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Free Internet TV - A Complete Guide For Canadians

Canadians are often left behind our American counterparts when it comes to practically everything. Our retail prices are typically much higher, our online shopping choices are minimal, and when it comes to online entertainment we are only now just starting to catch up to where they’ve been for many years in the USA. People are slowly becoming aware that some of their favourite TV shows are now being broadcast for free online, but most of them only watch them from time to time on their tiny computer screens instead of on their big screen TV in the comfort of their living room. They are also unaware of the sheer quantity of Canadian networks that are now broadcasting online!

My hope is that this guide will serve as a single point of reference for Canadians to both find full episodes online and to see how easy it is to get free TV in their living room through their internet connection! It can be a bit intimidating at first for someone who is technology adverse, but this guide will recommend all the components you need to get started, where you can get them, and how to get quick access to all the Canadian, and even American, content without a lot of hassle.

In This Guide

Can I Really Get TV For Free?

Many people would automatically assume there is some sort of catch if they were told that they could get the same TV they pay so dearly for absolutely free. However, there is no catch; Watching TV on the internet is 100% free and legal!

The logic behind this truth is really quite simple. The majority of the revenue to the major networks and television broadcasters comes from the sale of advertisements, not from the cable or satellite providers. It is true that these providers often pay a licensing fee for the rights to rebroadcast these networks through their service, but it definitely pales in comparison to their revenue from advertising. Therefore, it makes sense that television networks would want to broadcast their shows to as large of an audience as possible using any possible medium to further increase that revenue. The internet and modern high speed connections have allowed them to finally break free from using other people’s infrastructure to broadcast their content! I mean what better place to broadcast their own content than on their very own websites? It really is that simple.

Pros And Cons Of Internet TV

  • It is 100% free and legal!
  • Watch shows on your own schedule, not the TV’s schedule.
  • Take full control of your viewing experience:
    • Pause, restart, rewind, and fast forward shows as you please.
    • Almost as good as a PVR without the need to schedule recordings!
  • Whole seasons or past seasons of shows are sometimes available in their entirety.
  • Much shorter and less frequent commercial breaks:
    • Commercials are often only 15 seconds in length and usually no longer than 30-60 seconds.
    • Normally scheduled commercials will sometimes be removed entirely and the show will just keep playing.
  • Shows are often available in 720p or 1080p HD, also free.
  • Some networks even have made for TV movies or other movies available.
  • The use of a web browser, keyboard, and mouse can be a bit of an extra hassle.
    • There is software and special devices that can help to alleviate this.
    • You can also set up your computer to be controlled with just a remote control.
  • Constantly streaming video can tax your internet bandwidth and breach your download cap.
  • Videos may sometimes skip, freeze, or be grainy.
    • Fortunately, this is the exception, not the rule.
    • A quick page refresh, pause to buffer, or video restart will usually fix this problem.
    • A faster internet connection and avoiding wireless connections can also help.
    • Streaming and video compression technology is always improving to fight these problems - Hulu and YouTube are just amazing.
  • You can’t really “channel surf” with internet TV.
    • Channel surfing is mostly just a time waster anyway, no big loss.
  • Content is more spread out so it can be harder to find.
    • This guide has direct links to all the content, making everything much easier.
    • Bookmark this guide and refer to it often when you need to find a show or network's website.
    • Adding shortcuts to your favourite networks on your HTPC desktop can help immensely.
    • Using a special software or device can also group all your favourite shows in one place.

Canadian Networks That Offer Full Episodes

The number of Canadian networks that are broadcasting full episodes of their shows today is staggering. I’ve personally discovered 35 of them which I’ve listed below in a handy table complete with a link to the video or full episodes section of each website for quick reference. Also included are ratings ( = good | is mediocre | = poor)  indicating roughly how good their selection of shows is and how easy their site is to use. The final column is a partial listing of sample shows that are available as full episodes on each network’s website.

If this table doesn’t provide you with enough free TV to keep you busy, then you are probably watching too much television!

