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Pluto TV: free *cable* for po' folks, roughin' it rebels, & conscientious objectors

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C C Offline
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto_TV

According to one 2016 survey, 17% of US households refuse to pay for cable, satellite, and internet TV (even when the latter has smaller monthly fees). They rely on broadcast only reception ("over the air" ad-supported television). OTA leaped up in image / audio quality and quantity back in the former decade with the advent of HDTV signals and numerous SDTV sub-channels encoded in them.  

That 17% getting by on indoor and outdoor antennas can supplement the constricted programming of broadcast stations with the equivalent of an online, and similarly commercial supported version of cable-ish television. Pluto-TV boasts circa 100 channels -- some of them are listed here; and is free (in the indirect sense of general populations still paying for such via the costs of the advertiser's products). We tried Pluto for awhile to check it out...

There are retro-tv shows and possibly a few scattered, past pay-tv shows of the hi-def era on Pluto-TV. But for those who want more scripted productions to go along with the reality-oriented programming of news, documentaries, science, nature, food, lifestyles, home repair, interviews, geek interests, etc... Then the main attraction of Pluto-TV might be the movies. Obviously there aren't any premier cable channels catering to recent theatrical releases, but what there is, might be a tad surprising (or at least for that smaller percentage of the US population who have been confined to the prudish standards of broadcast television).

Movies from the 1970s to the early part of this decade are uncensored and unedited. Should you be an old trog who still gets a juvenile buzz from full nudity, quasi-rape and the highest-ranking obscenities uttered every half-minute, then items like Marlon Brando's "Last Tango In Paris" are there in unmarred "glory". There are also the the tamer, oldest classics from the 60s, 50s, and decades before. There is an absence of washed-out colors in the films, apart from that martial arts channel (apparently few companies have interest in digitally restoring old kung-fu flicks, especially those which don't feature Bruce Lee).

Another area which Pluto-TV seems to specialize in is independent made movies like those of Gravitas Ventures and Slamdance screenplay category winners like  Chad Kinkle's Jug Face (2013).

Pluto-TV does have some annoyances which might hopefully be remedied as the service matures and gets more sponsors in the future. Like a program guide that only goes a few hours ahead (or is apparently the only schedule available anywhere); and a scarcity in terms of different commercials. Why would the latter be bad? Because you don't know what monotony is till you encounter the same 5 or 6 tv ads being repeated over and over again during the commercial breaks. Imagine finally encountering something that made you long for scores of heterogeneous commercials!

For desktops and laptops with actual television size monitors, Pluto-TV can be downloaded at places like this (click the site's own designated download links, not the big green button and similar ones that have 'advertisement' above or below them):
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/pluto_tv.html

For the range of other devices, there are apps on the Pluto site:
http://pluto.tv/

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