One of the most attention-grabbing moments during the 2023 Super Bowl broadcast involved a commercial. No surprise there. But this wasn’t an ad featuring big stars, beer, or a blockbuster movie. Instead, it was a spot that made fans think something had gone seriously haywire with their TV. At first, play-by-play announcers Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen welcomed viewers back to the Fox network’s Super Bowl coverage. Then, and it looked like some mysterious force had taken control, and was changing channels, zapping from “Next Level Chef” to “Miss Congeniality” to “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” and so on. Once football fans realized their TVs hadn’t gone rogue, they realized the brief spot was an ad for a streaming service millions of viewers probably had never heard of before. Though Tubi aired a more conventional ad during the Super Bowl -- featuring people in life-size rabbit costumes tossing hapless humans into a huge rabbit hole to hype Tubi’s content -- the shorter ad really snapped viewers to attention. Tubi is a service that offers free streaming TV. In the ultra-confusing world of media acronyms, Tubi has been known as an ad-supported video-on-demand, or AVOD, service. A newer acronym is FAST, which stands for free, ad-supported streaming TV. True to the acronym, FAST is rapidly building buzz as one of the hottest TV trends of the year. What’s the difference? the FAST format “is essentially no different from watching a TV network. Unlike the other free streaming format — AVOD, which sees viewers select a title on demand and start at the beginning — FAST is a linear stream. This means that a FAST channel is selected via an electronic programming grid, with the title on a channel joined in progress by the viewer. ” Such Internet-delivered services may offer channels focused on specific programs – an all-“Dateline” channel, for example, which is essentially an ongoing marathon of episodes that allows viewers to dip into and watch whatever is on at the moment -- or local and national news channels. Choices also often include TV series, and movies, both old and more recent. These are examples of the growing popularity of what you might call, simply, cheap TV. Whatever you call them, the choices for free or low-cost ways to watch are multiplying, for reasons that include viewers who are fed up with soaring cable bills, irked by increasing prices for streaming services and, in general, wondering about where to spend limited entertainment dollars in a time of economic uncertainty. While Tubi made a splash with its Super Bowl ads, other free, ad-supported streaming TV services are competing for eyeballs. Among the highest-profile contenders are , formerly known as IMDb TV; ; ; and the Unlike subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+, Paramount+, HBO Max and others, these services are free. But you’ll have to sit through ad breaks. This ritual may sound familiar to anyone who watches broadcast TV – ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC or The CW – where an episode of “Young Sheldon” or “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is broken up by commercials. In fact, though “FAST” services come via the Internet, the format feels a bit like a throwback to old-fashioned, traditional, “I Love Lucy”-style commercial TV. Basically, the general-interest free, ad-supported streaming services offer a cable-TV sort of hodgepodge of vintage shows, old movies, more recent shows, and more recent movies, along with some original programs. Tubi, for example, is a division of Fox Entertainment, so it unsurprisingly features many shows that also air on the Fox broadcast network (“The Masked Singer,” for example). You can also choose from specific channels, ranging from an ABC News Channel to a “Court TV” channel. Several free, ad-supported streaming TV services offer TV shows and movies, which may include oldies such as “Leave it to Beaver,” critically acclaimed series like HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” (starring the currently ubiquitous Jonathan Majors), and arty fare such as “Carol,” the Cate Blanchett/Rooney Mara drama directed by Todd Haynes, who has a home in Portland. Xumo Play, owned by Comcast, offers what it claims are more than 290 different channels and “tens of thousands of movie and TV titles to choose from,” including channels for music, news, stand-up comedy, and more. The offerings are what seems like a fairly random collection of obscure stuff, contemporary classics (“L. A. Confidential”), recent Oscar winners (“If Beale Street Could Talk”), TV shows (“Moesha”), and more. Pluto TV, another of the more established free, ad-supported streaming TV services, is owned by Paramount. Considering the company owns a wide variety of brands, including