Embedded Files
by Ryan Vagabundo
Let me say up front that this one isn't a paid endorsement or "sponsored content" of any sort. I happened to discover Pluto TV at an AirBnb I stayed at, where the host had it hooked up to the living room TV in lieu of the usual cable or satellite service. It's entirely free (ad supported) TV streaming over the internet, and what really stands out is the channel selection. It's just a huge amount of free streaming content, with a mix of channels dedicated to particular genres or shows along with some select free live channels.
You can hook it up to a TV through the HDMI port using pretty much all of the major small portable streaming devices (Amazon Fire Stick, Roku Express, Google Chromecast, etc.), but you can also just instantly stream it through a web browser on any old computer or mobile device by going to pluto.tv with no obnoxious app downloads.
As far as live TV goes, I don't wanna oversell the service - the selection is pretty limited, and it's basically the kind of free broadcast channels you would pull down with an antenna combined with a few cable news sources. As of now you can watch the following channels live:
CNN
NBC News
CBS News (both Los Angeles and New York versions)
ET Live
Bloomberg TV
Weather Nation
Fox Sports
CNet
Sky News
The thing that sold me on it was the show-specific channels, though. I'm a big Mystery Science Theater 3000 geek going back to the '90s, and they have a channel that just shows MST3K episodes 24/7 as well as one that shows Rifftrax episodes! Other interesting show- and franchise-specific channels include an all-day James Bond movie channel, Doctor Who, Hell's Kitchen and American Gladiators.
A lot of cable channels also now have their own Pluto-branded streaming channel. These are basically a lot of the channel's inactive catalog plus a smattering of older episodes of shows they are currently airing. But there's some neat stuff in there, some of these channels air good shows that the cable channel has stopped airing or only air at like 3 AM. For example, Comedy Central Pluto airs stuff like Reno 911 and @Midnight, and has a separate channel that just airs their various stand-up comedy specials all day.
Then you have all sorts of genre-specific movie channels, offbeat streaming-only TV channels, music channels and more. The kind of stuff you would only get on cable by paying for that insane $300/month "everything" package. Want to watch someone play Minecraft or Roblox all day? I didn't think there was that much of a TV audience for this, but if there is, Pluto TV has you covered.
Another nice element is that it has a digital "scroll guide" that you can just page through to see what's currently on.
Anyway, it looks like this model is doing pretty well as new channels are signing up for it like gangbusters. If your hotel has crummy TV but has a modern TV with an HDMI port and a good WiFi connection (or you've got your own unlimited cellular plan), you can plug your portable streaming device into it and add a whole lot more options. Or just run it directly through your laptop or phone while you kick back in bed.
The icing on the cake for me is that you can just fire it up through any web browser without having to install software/apps, log into an account, no rigamorale at all. And the commercial breaks actually seem a little more restrained than most TV channels are doing these days.
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