Streaming Media
View clips and full episodes of your favourite TV series.
(100% legal websites only!)
Online video has made some impressive improvements over the last year. Before, if you wanted to watch TV programmes, you had to watch them live on your standard TV, or if you were going out record them to watch later. But now you can use your broadband connection to watch live TV (providing you have a TV licence), watch shows you have missed, watch classic movies and much more. The best thing is you really only need a web browser to view this content on your PC, with some downloads required for certain content.
Things are certainly looking brighter for Web TV viewers in the coming year, with YouTube intending to offer full-length (legal) TV shows and movies. Also announced is a venture between BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, that will offer users around 10,000 hours of free and paid-for programmes from these companies through the one site.
Currently there are loads of excellent sites that are offering free online entertainment and the content is getting bigger and better as time progresses. Below is a list of the best sites on the web and what they are offering.
I have created a quick guide to optimizing your broadband connection (Updated 27th June 2009) to get the best out of your online TV watching experience.
I have written an article on How Do I Watch Video Stored on My PC on My Television?
| News |
Blinkbox has now enabled PS3 owners to be able to stream films and TV shows via their consoles, from the day of their DVD releases.
SeeSaw is a new catch Up TV service that allows you watch archived programmes from the BBC, Channel 4 and Five. You can also watch many classic TV shows that are in their archives.
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| Live UK Channels |
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Sky Player Sky Player is the home of Sky TV online. |
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Zattoo - Watch the major Freeview channels on your PC.
TVCatchup is a new service which lets you watch live UK television online. There are currently 18 channels to choose from, it's totally legal and absolutely free!
| Live Worldwide Channels |
Free Online Television - Watch Television shows from all around the world.
wwiTV.com - Watch TV on your PC. 2500 Channels with Unlimited Access Free TV Shows, Movies, Sports
| Adverts |
tellyAds - TV without the boring bits: The programmes
Watch all your favourite TV adverts online for free.
tellytunes - A brilliant site covering TV Theme Tunes, Radio Jingles, Classic TV Adverts and TV Title videos.
TV Adverts | Ephinx - This brilliant site allows you to watch and download all the latest TV adverts from the UK.
visit4info - The Place for TV Adverts and Funny Video Clips.
| Catch-up Services |
SeeSaw - A new catch Up TV service that allows you watch archived programmes from the BBC, Channel 4 and Five.
ITV Player - Watch all your favourite ITV shows from the past 30 days.
TVCatchup is a new service which lets you watch live UK television online. There are currently 18 channels to choose from, it's totally legal and absolutely free!
Channel 4 - Catchup swerive for the last 30 days.
4oD - Channel 4's on-demand service
BBC iPlayer - Catch up on the last 7 days
of BBC TV.
Big Screen version of the iPlayer, ideal for watching via your games console (Wii, PS3) on a normal TV.
Demand Five - Watch television on demand from Channel 5.
ITV2 - Catch-up on missed shows etc.
| FILMS |
Blinkbox has some classic films to watch free online as well as to rent or buy.
LoveFilm has over 2000 streamable titles on offer, many can be watched for free if you have an unlimited DVD-rental account.
123 Web TV has a selection of free movies available to watch online.
Jinni - Find movies, TV shows matching your taste and watch online.
| Specific Shows |
Family Guy Videos - Watch all Family Guy season episodes online for free - download or stream Family Guy videos on Demand. FREE Full Length Family Guy episodes.
NCIS Videos - Watch all NCIS season episodes online for free - download or stream NCIS videos on Demand. FREE Full Length NCIS episodes.
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Casualty | Classic Casualty Clips Doctor Who Generation Kill |
Primeval |
| Classic Television |
SeeSaw - Watch many classic TV shows that are in their archives.
YouTube - Users in the UK can watch full TV shows.
Jinni - Find movies, TV shows matching your taste and watch online.
The BBC Story - A brilliant website dedicated to the history of the BBC.
BBC Archive - Archive footage from the BBC from the last 70 years.
MSN Video Player - Watch TV you love, full shows, on demand for free.
David Attenborough's 1956 wildlife series Zoo Quest for a Dragon.
Fans of Monty Python will be glad to hear that classic sketches and film clips, are now available to watch on their official YouTube Channel.
TV4u - Your source for online classic television.
Blinkbox - Download and watch Movies and TV online - You can watch many TV shows for free.
Public Domain Torrents - Download 1000's of Movies and Cartoons.
Zattoo - Watch Freeview channels on the web.
