Cox Preferred TV Plus Cable TV Review & Channel Lineup

Preferred Plus TV includes 140 local and cable channels. It also includes all 30 of their premium channels. This plan will cost you $118 a month, and each channel costs $0.69. Discounts for their premium channels end in 1 year and makes the plan $145 monthly. It’s best for homes with 4 or less people who want premium channels.

While searching for the perfect home TV plan, I found Cox Preferred TV Plus. I grouped information from various sources to help you determine whether it’s worth getting.

Here’s what I’ll cover:

Let’s dig in.

Cox Preferred TV Plus Pros and Cons

Cox Preferred TV has advantages and disadvantages in these realms:

Pros:

  • Discounted premium channels for 12 months
  • Free Starter DVR service (for a bit)
  • 50 commercial-free music channels
  • Voice Remote is useful

Cons:

  • 20% increase in price after 12 months
  • Contour TV app doesn’t offer support to many devices

Disclaimer:

This plan’s price will vary based on your location. Because the price I’ll mention doesn’t include additional fees or taxes.




What Is Cox Preferred TV Plus?

Cox TV Preferred Plus is Cox’s contract-free cable TV plan that includes more than 170 channels. These include a mix of premium, local TV, and cable channels.

Plus extends upon Preferred’s offerings by giving you access to all the secondary channels under Cox’s premium channels. These channels include EPIX, SHOWTIME, HBO, CINEMAX, and STARZ.

Here are the features you’ll find with Preferred TV Plus:

  • 1 Contour HD box for free
  • Add-on channel packages
  • Standard DVR service for free: lasts for a year
  • 50 music channels that don’t have commercials
  • Voice Remote: I’ll provide details later
  • An app you can use to stream select channels

Let’s figure out whether this plan’s worth getting.

Who Is Cox Preferred TV Plus Best For?

Cox Preferred TV Plus is best for homes with 4 or fewer people who want discounted premium channels.

You’ll get every secondary channel that comes with the premium channels I mentioned earlier. And a means to watch all your channels simultaneously on up to 3 laptops, tablets, or smartphones.

Then you get the 1 free Contour HD box. And if you want more than 4 boxes, the plan’s value diminishes. Because you’ll need to pay $8.50 per additional box you rent.

Or $6.00 per third-party box you use.




How Much Does Cox Preferred TV Plus TV Cost?

Cox TV Preferred TV plus costs $118 a month for the first 12 months. That’s $0.69 per channel. Upon passing this number of months, you’ll pay $145 a month.

These prices don’t account for other fees (i.e., regional sports fee) or sales tax. But you’ll get 1 free TV box. Additional television fees will cost $8.50 each.

Keep reading to find more in-depth pricing.

Cox Preferred Plus TV Hidden Fees

Hidden fees for Cox Contour Preferred Plus TV include:

Fee TypePrice
Professional installationVaries by package and region
Canceled appointment fee$100
Broadcast surcharge$19/mo.
Regional sports surchargeUp to $5.00–$12.50/mo.
Late payment fee$8.35
Returned check feeUp to $25
Credit card denied feeUp to $25
Collection feeUp to $25
Reconnection fee$20 per service
Contour HD Box$8.50/mo. each (1st box included)
CableCARD$6.00/mo. each

Cox Preferred TV Plus hidden fees.

Earlier I mentioned using your own cable box and paying $6.00 a month. That’s the CableCARD. It’s a card you insert into your third-party device to use Cox’s television services.

Only use this option if you want more than 1 cable box in your home and use your own.

Your plan comes with a free Contour HD box. So you won’t save money by replacing the included box with a third-party device.

As for the regional sports and broadcast fees. You can’t avoid them. And their prices will vary based on your location.

Cox Contour Preferred TV Plus Channel Lineup

You’ll find the following channels with Cox Preferred Plus TV [1]:

