Tubi is a streaming service that’s a delightfully random collection of television shows. In some ways, it’s a bit like the early days of Netflix where you never knew what you were going to find. The free streaming service is a cornucopia of content in a way that Peacock and Paramount+ will never be, which is surprising since Fox owns Tubi.
FOX bought Tubi for $440 million in 2020, but hasn’t fully incorporated it into the Fox fold. Sure, there are the obligatory Trump documentaries and FOX reality shows, such as The Masked Singer and its spinoffs, yet they’re easy to ignore if you’re not specifically looking for them. If I hadn’t just told you Fox owns Tubi, you may not have figured it out due to the presence of ABC News Live and NBC News Now on the platform.
While Tubi has a large collection of TV shows and movies to stream, it also has a Live TV sections where you’ll find a diverse selection of channels, including: NFL Channel, Estrella News, Bloomberg Television, BUZZR, and channels dedicated to Johnny Carson, Baywatch, and The Only Way is Essex.
As for that large collection of TV shows and movies, it’s heavy on the classics and British content. On Tubi, you’ll find The Dick Van Dyke Show, Columbo, The Carol Burnett Show, and The Nanny next to Doc Martin, QI, At Last the 1948 Show, Kavanagh QC, and Drop the Dead Donkey. If you’re a movie person, you can watch The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Coraline, The Matrix, and How the West Was Won.
Bizarre programming choices aside, a major plus for Tubi is that in a half hour show, there is a commercial before your show starts and a break in the middle, so you don’t feel inundated with commercials like one does on Fawsome and to a lesser extent on Freevee.
In a world where every other streaming service is carving out its unique niche, it’s amusing to see a multi-billion dollar multinational corporation throw everything at the wall and pay little attention to what sticks, allowing Tubi viewers to indulge the same weird impulses that lead to falling down YouTube rabbit holes. While you shouldn’t ditch your preferred paid streaming services for Tubi, it’s worth exploring for its hidden gems.
