If you’re looking for a way to watch live, local TV online without having to sign up for an expensive live TV streaming service, LocalBTV might be the destination for you.
The free service provides 30 to 40 local channels with news and entertainment in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and more in select markets across the country. LocalBTV is available on your browser and via apps on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Google Chromecast.
Over the past year, the free, locally focused service has been working hard to expand its reach and has nearly doubled the number of markets it services since it last provided an update in November 2022.
LocalBTV is now available in the following markets:
- Alexandria (VA)
- Atlanta
- Austin
- Bakersfield
- Bay Area
- Biloxi
- Boston
- Charlotte
- Chicago
- Cincinnati
- Cleveland
- Columbus (OH)
- Columbus (GA)
- Dallas
- Detroit
- Fresno
- Hartford
- Houston
- Indianapolis
- Jackson
- Las Vegas
- Los Angeles
- Louisville
- Miami
- Missoula
- Monterey
- Nashville
- New York City
- Orlando
- Palm Beach
- Pensacola
- Philadelphia
- Phoenix
- Pittsburgh
- Portland
- Raleigh
- Reno
- Sacramento
- Salt Lake City
- San Antonio
- San Diego
- Seattle
- San Luis Obispo
- Santa Barbara
- Tampa Bay
- Toledo
- Washington D.C.
- Wichita
LocalBTV is one of several local TV streaming services like Local Now, NewsON, DistroTV, and VUIt. All of these services can fill the gap in local programming for cord-cutters who may have gone the next step and eliminated live TV entirely, choosing video-on-demand services like Netflix and Disney+ as their primary form of entertainment.
If you value the ability to stream your local CBS or NBC stations live, you should also consider signing up for Paramount+ Premium or Peacock Premium Plus. Paramount+ Premium costs $9.99 per month and includes a live feed of your market’s CBS affiliate. Similarly, a Peacock Premium Plus subscription runs $9.99 per month and offers users a live stream of local NBC affliliates.
For cord-cutters who don’t have access to an antenna or may prefer non-English content, LocalBTV is worth considering as part of your news and entertainment lineup, it even comes with a 1TB cloud DVR for free. In the case of severe weather coverage, these stations can be a crucial lifeline for people without any other live TV service.
LocalBTV
LocalBTV gives users the ability to watch free local broadcast TV without an antenna on their computer, phone, tablet, or TV (aka virtual-over-the-air or vOTA streaming). The platform is available in 53 US markets/DMAs, powers 704 local broadcast TV channels, plus 88 “hyper-local” Community Video channels. The service paused operations in November 2023. It is unclear if it will return.