gives you 250 hours of DVR storage space. But Essential only lets you record two shows at once while Preferred lets you record six.

We're not really sure which household would record 24 shows or movies at once, but Cox makes it possible. The Ultimate DVR service will also give you 1,000 HD hours of DVR storage.

Download the Contour TV app in Google Play or the Apple Store to watch all of your on-demand content! We know we like to use streaming apps to distract our kids while we're busy on the phone, or to distract ourselves when we're waiting in a super long line.

Cox TV has a checkout experience that gives you a service tailored to you. 

Out of the four TV plans Cox offers, we recommend the Preferred plan ($115) because it has an excellent channel variety to make everyone in the family happy without breaking the bank too much. You can also get a set-top box for everyone in the family and 1,000 hours of DVR storage space to share.

Although Cox has TV packages to suit everyone, Cox is considered the priciest cable TV provider in the industry. It's worth the price if you live in one of the 19 areas of the US Cox offers its services and if you'd like the simplicity of bundling TV, internet, smart home automation, and mobile services in one.

If you're not sure Cox TV is the one for you and your home, check out Best Cable TV Providers of 2023 or Cheapest Cable TV Providers.