I use FreeCast (previously SelectTV) to organize all my online movies, favorite shows, and video streaming services in one convenient place. This interactive TV Guide for cord-cutters provides me with searchable, categorized content that’s easy to navigate.
In a hurry? FreeCast is a service that allows you to organize online video streaming — both free stuff as well as stuff available from services you already subscribe to. The base plan is free. It provides a paid add-on that includes a smattering of live TV channels and antenna integration.
As an alternative, we recommend Sling Blue. Save 50% on your first month of Sling TV.
Table Of Contents
From games to movies to TV shows, there’s no shortage of things to watch for free online. The only downside to having so much free content online is that it’s almost impossible to find what you are looking for, much less keep it organized.
Luckily for us, there’s a service that changes all that. It is called FreeCast. In this article we will explain why this free service is one of the most valuable tools online; and why all cord-cutters need to at the very least, take it for a test drive.
Read our full FreeCast review below to learn more.
How Select TV Works
FreeCast has done it again. Born from the ashes of Rabbit TV, a clunkier dongle meant to aggregate free web content, FreeCast preserves the positives of its predecessor while moving forward towards the future of entertainment for those who want to get rid of cable TV.
The first thing you need to realize about FreeCast is that, at its heart, it’s not a streaming service; it is an online aggregator of video content. What we mean by that is FreeCast doesn’t create its own content, but rather it organizes existing content strewn across the internet into one convenient, easy-to-use interface.
Some of the features of FreeCast include:
- 700,000 TV episodes
- 100,000 movies
- 1,500 streaming channels
- An online TV guide
- A PPV deal finder
FreeCast is also offering a way to integrate an HD TV antenna with its app for a $199.99 one-time charge.
Free vs Premium Content
Content is generally split into two categories: free and premium content. The free content generally consists of stuff that you can find online for free such as free movies on YouTube or content on broadcast local channels like ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and The CW.
Imagine having all the content available on our online TV channels page, under one roof — searchable and categorized.
Much like with the free content, the premium stuff is a collection of paid or log-in required content. FreeCast makes this really easy. You just click on My Subscriptions.
This lists the major services and you just select it. In our case, we chose Amazon Prime, Hulu, FuboTV, and Shudder. FreeCast automatically added the content from these services to our choices. There are many other choices like HBO Max, Showtime, Netflix, NFL+, ESPN+, and Disney+ as well as other streaming services like Sling TV.
You might have the experience with Amazon Prime and other services where you are looking at what you think is free content. You get excited about a movie only to learn that it isn’t included. It’s basically just an ad in the middle of your list.
FreeCast does not intermingle paid and free content in one big annoying list. It allows you to filter paid and free content based on what you want to see. Want to only look at the free stuff? No worries. Want to see a mix of the two? You’re covered.
As far as the paid content goes, it’s going to be more or less what you’ve come to expect from the internet. You can find and stream recent or classic movies but chances are you will have to pay for them
Free on FreeCast
Now let’s talk about what kind of content you can expect from the free and paid sections of FreeCast — starting with our favorite section: the free one.
Searching for television and films is pretty simple with FreeCast. You can search for shows and movies based on the name, genre, etc. Shows are also divided up by network, making it a little bit easier to find what it is you want.
Surprisingly, the free movies can range from very recent releases to older ones, more obscure, films. Some of the movies are available on-demand and others are available via movie channels, which can easily be found via the search bar or side panel.
On-Demand Shows
Within the free section of FreeCast, you get a huge selection of free television and movies from around the web. Television-wise, you’ll be seeing a lot of on-demand network television shows. Usually, you’ll have access to the most recent and trending live shows, give or take a few, depending on the network.
The on-demand sources are impressive. Here is a partial list:
- A&E
- ABC
- Adult Swim
- BET
- Cartoon Network
- CBS News
- CMT
- CNBC
- CollegeHumor
- Comedy Central
- Crackle
- Crunchyroll
- CW Seed
- Disney Junior
- DisneyNow
- Food Network
- Fox
- Freeform
- Funny Or Die
- Fuse
- FYI
- HGTV
- History Channel
- Hoopla
- IMDB TV
- Lifetime
- Logo
- Magnolia
- MTV
- National Geographic
- National Geographic Kids
- NBC
- NBC News
- Nick Jr
- OWN
- Oxygen
- PBS
- PBS Kids
- Peacock
- PlutoTV
- Popcornflix
- Shout! Factory TV
- Showtime Freeview
- Smithsonian Channel
- South Park Studios
- Syfy
- The CW
- Travel Channel
- Tubi TV
- TV Land
- USA
- VH1
- Vice TV (Viceland)
- Vudu
- Youtube
Live Streaming
Aside from the on-demand content, where the free section really shines, you also have the live-streaming category. We’re talking over 150 channels from all over the world. They are subdivided as follows (with the number of channels in each):
- News (14)
- Sports (13)
- Movies (9)
- TV Shows (21)
- Lifestyle (17)
- Gaming (4)
- Comedy (4)
- Kids (7)
- Shopping (10)
- Espanol (12)
- Spiritual (8)
- Music (13)
- Entertainment (17).