On DemandCMT
CBSMoviePlex
TNTHallmark Channel
NBCHallmark movies & mysteries
CWGSN
INDFXX
ABCFox Business
IONGolf Channel
INDBally Sports
PBSNewsmax
FOXTUDN
FOX HDPAC 12 Network
CNNInvestigation Discovery
ESPNQVC3
ESPN2Bounce TV
FXC-SPAN
FreeformPublic Access (96)
Disney ChannelJewelry TV
Discovery ChannelG4
USA NetworkSpectrum News 1
Azteca AmericaNick Jr.
MeTVNational Geographic
INDLeased Access
TBCShopHQ
TCMHSN 2
C-SPAN2POP
Public Access (30)C-SPAN3
Public Access (31)HSN
UnivisionJustice Central
QVC+Recipe TV
TelemundoComedy.TV
HSNJewish Life TV
HSN HDMTV Live
Public Access (39)MotorTrend
TBNLocalish
Estrella TVQVC
UniMásBYUtv
msnbcEWTN
CNBCDaystar
Fox NewsINSP
GalavisiónImpact Network
BETAspire
MTVtheGrio
VH1IFC
The Weather ChannelSundance
Paramount NetworkFox Sports 2
Travel ChannelUniversal Kids
TLCGreat American Family
BravoNick Jr.
Food NetworkWE tv
HGTVHistory
LifetimeBally Sports
E!Spectrum Sportsnet HD
Comedy CentralAMC
SyfyA&E
NickelodeonNewsNation
Cartoon NetworkTV Land
Animal PlanetFox Sports 1

Cox TV Preferred Plus channel lineup.

This lineup doesn’t include the 50 music channels included in every Cox plan. It also doesn’t include local or premium channels.

To get the most accurate channel lineup, type cox.com/residential/tv/channel-lineup.html into your address bar and enter your ZIP code.

Cox TV Preferred Plus Premium Channel Lineup

Here are all the secondary and primary premium channels you’ll get with Preferred TV Plus:

HBOHBO 2HBO SignatureHBO Family
HBO ComedyHBO ZoneHBO Signature (East)HBO (East)
HBO 2 (East)HBO LatinoCinemaxMore MAX
Action MAX (East)Thriller MAXAction MAXCinemax (East)
More MAX (East)Movie MAXCinemáx Outer MAX
Star MAXPlayboyPlayboy en EspañolSHOWTIME
SHOW*BETSHOWTIME ExtremeSHOWTIME ShowcaseSHOWTIME 2
SHOWTIME WomenSHOWTIME NextThe Movie ChannelStarz
SHOWTIME Family ZoneTMC ExtraThe Movie Channel (East)Starz (West)
Starz Edge EastStarz in Black (East)Starz (East)Starz Kids & Family
Starz CinemaStarz ComedyStarz EdgeStarz in Black
AMC+EPIX HitsEPIXEPIX2
EPIX Drive-in

Cox Premium channel lineup.

Cox Preferred Plus Sports Channels

Unlike Ultimate TV, Preferred Plus doesn’t give you any free sports packages. You’ll need to pay these rates for the various sports packs:

PackagePrice
Sports Pack 2$20/mo.
NFL RedZone$44.99 (one-time)
MLB Extra Innings$26.99 (one-time)
MLS Direct Kick$89 (one-time)
NHL Center Ice$69.99 (one-time)
NBA League Pass* Season ended

Cox Preferred Plus sports packages.

* 2022–2023 season will begin October 18th, 2022 [2].

Season availability on every package (except Sports Pack 2) will vary. Check their sports page to see whether the package you want is in-season.

Cox Preferred TV Plus Add-ons

Here are options Cox offers to customize your channel package:

Add-on or PackagePrice
Latino Pack$10.00/mo.
International Channels$8.50/mo.
Sports & Info Pack$10/mo.
Sports Pack 2$10/mo.
Movie Pack$12/mo.
Variety Pack$12/mo.
Essential DVR Service$10.00/mo. for 12 months
Preferred DVR Service$20.00/mo.
Ultimate DVR Service$30.00/mo.

List of service and channel add-ons for Cox.

Cox’s DVR services include:

DVR ServicePriceSimultaneous RecordingsHours of HD Video Storage
Essential DVR Service$13.50/mo.2250
Preferred DVR Service$20/mo.6250
Ultimate DVR Service$30/mo.241,000

Cox DVR services compared.

“Simultaneous Recordings” refers to the number of shows you can record at once. For instance, you could record a show on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon during the same time slow (e.g., 9:00 pm–9:30 pm).

Each of Cox’s channel packages have at least 10 or more channels. I’ve condensed them in a separate piece. Check them out to see whether they’re worth adding to your plan.

Cox Preferred TV Plus Availability

You can get Cox Preferred TV Plus in 624 areas spread throughout the following 19 states:

ArkansasArizonaCaliforniaConnecticut
FloridaGeorgiaIowaIdaho
KansasLouisianaMassachusettsMissouri
North CarolinaNebraskaNevadaOhio
OklahomaRhode IslandVirginia

States where you can get Cox Communications TV services.

To find the 624 areas they support, follow this link and click on your state. From there, you can check the page to see whether they support your city.

