Gone are the days of driving to Blockbuster, paying late fees, or digging out our membership cards. Streaming video has largely erased that way of life, although there is one last Blockbuster store standing. This year alone, those options will expand to AT&T, Warner Media, and IMDB streaming services. Disney+ will soon transmit the entire Mickey Mouse, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars universe to your screen. AppleTV+ will release never-before-seen original TV series. But that’s not why you’re here, reading my column. You’re looking for free content that you can stream on demand. Here are five streaming services that we’ve been, well, watching.
1. Sony Crackle
Sony Crackle is owned by Sony, of course, so it hosts a lot of Sony original content, plus programs and movies from other companies.
It’s a free service to watch some of your favorite TV shows, original programming, and movies.It breaks down the content into multiple categories such as spotlights, originals, action, drama, comedy, fandom, thriller, icons, anime, trending and a plethora of other categories.Crackle can be connected to a large variety of platforms such as TVs, mobile device, 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.
3. 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 or free versus paid, so it can be challenging 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.
Shameless plug. You can watch my television show on YouTube. Here’s a link to the latest episode.
4. Pluto TV
Pluto TV is owned by Viacom and runs more than 100 free channels, from old TV shows to movies to a (limited) selection of sports.
5. Vudu
Vudu delivers full-length movies and TV for free but offers more content in subscriptions.
Free programs are thoughtfully labeled with the text in a subtle red highlight if they’re free and with ads.The profiles provided on a particular film gives 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.
What digital lifestyle questions do you have? Call Kim’s national radio show and tap or click here to find it on your local radio station. You can listen to or watch the Kim Komando Show on your phone, tablet, television or computer.
