cCloud - "The Popcorn Time for Live TV" streams HBO, ESPN and 50 other live channels for free

If Popcorn Time is the “Netflix for pirates,” a service called cCloud TV is the “Popcorn Time for live TV.”

The recently-launched service by the name of cCloud TV allows users to stream live TV channels for free across various devices, including desktops – Windows and Mac alike – iPhone, Android, and a plethora of other devices, according to a post on Reddit.

According to BGR News, "There is nothing legal about cCloud TV, a service that pirates live television stations and allows users to stream them to a wide range of devices for free. That won’t stop people from from using the young service for as long as it can keep its servers up though, and the team behind it announced on Sunday that users can now stream more than 50 channels of live TV content including HBO, ESPN, AMC, TBS, Showtime and more to the iPhone and iPad.  And best of all, perhaps, is the fact that users do not need to jailbreak their devices or even install any apps, because cCloud TV works right from your web browser."



The new service, which appears to have close ties with the notorious Popcorn Time, is being dubbed “Popcorn Time for Live TV,” according to the post, which, incidentally, has been posted by a Redditor with the name “Popcorntimelive.”

cCloud TV basically live streams a number of television channels, including the likes of HBO, ESPN, Sky News, Showtime, Comedy Central and several others, and allows users to view them across a number of devices, and the list of supported gadgets covers almost every possible technological means that you would have at your disposal.

When you land at their homepage, you are presented with an option to select your platform, which includes Desktop Flash OTA, VLC, Custom VLC, Smartphone (for iOS and Android), Tablet (higher resolution), Mac Safari, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, and various others. The full list is pretty exhaustive. Next up, you get to select the available channels, with the list sitting at a staggering 50, and more being added as you read this. The channels aren’t some remotely-familiar ones either; as we noted earlier, cCloud TV has the likes of HBO, VEVO, CNN, Aljazeera, MTV, Fox Movies, FILM Zone, Discovery; just to name a few.

It’s the holy grail of piracy: live TV, streaming to any device for free. And now it’s finally here, though it’s impossible to tell how long cCloud TV will manage to keep its service running, considering how proactive broadcast networks have been in pursuing services that could potentially impact their revenue streams.

In the meantime, however, people without a pay TV package now have access to more than 50 channels of live, streaming television.

The cCloud TV service works right from a web browser, and it’s available on a wide range of devices including computers, tablets, Roku boxes and even Nintendo’s Wii U. Now, the people behind the service have announced that cCloud TV also works on the iPhone and iPad.

To access cCloud TV, there are no hacks needed. You don’t even need to install an app — simply navigate to this link on your iPhone or iPad, and choose “smartphone” from the list of devices. You’ll then be presented with a list of all the channels available to stream, and tapping on one will open the video feed.

Here are some of the channels that can be streamed live right now for free:

• HBO
• Showtime
• ESPN
• AMC
• CNN
• TBS
• MTV
• TNT
• Comedy Central
• FX

The quality of the streams varies and some of them cut out frequently, but the team behind the service says it is working to improve streaming quality and to add additional channels.

Like what Astif of Redmond Pie said:

"Before you get all excited about it, heed this; cCloud TV and its likes fall into the category of piracy, plain and simple. They are streaming live TV through unfair means just like paid movies and music is available on torrents for free, and just because it’s streaming, doesn’t make it legal. In fact, it would be interesting to see how long this service can keep its servers up"