IPTV? Yes, television over the Internet!

May 16, 2022

May 16, 2022

To make it easier on you who are reading this on paper or just prefer to type in the URLs yourself, for each LONG URL I’ll also provide a shorter but descriptive URL that should be easier to type. Also, these columns are not generally intended to be a complete tutorial. Rather, I hope to give you enough information to spark your interest and curiosity, give you a few sites to point you in the right direction, and give you some of the terms you’ll need to get started.

IPTV (i.e. Internet Protocol TeleVision) dates back to the mid-90s.Yeah! And it’s still going today. All those “free” channels you can get on SelectTV and similar providers? Well, you can get them yourself, without anything other than an Internet connection and a video player. It’s a lot like streaming music or your favorite radio station. Does your local TV station have a “live” section where you can stream their current program? That’s likely done with IPTV.

WABC in New York City? Hit up https://content.uplynk.com/channel/ext/72750b711f704e4a94b5cfe6dc99f5e1/wabc_24x7_news.m3u8 (or http://bit.do/IPTV-WABC if you’re typing) and watch it, live and free.

WGN in Chicago? http://trn03.tulix.tv/teleup-mBm5MQ50rA/playlist.m3u8 is where it’s at or http://bit.do/IPTV-WGN if you’re typing.

CNN International UK? https://cnn-cnninternational-1-gb.samsung.wurl.com/manifest/playlist.m3u8 or http://bit.do/IPTV-CNN-UK if typing.

And that’s not all – movies, weather, shopping (QVC, HSN). And, yes, there are program guides, too, so you can find out what’s on, when.

How do you watch these channels? Well, if you only have a few you could use a video player like VLC from https://www.videolan.org/– it can keep track of the ones you like but if you want to explore and watch channels from all over the nation it the world, apps like those mentioned in https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/free-iptv-apps-android/ (or http://bit.do/IPTV-android-apps if typing) and https://tweaklibrary.com/best-iptv-apps-for-android-and-ios can get you going (or http://bit.do/IPTV-android-ios-apps if typing). If you’re watching on a phone or a tablet but want to watch it on your TV, you can use a Chromecast! Aren’t familiar with Chromecast? We’ll get into it in a future column.