Most of these channels are not what you are probably used to in a normal cable package. But there’s a lot of interesting stuff here. And it works as a great supplement for one or more streaming services.
In terms of live channels, they currently offer the following:
- AfroLandTV
- Alternative
- AMGTV
- Awe Plus
- AXS TV NOW
- BatteryPOP
- BizTV
- Bloody Disgusting
- BNC Go
- Buzzr
- C3
- CBSN
- Channel Fight
- Chopperottera
- Choppertown
- CINE REAL
- Cine Sureño
- CJC
- Classic Reels TV
- Classic Reruns TV
- Classic Rock
- Comedy Dynamics
- Comfy TV
- CONtv
- CONtv Anime
- Costco Wholesale
- Court TV
- Cowboy Theater
- Crackle
- Crackle Classics
- CVS Health
- Dark Corners
- Defiance Media
- Dimensions
- Ditty TV
- Docurama
- Dove Channel
- Electricnow
- Escapes
- ESTV
- Faith USA
- Fantawild
- Fight Network
- FITE 24/7
- Flash
- Flashback 70S
- Foqus TV
- FTF Next
- Fun Roads
- Funnybone
- Gem Network
- God TV
- Greatest Hits
- HappiTV
- Hard Knocks
- Hi-Yah!
- Hillsong
- Hip-Hop/R&B
- Hit List
- Horror Machine
- Horrorfy
- Hot Country
- HSN
- HSN 2
- Humor Mill
- IHolyfield TV
- Impact! Wrestling
- IShe TV
- ITOWN TV
- Jetset Network
- Juntos
- Kaloopy
- Kartoon Circus
- Kid Central
- Latin X Loop
- LATV
- Law & Crime
- Law & Crime Rewind
- Lax Sports Network
- Level Up
- Living Modern
- MMC
- Mythos
- Mytime Movie Network
- Nashville Country TV
- Newsmax
- Newsmax TV
- Newsnet
- Newsy
- NHRA TV
- OAN Plus
- ONTV4U
- Outdoor America
- Outside TV+
- Party Tyme Karaoke
- Party Tyme Karaoke Espanol
- Pop Adult
- Popcornflix
- Positiv TV
- Prime Time Drama
- PTL Network
- Quietude 4K
- QVC
- QVC 2
- QVC 3
- Ready Set Action
- Real America’s Voice
- Real Family TV
- Remember The 80S
- Right Now TV
- RT Arabic
- RT Documentary
- RT Español
- RT News USA
- Saber Mas
- Shop LC
- ShopHQ
- Sightline
- Simsi TV
- SKWAD
- Slap Tech
- So Yummy
- So…Real
- Social Club TV
- Sonlife
- Spydar TV
- Stingray Classica
- Stingray Djazz
- Stingray Karaoke
- Stingray Naturescape
- Stingray Qello
- Switch
- TBN
- The Bob Ross Channel
- The First
- The Grid
- The Love Destination
- The Syndicate
- The Word Network
- The X Zone
- Thrillerz
- Today’S Latin Pop
- Toon Goggles
- Toon Goggles En Español
- Toon Goggles Jr
- Top Cine
- Treehouse Gaming Network
- True History
- Truli
- Tu Cine
- Veteran Success TV
- Whistle TV
- Wired2Fish TV
- World Poker Tour
- Xcorps TV
- Yahoo Finance
- Youth Success Network
- Youtoo America
Channel Package
In addition to these free channels, FreeCast offers a plan that includes its own live TV streaming channels:
- FreeCast Value: Provides 18 English-language channels
It used to have a Spanish-language plan, Mis Canales, but that doesn’t seem to be available anymore.
The plan scome with 10 hours of cloud DVR. This is not much but in our experience, it’s enough. Most people clog their DVRs with shows and movies they never get around to watching. But we would like to see more storage capacity.
FreeCast Value
The FreeCast Value package is just $6.99/mo (or just $30/yr). Although it comes with a lot of “also-ran” channels, there are a couple of gems here:
- REELZ Channel
- AXS TV
- Sony Movies
- UPtv
- insp
- WeatherNation
- QVC
- Outdoor Channel
- getTV
- Sportsman Channel
- World Fishing Network
- HDNet Movies
- BabyFirst
- RFD-TV
- FETV
- Cowboy Channel
- Family Movie Classics
- Game Show Network
FreeCast vs Sling TV
FreeCast is often pitted against Sling TV. Truthfully, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Sling TV is a streaming service and FreeCast is mostly not.