CBS, Showtime, Paramount +, MTV and more, Pluto TV features an impressive number of options. Choices include a “Stories by AMC” channel, with “Breaking Bad” episodes; “Star Trek” channels; a “60 Minutes” channel; tons of “True Crime” shows; and movies including animated features from Oregon’s Laika studio (“Coraline,” “Kubo and the Two Strings,” ParaNorman”), along with vintage series such as “Gunsmoke,” “Sanford and Son,” “Matlock,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Perry Mason,” “Laverne & Shirley,” and “The Brady Bunch. ” Also making a play for viewers is Amazon’s Freevee, which used to be called iMDb TV. Unlike Amazon Prime Video, Freevee doesn’t cost anything. In addition to its library, Freevee is now the only place to find new episodes of Judith Sheindlin dispensing wisdom, with “Judy Justice,” a spinoff of the long-running syndicated hit, “Judge Judy. ” The service originals also include “Leverage: Redemption,” and “Bosch: Legacy. ” Even if much of what’s out there on these services consists of oddball blends of classics, barely remembered duds, more true crime series than anyone could conceivably watch, and movies and shows you might already stumble across on cable channels, there are signs that free, ad-supported streaming TV is gaining momentum, especially as so-called “prestige” outlets irritate subscribers by ditching titles from their libraries. It was recently announced that Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”) and Juliette Lewis (“Yellowjackets”) a Western that will stream on Tubi. Last year, the spoofy biopic, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” helped boost the profile of the Roku Channel. If free, ad-supported streaming services start generating their own hits – the process that transformed Netflix from a DVD-by-mail outfit to a global entertainment giant – budget-minded viewers will have even more programs to watch, without paying for cable, or yet another streaming subscription. Wondering how to watch free, ad-supported streaming TV services? Here are details about some of the more popular options. The Amazon-owned service offers a library of movies and TV shows, along with some originals. The app can be accessed via many devices, including Fire TV, Roku, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Apple TV, iPhones and iPads, Android TV devices, Comcast Xfinity X-Class and Flex boes, and a variety of smart TVs. Viewers can also stream Amazon Freevee programs from a web browser and through the Amazon Freevee Channel on the Prime Video add. For more information: Owned by Chicken Soul for the Soul Entertainment, Crackle is an ad-supported video on demand service that lets viewers search for and choose from movies, TV shows, and original programming. The library includes all four seasons of the popular BBC’s “Sherlock,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, along with a “Funny Women” category that features “The Carol Burnett Show,” “French and Saunders,” “The Flying Nun” and more. Movie titles range from “All That Jazz” to Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning vehicle, “Monster. ” Crackle is available on several devices, including Amazon Fire and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, PlayStation 4, Apple iPhone and iPad, Roku and more. For a list, go to: For more information: The Paramount-owned service offers what the company says is more than 300 live linear channels and thousands of on-demand titles. Pluto TV can be watched on a variety of phones, tablets, browsers, streaming devices, and smart TVs. For a list, go to: For more information: The service offers what istsays are thousands of free TV shows and movies, more than 350 live TV channels, Roku originals, and more. To watch, add the Roku Channel to any Roku streaming device, compatible Samsung Smart TV, or compatible Amazon Fire TV device. Viewers can also watch on or on the Roku mobile app. The service is a division of Fox Entertainment, and offers what the company says are more than 50,000 movies and TV shows, including some local and live news and sports channels. Tubi is available on Android and iOS mobile devices, Amazon Echo Show, Google Nest Hub Max, Comcast Xfinity X1, Cox Contour, and on connected television devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Vizio TVs, Sony TVs, Samsung TVs, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, PlayStation 5, and more. Consumers can also watch Tubi content on the web at : The company says it offers more than 290 channels and tens of thousands of movie and TV titles. Xumo Play or Xumo-powered applications are available on many devices, including Amazon Fire devices, Android mobile, Apple TV, Roku, Samsung, Xfinity X1 devices, and more. For details: For more information: — Kristi Turnquist 503-221-8227; ;.