With final week’s launch of Paramount+, one may virtually hear the collective groan from cord-cutters. Very like Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, and NBC’s Peacock, it represents yet one more streaming service to consider paying for.
Whereas the launch of Paramount+ obtained all the eye—maybe undeservedly, on condition that it’s only a rebranded CBS All Access—the larger information slipped underneath the radar: Father or mother firm ViacomCBS additionally launched a separate, standalone model of the CBS app. Not like each Paramount+ and CBS Entry earlier than it, the brand new app helps you to watch on-demand CBS reveals without spending a dime. (The truth is, it was one of the best place to observe Oprah Winfrey interview Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with out cable.)
For years, free community TV apps from NBC, Fox, ABC have felt like one of many best-kept secrets and techniques in streaming. Now that CBS has joined them, you may watch new reveals from all the main networks with out paying a dime.
Free streams from CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, and extra
Technically, CBS was providing free episodes of its community reveals earlier than, however solely on the CBS web site and CBS cellular apps. Though you can ship video from these apps to Google’s Chromecast dongles, you couldn’t watch CBS reveals on different TV gadgets with out utilizing the CBS All Entry app as an alternative. That in flip required both a $6-per-month subscription or a login with a pay TV supplier.
The brand new CBS app for Roku, Fire TV, Android TV, and Apple TV is totally separate from All Entry (now Paramount+) and permits you to watch latest episodes without spending a dime. You can too nonetheless use CBS’s iOS and Android apps to play movies on a Chromecast.
Jared Newman / IDGThe CBS app helps you to watch latest episodes with out a Paramount+ subscription.
When you’ve downloaded the app, simply choose “Watch free episodes.” You’ll get to observe new reveals like Clarice, the newest episodes of Late Present and Late Late Present, new editions of 60 Minutes, and extra. There’s additionally a reside part the place you may watch the CBSN information channel, CBS Sports activities HQ, and ET Reside.
In fact, there are catches: Some new episodes of CBS reveals have an eight-day delay earlier than you may watch them without spending a dime. In addition they have business breaks, and every collection solely provides a handful of latest episodes.
Jared Newman / IDGThe CBS app additionally provides some reside channels, although you’ll want a pay TV subscription to observe your native station.
For those who subscribe to a pay TV bundle that features CBS, you may check in to take away the delay, entry extra episodes from every collection, and watch your native CBS channel. In any other case, you’ll want to remain up to the mark (or use a recording service like PlayOn) to keep away from lacking any episodes.
Nonetheless, it’s good to see CBS fall in keeping with different main networks, which have been streaming full episodes of their latest reveals at no cost for years. By including the CBS app alongside Fox Now, the NBC app, the ABC app, the CW app, and PBS, you may entry lots community TV content material with out paying for a bloated channel bundle.
Jared Newman / IDGLike CBS, the Fox Now app provides free episodes of latest reveals.
The CBS app vs. Paramount+
Why pay $6 per thirty days for Paramount+ when you may watch CBS reveals without spending a dime?
With Paramount+, the purpose is to supply a much wider service through which CBS is only one aspect. It carries unique reveals like Star Trek: Picard and The Good Battle, a again catalog of reveals from ViacomCBS cable channels (Comedy Central and Nickelodeon amongst them), and new films like The SpongeBob Film: Sponge on the Run. The service additionally provides reside streams of native CBS channels and older episodes of CBS reveals, which might in any other case require a login with a pay TV supplier. And in the event you pay for the $10-per-month tier of Paramount+, you may watch these reveals with out business breaks.
Jared Newman / IDGThe ABC app provides a lot of free reveals to observe, but additionally advertises extra content material on Hulu.
The technique is considerably just like that of rival networks. NBC provides free reveals in its NBC and Peacock apps, but additionally encourages $5-per-month Peacock Premium subscriptions for extra content material. The ABC app offers loads of new reveals to observe, but additionally pushes folks to pay for Hulu if they need extra reveals and older episodes.
On the identical time, these firms are nonetheless reserving a lot of their fashionable reveals for community TV. For those who’re trying to maximize your financial savings as a cord-cutter, my recommendation can be to make use of these networks’ free apps—maybe mixed with an antenna or Locast for reside TV—and solely dip into their paid companies on a one-month basis to binge-watch one of the best programming. It seems you won’t want yet one more subscription in any case.
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