You can watch live TV on Tubi but the free streaming service shouldn’t be considered as a way to replace a paid live TV subscription. For some homes, Tubi may offer just enough live TV, but for others, the general quantity and quality of the channels is unlikely to meet their live TV needs.
Without a doubt, the biggest selling point with Tubi is that it is a free service. Unlike many other popular streaming services, Tubi doesn’t charge users a monthly subscription fee. Instead, it is a service which relies on ads to generate revenue. Considering some streaming services charge a subscription fee and still show commercials, Tubi really is an affordable way to stream episodes and movies over the internet, and this makes it a service worth using.
In addition to its fairly extensive library of on-demand content, Tubi also now offers access to some live TV channels as well. Generally speaking, the live TV experience is not much different to other free services, meaning the selection of channels is not going to be as rich as what many would expect with a paid live TV service. Instead, the live TV experience tends to consist of genre or topic-specific channels, or extensions of popular live TV channels.
For example, in terms of the genre/topic channels, Tubi provides access to Gordan Ramsey, Jamie Oliver, Realmadrid TV, and World Cup channels, among others. In terms of the extension of channels, Tubi offers access to beinSports Extra and Game Show Extra, among others. There is also some more well known channels that are typically available for free through other services, such as Newsy, NBC News Now, Fubo Sports Network, and so on.
Another semi-restriction is that live TV through Tubi is not necessarily available everywhere or to all users. For starters, live TV is only available to Tubi users based in the US. Adding to this, live TV is a relatively new addition to Tubi and this does mean that some users may find the option to access live TV has not yet rolled out to their specific devices.
In reality, device support probably won’t be a major issue for many homes, as live TV through Tubi is already available on a number of popular platforms including Fire TV devices, Roku players, and Samsung smart TVs. Still, it is something to be aware of in general. It is also possible to watch live TV directly through the Tubi website, in cases where one of the various platform apps a home is currently using has yet to gain support for live channels.
Arguably, two of the biggest reasons for watching live TV is access to live news and live sports, and these are two areas that Tubi’s live TV experience does look to offer. Again, consumers should not expect to get a premium news or sports experience, but there are plenty of news and sports-related feeds available to watch at any time. For some, this level of access to news and sports may prove to be enough to skip the need for a paid live TV service. Not to mention, the Tubi live TV experience is highly likely to continue to improve over time, and especially in terms of the quantity of channels available. For those that want access to a more robust live TV experience, however, a paid live TV subscription is still going to be the best option.
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