Cut the Crap and Cut the Cord Already!
Why in the world are you feeding Netflix's corporate greed as they jack up prices while raking in record profits? Or funding union-busting Amazon which treats their employees like crap? Or supporting a cable company funding crap like Fox? Or paying for streaming services you don't even use anymore and forgot you have, like about 42 percent of consumers are, according to a recent Consumer Reports survey?
​
With the wide range of free streaming services available these days, there's just no excuse for all that mess. Save you some green and maybe put that cable or streaming bill money into a vacation fund. BONUS!
​
According to Consumer Reports, these are the best free streaming services. Click on each to check them out.
Crackle’s original content includes “Snatch,” a series based on the movie; “Les Norton,” a 10-episode series starring Rebel Wilson; “The Uncommon History of Very Common Things,” an entertaining and often irreverent history of everyday objects; and season two of “In The Vault,” a suspense series set at a fictional college. Crackle also has a limited number of original movies. Crackle is really cool for oldies but goodies.
Check out Crackle.
​
Pluto TV, owned by Paramount, has about 250 curated channels, drawing content from its Paramount properties (BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Pictures), plus networks such as Bloomberg, Cheddar News, CNN, NBC News, and Fox Sports. Pluto TV also has a decent library of on-demand content, including now-classic movies—“Gladiator,” “Titanic”—and newer fare such as “Kubo and the Two Strings.” TV shows run the gamut from “The Andy Griffith Show” and the original “Gunsmoke” to “The Twilight Zone” and “Criminal Minds.” This is one of my personal favorites and they have some surprisingly new and fresh content.
​
Best known for its rental kiosks at grocery stores and shopping centers, plus a newer video-on-demand streaming rental and purchase service, Redbox also has a free, ad-based live service, which gets some of its content from Xumo (see below). Thanks to the Xumo partnership, Redbox’s free service includes Magnolia Pictures’ CineLife ad-supported channel, which features top-rated independent films and award-winning documentaries from the Magnolia Pictures catalog. I haven't tried it myself. If you do, drop me a line in contact form and let me know your verdict. Check out Redbox Watch Free.
​
Thanks to a rapidly expanding roster of programming, you can watch free shows and movies via the company’s ad-supported The Roku Channel, which is now available outside of just Roku streaming players and TVs.
The Roku Channel has a lot of licensed TV shows and movies, plus some live channels from ABC, AMC, Fox, NBC, Hallmark, and others. One big focus going forward will be Roku Originals, which will roll out 50 new shows over the next few years. Current Roku Originals include “Reno 911: Defunded;” “The Fugitive,” starring Kiefer Sutherland; “The Newsreader;” and the movie “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” a biopic based on the life of Weird Al Yankovic that stars Daniel Radcliffe. Another one I haven't really delved into. Let me know what you think of it.
​
Sling Freestream is a new ad-supported service from Sling TV. The service has been adding more content and now claims to have more than 430 free channels and over 44,000 on-demand titles, with genres ranging from news, sports, game shows, and crime dramas to sitcoms, home improvement, cooking, and more.
Popular channels and programming include ABC News Live, CBS News, ESPN on Demand, FilmRise, “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Heartland,” “Forensic Files,” “The Walking Dead” universe, and “VH1 I Love Reality.” Yet another one new to me. Wow, I'm learning a lot writing this article. There's more out there than I realized.
​
Okay, so I just found out there are literally like dozens more, so check out the full article I pulled my information from on Consumer Reports for more HERE.
Advertising to help feed the cats...
