Samsung TV Plus is seeing a huge global expansion, bringing the free TV streaming service to more devices – and countries – than ever.
Another 10 regions have gained support for Samsung TV Plus on new Samsung TVs, adding the likes of India, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, India, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden. This comes shortly after a move into Australia, Brazil and Mexico in late 2020, vastly expanding the number of countries where the service is available.
But perhaps the most notable change is that Samsung TV Plus has come to mobile, allowing users to access to a host of free TV channels on select Samsung Galaxy phones "running Android O OS or higher."
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The mobile app technically launched a few months ago in the US, but it's only now that we're seeing it come to the UK, Germany, India and Canada in the month of April.
Samsung tells us that "App users in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Austria will also be able to enjoy mobile Samsung TV Plus experiences within the first half of 2021" – meaning anyone in those countries won't have to wait too long.
The service is limited to Samsung Galaxy phones, so you won't find this on any old Android phone, and certainly not an iPhone – which makes sense given Samsung's competition with Apple in the smartphone space.
Plus ultra
Samsung's free TV streaming service has always occupied an odd position within Samsung's Tizen operating system. New Samsung TVs will come with a dedicated app for the service, though it's also been possible to simply scroll down from a television's home screen, with Samsung TV Plus poking up like bookmark underneath the usual coterie of streaming apps.
Anyone with a handful of subscriptions to the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, etc, likely won't have too much of a use for the free service, which offers a handful of TV channels in most countries, if 100+ in key markets like the US. And those of you with the cash for a Samsung Galaxy phone are likely to be able to afford a few streaming subs.
But for those just wanting something to watch, without a paywall barrier, the rise of free TV streaming services can only be a good thing. Rakuten TV similarly offers a host of free content and channels, if alongside a hearty rent-or-buy catalogue paywalling more recent films and shows. Hisense has experimented with a new Vidaa Free app on its smart TVs too, though it currently makes do siphoning videos off YouTube, so we'd say Samsung's offering is more in-depth than most.
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