Canadian Television Network Websites (Alphabetical Order)
Network Selection Usability Sample Shows
A & E Flip This House | Hoarders | Intervention | Jacked: Auto Theft Task Force | Storage Wars
APTN A variety of kids and special interest programming.
Bet American Gangster | College Hill | Hell Date
Bio Biographies | I Survived… | My Ghost Story
Bloomberg News Live streaming news! USA | Europe | Asia
BNN All their business news broadcasts from every day of the week plus all of their shows as well. Very extensive library and history.
Bravo Arts & Minds | Bravo!News | Star Portraits | The O’Regan Files
CBC 22 Minutes | Dragon’s Den | Hockey Night In Canada | Just For Laughs | The National
CityTV 30 Rock | Cougar Town | Chase | Fringe | Hell’s Kitchen | Modern Family | Parenthood
CMT Concerts | ER Vets | Pet Heroes
Network Selection Usability Sample Shows
CPAC Live streaming of Canadian political meetings as they happen plus related shows and news coverage.
CTV Big Bang Theory | Criminal Minds | Dancing With The Stars | Desperate Housewives | Gossip Girl | The Amazing Race
CTV News CTV National News | Question Period | Power Play | W5
Discovery Channel Canada’s Worst Driver | Daily Planet | How It’s Made | Junk Raiders | Myth Busters
Family Baxter | Hannah Montana | Jonas | The Elephant Princess
Fashion Television Limited selection.
Food Network Chef At Home | I Do… Let’s Eat | Hell’s Kitchen | Kitchen Nightmares
Global News National, global, and local news.
Global TV Bones | Big Brother | Glee | House | Survivor | The Office | The Apprentice
HGTV Holmes On Homes | Income Property | Location Location Location| Property Virgins
Network Selection Usability Sample Shows
History American Pickers | Ancient Aliens | Pawn Stars | Top Gear | Top Shot
MTV Canada Jersey Shore | The City | The Hills | The Real World
MuchMore Music Celebrity Rehab | Confessions Of A Teen Idol | I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here
MuchMusic Celebrity Rehab | Degrassi: TNG | Gossip Girl | Paris Hilton’s BFF | Punk’d | Vampire Diaries
Outdoor Life Network Angry Planet | Beyond Survival | Departures | Mantracker | The Beat
ShowCase Burn Notice | Lost Girl | Rescue Me | Weeds
Slice Bulging Brides | Matchmaker | Princess | Till Debt Do Us Part
Space Being Human | Defying Gravity | Merlin | Nikita
Spike 1000 Ways To Die | Auction Hunters | Deadliest Warrior| Entourage | Scrappers
Teletoon Star Wars: The Clone Wars | Stoked | The Super Hero Squad Show
Network Selection Usability Sample Shows
The Comedy Network Conan | Colbert Report | Daily Show | Hiccups | South Park | Ugly Americans
The Shopping Channel Live stream of their broadcast.
Treehouse Angelina Ballerina | Are We There Yet? | Big Comfy Couch | Dora The Explorer
TV Tropolis America’s Worst Driver | At The End Of My Leash | Carlawood
W Network Quite a few shows but a terrible player and horrendous navigation.
YTV Big Time Rush | Fairly Odd Parents | iCarly | In Real Life| SpongeBob

How To Watch American Networks In Canada

With all the Canadian networks listed above, you can now get almost any show that you want but there is a small chance that there might still be one or two missing that you could easily get if you lived in the USA. It is true that the majority of American networks block access to their full length episodes based on your Canadian IP address. The good news is that it is easy to work around this problem by using a free internet proxy like HotspotShield that assigns you an American IP address making it look like you are accessing the internet from the USA.

Just like Canada, all their major networks offer full length episodes through their own websites. I’m not going to list them all here, but I will talk about one big advantage they have over us and that is Hulu. Hulu is a single, extremely well designed and user friendly website that streams full length episodes from multiple sources, including ABC, Fox, NBC, and the MTV group of networks. Their selection is better than any other site and their video player is unmatched. It uses advanced compression and buffering technology which produces much less stuttering and freezing, better picture quality, and ultimately uses less bandwidth even when connecting through a proxy.

