Six Clicks: The best Internet TV Services

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  • 2015: The year of the cord-cutter

    2015: The year of the cord-cutter

    TV over the Internet isn't perfect yet for even the most hardcore cordcutter. Sports, for example, except for Major League Baseball with MLB.TV and the National Basketball Association (NBA) with League Pass, are still often not available or only can be watched if you master a variety of different techniques. For example, you could watch most National Football League (NFL) games over the Internet this past season, but it wasn't easy.

    Now, that is changing. The Dish Network will be bringing ESPN and ESPN2 to the net with its Sling TV service.

    In the meantime, however, we have more than enough entertainment riches to keep ourselves happy couch potatoes. Here are my particular favorites that offer either free or subscription access to many movies and TV shows.

    This list leaves out one major Internet TV provider: Apple with Apple TV and the iTunes Store. I like both well enough but at the end of the day, it's a video-on-demand (VOD) service and I wanted to look at the subscription and free options.

    In addition, to watch video from iTunes you must use an Apple TV or iTunes on a Windows PC or Mac. It's the one service that locks you to a specific hardware device for watching on a TV. All the other Internet TV options support a variety of different TV options.

    The most universal Internet TV device, and the one I recommend the most highly, is the Roku 3, but there are many other worthwhile Internet TV streaming gadgets.

    Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

  • Netflix

    Netflix

    Netflix is the one essential Internet TV "station." It has a large selection of both TV shows and movies for $8.99 a month, or $7.99 if you'd already subscribed to it by May 2014.

    Netflix movies and TV shows come and go, but that's true of all of the Internet TV providers. Each of them is in a constant tug of war with the media companies over who gets what shows, for how long, and for how much money. Recently, for example, it looked like Netflix would no longer offer the popular BBC show Doctor Who — but then it was restored to the line-up.

    Netflix also was the first of the big Internet TV providers to seriously explore offering their own shows. This has worked out very well for them with such Netflix exclusive show as Orange is the New Black and House of Cards have proven very popular with both critics and viewers.

    That's a good thing because as more and more media companies, such as CBS and HBO, start their own Internet TV services, you can expect to see content continue to get juggled from one service to another. Netflix, however, despite the challenges from would-be rivals and constant pressure from Verizon and other net neutrality opponents, continues to grow. Netflix is still the best service for cord-cutters and the number one Internet TV broadcaster.

    Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

  • Hulu Plus

    Hulu Plus

    Hulu Plus has always been something of a strange duck. On the one hand, Hulu is a free Internet TV service that offers many, but far from all, popular broadcast and cable TV shows along with some movies for PC watchers. If you want to watch some — not all, some — of these shows on a TV, smartphone or tablet, however, you need to pay $7.99 a month. Either way you'll end up watching some ads.

    If that sounds confusing, well it is. That's in no small part because Hulu is owned by NBC, Fox, and Disney-ABC and they were not at all sure what to do with Internet TV.

    For now, Hulu Plus is still a good place to watch many TV series. It also has one major plus for serious movie watchers because it offers over 900 Criterion Collection movies. These are critically acclaimed movies from around the world. So if you, like me, like the films of the French New Wave and top Japanese directors such as Akira Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima, you'll really find a lot to watch on Hulu Plus.

    Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

  • Amazon Prime Video

    Amazon Prime Video

    Amazon Prime Video is far more than just videos. For $99 a year, you get free two-day shipping on most Amazon purchases and access to a TV and movie selection that rivals Netflix. In addition, Amazon offers access to many older HBO series such as The Sopranos, Oz, and my particular favorite, Deadwood.

    Like the iTunes Store, Amazon offers paid video-on-service for some newer movies. Their selection rivals Apple's and their prices are usually a dollar cheaper. For my money, Amazon Prime Video is now only behind Netflix for your Internet TV dollar.

    Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

  • Crackle

    Crackle

    You may not have heard of Crackle, but if your Internet TV device supports it, you should check it out. If offers a small, but decent, selection of free movies and TV shows. Yes, free as in the service doesn't cost you a penny.

    The movies tend to be action-adventure or comedy films and not all of them are first-rate, but many of them are watchable. The television selection is also small but it includes such once popular shows as The Shield and Seinfeld. In addition, it has one original show, Sports Jeopardy, which is exactly what it sounds like. If you like sports and trivia, you'll like this show.

    Oh, and again, it's free. Check it out.

    Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

  • BBC iPlayer

    BBC iPlayer

    I love British TV and I watch a lot of it. That's not so easy to do living in North Carolina's Blue Ridge mountains, but thanks to the BBC iPlayer and ITV Player I'm able to watch such favorites as Downton Abbey and the just released Wolf Hall long before they ever arrive in the States. Or, indeed, as is so often the case, they may never show up on this side of the Atlantic.

    While access to these shows is free, it's not easy getting to them from here. To watch them I use a virtual private network (VPN) set so that I appear to be watching from the UK. The costs for these services vary from $5 to $20 a month. I've found that the following services work well: Invisible Browsing VPN, Banana VPN, BlackLogic, StrongVPN, and ZenMate.

    You can also use these services in reverse to watch shows that are only available in the United States.

    There's also a new Internet TV service, Acorn TV, that offers many older British TV series. It also offers the fullest run of my latest favorite mystery show, the Australian-based Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Acorn costs $4.99 a month or $49.99 for a year.

    Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

  • YouTube

    YouTube

    We all know YouTube, but did you know that besides music videos, short comedy bits, and lots and lots of cat videos, it also includes some TV shows and movies? It's takes some work to find them, but it can be well for it. Personally, I love that I can watch all the Mystery Science Fiction 3000 (MST3K) movies off YouTube.

    Google also offers its own VOD service via Google Play Movies, but it's selection isn't really noteworthy. Unless Google takes Internet TV more seriously than it does now, YouTube, which is free, is the one essential it offers for cord-cutters.

    Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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Cable? Satellite? Who needs 'em! The top Internet video services can give you more than enough entertainment.

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2015: The year of the cord-cutter

TV over the Internet isn't perfect yet for even the most hardcore cordcutter. Sports, for example, except for Major League Baseball with MLB.TV and the National Basketball Association (NBA) with League Pass, are still often not available or only can be watched if you master a variety of different techniques. For example, you could watch most National Football League (NFL) games over the Internet this past season, but it wasn't easy.

Now, that is changing. The Dish Network will be bringing ESPN and ESPN2 to the net with its Sling TV service.

In the meantime, however, we have more than enough entertainment riches to keep ourselves happy couch potatoes. Here are my particular favorites that offer either free or subscription access to many movies and TV shows.

This list leaves out one major Internet TV provider: Apple with Apple TV and the iTunes Store. I like both well enough but at the end of the day, it's a video-on-demand (VOD) service and I wanted to look at the subscription and free options.

In addition, to watch video from iTunes you must use an Apple TV or iTunes on a Windows PC or Mac. It's the one service that locks you to a specific hardware device for watching on a TV. All the other Internet TV options support a variety of different TV options.

The most universal Internet TV device, and the one I recommend the most highly, is the Roku 3, but there are many other worthwhile Internet TV streaming gadgets.

Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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