Can You Really Watch Free TV on Your PC?
by Ira Wilsker

WEBSITES:
http://toolbar.tv-fox.com
http://www.watch-live-online.tv  (Live TV)
http://www.hulu.com

	You may have seen ads on the internet or on TV that tell you that you can watch free TV on the internet, and that you do not need cable or satellite to watch thousands of TV channels.  Some even go as far as to say that you should cancel your cable or satellite, and use the free services, rather than paying for expensive TV service.  Several others advertise software or hardware devices (for a fee) that allow you to watch hundreds of TV channels online for free.  There are even websites that allow you watch TV in your browser or on your desktop, either for free, or for a subscription fee.  While these offers are generally real, they should not be confused with the selection of channels available on your local cable system or satellite service as they generally do not offer the major commercial channels, and rarely offer the major local channels.  Some services, generally located overseas, offer illegally pirated feeds for a fee, and should always be avoided.  Other services, such as the well respected Hulu (hulu.com) legitimately offer thousands of already broadcast and older TV shows and movies provided by the networks and movie studios that are either advertiser supported (for free), or without commercials (by subscription, sometimes for a fee).
	One service that I frequently use is TV-Fox, or its sister product, LIVE TV.   The selection of channels on LIVE TV is virtually identical to those on TV-Fox.  Alternatively, for those who do not want to download a toolbar or plug-in, these same channels can be viewed directly online at watch-live-online.tv.  It may be necessary to have Windows Media Player (or some similar compatible player) installed to view these stations.  Most of the stations can either be viewed in a small window, or opened to full screen by double clicking on the video.
	TV-Fox is a free plug-in for the Firefox browser (toolbar.tv-fox.com), and currently offers "2780 Live TV Channels sorted by country & category,  the TV-FOX allows you to watch thousands of  TV channels freely available on the internet."  It is installed as a short toolbar, and includes a pair of directories that display the available channels.  The first icon (purple) opens a directory containing a listing of about 100 countries; moving the mouse cursor over the country displays the currently available TV stations that stream online.  If the selected station has a circle icon with a right arrow (triangle), that indicates that the selected station is always online; if the icon is a small clock, that means that the station is only available for specific hours.  The viewer should be aware of the time differences around the world, as what is prime time in the mid-east, for example, may be the early morning here.  While I enjoy watching live foreign TV, I am not capable of understanding all of the languages, so I prefer the English language stations available in many of the countries listed.  Under the listing for the United States is approximately 60 stations, all but a few being broadcast in English.  These US based stations include such well known stations as Bloomberg Business, CBN, CNBC, Home Shopping Network (HSN), Fox News, MSNBC, NASA, NBC News, and several prominent local stations from a variety of cities.
	The second icon (green) on the TV-Fox toolbar opens a directory based on genre'.  Categories include sports, news, business, music, kids, lifestyle, government, religious, education, shopping and weather, as well as a listing of about 50 live web-cams from around the world.  Personally, I am a news and information junkie, and spend significant time on the news listing, which has live news feeds from about three dozen news sources from about 20 different countries, many of which are in English.  Sports fanatics may enjoy the sports selection, consisting of 28 stations from about a dozen countries.  While I may not understand the announcer on many of these sports stations, the live or recorded sports events are often quite understandable to the viewer.  Music fans would appreciate the almost 50 TV stations that stream music.  While many of the music stations are from France, Italy, Poland, and India, the viewer will almost always find music of interest.  I have found that many of the foreign music stations which play their native music are very intriguing and entertaining.
	Investing and business is of universal interest, and TV-Fox offers 19 business channels, including Bloomberg-UK, Bloomberg-Asia, and Bloomberg-USA.  Those stations, along with CNBC and NBR can provide business and economic information for the majority of investors and others interested in business.
	Sometimes we need content to entertain our children, or the child in us adults.  The kids section contains a dozen channels, three of which are American, two of which are cartoons.  My favorite kids channel is the "Classical Cartoons" which shows old time cartoons, many of which are from the 30's and 40's, most of which today's children would not otherwise have an opportunity to view.
	There are 22 movie channels listed, of which eight are from the US, and include sci-fi, comedy classics, thrillers, and WSTV (White Springs TV, also known as "The Golden Age of Movies Channel") which is a Florida and Oregon based network that streams old movies over satellite and on the air in about a dozen cities, as well as online.  If I feel like watching a movie stream on my computer, I can usually find something of interest on one of these movie channels.
	The two dozen religious TV channels that stream over the internet cover almost all of the world's major religions, in a variety of languages.  There are 27 educational channels available, many from major universities around the world, including Texas A&M's KAMU-TV.  Shoppers may like to see what the 22 shopping channels offer, including the six American shopping channels.  Some of the products promoted on the foreign shopping channels are very interesting, despite the frequent language barrier; the foreign sales techniques are often very entertaining as well.  The 14 weather channels, including nine American weather channels provide more weather information than most viewers can utilize.
	Sometimes it is interesting just to see a live webcam from some notable location.  The live webcams available on TV-Fox include such diverse places as Times Square (NYC), the Hogs Breath Saloon in Florida, France, Germany, Kathmandu (Nepal), Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, and other US locations.
	While not a complete substitute for local TV and the domestic cable and satellite services, there is enough free TV available online to entertain and inform almost everybody.