It’s not a secret that we as people and consumers are getting away from traditional cable and satellite plans left-and-right, with the internet and streaming services taking off and replacing those old traditional ways of watching TV.Â
But in 2018, what are some of the best ways to stream the news and to do it for free? Here are some of the best and most efficient methods out there.
News:
- Pluto TV: This one has to be one of my favorites since it has a variety of different news genres. Pluto TV has live broadcasts of Cheddar, The Young Turks (TYT), NewsmaxTV, CBS News, Bloomberg News, RT America and Sky News. On top of that, the service has channels like NBC News/MSNBC, CNBC and Newsy that have video clips from news networks that keep you up with the day’s latest headlines.
- ABC News: Although this is not live, in the ABC News app, you can see clips of current headlines and video clips that are happening during the day.
- CBS News: Like I said with Pluto TV, they do have their own 24/7 livestream of news. It’s basically like a 24/7 CBS News, whereas the broadcast networks only show it for 30 minutes. If you do not want Pluto TV and just want CBS News, you can get it through the CBS News app or also available on the CBS app too.
Sports News:
- CBS Sports HQ: My top recommendation for those who just want the newest sports news is this app. The reason for it is that it is pure sports and nothing more than that. Think of it as the CBS Sports version of ESPN’s SportsCenter.
- Pluto TV: Once again, I mention Pluto TV again because they do have the FOX Sports channel. Note that this is not a live feed of FOX Sports, FS1 or any of their networks, but it does show clips of FOX Sports programming throughout the day. Whether it be from Colin Cowherd’s The Herd or Skip Bayless’s Undisputed, they show clips all day of their programming.
- Stadium: This is a tiny sports network that is available on local networks (check your local stations to see if they offer it) but also on their Apple TV app, as well as on Pluto TV.
Of course, if you do know someone who does have a traditional cable or satellite subscription that is willing to give you their login information, that would open you up to a lot more news channels such as FOX News, CNN or MSNBC.
We do recommend that consumers get a live TV streaming service such as Sling TV since it is the cheapest with the new starting price of $25 a month, which on the Sling Orange will include Cheddar, Cheddar Big News, CNN, Bloomberg and Newsy. For sports, it will contain ESPN, ESPN 2 and ESPN 3.
Sling Blue will include all of those news channels but also give you the option for local channels such as select FOX and NBC markets. For sports, it goes from ESPN channels to FOX Sports channels such as FS1, FS2 and your local FSN station. Sling Blue also includes NBC Sports networks too.
Overall, those free solutions above are the best ways to get the news, whether that be for your everyday news or for sports news. All of the apps and services listed are available for the Apple TV at no extra charge to you (except Sling TV), as well as being available for devices such as the iPhone and iPad.