Kelly Arbaugh, a 58-year-old executive assistant for a wealth management firm outside of Philadelphia, was tired of paying $300 a month for internet and cable TV service and this year became one of the thousands of U.S. households that cut the pay-TV cord each month.
But breaking up with your favorite channels is hard to do, so Arbaugh turned to Google for help. “I asked, ‘How can I get the Hallmark Channel and UPtv without cable?’”
The search turned up Frndly TV, a Denver-based streaming service that offers a modest number of channels — including her favorites — starting at $5.99 a month. The name conveyed what Arbaugh was looking for: an inexpensive subscription with “family-friendly” programming that will never earn Emmy nominations or raves from TV critics but soothes her after a long day.
“2020 beat us up really bad in a lot of different ways – personally, financially, career-wise — and I just wanted a break from it all,” said Arbaugh, who relaxes to Hallmark movies — the TV equivalent of a scented candle — and UP’s reruns of the breezy family sitcom “Reba.”
Frndly TV’s founders say the service, launched in October 2019, has nearly 500,000 subscribers. The privately held company does not disclose its finances, but executives said the platform already is…
