Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Who Can Watch TV Shows Online Free?

By Ben Sparks


Surely you've noticed that Internet television is showing up on cellphones. But what is the quality? Can TV on your cellphone ever match satellite or cable? Streaming video quality can be a challenge. So can sound. So, just how good will the picture be streaming onto your computer screen or cellphone? It won't be what you'd receive on your home TV. But, who would have ever imagined that we would watch TV shows online free on our telephones?

Internet television is here, but can we ever expect to watch TV shows online free? Why should the networks provide TV programming for nothing? One reason is that audiences are dwindling. By rebroadcasting their shows on the Internet, the networks are gaining one more time to sell advertising. It is advertising, after all, that pays for American TV.

So, why would anybody provide commercial-free TV on the Internet. One is that quite a number of the "free" Internet TV services advertised on the web are actually hacker sites designed to download viruses onto your computer. If you download no-charge Internet TV software from on a variety of websites, you'll find yourself infested with viruses, spyware and a multitude of other nasty things that hackers delight in inflicting on the PC user. "Phishing" software mines personal information from your hard-drive, allowing the hackers to steal your identify or hijack your accounts.

Sure, there are free legit Internet TV outfits out there. But is it really free if you have to put up with ads and commercials before your program will play? Of course, most viewers are accustomed to enduring commercial breaks.

So, if we can put up with commercials, how does a TV signal end up on your home computer? One particularly obnoxious medium is bogus Internet TV providers. You may sign up for a free provider, then download their software only to find your computer infested with some of the worst possible viruses, phishing programs and spyware.

So, let's say we can over look the commercials. How does Internet TV work? Current providers are using various developing technologies. In Great Britain, BBC makes use of a very common player downloadable and provided without charge by its developer. Bloomberg Television, Showtime and CNBC use another software for their live streaming services.




About the Author:



No comments: