5 sites to get free TV without any streaming costs

January 4, 2024

By Kim Komando

“Don’t touch that dial,” or at least that’s what they don’t want you to do. With the ever-expanding landscape of digital streaming services, finding excellent and affordable ones is getting harder and harder.

The game used to be dominated by our cable providers, and following that, everything became about digital streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.

But when the services pop up everywhere, it becomes a game to see who can tag that hard-earned wallet. Not to mention, streaming is the standard to watch our programming today on our computers, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, streaming media players or sticks.

What if you had alternatives that wouldn’t break the bank with the affordability of being absolutely free?

1. Crackle

Crackle is a free-to-use video entertainment network with quite a few full-length movies, TV shows from several decades and original programming.

• It breaks down the content into multiple categories such as Spotlights, Originals, Action, Drama, Comedy, Fandom, Thriller, Icons, Anime, Trending and many others.
• It can be connected to a large variety of platforms such as TVs, mobile devices, set-top boxes, gaming consoles, and online.
• The service is ad-supported to allow it to continue to be free and offers no offline viewing options.

2. Tubi

Tubi streams more than 12,000 titles, including movies and TV shows. Affiliated studios include Paramount, Lionsgate, MGM and more.

• Includes thousands of movies and TV show options for free.
• Stream anywhere on smartphones, Android, iOS, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Xfinity X1, Xbox, Samsung Smart TVs, Sony Smart TVs, PlayStation and the web.
• Includes content from a plethora of other sources for kids of all ages and content that’s not streamed anywhere else.
• Tubi is supported by advertisements during shows.
• Highlights a section called “Not on Netflix,” “Leaving Soon!” and, for those Rotten Tomatoes fans, a “Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes” section.

3. Pluto TV

Pluto TV is owned by Viacom and runs over 100 free channels, from old TV shows to movies to a (limited) selection of sports.

• It runs on Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku and PlayStation.
• Channels include CBS News, Food TV, NBC, Crime Network and more.
• Apps are available for Apple and Android devices.
• Shows include ads.

4. YouTube

YouTube began as a platform for people to upload and display their own videos. That feature remains, but the site now offers videos and some live TV from major partners, like CBS, BBC and others.

• This is a mixture, as some films are free if you can find them, while others are at a premium.
• Video quality can vary based on the program. Meaning you could see 480p, 720p, or 1080p resolutions.
• Unfortunately, there is no way to filter the content by genre, free, paid and can be difficult to find what you’re looking for.
• When searching and finding what you are looking for, your best bet is looking for content with high view counts and subscriptions to the content.

5. Fandago at Home (formerly Vudu)

Fandango at Home delivers full-length movies and TV for free but offers more content in subscriptions.

• Programs are thoughtfully labeled with the text in a nice red highlight if they’re Free and with Ads.
• The profiles provided on a particular film give you a breakdown of the description of the media, MPAA score, Rotten Tomatoes (RT) scoring if it has closed captions, length of the content, a trailer, cast and crew information, and full RT Reviews.
• Content available for free with ads can also be rented and bought digitally for a cost.

Bonus: Watch your favorite local TV channels in HD for free

So maybe you don’t want to “Touch that Dial,” but you could use a cheaper alternative for your favorite local cable channels at a one-time cost. The younger generation may or may not be aware that adding an antenna to your TV can still give you that cable vibe, but it’s free as it was in the days before cable television.

A good antenna you can purchase on Amazon is an HD digital TV antenna that can give you that HD picture on new and old TVs. It will allow you to pick up those digital TV signals in the airwaves and bring you a variety of channels with no monthly bill to pay.

We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.