I wanted to continue watch The Walking Dead and other AMC shows, so I looked for a service offering that along with other channels I might like to watch on occasion.
I ordered a FireTV Stick mainly to make my "dumb' 55" Sony LCD TV "smarter". My other 2 TVs upstairs have built-in apps. The Sony in my living room does not.
I had a ROKU long ago, but the services and apps stopped delivering what I was interested in. It's nice to watch Netflix and other movie services without needing a game system hooked up.
I also had a PS3 and Wii, which offered Netflix access. The MS XBox did, too, **IF** you had their gold club membership that required annual renewals.
So, basically, any game system you have can do most of the streaming people want if you get the right apps. Roku raised their prices as demand increased, but you can get a free or reduced-price Roku unit with some streaming service subscriptions now.
Apple TV is another option, though I'm not sure they've remained competitive. Google has their Chromecast. A co-worker bought one a couple of years ago and liked it.
Many people prefer a Home Theater PC setup. They can store and play movies and games from disk, stream pretty much anything, and even use it as a DVR.
Here's a comparison between Amazon's Fire TV Stick, Google's Chromecast and the ROKU Stick.
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/fire-tv-chromecast-roku-face-off,review-4855.htmlBasically, if you have a smart TV, you may have 80% of what you want to stream covered if you get the right apps. These other device makers are partnering with streaming service providers. If you go to SlingTV or Hulu, they show what devices they work with. Almost every service has a PC, Mac, iOS and Android app available, so you can watch the service on a computer, tablet or phone with no extra hardware.
So, basically, step 1 is decide on your requirements (channels, content, what you watch most often, etc).
2. Then find what subscription services offer those channels.
3. Compare package prices and costs.
4. Often you can get a free trial period. That can be useful in determining how happy you are with the service AND if your devices are compatible.
5. Don't limit yourself to just one provider that offers 100% of what you want. You might find that one less expensive plan service offers most of it, and you can subscribe to one or two specific channels separately and save over the larger plan.
I have SlingTV running on FireTV Sticks, my PC, SmartPhone, etc. I also subscribe to CBS All Access, since I like their TV line-up best. I subscribe to Lowder with Crowder on Blaze TV, and to Amazon's Music. That's all I pay monthly/annually.
I also have an AirTV device that uses one antenna for Over-The-Air (OTA) channels. I get all the local digital channels tuned to that box, then streamed to my SlingTV apps. I can watch, say, Hawaii News Now on any TV in the house with SlingTV access and on any other device running the SlingTV app -- whether I'm at home or not. That's a cool feature, watching broadcast TV being received at my house and able to be watched anywhere I have Internet access.
I'd add that if you have Amazon Prime and/or an Amazon Echo, Fire TV offers much more integration than many other streaming devices. Amazon offers many movies and series not on Netflix or before Netflix gets them. I can see my Ring security camera & doorbell by telling Alexa to display "Front Door" or "Back yard". If you like the convenience of voice recognition, having a TV and Echo linked is great. Of course, the Fire TV remote has a mic so you can give Alexa commands that way without an Echo. But, you have to have the remote handy and press the mic button.
I've gotten to where I use YouTube mostly, then either Netflix, Prime, other free movie services on my Fire TV or my home movie library for entertainment. When I watch OTA stations, it's mainly news or a TV series I'm into.
No matter what you choose, you'll need an Internet Service Provider. Spectrum rod Runner's 300Mbps service has been best for my needs.I pay about half what I used to for Cable TV + Road Runner after increasing the network speed. That's about $70 less per month, or $840/year. You can pay for SlingTV at $25/month ($300/year), 2 @ $100/year individual subscriptions, and still save $340/year while sticking it to the big cable organizations like CNN.
Lots of cable cutting sites around to help with comparisons, options and recommendations.
https://www.cordcutters.com/