7 Best Free Streaming Services for News

cord-cutting • July 26, 2024 • Staff

One of the best parts about cord-cutting, apart from the massive slash in costs, is that you can customize your plan and pare it down to your needs. If you're looking for the best streaming services for news, you can visit our list here. But if you want to know which of these services are absolutely free, then we've rounded up your choices below.

Pluto TV Live, which has CNN and Bloomberg, and Xumo TV, which has ABC News Live and NBC News Now, is a noteworthy alternatives for network news, while Local Now is your best bet when it comes to local reportage.

Read on to learn more about the best news streaming services you can watch for free.

The Roku Channel

The Roku Channel can't replace Netflix or a cord-cutting service like Sling, but it's a nice added bonus if you already have a Roku device. The selection of live channels is limited, but there's something for everyone, including news, sports, and entertainment.

Go to The Roku Channel

Price: free for 2 channels available

Device availability: Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Roku TV, Samsung TV, Website

Channel lineup: ABC News Live, ION Mystery

Pluto TV Live

Pluto TV is a modern take on traditional cable: it has hundreds of channels streaming live, a huge library of on demand content, and it’s supported by ads. But the key difference from the competition? It’s totally free.

Go to Pluto TV Live

Price: free for 34 channels available

Device availability: Amazon Fire TV, Android, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, iOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Roku, Shareplay supported, Virgin Media, Vizio SmartCast, webOS, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Channel lineup: BBC Food, BBC Home, Bein Sports XTRA, Bloomberg Television, CBS Sports HQ, CBSN, Check with Pluto TV for the full channel lineup, Cheddar News, CNN, ET Live, Food TV, Fox Sports, Hallmark En Espanol, Hip Hop Family VH1, Love & Hip-Hop VH1, Major League Soccer, MLB, MotorTrend FAST TV, NBC News Now, Newsmax, NFL Channel, NFL Super Bowl Classics, Nosey, People TV, PGA Tour, Pluto Channels, Sky News, Smithsonian Channel, Stories AMC, TBN, Today, TV Land Drama, WeatherNation, WPT

NewsOn

NewsOn is a free streaming service that lets you access live TV newscasts from over 200 local stations around the United States. According to the platform, it has partnered with ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX and their respective local affiliates to cover up to 91% of the country (a full list of their local channels can be seen here).

You can also watch previous news, sports, and weather reports on NewsOn from up to 48 hours ago and select your favorite stations so that they appear first on the homepage. No registration is required, and it allows you to watch local channels wherever in the country you may be.

Go to NewsOn

Price: free for 3 channels available

Device availability: Amazon Fire TV, Android, Apple TV, iOS, Roku, Roku TV, Website

Channel lineup: CBS local channels, Local news channels, NBC local channels

LocalBTV

LocalBTV is a streaming service that delivers live feeds from local TV stations around the United States. Free of charge and offering cloud DVR with up to 1 TB of storage, it's an accessible resource for those looking to cut the cord without having to cut ties with their community. As of this writing, LocalBTV has yet to stream major news networks like ABC or CBS, but it is working toward that goal. It's set to set up a paid premium version that carries nationwide networks and doubles the number of available local stations. For now, it's still a handy live TV service that covers 52 areas in the US.

Go to LocalBTV

Price: free for 24 channels available

Device availability: Amazon Fire TV, Android, Apple TV, Chromecast, iOS, Roku, Samsung Smart TV

Channel lineup: Ace, BEKSports, CMC, CMC-USA, Cozi TV, Diya, France24, GetTV, ISciFi, Kpop, Local news channels, NewsNet, Nostalgia, NTD, Quili, QVC, RightNow, ShopLC, Sidewalks, Sportsnews, TCN, TCT, TeleXitos, The Country Network

Local Now

Local Now is a free streaming service from The Weather Channel that offers up localized content geared to where you're using it from. That means you can get local news, weather updates, and even restaurant reviews that are specific to where you, the user, are from. Aside from the convenience of getting local coverage, Local Now also provides thousands of movies and live TV channels to choose from, perfect for when you're relaxing or on the go.

Go to Local Now

Price: free for 1 channels available

Device availability: Amazon Fire TV, Android, Fubo TV, iOS, Roku, Sling TV

Channel lineup: Local news channels

KlowdTV

Similar to Xumo or Pluto TV, KlowdTV is a streaming service that offers users a free way to watch Live TV. And as with both, the selection is limited to news channels like France24 and right-wing channels.

Go to KlowdTV

Price: free for channels available

Device availability: Roku, Website

Haystack News

Haystack News (formerly Haystack TV) is an independently-run streaming service that delivers live and on-demand news, 24/7. It's ad-supported so it's somewhat free, but if you want to get rid of the commercials and dive straight into the latest news, you can subscribe to Haystack Premium for $4.99/month or try it for free for 30 days. The convenient thing about Haystack is that it allows you to navigate not just by channels but by topics as well. It also picks up news from more than a hundred TV stations around the US (check if they cover your area here) which saves you the trouble of switching services when looking for local news.

Go to Haystack News

Price: free for 12 channels available

Free Trial: 30 days

Device availability: Amazon Fire TV, Android, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, iOS, Roku, Roku TV, Website

Channel lineup: ABC News, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, Bloomberg Quicktake, CBS News, Cheddar, Deutsche Welle, Euronews, Local news channels, Newsmax, Newsy, Yahoo! Finance