Finding Sites to Watch Streaming TV Online for Free

I previously posted about how I use Fancast, Hulu and Joost to watch TV online for free. The shows available on those sites are limited and often changing, so I’m sure you’re wondering how I manage to watch the rest of my favorite shows online.

I do it all with the help of a very useful website, Sidereel. Its a community of television lovers, and in addition to sharing news about their favorite shows, users add links links to websites where you can watch full episodes online.

This is how I use the site: I want to watch the latest episode of say “The Office” or “True Blood” but neither of them are available on Hulu or Joost. Instead of poking around NBC & HBO’s website in hopes that the episode is available there, I go straight to Sidereel.

I search for the show, and select the episode I’m interested in. This is a screen cap of the listing for the Season 5 finale of “The Office.”

Immediately I see that this episode is available on NBC’s website, so I can click that link which will take me directly to the video. It’s also available on Fancast, if I decide I want to go there. It also links to iTunes and Amazon.com (where you have to pay). So I’m all set to watch that episode.

In the case of True Blood, when I look at the Season 2 finale there are no links available.

When I click on “Search for Season 2, Episode 12″ it takes me to a list of user submitted links. I just select a link and watch the episode. Since this is all user submitted, sometimes it can take a few tries to find a working link. If a lot of the links near the top aren’t working, I suggest checking ones towards the bottom. After using Sidereel a few times, you’ll get used to what websites work best and are most reliable.

You do not have to sign up on Sidereel to access the links or other content, but I highly recommend it (or you can log-in with your Facebook account). If you sign up you can save your favorite shows and keep track of what episode you watched last.

Another website which uses a similar link database is SurfTheChannel, so if you don’t like Sidereel, give that a try. I personally haven’t used it much, but I’d love to hear from anyone who does.

Posted at 9:38 AM, September 17, 2009 by Tiffany

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