Pluto TV Review: 100+ Channels of Free
Pluto TV is a free streaming service providing 78 TV and 34 music channels for your viewing entertainment. It is available through your Web browser, as a PC application or an app for Android, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, IOS or Apple TV.
Pluto TV generates revenue through advertisements that can come at annoying times right in the middle of a segment rather than when the show or event would normally break for a commercial. I like to use the service for news via their “News 24/7” channel which moves between different content providers like Newsy and MSNBC. Right in the middle of the news segment the story is put on hold and a series of ads will be shown before resuming the news segment. If you can handle that type of inconvenience, Pluto TV might just be for you.
You won’t find many major networks with Pluto TV, but you will find lots of news, documentaries, comedy, cartoons, sports, classic TV, and music. Pluto TV is a mixture of mostly live streaming channels along with on-demand content like old sports fights and classic TV shows. The interface is set-up well and you will see the schedule along with options on the opening page. Here are some of the helpful options:
| Channel Lineup | This is a quick view of all of the Pluto TV channels within the categories. |
| Explore | Get a snapshot of each channel with an “about” intro and a schedule of upcoming shows. |
| Favorites | Select your favorite channels to create your own channel listing in the “Following” section. |
| Record | Yes, you can record shows. Click on any future show in the TV schedule and you will be able to save it for later. This is a very handy feature. |
There are 17 channel categories on Pluto TV. You get a little bit of everything like 16 news channels, 14 for sports and seven more for comedy. I liked the offerings in the “Smart Stuff” category which shows documentaries and shows about space, science and nature. Kids will have some options for watching cartoons, but most of these are older and may have more appeal with the parents who want to reminisce. Pluto TV does provide more channels for Kids in their Pluto TV Kids section. There are also more targeted channels like gaming and pets. Food and travel are represented too.
Pluto TV Channel Categories
| News (16) Tech (2) Sports (14) Pop Culture (1) Comedy (7) |
Action& Adventure (7) Anime & Cartoons (5) Drama (6) Ares & Lifestyle (11) Memory Lane (9) Internet Gold (6) |
Chill Out (5) Geek & Gaming (5) Tastemakers (2) Smart Stuff (9) Pluto TV Kids (5) Pluto TV Music (34) |
Most of the content on Pluto TV comes from sources you already have access to like YouTube, but the company has deals with Hulu and Shout! Factory to provide other shows like The Daily Show and Seinfeld and other original content. The application pulls all of the different content in and wraps them up in a nice package that mimics regular TV viewing. The video quality will depend on the source. Some content is shown in HD, while most is streamed in standard definition, especially the older movies or shows.
In addition to the news category I also like the comedy and sports sections. Actual NHL and MLB games are quite random and usually a year old or more. The comedy is fresh however and it is nice to be able to watch the previous night’s Falon or Conan whenever you like during the next day. The sports I tend to watch on Pluto TV are the combat sports. They have a good selection of MMA and kickboxing.
Pluto TV offers 34 channels just for music covering all the usual genres. There is even a channel for “Weird” Al Yankovic. If you aren’t into Al, Beyonce, Mariah and Kanye have their own channels offered in two hour segments.
Pluto TV won’t change your life, but it is a well-designed application that provides decent content and has a little bit of everything, so all can potentially enjoy. You can opt for a trial run right from their Web site and if you like it you can download their app in the format that works best for you. You will want to do this because the app runs more smoothly and the video quality is better. The best part is it’s free, so why not try it?