Cox Preferred TV Plus Installation Process

Order your Cox Preferred TV Plus service online and receive your self-installation kit. While waiting for your kit, you can watch TV on the Contour TV app.

Upon receiving your kit (about a day later), connect the Contour HD box to your wall’s coaxial and power outlets. Finally, power on your TV and program your remote.

I’ve included the Cox remote codes in a separate guide.

How would you install a third-party DVR with Cox?

Type cox.com/install into your browser’s address bar and follow the prompts that appear. If you encounter issues, call 800-234-3993 and tell them you want to install a third-party DVR.

Anyway. What do you do to install the 4K Contour Streaming Player?

Plug it in, power it on, and follow the on-screen prompts.

Now you can watch streaming apps on your TV.

Cox Preferred TV Plus vs. Other Cox Contour TV Plans

Let’s compare Preferred TV Plus to other Contour plans:

PlanChannelsPricePrice Per Channel
Contour TV Starter75+$53/mo.$0.71
Contour TV Preferred140+$98/mo.$0.70
Contour TV Preferred Plus170+$118/mo.$0.69
Contour TV Ultimate250+$138/mo.$0.55
Contour StreamingNA$5.00/mo.NA

Cox TV contour plans compared.

It’s challenging to recommend TV Preferred Plus over Ultimate TV because Ultimate’s price apparently doesn’t increase after a year.

Yet Preferred Plus’ does.

Ultimate TV includes everything Preferred Plus has, sports channels, and the Variety and Movie Channel packages.

I suppose Preferred Plus gives you the means to test Cox’s premium channels. Determine whether your home would actually watch them.

Plus, these plans have no cancellation fees. So if you don’t want to commit, you can just cancel.

Streaming Only would give you a 4K streaming box for $5.00 monthly. So if you don’t have enough money to get a Roku Express 4K+, you could use this plan in the meantime.

Cox’s basic local television plan (Starter) works for anyone wanting to save money. And Preferred offers every local and cable TV channel.

Whatever plan you choose depends on your household’s preferences.

Cox Preferred TV Plus vs. The Competition

Here’s what happens when you compare Preferred TV Plus to competing plans:

PlanChannelsPricePrice Per Channel
Contour TV Preferred Plus170+$118/mo.$0.69
Dish America’s Top 120190$69.99/mo.$0.36
DirecTV Choice (Satellite)200+$69.99/mo.$0.34
Xfinity Ultimate/Preferred185+$88.50/mo.$0.47

Television plans compared.

TV Preferred Plus offers the most value Premium channels. Instead of having to add them to your subscription at a higher rate. A pricing strategy most other providers use.

It looks like Preferred Plus charges an exorbitant rate per channel.

Consider this first.

DirecTV’s price increases to $124 monthly after 2 years. So you have to deal with potentially losing your television signal when it rains, AND you pay more per channel. The former weakness stems from the fact that DirecTV’s satellite TV.

Dish’s price increases to $104 a month, but you don’t get any premium channels.

Dish and DirecTV offer the best options for anyone living in rural areas [3]. Since satellite internet provides the most coverage among TV service types.

To get more reliability and availability, Xfinity Comcast offers plenty of it. But it only gives you HBO and SHOWTIME free if you bundle Comcast TV with their home internet services.

Preferred Plus serves a purpose. To give you discounted Premium channels. No other television service provider can beat that at the moment.

I’ve covered the overlapping supported regions of all these providers in a separate post. It would take too long to read if I posted them all here.

FAQs: Cox Preferred TV Plus

Let’s explore frequently asked questions about Cox’s Preferred TV Plus plan.

Are Any Discounts Available for Cox Preferred TV Plus?

If you get Cox Preferred TV Plus before September 26th, 2022, you can save $27 on your television plan for the first year [4].

What Is The Best Alternative to Cox Cable TV?

Xfinity is the best option regarding availability. Meanwhile, Verizon Fios TV is the best alternative for price and reliability.

Does Cox Preferred TV Plus Require a Contract?

Cox Preferred TV Plus doesn’t require a contract.

Will I Get a Discount When Bundling Cox TV Preferred Plus With Other Services?

Cox will not give you a discount if you bundle Cox TV Preferred Plus with their home internet, landline, or home security services.

Conclusion

Cox Preferred TV Plus gives customers cable, local, and premium channels for a decent price. If you don’t want premium channels, there’s no reason to get this plan.

You’ll either want to search for different Cox home TV plans or compare alternatives. We’ve made research a lot easier by comparing their competitors. Check out our findings.




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