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best apps for free (and legal) streaming chromecast content

electricpete

Android Expert
Jan 7, 2012
2,113
1,068
Here are my favorites:

youtube... everyone knows that already.

I also like plutotv. It has a bunch of channels each with a theme. Want news... take your pick of several. Want music videos... there are channels for each genre. Two different tech channels. Many sports channels, comedy channels etc. The best thing is it's like normal tv (not as much work needed to find content as youtube... find a channel you like... if it gets boring then mindlessly switch to another channel) but offers more choices.

I also like to get my daily news updates via the monologues of the late-night comedians:
All of the above apps are free with chromecast support and ads of course. I think one of them may require to enter your tv cable providers credentials...don't exactly recall which.
I also like Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers (both on NBC) and Conan (on TBS), but those network apps don't have chromecast support so I subscribe to the channels for those shows on youtube to catch clips.​

What about you? What are your favorite free and legal ways to get great content onto your chromecast?
 
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TED talks are good 'filler' videos as they're very topical and relatively short:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ted.android

Crackle has some interesting stuff occasionally, but it can be pretty heavy with the commercials:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gotv.crackle.handset

and I'm only going to tentatively suggest Hoopla. It's limited to the U.S. market, you need a library card, and it's not nation-wide although there are a large number of libraries that participate. Also, different libraries set different limits as to how many items you can 'borrow' per month (library districts have to pay for streaming rights too). So yeah there are a lot of limitations but there's no extra fees to access it, there are no commercials or ads, and it works well with my Chromecast.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hoopladigital.android
http://www.zeemaps.com/view?group=661471&x=-95.483851&y=39.468050&z=13
 
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and the All4 app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.channel4.ondemand which gives access to the catch up service on channel 4 and also lots of their back catalogue.
As a typical clueless American I forgot about all the great content coming out of the U.K. But I did find this really interesting: "Please note – "Due to Channel 4’s agreements with programme owners, rooted devices are not supported."
I guess I just find this to be a sad reminder that the silly restrictions all the studios add to streaming video here isn't limited by geography.
 
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As a typical clueless American I forgot about all the great content coming out of the U.K. But I did find this really interesting: "Please note – "Due to Channel 4’s agreements with programme owners, rooted devices are not supported."
I guess I just find this to be a sad reminder that the silly restrictions all the studios add to streaming video here isn't limited by geography.

Even more infuriating when you consider Channel 4, E4 and 4 Movies (or whatever it's called) are all free to air channels.
 
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As much as I'd love to watch Stephen Colbert... that app is only going to play in the US...

Still over here in the UK we have Iplayer for all of the BBC goodness you've missed in the last 30 days https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bbc.iplayer.android

and the All4 app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.channel4.ondemand which gives access to the catch up service on channel 4 and also lots of their back catalogue.

Do you need a VPN to watch all the BBC goodness? ;)
 
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