Are Google TV devices about to get loads of free movies and TV shows?

Google TV on Sony A90J OLED TV
(Image credit: Sony)

It looks as though Google might be about to add 50 broadcast channels to its Google TV OS after code referring to “50 channels of live TV without the need to subscribe, sign-up or download” was spotted by 9to5Google in the service’s beta codebase. The channels will be available on every Google TV device and offer content including sports, movies, news and TV shows. 

The channels set to be added include Hallmark Movies & More, Nature Vision, ABC News Live, America’s Test Kitchen, ChiveTV, Power Nation, Toon Goggles, USA Today and World Poker Tour. 

Google TV already supports live TV from integrated apps, but these new channels will be the first that are viewable without the need for downloading an app beforehand, in a similar vein to Samsung TV Plus, which offers over 200 free live TV channels.

Google TV was first introduced as the OS on Chromecast in 2020 and can now be found on TVs from the likes of TCL and Sony as the next iteration of Android TV, with an updated look and features including watchlists and multiple user profiles.

The full line-up of new channels includes:

  • ABC News Live
  • America’s Test Kitchen
  • American Classics
  • The Asylum
  • Battery Pop
  • CBC News
  • ChiveTV
  • Deal or No Deal
  • Divorce Court
  • Dry Bar Comedy
  • FailArmy
  • Filmrise Free Movies
  • Hallmark Movies & More
  • It’s Showtime at the Apollo!
  • Kevin Hart’s LOL! Network
  • Love Nature
  • Maverick Black Cinema
  • MooviMex
  • Nature Vision
  • NBC News Now
  • Newsmax TV
  • Nosey
  • The Pet Collective
  • Power Nation
  • Reelz
  • Teletubbies
  • Today All Day
  • Toon Goggles
  • USA Today
  • World Poker Tour
  • Wu Tang Collection TV
  • Xumo Crime TV
  • Xumo Movies
  • Xumo Westerns

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Mary is a staff writer at What Hi-Fi? and has over a decade of experience working as a sound engineer mixing live events, music and theatre. Her mixing credits include productions at The National Theatre and in the West End, as well as original musicals composed by Mark Knopfler, Tori Amos, Guy Chambers, Howard Goodall and Dan Gillespie Sells.