There are ways-though not as many as you’d think-to watch tv on iPad. When I started to write this, I really did think there would be tons of different ways to get free, legal, television shows on the iPad. Turns out I was wrong. But there are some options.
If you search for “television” in the App Store, you’ll find a lot of apps. The problem is that most of them are not ready for prime time or have anything to do with television. Many of the search results are either games based on television shows or television guides or remote controls for your television. Of those, by the way, most are terrible. I can only hope that the developers of television-related apps start to look at the ABC Player and follow its lead.
Watch TV on iPad – ABC Player
The ABC Player was one of the first apps available on the iPad, and I still use it all the time. In my opinion, all networks should follow ABC’s lead and offer this type of app.
The ABC Player allows folks to watch a variety of ABC shows for free on the iPad. The selection ranges from specials and daytime shows to primetime programs. But nowhere is a complete season available. Usually just two or three of the latest episodes are available there.
The ABC Player is free, but it comes at a different kind of price. By that I mean that the shows are commercial-supported and the content is very limited. Still, if you’re looking for a free way to watch TV on the iPad, this is the best app available by a network. While other networks have talked about iPad apps, none have delivered.
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The interface of the ABC Player is really easy to use and makes watching shows a breeze. The main screen opens with an overview of featured content, looking a lot like the iTunes Store. From there, you can pick either the featured show in the header or look at the Most Popular, Most Recent or Staff Picks-all on the Featured page. If you look across the bottom of the page, you’ll see that you can change the view:
- Schedule shows what is on ABC for the upcoming day or week.
- All Shows is a list of shows available for viewing in the app.
- Me shows your viewing history.
- Info gives you the opportunity to send your feedback to ABC.
I like the All Shows view, because it allows me to look at the current offerings. When you tap a show title, it opens a pop-up window that lists available episodes. This window also allows you to start watching an episode with a single tap.
When you are watching a TV show in the ABC Player, a single tap brings up the player controls, which consist of a play/pause button and a scrub slider that shows where the commercial breaks are. It is also possible to zoom in with a double tap, so that the video content fills the screen and the black bars on the top and bottom disappear. You can watch in either landscape or portrait modes, but you get more screen real estate when you pick landscape.
If you click on the Home button, the video will stop playing and the spot you left off will be saved. If you tap on the episode again, it will start playing from the last place you left off. If you swipe across an episode in the episode list menu, you will be able to delete it from the iPad. Be careful with this. If you buy an episode on the iPad and don’t transfer it to the computer . . . and you delete it from the iPad . . . it is gone. Gone for good, never to return–unless you buy it again.
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