If you’re having trouble finding American content or if you find the HotspotShield advertisements too annoying, then you should read the useful software section for solutions to both of these problems.

What You Need To Get Started

All you really need to get started is a computer that is capable of streaming flash based video, but the purpose of all of this isn’t to be hunched over your computer every time you want to watch one of your favourite shows; It is to watch them from the comfort of your living room on your big screen TV, just like you do today! Here are the components you will need to make that happen:

Home Theater PC (HTPC)

What you are aiming for here is a small and very power efficient device because you will likely want to leave it on 24/7 for convenience sake and to get the most out of it. At the same time you need something with a good dedicated graphics processor that can handle HD video and multiple cores to allow for multitasking and to avoid system slowdowns. Preferably you should also be able to mount it to the back of your TV for clean and inconspicuous installation. I highly recommend the Acer Aspire Revo or the Acer Veriton nettops for this task because they meet all of these criteria and use less power than most light bulbs. They provide exceptional value for the money.

If you need more convincing, I wrote an awesome guest post on Young And Thrifty extolling all of the many benefits of owning a home theater PC. It was even featured in the Globe And Mail by Rob Carrick.

High Speed Internet Connection

This is essential to ensure fluid playback and the possibility of playing HD content. You can probably get by with a 3.0Mbps connection for most things, but I recommend 5-10Mbps for the best results, especially if you will have other computers sharing the internet connection at the same time. You will also need unlimited bandwidth or a high bandwidth cap to make sure you aren’t dinged with a lot of extra fees. If you have a bandwidth cap or a slow connection, you may be interested in my guide to saving money on your internet costs.

HDMI Cable

You will need a good HDMI cable to hook your HTPC up to your HDTV. You can easily spend $20-$100 for an HDMI cable at a local store, which is way too much. I highly recommend ordering an HDMI cable from MonoPrice.com for only a few dollars. I have ordered at least 30 cables of various types from them and they all performed flawlessly and are manufactured to the highest quality. Monoprice is a US-based company, but they ship to Canada for a reasonable price and you won’t need to pay any additional taxes or customs fees for such a small purchase.

Useful Software To Enhance Your TV Viewing Experience

With a little patience, using a web browser to view internet TV does work, but it definitely isn’t ideal. Fortunately, new software is continually being developed to create a better user experience and support for Canadian content has already started.

Boxee

Boxee is a well designed, free software program that is very useful for accessing all your internet TV shows in one place. It has a simple to use and remote-friendly interface and even provides access to all the existing music, videos, and pictures stored locally on your computer. No more endless scrolling and paging, searching for full screen buttons, dealing with multiple websites, annoying banner ads, or confusing interfaces. Everything is only a couple of clicks away! Boxee also works great with just a standalone mouse, no keyboard required! It also comes with access to dozens of apps like Vevo, Pandora, Last.fm, and Netflix USA. Support for Netflix Canada is supposed to be coming very soon.

In contrast, Boxee does have a few minor flaws, but you can’t expect immediate perfection from an awesome free piece of software that is still so new. First, there can be the odd pause or hiccup that you don’t seem to experience if you are accessing the content through the network’s own website. Second, not all the Canadian networks are supported but most of the bigger ones are and more are being added all the time. Finally, Hulu is no longer supported through Boxee unless you subscribe to Hulu Plus. This is a very recent development effected by Hulu as they try to generate more revenue from their service and provide incentive for people to subscribe to their premium offering. However, these minor problems are definitely manageable in light of all the other niceties that Boxee gives you.

Boxee is available for Windows, Mac, Ubuntu Linux, Apple TV, and the Boxee Box itself.

Google TV

Google TV is a new software offering by Google that is meant to come pre-installed on TVs and on special devices like the Logitech Revue and the Sony Internet TV Blu-ray. Google TV is much like Boxee in that it gives you a nice interface to access internet TV and apps. In addition, as would be expected from a Google product, it gives you access to the internet through search. However, unlike Boxee, it won’t give you access to your personal media collection. The real disappointment for me is that you can’t download or use it as a standalone application; You actually need to purchase a device that comes with it preinstalled to have a chance at using it, at least for now. Another massive strike against Google TV is that many networks are blocking access to their content by users connecting via Google TV, even more so than with Boxee.

