If you want to watch live TV online, you most certainly can. As long as you have a broadband connection and a PC with a fast enough processor and enough RAM, you can watch live television online for free anytime without making another cable or satellite payment.
As long as your computer is newer than probably 2003 or 2004, it should be able to decode and play the streaming and downloadable content to allow you to watch TV online. One made around 2003 or 2004 may need to have an upgraded processor and some additional RAM to bring it up to speed.
Dial-up Internet connections aren’t going to be fast enough. You do need broadband, high-speed Internet in order to stream properly. This means a cable modem or DSL. If you have wireless Internet or satellite, these may also work well as long as you do get comparable download speeds.
So once you have these things and are ready to go, how do you find free live TV online? A simple search will give you thousands of options. You have two choices: Use your PC as a television tuner, or watch content after it has aired.
If you’re all right with watching show after they’ve been on television, then you have options like hulu, Joost and the websites of the networks themselves. Often the networks stream their shows starting the day after they’ve broadcast on television. You can watch them via the network websites, like MTV and Comedy Central.
Joost, hulu and a few other websites offer shows from a variety of networks after they’ve aired on television. There are limited commercial interruptions that let them offer the content for free. And in fact, the commercials are much shorter and much less frequent than when you watch the show on television–an added bonus!
For live TV online, there are websites that let you choose between a number of cable networks. Then the content streams live. Unfortunately, many of these are poor quality so it can take some experimenting on your part to find one that works for you and offers the networks you want to watch.
There are also many sites that advertise free online streaming TV to lure you there, when they really can’t produce the content. They do this to pull traffic for other reasons like page views and ad impressions.
There is another option that isn’t exactly free, but doesn’t require a monthly fee. You can download programs that let you use your PC as a television. You’re essentially using your computer as a TV tuner with these programs. The price of the software can range from $50 and up.
With software like this, you do get much better quality that lets you watch live TV online. And though the program does have to be purchased, you don’t have to pay monthly as with cable or satellite. Just make sure you can really get the channels, shows and sports you want from the software before you pay for it.
