There’s a lot of TV content available for free, and in some cases, it is even available without ads. Here are some excellent places to look:
Plex Channels (No Ads)
Plex offers one of the best ways to stream television shows for free. Plex gathers popular TV episodes that are freely published online so you can stream the content to your computer.
Plex is primarily a free media organizer and streamer, it also offers a large number of “plug-ins” that provide television channels from these sources: CBS, ABC, FOX, CNN, Comedy Central, The Food Network, A&E, HGTV, PBS, PBS Kids, The CW, The History Channel, The Lifetime Channel, BBC iPlayer, CBC and others.
If you are in the U.S., you will not be able to see content from the BBC or CBC due to geo-protection. To avoid this, you can use a VPN, which allows you to appear in another country.
Plex has also just introduced a “News” section that offers a variety of news-oriented channels such as Reuters, Associated Press, and Euronews.
Plex does require you to install a Plex server — but this process is reasonably straightforward. Plex is available for many platforms, including Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, AppleTV, Roku, Windows Phone, Android TV, Xbox One, Playstation, Amazon Fire, Web Browsers, Smart TVs, Sonos, Tivo, Windows, Kodi and Amazon Alexa.
Amazon Prime (No Ads With Prime Subscription)
Many people already have an Amazon Prime subscription. Still, it is not widely known that an Amazon Prime membership allows you to stream all the videos on their Included With Prime Amazon Video site. There you will find an extensive collection are recent movies, TV shows, and Prime Original series.
Link: Included With Prime Amazon Video
Digital Television Broadcasts (Contains Ads)
If you live in the US, you are probably in the range of many over-the-air broadcast channels, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW, PBS, and other smaller networks like ION or PBS. You can get most local sports games (depending on your market), local news, and more popular shows. You can see which channels are within range in your zipcode here.
Antennas cost around $60, and the picture quality is usually excellent because you get an unprocessed signal rather than one processed over a cable box. However, you may need to spend some time positioning the antenna in your house.
A DVR (digital video recorder) will accept these digital signals and connect to your network and allow you to watch both live and recorded TV. An internet connection gives DVRs access to all programming information and allows mobile app functionality. Many of these products generate a TV guide for you when channel surfing and setting up recordings, helping you more closely replicate the cable experience.
Here are some DVR services:
- ChannelMaster DVR+: no monthly subscription, two tuners, requires an available hard drive
- HomeWorks HW-150PVR: no monthly subscription (programming schedule doesn’t extend far into the future), one tuner
- Plex just launched a PVR service that looks promising. It is currently only available to Plex Pass members (costing $5 per month or $120 for a lifetime subscription)
- TabloTV – $5/month, $50/year or $150/lifetime, 2 OR 4 tuners, requires additional hardware (an STB like a Roku and storage like an HDD)
- Tivo Roamio – $15/month or $500/lifetime, four tuners
TabloTV and Roamio charge a monthly subscription because they require electronic program guide (EPG) data, which gets sent to the set-top box continuously. This data allows you to schedule recordings for upcoming shows in a series automatically.
You can also make a home theater PC with a tuner card and use Windows Media Center or MythTV to record television.
Free TV Streaming Services
A few sites offer free streaming services; here are some of the more popular ones:
YouTube (Contains Ads But Can Be Blocked)
Youtube has many full-length movies and TV shows. For example, here’s a list of movies available on Youtube.
If you have a suitable YouTube ad-blocker (such as uBlock Origin) you can watch this content ad-free.
PBS (No Ads But Requires Login)
PBS programming can be watched through PBS.com, Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire. Mobile apps are also available. PBS Kids has their app, too.
To use the apps, you may need to log in to PBS. Also, if you watch PBS online this way, you won’t have access to full seasons or older shows, but you should be able to watch most newer episodes once they are available.
Plex has a plug-in for PBS with a reasonable selection of shows.
Amazon bought the streaming rights to many shows on PBS, including Masterpiece, and put them onto their Amazon Prime Video platform for free (as long as you’re a Prime subscriber).
Pluto.TV (Contains Ads)
Pluto.TV offers a selection of TV shows for free. Pluto.TV collections accessible online videos to create “channels.” There are popular sources like Bloomberg Television, MSNBC and RT America. Other channels are created using content from licensed major network programming, online videos, and public domain videos. Examples include humorous videos from Cracked and The Onion, Shout! Factory TV and a Mystery Science Theater 3000.
It is available as a web app on these platforms: Mac and Windows, iOS and Android. It also runs on these streaming devices: AppleTV, Android TV, Amazon Fire Stick, Roku, and PlayStation consoles.
Tubi.TV (Contains Ads)
Tubi.TV provides free content from Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Lionsgate. They have 20,000 television and film videos. It is the most extensive library of accessible media content online. However, content is supported by many commercials.
Twitch.TV and (No Ads)
Twitch.TV is a source of free video content related to video games.
Crackle (Contains Ads)
Sony’s Crackle is still running and features a modest collection of shows mainly in these genres: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Horror, and Sci-fi.
Crackle is available in 21 countries and in three languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Other Free TV Streams
- The CW: Their app/website offers free shows
- HooplaDigital: Free streaming service available at some libraries in the US and CA
- Yahoo View (formerly Hulu Free)
- Vudu Movies On Us
- Go90: includes Vice, Babylon 5, and Fringe, doesn’t require Verizon Wireless, available on PC too
- Go90 Zone – Sports
- Kanopy – Available to students, staff, and faculty at select universities and colleges worldwide: example. Includes Criterion Collection and documentaries.
- Comet: SG-1, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and classic sci-fi movies. Also, Ring of Honor Pro Wrestling.
- Roku Channel: (For Roku users only: ad-supported movies
Is there a way to manually manage Apps on different computers? I’ve done Google & YouTube searches and tried the method that requires a hex editor but it still doesn’t work. Basically, I use a Mac Pro and a MacBook a lot. Sometimes I want to be able to move apps around on the iPad using my MacBook but it’s grayed out. The “manually manage” option is only for music & videos. What about Apps?
Movies4android.com allows you to download or watch pinoy mobile movies for your android phone or any smartphone devices in mp4 format for FREE.
Im confused I want to download movies to my tablet so that I don’t have to stream them online because my dad is really slow where I live. I use wifi at work to download so that I can go home and have it without having to use my data. what site should I go to for that?? and how do I do it> through a computer? or can I so it straight from my tablet??
Most of these options only allow streaming. However, Amazon and YouTube Red allow you to download for offline viewing. Of course iTune purchases and be download. Another grey option is to download from the Usenet.
wondering why Kodi isn’t on the list…
Kodi is great, but similar to Plex.
Thanks for the very good (and ad free) coverage of free sources. This is very helpful for folks like me that want to drop our cable service.
Thanks — I’ll be posting a survey of the live TV streaming services soon. The least expensive service I’ve found so far is Philo.TV at $16 per month (contains no sports channels).