Pluto TV is a free streaming service that is different from many others available. Not only does it offer on-demand movies and TV series, but it also has live TV channels that can keep you entertained all day. It is owned by Paramount, which gives it some access to Paramount+ and CBS content.
Watching Pluto TV can be done from your smart TV, tablet, or smartphone, giving you plenty of reasons to check it out. It’s not just the ease of accessibility that sets it apart. Pluto TV has some of the most unique channels you’re going to find. While you can enjoy the massive TV and movie library offered, there’s more of a reason to see the channels you’re not going to find anywhere else.
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Oxygen True Crime Archives
Anyone who loves true crime can get their fill on paid streaming services like Netflix or Hulu. There are endless podcasts to dive into for amateur sleuths. But, Pluto TV has a channel dedicated to them with Oxygen True Crime Archives. It shows episodes from previously aired Oxygen series. Shows like In Ice Cold Blood, which was hosted by Ice T and aired from 2018 to 2021, have episodes on the channel.
More series like it can give fans their fill of true crime goodness, from grisly murder investigations, unsolved cases, and more. These aren’t new series, but they may very well be cases audiences haven’t seen before, as these shows strictly aired on Oxygen.
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Star Trek: The Motion Pictures
Pluto TV is filled with Star Trek channels. There are Star Trek, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: The Motion Pictures channels. While the first three channels make a lot of sense, since they are based on TV series and have the opportunity to air hundreds of episodes, there are only 13 Star Trek movies.
But Pluto TV has found a way around that to give audiences even more of what they want. For example, it airs Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Director’s Edition) as one of its options. Offering different versions of the films helps keep the programming as fresh as it can. But, if you’ve seen all 13 movies before, you’re not getting much more than these, despite the amount of documentaries about Star Trek available.
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Paramount Movie Channel
Because Pluto TV is owned by Paramount, it only makes sense that there is a Paramount Movie Channel. The channel strictly shows movies produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Movies like Deep Impact, The Core, Super 8, The Phantom, and Footloose are listed in the guide as upcoming showings. They are also available on-demand, giving you the option of watching these Paramount Pictures productions anytime.
The movies are refreshed monthly, so you can keep coming back to this channel and seeing a restock of films. You will need to sit through commercials in the middle of the movies, just like you’re watching them on cable. They also may be edited to cut out some foul language or make them easier to reach wider audiences. You won’t see any movies that are available on Paramount+ here though.
Deep Impact
- Release Date
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May 8, 1998
- Runtime
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120 minutes
- Director
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Mimi Leder
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Pluto Staff Picks
Trust the people who put together the entire streaming service to cultivate programming for a specific channel. Just like you might see at a library where the staff comes up with their favorite books in the moment, Pluto Staff Picks features a selection of movies chosen by Pluto staff. There may be unique indies like Eagle vs. Shark that wider audiences may not have heard of.
There are also films like The Brothers Bloom, which was a wider release film with well-known actors that was a bit underappreciated. You can even watch Good Burger, which is also available to stream on the 90’s Throwback station. The choices are rotated monthly, and the selections are made entirely by hand, meaning no algorithm is used to tailor the content to the viewer.
Good Burger
- Release Date
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July 25, 1997
- Runtime
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95 minutes
- Director
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Brian Robbins
5
Cheers + Frasier
For anyone who loves Dr. Frasier Crane, this is the channel for you. Despite both Frasier and Cheers being series that ran on NBC for years, they are available in a unique way on Pluto TV in a combined channel. The channel shows long stretches of one of the sitcoms followed by equally long stretches of the other.
There isn’t a time when the Cheers + Frasier channel shows one episode of Cheers and follows it with a single episode of Frasier. This gives audiences the ability to binge both shows as they deserve to be watched in this day and age. While both series feature Kelsey Grammer, they are intuitively different and can be enjoyed by many.
Cheers
- Release Date
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1982 – 1992
- Network
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NBC
- Showrunner
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James Burrows, Glen Charles, Les Charles, Ken Estin, Sam Simon, David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee, Bill Steinkellner, Cheri Steinkellner, Phoef Sutton, Tom Anderson, Dan O’Shannon
4
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is a science fiction show that began in the late 1980s. The premise of the series is that a human gets trapped on a spaceship by mad scientists and is forced to watch a series of bad movies as a test to see what films could be seen as torture for humans. The human built robots out of parts of the spaceship to keep his sanity.
The show features one person and three “robots” riffing during the awful films and commenting on them. Episodes of the series are 90 minutes in length and feature hilarious commentary on bad films. You can search for specific episodes or simply tune into the MST3K channel to receive a full download of MST3K.
3
The Bob Ross Channel
Make everything feel right in the world by sitting back and relaxing with Bob Ross. Known for his series The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross, that’s all the Bob Ross channel airs. It features Bob in a small studio, walking audiences through painting a specific picture. It’s instructional and educational, giving amateur painters the ability to follow along with him.
It is also a calming show to put on in the background while you’re doing other things. Bob’s soft voice and in-depth explanations about painting are calming to enjoy. He talks through each step of what he is painting, making it easy to follow. For anyone looking for a calming addition to their day, look no further than The Joy of Painting.
2
BritBox Mysteries
BritBox is a subscription service in its own right that delivers programming from the BBC and ITV. It’s a way for people outside of Britain to enjoy British TV series. BritBox Mysteries focuses on the crime and investigative dramas produced by the UK’s major networks. Series like The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and The Coroner are just some of the series available to stream.
The shows that are on BritBox Mysteries are not available on demand, so you’ll have to either watch them on the channel when they air. Some of the series are still on the air, such as The Mallorca Files. Others, like Miss Marple, aired over 30 years ago.
1
Big Brother Quad View
Arguably, the most unique section of Pluto TV happens when the hit CBS series Big Brother is live. For those unaware, Big Brother features a group of contestants who live together in isolation in a house. There are cameras placed around the house, capturing everything that happens between them. It is part reality contest and part social experiment, as the contestants are not only competing against one another, but also living together.
Each week, someone is voted out of the house until one person remains. During the season’s run, Pluto TV has a special section in the Channel Guide dedicated to Big Brother. The channels include one that shows reruns of old seasons of the show, and the others are all live feeds of cameras from inside the house. The most unique channel is the Big Brother Quad View, which shows four different cameras at once. Anyone who wants to tune into the Quad View just watches whatever the cameras pick up. These are some of the most live channels Pluto TV offers, as it shows real-time live TV updates. It’s an immersive way to make the audience feel like they are in the show.
Big Brother
- Release Date
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July 18, 2000
- Network
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Channel 4, Channel 5
Pluto TV is a streaming service that offers a lot of content at all times of day. The platform has thousands of movies and TV series available on-demand and live. Viewers should consider getting to know the unique channels that Pluto TV offers, thanks to its affiliation with Paramount and beyond.
