You Can Now Enjoy Live TV For Free On Plex For 3 Months

With most of the countries under lockdown amidst the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, people are resorting to popular streaming video services like Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, and Prime Video to binge-watch their favourite TV shows and movies.

Now, Plex, the media streaming app, has announced to make its Live TV over-the-air functionality free to Plex users for 3 months to keep people self-isolating at home entertained and healthy during this crisis time.  

You can now watch free, over-the-air broadcasts in any supported Plex player apps without any Plex Pass until June 30th. Previously, users would need to be a Plex Pass subscriber to access Plex live TV.

Live TV channels such as ABC, CBS, and NBC will now be available through Plex. The free trial will include reruns of classic TV shows, new shows, news channels, as well as kids programming.

In order to use Plex’s Live TV feature, you will require an HD TV antenna and a compatible tuner connected to your Plex Media Server. Those who do not have a tuner and HD antenna, can get these from some of Plex’s hardware partners who are offering these to Plex users at a discounted price for a limited period.  

Nevertheless, the free offer does not include DVR functionality. This means shows cannot be recorded and saved to watch later. However, if you need the DVR functionality, you can get with a Plex Pass subscription. Also, the program limits guide data to 48 hours into the future, compared to two weeks for paying Plex customers.

South Africa currently does not have Plex’s Live TV feature functionality. You can check the full list of supported countries here. 

Besides Live TV, Plex is also informing users how it has used its technology as a streaming platform for online classes for children. Also, it does have an official unofficial Plex coloring book that can be downloaded for fun.  

You can read more about Plex’s detailed offerings in the blog post here.