All you need is an internet connection and you can stream tons of great content -- much of it ad-supported, yes -- absolutely free. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
I love TV; I hate paying for it. (Same goes for ice cream, but as a grown man I can't get anyone to buy me cones anymore.) Thankfully, it's now possible to cut the cord on not only your cable subscription, but also pricey streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max and YouTube TV. No fewer than eight services will sling you movies, TV shows, news, original content and more, all completely free of charge. (OK, yes, you need an internet connection and some kind of device: phone, tablet, PC, TV, etc. But that's it!) What's the catch? Commercials, naturally — in most cases you'll have to sit through ad breaks, just as in the old antenna days. And there are limits as to what you can watch: Don't expect the latest blockbusters or hottest TV series.
Or sports. While there are some sports channels here and there, they're mostly dedicated to the likes of talk shows, highlights, game reruns and the more obscure pastimes. (Kickboxing and monster trucks, anyone?) As for news, many services offer headline- or recap-focused offshoots of both local and cable networks, which are a little different from the live channels you're accustomed to. (It's still news, though.)
Indeed, with the free services it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. A lot of the content is older, lesser-known or just not very good. And not all of it streams in high-definition. Nevertheless, if you're looking to watch an Oscar winner like Anora, a classic like The Godfather, a big-budget action film like Jurassic World, non-stop reruns of Cheers and Frasier or even the entirety of Mad Men, you can find all that and lots more.
That's why for each service I've included "Rick's Picks," a personally curated list of shows and movies I recommend. Note that these are current as of August, 2025, but many of these services have rotating selections, so there may be some titles that have disappeared by the time you read this. I'll do my best to keep the picks up to date.
Related:
Amazon Freevee: Don't get too attached to the name; Amazon's standalone free streaming service is shutting down in August, when it will merge into Prime Video. Although you'll still be able to access some great content, it may be challenging to find it amidst all the locked, requires-an-Amazon-Prime-subscription stuff. We're waiting for the Freevee dust to settle before giving it a proper review, but even if there are interface hassles and constant up-sells to contend with, you'll probably want to keep Freevee — sorry, "Prime Video free with ads" — in the rotation.
The Roku Channel: Home to lots of live channels, on-demand movies and TV and some noteworthy original content (including Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, which made me laugh out loud repeatedly), the Roku Channel is nonetheless one of the more frustrating services. That's because its user interface mixes lots of premium (read: not free) content in with the free stuff — and most of the latter is pretty low-grade. We're holding off our full review pending Roku's acquisition of Frndly TV, which may impact (and hopefully improve) what's available from the Roku Channel. The immediate good news is that the service isn't limited to Roku devices; there's a Roku Channel app available for most major TV and mobile platforms.
After installing the app for each service on a Roku Plus Series, I watched a lot of TV. (It's a sacrifice, but someone has to do it.) Along the way, I evaluated the user interface — was it logically designed and easy to navigate? — and checked video quality, which often varied from one channel to another.
Of course, I was primarily interested in the content: How often did I find something I was eager to watch (or, more likely, rewatch, given the generally older nature of the movies and TV shows)? Obviously this is fairly subjective, because you might have more interest in, say, reality and true-crime shows than I do. But I'm partial to quality content, and I can tell when I'm being served mostly junk.
For the record, Sling Freestream and Tubi had the best interfaces; Pluto had the best content overall, followed very closely by Tubi.
All the services here are available on all major platforms. That means they have apps for Android, iOS, Google TV, Roku and so on; you can watch on your phone, tablet or smart TV.
They do not. In fact, as a general rule you're going to find older content
Philo, Pluto, The Roku Channel, Sling Freestream and Tubi all have news channels, but there's a catch. Pluto, for example, has over a dozen of them, including CBS, CNN and NBC, but they're not the same ones you'd get on cable; instead, they replicate the free streaming versions you'd find online at cbsnews.com or nbcnews.com. In other cases, you're getting the same programming from, say, The Today Show, but on a time delay.
All of which is to say: Yes, you can watch the news on free streaming services; it just might be a little different than what you're accustomed to.
With very rare exception (see Tubi, above), they do not. While some on-demand content streams at 1080p, most of it arrives at 720p — which is fine for mobile devices and smaller TVs, but you'll definitely notice a softer, grainier picture on larger screens. The real issue is that a lot of live channels stream at just 480p, which is what we used to call "standard definition." It's flat-out not great.
Check out Yahoo's latest streaming advice, based on hands-on testing.
Yahoo Streaming Guides: Best streaming services | Best live TV streaming services | Best streaming services for sports | Best streaming deals | Best free TV streaming services | Best VPN for Streaming
Yahoo Streaming Reviews: Amazon Prime Video review | Apple TV+ review | DirecTV Stream review | Disney Plus review | ESPN vs. ESPN+ review | Fubo TV review | Hulu review | Hulu + Live TV review | Max Streaming review | Netflix review | Paramount Plus review | Peacock Review | Philo Review | Sling TV review | YouTube TV review
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