When it comes to Spanish-language plans, there is no comparison. Sling TV has many options and FreeCast’s Mis Canales plan is gone.
In terms of English-language programming, there is no comparison. FreeCast offers some interesting channels for little money ($6.99) and Sling TV offers a great service but for $40.00/month.
The two services work together well. Sling TV is one of the many services that FreeCast allows you to easily integrate. There are a few channels they offer in common but overall, they complement each other well.
If your focus is on live TV, these are also good options:
- Fubo: A great overall streaming service with arguably the best selection of sports channels. Get over 130 channels for $79.99/month with a 7-day free trial!
- Hulu + Live TV: If you want an unparalleled on-demand service, ESPN+, Disney+, and 85+ live channels, this is for you.
Price Shopping
One more thing that makes FreeCast special is that, unlike renting a movie through a single streaming service, you can compare prices among all of the major video streaming providers before you make your decision.
Especially when it comes to recent releases, there can be a big difference in the PPV price of a film even though what you get is identical. And it won’t send you to a paid version of a film when a free version is available.
Cord Cutter’s TV Guide
Probably our favorite part about FreeCast is that you can turn this service into a centralized hub for all of your streaming services. Have a Netflix subscription? Guess what? FreeCast integrates Netflix (and the other major streaming services like Hulu) into its platform.
Even better, it provides you easy access to the on-demand content available with live TV streaming services. This is a problem with pretty much all of these services: they provide a lot of on-demand content but their interfaces are not set up for you to find it.
So FreeCast allows you to watch free content and to better use the streaming services that you have. That’s a pretty great thing for free.
TVs and Other Devices for FreeCast
FreeCast provides support for the vast majority of streaming devices. You can use the following smart TVs:
- Android TV
- Fire TV
- LG
- Roku TV
- Samsung
- TCL TV.
You can also use it on Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Finally, you can use FreeCast with these streaming devices:
- Android TV
- Apple TV
- Amazon Fire TV
- Mi Box
- Roku.
Finally, you can cast to your TV if it has Chromecast built in or if you have a device attached to it.
The Bad News
Currently, the big streaming services don’t allow FreeCast to access their VOD information. So the interface on, say, the Amazon Fire TV is limited to their free channels and the ones that are included with the Value or Mis Canales plans.
But you get the full-functionality with the web interface. So if you want to use FreeCast with your television, you can run it on a laptop and connect it via HDMI to your TV.
The same is true of casting. You can run the Select TV app on your smartphone (or Chrome browser) and stream it to your TV for full functionality.
Streaming on Multiple Screens
No need for multiple accounts. One account allows you to log on via multiple devices, so this is really a non-issue.
As far as your other streaming services, FreeCast opens them in their own windows so you have as much freedom as they allow you.
100% Legally Obtained Content
Often on our Stream TV Scams page, we discuss companies who are based in countries outside of US Law, and we urge our readers to be careful with their credit card numbers. This is not the case with FreeCast.
They are located in Orlando, FL, everything they offer is 100% legal, and all the content they access is not protected by any copyright laws (except for the premium content they provide via contract).
FreeCast Review: Final Words
FreeCast is a wonderful service. What makes FreeCast so special isn’t necessarily the content, but rather how it is presented. The time it will save you is invaluable, and the convenience it provides simply makes being a cord-cutter that much easier. In fact, it is a good reason to become a cord-cutter.
Sure, most of the content on FreeCast is free and can be found online, but that’s not the point. The point is that it makes it feel like you’re watching television again.
Ask any cord cutter about what they miss about cable and most of them will say channel surfing — that little joy you get by seeing “what’s on.” You don’t get that same feeling browsing YouTube or binging but with FreeCast you do. And for that, it’s worth every single penny.
FreeCast offers a free 7-day trial regardless of the plan you are interested in. Then it is free for the base plan or $6.99/mo for the Value plan. Check it out. We think you will be impressed.
FAQ
Can I watch the Hallmark Channel on Freecast?
No, though you can add Hallmark Movies Now, Hallmark’s on-demand movie streaming service. If you find you can’t live without a live channel of feel-good, family friendly romances and mysteries, check out Frndly TV. It’s a pared-down live TV streaming service specializing in programming for the whole family that starts at $6.99/mo.
Can I watch pay-per-view content on Freecast?
Yes. You can rent and buy movies and more across a half-dozen services such as Amazon, iTunes, VUDU, Google Play, or Microsoft’s media store. You can compare prices and select the best deal, and access it through Freecast across all your devices. It’ll even recommend titles similar to the one you’re viewing.
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