Internet TV

How much does your cable cost? Forty dollars a month? Fifty? I’ve never liked paying for television, especially since I think so much of it is rubbish, so I resent how much it costs. I’ve been looking forward to the day when I can get my television shows online for free. That day isn’t here quite yet, but it looks like it might not be too far away. Here’s a few of my favorite television Web sites; as more Internet-based television sites come up, I’ll do another article on them.

AOL’s In2TV

As a general rule, I don’t like AOL. I think their service preys on the technologically un-savvy. But lately they’ve begun to step out a bit and offer new and different services, one of which is free episodes of old TV series. They have several old (and sometimes not-so-old) series like Wonder Woman, F Troop, The Fugitive, and Babylon 5 that you can watch any time you like. They have a few commercials mixed in, but no more than the cable channels you would pay money to watch. In2TV also gets points for picture clarity and full-screen capability. Check it out and reacquaint yourself with your favorite old TV shows, or get to know a series you never watched.

BYUTV

In order to watch BYU football games, I would have to at least have ESPN or ESPN U, and even with expanded digital cable, many of the games wouldn’t be carried by major networks. But thanks to BYUTV on the Web, I can watch most of the games (and everything else on the channel) right on my computer. The quality is pretty decent and the viewing screen can be expanded to almost the full size of your computer screen. But the best part is that BYUTV allows on-demand access to any show broadcast during the previous week. It works somewhat like a TiVo within your Explorer window, which (unfortunately) is the only browser you can use to watch it.

ABC.com

ABC gets some points for offering several of their most popular shows online, on-demand. While NBC, Fox, and CBS all sell some of their shows, ABC is the only one so far to offer then for free online. The interface is pretty nice, and you can expand it to almost full screen. They offer complete episodes of Lost, Desperate Housewives, Alias, and Commander in Chief with few commercials. In the case of Commander in Chief, the episodes online are the only way you can see the show, since it got cancelled last month. If you want to see the shows, however, you’ll have to watch them soon. The episodes are only offered until June 30. But if the program is successful, we may see more full-length shows from ABC and other networks as well.

Aggregator Sites

The current trend in Internet development is to make more of everything. More sources, more sites, more information, all crammed into one site. This can be a little frenetic at times, but it also is a good way to look around and find stuff you like. There are several Web sites that pull together online television sources from around the world. BeelineTV.com organizes more than a hundred channels according to languages, with about 25 in English. WWiTV.com organizes more than a thousand stations by country. MediaChannel.com aggregates mostly English Internet television channels. Not all are free, but many are. And finally, AmericaFree.tv focuses on the U.S. and offers several channels according to themes, such as comedy, sports, sci-fi/horror, etc.

These are just a few of the Web sites piecing together free Internet TV. Hopefully you can find something that interests you and enjoy it without the monthly fees. Who knows? Maybe someday we’ll kick the cable companies entirely.