Are you still paying to watch streaming TV and movies from services like Amazon Prime Video and others? You may not have realized it, but there is a tremendous amount of free content to watch.
You cannot get everything you want to watch for free and the latest movies and TV shows still require a subscription, but you may be surprised by the amount of free streaming content you can get get if you know how.
I have often had Amazon Prime Video and you can get cheap or even free weeks or months when you purchase goods online from Amazon’s store. During this free period I binge-watch the latest TV shows and movies. Then quit before I have to pay the monthly subscription. (Sorry Amazon!)
When your subscription has expired, or even if you have never had one, you can still watch a lot of content on Amazon for free. There are many free TV series and a few movies on Amazon Prime Video, and I find that there is sufficient to keep me entertained for months without paying.
There are classic TV shows from 50 years ago like Columbo from 1971, which runs for a total of seven series, all the way up to Jury Duty, which is new in 2023. There is a good range of free content just waiting to be discovered from new to old and you can add them to your watchlist and stream them for free.
A lot of the TV series are old ones from the last 10 or 15 years, but there are some great ones, like Person of Interest, Falling Skies, The Closer, Haven, Dark Matter, The West Wing and dozens more. Some of these shows ran for several series, sometimes with over 20 episodes in each series. That’s a lot of hours of free streaming content.
I never managed to find time to watch The West Wing, but the seven seasons are all free on Amazon Prime Video. There are many more shows like this and if you every missed any episodes you can catch up here or even watch the whole lot again from the start.
Where can I watch Amazon Prime video for free?
Amazon Prime Video app is available almost everywhere. For example, use the Android phone or tablet app, use the iPhone or iPad app, and TV dongles and smart TVs might have it too. Here is the Amazon Prime Video Android phone app for example.
The Free with ads button in the toolbar at the bottom shows you the free TV series and free movies in the Amazon Prime Video app. Once you have watched a few of them, you will find that the app suggests more of them, so it seems to learn that you are watching free content and shows more. You can also search for ‘freevee’ in the app to find free content to watch.
There is actually a dedicated app for free streaming content called Freevee. Search for it in the app store and download it to your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone or tablet. Unlike Amazon Prime Video, which shows paid and free content, Freevee only shows free shows.
The toolbar at the top of the Freevee app enables you to browse the streaming content by genre, like Popular, Drama TV, Sci-fi Movies, Horror movies, Action and adventure TV and others. There is even a Freevee Originals and Exclusives section.
You can also watch on the web using your computer. Add /freevee to your local Amazon store URL, like amazon.com/freevee or amazon.co.uk/freevee to go to the Freevee home page. From there you can browse all of the free content. Click Free with adds in the menu bar at the top and select Movies or TV Shows to filter the content.
Ratings are shown for many shows and movies, so you can easily see whether something is worth watching or not. The best streaming content is reserved for paying subscribers of course, and there are some low rated items on Freevee, but there are also some great things too.
Bear in mind that the availability of TV shows and movies varies with the region of the world you live in. Some things are available everywhere, but some are only available in certain regions.
The downside of free streaming
There are plenty of pros, but what are the cons of free streaming TV and movies? One is that there is less choice. The amount of free content is much less than for paying subscribers. You are also less likely to get blockbuster must-see shows. There are some great TV and movies to watch for free if you look for them, but there is also a lot of what I call daytime TV schedule fillers.
If you watch Freevee and Amazon Prime Video you will see adverts and they may irritate some people. I find that Freevee content has fewer advertising breaks and shorter adverts than some other free streaming services I have tried. Ads are short and infrequent, so they don’t bother me at all, but some people are hyper-sensitive to them.
If your Amazon Prime Video subscription has ended, just continue using the app to watch the free content. If you have never had the app, get it or get Freevee. You are missing out on some brilliant TV series and movies.