XBMC

XBMC, formerly Xbox Media Center, is the software that started it all when it comes to all in one media players for TVs. It is capable of streaming your personal media files from any computer on your network to your TV via an HTPC or the original Xbox. Its strengths are that it works with almost all media formats and it automatically sorts and categorizes your media library, complete with relevant artwork and descriptions. Boxee was actually developed using XBMC as its base and added internet TV steaming and other custom apps to its core functionality. XBMC can be enhanced with additional plugins to do everything that Boxee can do, but it does take a little extra work.

Alternative Multimedia Devices

You don’t necessarily need an HTPC to watch internet TV on your big screen because there are lots of other media devices being brought to market lately and some of them are actually pretty decent. Although, I still consider a full fledged HTPC to be the best solution due to their flexibility and usefulness. There is also an unfortunate trend of networks and providers like Hulu starting to block access to their content through such devices effectively only letting you stream video directly from their own website. However, they do have the advantage of being simpler to use and they also cost less, so here are some links to a few of these devices for you to consider:

Take Complete Control With A Single Remote

Some people shy away from HTPCs because they don’t like the idea of adding a keyboard and mouse to their already overwhelming collection of remote controls. Not everyone knows that you can control a computer with a proper media center remote control. These remotes usually come in two parts: the remote itself and the USB infrared receiver that you plug into your HTPC which receives the commands from the remote and interprets them into commands that the computer understands. There are usually many shortcut buttons that make doing things much faster than you even could with a keyboard and mouse and you can typically use the mouse pointer as well via arrow keys or a track ball. These remotes can be good by themselves, but you are still adding one more remote to your already large pile, so keep reading for a better solution.

Introducing Logitech Harmony Remote Controls

Harmony remotes are essentially the best all-in-one remote controls you can buy. I have been using an older Logitech Harmony remote for several years now and I absolutely love it! Not only does it control all of your devices, but it also powers everything on and off with one button press. It can turn on your TV, receiver, and Blu-ray player while simultaneously setting them to the correct input all with just one press of a special activity button. It can even open the disc tray and dim your lights if you want it to! Getting your Harmony remote to work properly does involve some setup time using their software but if run into any trouble they have superb telephone support to overcome any difficulty you might have.

If your HTPC has an infrared receiver built in (most don’t), then you should be able set it up with a Harmony remote as you would any other device by following their instructions. However, you can also get a Harmony remote to work with any HTPC.  Here’s what you do:

  • Buy the cheapest media center remote you can find.
    • You need the infrared receiver because harmony remotes don’t come with one.
    • I recommend the Chinavision CVSB-983.
      • DealExtreme is a trusted Chinese internet store with free shipping (about 3 weeks).
      • I’ve purchased from them many times before.
  • Plug the infrared device into your HTPC and test it with the cheap remote to make sure it works.
  • Set up your harmony remote to use the commands of the cheap remote you bought.
    • This is the same process you go through when adding your TV or Blu-ray player.
    • If you bought the remote mentioned above, you need to find remote model Chinavision CVSB-983.
    • Their device database is so comprehensive, almost all models will be there.
  • Assign specific commands to specific buttons for the watch TV activity.
    • You should go through each command available to you in the setup and assign them to the buttons you like.
    • For example:
      • Left arrow = mouse cursor left
      • Enter button = left click
      • Info button = right click
      • Menu button = show the desktop
    • You can map the commands in any way you want, just do something that makes sense for you.

There are also a lot of different Harmony remotes to choose from. They all have slightly different features but most of them are cosmetic and design-related because they can all operate the same devices and they all work in the roughly the same way. Take some time to compare the different models and pick the one that works for you.

Check out the rest of Services section for ways to save money on all of your other services!
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