Recently, we shared a comparison of some inexpensive streaming services to help cord cutters keep costs low. Now, we’re back to help you save even more money by sharing some of the best free streaming services available to cord cutters: Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, XUMO TV, Tubi, and Crackle.
With over 200 channels currently available, Pluto TV has a good selection of content for cord cutters. And, with a grid guide, it also provides the feeling of channel surfing that many former cable customers are looking for.
Pluto TV has a unique lineup of channels that are divided into categories like News, Sports, and Entertainment. In those categories, you’ll find live news coverage, sports highlights, classic TV, and newer movies.
Pluto TV has also been adding many new, dedicated channels over the past few months. In the Binge Watch category, you’ll find a channel to watch Dog the Bounty Hunter 24/7 for example, and in the Kids sections you can watch Dora the Explorer all day, every day.
The Roku Channel is an ad-supported streaming service with both live and on-demand content. Roku users know that the company has a user-friendly interface and that carries over to The Roku Channel.
Look for free content from channels like Stadium, FilmRise, ABC News, Cheddar, and WeatherNation.
Through The Roku Channel, you’ll also have the option to subscribe to premium channels including HBO, Starz, and Showtime. Those subscriptions come with a monthly fee, but once subscribed, you can watch through your Roku Channel app.
The Roku Channel is easy to use for those with a Roku device, but it’s also available on other streaming devices. Just use the web browser available on your device and visit The Roku Channel website to stream.
XUMO is a free streaming service with over 160 channels that include music, news, sports, and entertainment. XUMO is completely free to watch and stream from any device. The service is ad-supported.
XUMO has over 160 channels. The lineup varies slightly depending on whether you’re watching with Channel Plus, Smart TVs & Roku, or on mobile. Look for channels like Dove Channel, Kid Genius, This Old House, Glamour, bon appetit, and FilmRise.
XUMO makes it easy to browse linear and on-demand content, pause and rewind while watching, and tailor your viewing experience based on what you love to watch.
Tubi right now offers access to over 15,000 movies and television series totaling more than 44,000 hours of content available completely free to consumers from over 200 content partners including major studios such as Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, MGM, Lionsgate, and others.
This free streaming service has been growing quickly and consistently adding new content to its lineup. Recently, Tubi announced that they had surpassed 20 million monthly active users.
Sony Crackle is a free to use video entertainment network featuring full length movies, TV shows and original programming. Sign up for free to get access to a library of on-demand content. Scroll through categories, listed as channels, including Spotlight Channel, Fandom Channel, and Crackle Originals Channel.
Recently, this free streaming service was sold to Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. With that sale, the intention was to change the name to Crackle Plus. Unfortunately for the company, the domain name for the website was already taken (with the owner asking for a large amount in exchange for the name.) For now, it looks like Crackle content is remaining on the Sony Crackle website.
Bonus: IMDb TV
Amazon recently launched a free ad-supported streaming service called IMDb TV. It comes with all Fire TV devices and can be found in the Prime Video app on many devices.
These are just a few of the free services available to cord cutters. Be sure to look through the free sections of the Roku Channel Store, Fire TV apps, Apple App Store, or Google Play Store to discover more free apps like CBS News, NewsON, and WeatherNation.
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