You have to know about these fast services

FAST: Free Ad-Free Streams of Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, and YouTube in a Smart TV. The Case for the Fighting Flicks Channel

It is the same bargain as TikTok and YouTube, but I find it more compelling that it is not the affordability or the solid array of content; it is how freeing it is to be out of a situation. When I’m trying to binge-watch a show, there’s always the sense I need to pay attention; there’s a small level of stress to make sure I don’t miss anything. And it’s not just for new shows. It was difficult to split my time between watching Yellowjackets and playing games, because I was rewatching the show before the new season began. It felt wrong to purposely choose to rewatch and not actually commit myself. The 1993 show Star Trek was rewatched recently. Deep Space Nine.

There are local CBS news stations in major cities such as Baltimore, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, New York, Detroit, and others that you can watch on Pluto TV, which makes it feel like you’re using a linear TV instead of a fast service. You can use the Pluto TV app on a range of smart TVs and devices, including Android, iOS, and on the web.

I didn’t worry about the Star Trek: Voyager episodes that I watched out of order. I didn’t need to track where I was in a rewatch, or make sure I didn’t miss a scene. The stakes were lower, and I was fine leaving it on while I vacuumed up more dog hair than I thought my dog was capable of shedding.

And unlike more social media-driven stuff such as TikTok and YouTube — which also shove free content in your face for the low, low price of your attention on occasional ads — I wasn’t having to babysit Pluto. I did not need to pick the next thing or let something auto start. I didn’t need to flick up on my phone to see the next show. I could just tune in on my TV and continue on with my day.

But it also gives us something that broadcast TV always did better: a curated, never-ending stream of content. I like all of the options I have these days, but there is a option to give them up occasionally. The Fighting Flicks channel doesn’t have to be programming on it’s own.

FAST, or free ad-supported streaming television, is the closest thing you can get to having cable without actually paying for it. FAST services give you the ability to watch a wide selection of content in a variety of ways without a subscription. While FAST services might not get the latest and greatest content, they’re still a nice option to have whenever you want to jump into some random show or movie without taking ages to decide what to watch on Netflix. Plus, you don’t even need to create an account to watch shows on most FAST services, allowing you to drop in and out as you please. You have just to watch some ads.

What really separates Roku from other services is its UI. Browsing through The Roku Channel is a bit more like scrolling through Netflix than typical linear TV, with live content featured in a carousel toward the top of the screen and all other on-demand content split into categories below. It has a wide range of movies and TV shows, as well as reality shows and sports.

The bad is now for you. One of the biggest drawbacks of the service is that you can only watch it from your TV if you have a Roku device, Amazon Fire TV device, or a Samsung smart TV. You can use the service from the desktop site or the mobile app, but no casting is allowed.

The Fox-owned Tubi has a massive collection of live and on-demand content. 64 million monthly active users used it in February, making it the second most popular FAST service. With over 50,000 movies and TV shows on tap, Tubi has one of the largest streaming libraries in the FAST space. It also has local news stations from many of the major networks. It is one of the more appealing options for people who wish to replace cable.

Freevee — formerly called IMDb Freedive and then IMDb TV — is a FAST service owned by Amazon. You will have to sign in to your Amazon account to use the service, because this is an Amazon-owned product. Once you’re signed in, you can access a trove of on-demand movies and TV shows in an interface that looks a lot like Amazon Prime Video.

There are a number of Freevee originals, including a Judge Judy reboot, Alex Rider series, and a documentary about Post Malone. It feels like Freevee prioritized on-demand shows over live content, with various channels including news, reality shows, classics, and more.

You can access the Freevee app just about anywhere. You can access it on a number of smart TVs, including the ones made by Amazon, Best Buy, and Panasonic, as well as on streaming devices, such as the Amazon Fire Stick and Apple TV.

You can use the service to set up your own media server, and you can also access it on practically any device you choose, from smart TVs to gaming consoles to mobile phones. It can be found in nearly every country around the world.

There are some movies and shows that you can only watch on the service, like 2021.’s Fortress, but it doesn’t really stand out from the other services listed here. Some of the same content can be found across the three apps, thanks to the Xumo software that power the FAST channels on Google TVs and the other apps built in on smart TVs.

Sling Freestream is available through the Sling TV app on a number of platforms, including web, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, and many others.

If you want to watch some more recent material, you can switch to the Rent tab, where you can pay to rent films like Creed and Tr. It is not ideal to have access to these movies on another service, but it is a good option if you prefer to pay a fee.

As Samsung looks to grow its service, it’s also been building up on content. Last year, it added Top Gear, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and NCIS to the service and announced its plans to triple the amount of on-demand content it has on the platform this year through “new and expanded partnerships” with Lionsgate, Vice Media, and others.

It created some of its own channels, like the home improvement focused Home. Made. Nation channel it launched in collaboration with A&E. There are 220 different channels available in the US which is small compared to the total of 1,600 channels it offers across 24 different countries.