VLC Media Player enables free streaming of up to 1,800 TV channels

The VLC Media Player can function as a comprehensive TV center, allowing users to stream between 1,500 and 1,800 free-to-air channels without a subscription or registration. This is achieved through the Free-TV-Playlist, a community-driven project hosted on GitHub that aggregates global streams, including news, music, and sports from Europe, the USA, Asia, and South America. Users can configure this by adding specific .m3u8 links to the VLC media menu.

While smart TVs are increasingly used as multimedia hubs for web radio and audio-on-demand, using a television for audio consumption can significantly increase electricity costs. Because the display remains active, a TV can consume between 100 and 150 watts or more in SDR and HDR modes, whereas a standard radio typically uses only 5 to 20 watts.