Viewmy.tv - 1300 Television channels from around the world. [Press Release]
Now has two new tools to allow users to watch TV straight from their desktop (Mac Widget &
Vista Gadget).
Any Facebook users can also use this handy application.
Joost - The new way of watching TV.
All the things you love about TV, fused with the interactive power of the internet - just the way you want it. Enjoy the ride!
Miro - free, open source internet TV and video player
MTV Video Homepage - Watch music videos online, including new and classic tracks
Veoh - Watch free, full-length episodes of your favorite shows such as: CSI: NY, Numb3rs and Shark
Hulu - Delivering premium content such as Prison Break, Bionic Woman, movies and documentaries. Currently only available in the US, but a UK version is planned to be launched in September 2009.
Babelgum - Babelgum is a new way of conceiving television, a free on-demand TV over the Internet that lets you watch whatever you want, whenever you want as often as you want.
4Mations - Channel 4 in partnership with Aardman and Lupus Films have launched a website for uploading and sharing short movies.
Funny Or Die - A UK comedy video site. Created by Matt Lucas, David Walliams and Will Ferrell. Has exclusive clips of Little Britain USA and others.
If you love old TV series such as: Robert's Robots, Two in Clover and All at No. 20, then you can legally download these and films at Vizumi.
Sci-Fi UK - Previews and behind-the-scenes.
DivX Stage 6 - Watch high quality video online.
GMTV Video - Watch clips from the breakfast TV show.
Tiscali Movies Now - Download films to rent or own direct to your PC.
Saturday Morning Forever lets you watch some classic Hanna Barbera cartoons such as Hong Kong Phooey, Huckleberry Hound and The Flintstones.
YouTube has teamed up with the BBC to bring content to all. BBC channel will concentrate on trailers and features of forthcoming shows; while BBC Worldwide will show clips from already-broadcast shows.
BitTorrent the peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing website has launched a legal download site. You can doenload films and TV programmes from
as little as $2.
7digital - 7digital.com download digital music and video -Free Tracks
Find Internet TV
Find any internet TV easily on this site. You can laso catchup on episodes of primetime TV you have missed.
Streamick - Watch TV online free
Good selection of TV, News etc.
Lycos has launched Lycos TV, a free online video portal. It will offer film, music and TV.
NetTVDB the Internet TV database that has the largest collection of Internet TV stations,
live video and Live TV feeds in the world. Watch over 1000 TV stations broadcasting on the Internet for free.
A new paid-for-video download service has launched to supply legal DVD downloads of comedy and music videos. www.boxoffice365.com
Channel 4 Simulcast - Watch Channel 4 live online.
ITV Local - Watch local ITV on the web
CBS - Clips from top US TV shows.
Internet Archive - Treasure trove of US TV clips.
Top of the Pops - On-demand stream of the TV show.
My favourite UK Television Adverts, Download & watch them here ...
If you have a broadband connection or even a
decent dial up connection, you can now watch
Classic TV shows such as: The Beverley
Hillbillies, Dragnet, Bonanza, One Step Beyond,
The Cisco Kid and more.
| Children's Television |
CBeebies iPlayer - Catch up with CBeebies TV and Radio shows from the past 7 days.
CBBC iPlayer - Catch up with CBBC TV and Radio shows from the past 7 days.
123WebTV - Has a selection of children's TV.
4KidsTV - US-based kids Television.
| Factual Television |
BBC Wildlife Finder - Features clips from BBC series such as Life On Earth, Trials of Life and The Blue Planet.
Discovery Channel - Loads of clips from this channels content.
Factual TV - Boasting over 1,00 hours of free videos.
NASA TV - The official site contains loads of space videos.
National Geographic - Contains a mix of videos from the channel.
| Music Television |
Classic FM TV - For all you classical music fans.
Ministry of Sound - Watch the latest dance videos and behind-the-scenes shoots.
MTV Video - As well as music videos, the site lets you watch full MTV shows.
WAMTV - Worldart Media Television offering both live and archived content.
| Sport Television |
Official Gillette Four Nations web site
TheFA.com - Live streaming of FA matches etc.
BBC Sport Formula 1 - Watch all the 2009 season races and qualifying sessions.
ESPN - Mainly covering American sports.
Sportal - Latest sporting news and highlights.
Virgin Media Sport - Highlights from all Football matches for up to a week and Interviews and reports.
Australian Open - Watch highlights, interviews etc.
| Comedy Television |
BBC Comedy - Watch some of the best BBC comedy shows online.
| News Television |
Sky News Live - All the latest news stories streamed live onto your PC.