7 free ways to stream TV and movies
A dollar here, $10 there. Streaming services used to be the way to watch what you wanted for much cheaper than cable or satellite. Now? Not so much.
As with everything, what’s old is new again, and more and more folks are ditching paid options for freebies. Sure, you have to put up with ads, but most of today’s streaming services now have those, too!
The most popular free option by far is YouTube. Nielsen says it’s the No. 1 streaming service, with 10.4% of total TV consumption. Netflix comes in second, with 8.4%. Let’s take a closer look at some of the less popular but still great free options out there.
Free TV, please
Pluto TV: Pluto’s owned by Paramount, so you get over 250 free channels, including news, sports and lifestyle options. It’s got a solid selection of old TV shows, plus some movies. It’s also compatible with most streaming devices and platforms, like Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku and PlayStation TV.
Tubi: Tubi gives you over 50,000 movies and TV shows, thanks to content from big studios like MGM, Lionsgate and Paramount. You can watch it on your smartphone, laptop, and pretty much any other streaming or gaming console.
YouTube: You can find thousands of TV show episodes and even feature films on it for free (with ads). Not to mention, creators like MrBeast have full-length, high-production shows that give regular TV a run for its money. And you get my shows for free, too.
The Roku Channel: Get thousands of free movies and TV shows, along with over 350 live channels, on any Roku streaming device, compatible Samsung smart TVs or Amazon Fire TVs, or the Roku app. The content is constantly updated, and they have some surprisingly solid originals, too, like “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” and “The Great American Baking Show.”
Crackle: If British TV is your jam, Crackle might be your best bet. It has a lot of BBC shows, like the sitcom “Peep Show” and comedy-drama series “Shameless,” plus a big library of movies and classic TV series, including “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” The downside? Long ads before and during programming. Bollocks …
Freevee: Freevee is Amazon’s free arm, so you’ll need an Amazon Prime account for this one. But once you’re in, it has thousands of free movies and TV episodes with fewer ads than network TV. It also has some excellent original content, like “Jury Duty,” which was nominated for an Emmy last year and is wet-your-pants funny.
Kanopy: This one’s my ringer. Kanopy lets you watch thousands of films completely ad-free using your public library card. They have a great selection of classic, critically acclaimed and foreign films. Stream ‘em on your phone, tablet or almost any other TV streaming device, including Apple TV, Roku and Chromecast.
🥊 I’ve decided to stream all the Sylvester Stallone movies. Unfortunately, I’m off to a “Rocky” start. (Yeah, you can use that one without giving me credit!)
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Tags: Amazon, Android, Apple, network, streaming services, YouTube
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