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Ditch your cable box: Online video providers mega list

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Home A/V | by Randall Bennett | 7 comments

[Image: manchester_09 by Flickr user Killmore under Creative Commons license]

I'm fed up.

Like most Americans, I've had some form of cable or satellite for about 15 years, but entering my cable teenage years I've now realized I hate my cable parents. And while I've had some great times with my cable subscription, the good is almost outweighing the bad. I'm sick of rising cable costs, "repairmen" who have to show up multiple times to fix a job at hours according to their schedule, and frustrated with the lack of respect the cable company shows for me.



The way to fix it? Kill the cable box and stick to internet access. We'll show you ways you can get your TV fix online for much less than the cable company charges.

Online TV has taken a few leaps and bounds this year. In the 2007 TV season, most of the networks were experimenting with the concept of online video. This year they've jumped online en masse, and have started to fully embrace the concept. A quick visit to any of the major broadcast networks, like ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and the CW, all have started showing full episodes of some of their most popular shows on the web. Like their pals in prime-time, commercials will interrupt each video, forcing the viewer to to sit through an unwanted ad, but some of the sites (most notably NBC and ABC) provide full screen HD video, making the trade-off worthwhile.

a-ha |MTV Music

Cable networks are getting in on the action too. News junkies take note: CNN offers four streaming channels of video at their site, though the feeds typically aren't the same feeds as the CNN TV channel. The Discovery family of networks, which includes Animal Planet and TLC, offers many full episodes through its streaming service. And music video junkies take note: MTV is now again showing videos, though they're only on the web. MTV's recently launched MTV music shows most of the videos in the MTV vault, and allows users to embed and share them.

There are many other cable channels offering their shows online, and we've created a comprehensive list at the end of the article which we'll keep updating with as many networks as we can find. Be sure to submit any networks you find that we're missing as a comment to this article.

So you've got a handle on broadcast shows and cable networks, but online video doesn't end there. There are a few services out there that stream movies as well. Rent by mail pioneers Netflix aren't simply content with keeping their business in the physical realm of DVDs; the company has started mounting an aggressive push to become one of the premiere destination sites for streaming movies on the web. Of course, Netflix's movie library isn't free, it'll cost you a minimum of $4.99 per month, but with that $4.99 Netflix will send you two movies per month in DVD form as well. Like most cable networks, Netflix's streaming service doesn't cover new releases, but the company does have a partnership with Starz, meaning most movies available on Starz are also available via Netflix. They'll also begin all-you-can-eat HD streaming of content in your instant queue over the new Xbox Live Experience beginning November 19, so Xbox 360 owners will have yet another way of getting more out of an existing Netflix subscription.

If free is more your thing, head over to Hulu. Hulu is a joint venture between NBC and Fox, and while most of its notoriety is for TV shows — of which there are many — the service also has its own selection of movies. Again, most of these titles aren't new releases, nor are they true classics, but users looking for something to watch will likely find a flick to tune into. Like all Hulu content, the movies are ad supported, with most featuring a 30 second ad break seven or eight times per film.

While not as big budget as film producers or TV networks, some "internet only" networks have sprung up to try to cater to new audiences online. As you might expect, tech heavy programming dominates the field with players like Revision3 and CNET TV producing high production value content for tech audiences. More general interest sites like NextNewNetworks and OnNetworks are trying to reach out to more mainstream tastes, though their catalogs are both still in their infancy. Online humor sites CollegeHumor and Funny Or Die offer more humorous fare in clip form rather than shows, but are still worth checking out.

The beauty of the net is its ability to level the playing field for all content producers. As we've come to see through YouTube, independent content producers can create some truly innovative ideas and don't need to spend millions of dollars trying to distribute their work. For bite sized easy to digest videos, we'd recommend stopping by video site Vimeo, Revver or Blip.TV. The quality, naturally, often isn't going to be up there with the big producers, but quick, bite sized morsels of interesting content can be found.

Of course, the other big name content aggregation service that focuses on podcasts rather than streaming content is iTunes. Most video podcasts on the iTunes store tend to be shorter in length than their TV counterparts, but most broadcast and cable networks have been willing to give podcasts a shot. Other than podcasts, users can both rent and purchase movies, which should fill in the gaps of streamed shows.

Now you're up to speed on where to find video content on your computer. In the next part of our series, we'll talk about how to use these services in your living room instead of at your computer desk. After that, we'll actually show you step by step how we're ditching cable and going all digital in our living room.

Oh, and be sure to add your comments with your favorite online streaming resources you find, so others can find them as well. We'll be sure to keep this list up-to-date, so as you find new services let us know.

Online video resources

Broadcast networks

Sports

Cable networks with full episodes or live streams

Show specific full episode sites

Independent Internet-only networks

Aggregation sites

Go to part 2: Stream internet video to your living room »

News by company:
Apple, YouTube, Netflix, NBC Universal, Fox, Hulu, CNN, CNET TV, CBS, Revision3, MTV, ABC, Vimeo, Discovery Channel, Revver, The CW, NextNewNetworks, OnNetworks
News by glossary term:
DVD, Video on demand, Streaming video, Podcast
Profile pages:
YouTube, Vimeo, Netflix, Hulu
Related Links:
Ditch your cable box: Stream internet video to the living room
Ditch your cable box: Online video providers mega list

Comments (7)

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Reply
Dave external link (2:19 PM on Fri Oct 31, 2008)

You can tell you guys are all true geeks. You're missing this little thing called SPORTS.

Reply
Randall Bennett external link (8:04 AM on Mon Nov 3, 2008)

I put ESPN360 on there, but I guess there's NBA.com that shows the TNT overdrive stuff. Any other resources you like?

Reply
Anonymous (2:28 PM on Wed Nov 5, 2008)

It shows you guys are in the states :/ Literally not a SINGLE one of the solutions in your list (until the independent internet networks) is available to us in Canada, despite having access to all of that content via a standard cable provider.

Hurray for licensing BS.

Reply
Anonymous (7:05 AM on Thu Nov 6, 2008)

great good job ur posting help me out finding new sites....

thanks

Reply
Ben Lovell external link (7:29 PM on Sat Dec 6, 2008)

Want to add iPlayer, Skyplayer, etc to the list, for people in the UK? We can't see the american stuff, but a load of other broadcast material has been made available to us.

Reply
Anonymous (2:58 AM on Thu Jan 15, 2009)

you forgot http://www.freetube.us.tc - tv aggregation of live streaming events and channels.

Reply
Anonymous (11:57 AM on Sun Jul 5, 2009)

IFC.com has some episodes of various programs along with web-only content...

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Anonymous (1:44 AM on Sat Nov 21, 2009)

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