PBS: Watch Live TV Shows
June 01, 2024
More About PBS: Watch Live TV Shows
Watch TV anywhere, anytime. Watch breaking news, live TV shows, or enjoy documentary films, with video streaming you can access wherever you are. Best of all, you can save TV shows and indie movies to your watchlist to jump into later.
Local TV, live tv shows, and new dramas are available on the PBS App. Explore endless indie films including hit documentary, history, and science content to feed your curiosity. Join the crowd wherever you are with live music performances. Stream live news, timeless indie movies, and compelling TV shows on all of your devices. All your favorites, on demand and in one place – watch TV everywhere with the PBS App.
Watch live TV on a local channel or discover new TV shows from Masterpiece, Ken Burns, NOVA, & Nature. Watch new episodes from PBS NewsHour, Frontline, Antiques Roadshow, Finding Your Roots, Actors on Actors, , Independent Lens, POV, Great Performances, Austin City Limits, Call the Midwife & more.
Watch TV everywhere, enjoy thrilling indie films, and tune in to the latest live news at any time when you download PBS.
PBS FEATURES:
STREAM LIVE LOCAL TV & LIVE NEWS
- Live news from PBS newshour helps you keep up with public affairs
- Watch breaking news from your local PBS station
- Watch TV shows on your local channel
- Local TV available with PBS’ collection of trusted sources
WATCH TV ANYWHERE – LIVE STREAM TV SHOWS ON DEMAND
- Watch TV shows and your favorite TV series at your fingertips
- Exclusive TV shows are yours to discover across a variety of genres
- Save classic TV shows and new TV series to dive into later
DOCUMENTARY FILMS & INDIE MOVIES
- Stream award-winning documentaries or indie movies from anywhere
- Watch the latest documentary on the entertainment app made
- Stream an indie film and access interviews, extras and more
- Explore your favorite indie film genre – drama, action, comedy, and more
ENDLESS TV & VIDEO STREAMING
- Stream TV shows, series & videos from the PBS archives
- Watch breaking news, local channel programming, or iconic TV shows
- Live stream TV shows of all genres on demand in the PBS App
DISCOVER PBS TV SHOWS
- Watch live TV anywhere & explore a vast collection of shows on one video streaming app
- TV shows on the endless entertainment app – drama, documentary, science shows and more
- Stream TV shows like Downton Abbey, NOVA, Nature, Finding Your Roots, and All Creatures Great & Small!
WATCH MORE WITH PBS PASSPORT
PBS Passport is an added benefit of station membership. By donating to your local PBS station, you can:
- Watch live TV from acclaimed PBS local channels
- Stream TV shows & exclusive new series
- Watch popular TV shows with their past and current seasons
- Access early releases and special collections, like Ken Burns films and Antiques Roadshow
WHAT'S NEW ON PBS
- Van der Valk S3
-America Outdoors
- Professor T S2
-Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World
- Unforgotten S5
Local news, TV shows, and indie movies are yours to discover. Watch TV everywhere and on all your devices with the PBS App.
LEARN MORE
- PBS App: https://www.pbs.org/pbs-app/
- PBS Passport: https://pbs.org/getpassport
- PBS Support: https://help.pbs.org/
PBS offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new worlds through trusted educational television and digital content.
Latest Version
5.15.6
June 01, 2024
PBS
Entertainment
Android
3,413,087
Free
com.pbs.video
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User Reviews
BEA Compassion
2 years ago
This app is horrible. I have an Android Galaxy A03s that I love and have no problems with. This app has an option to save your shows, I do CHECK to save and it don't. I tried reinstalling, I even tried cleaning the app and phones cache, and it doesn't save. You can't register/use it if you're privacy and security setting are high, because my browsers (Bing Google etc.) see the app clicks as traveling as an unsecured pop up. The menu is so ancient in how it's set up. It wants me to register. I AM
A Google user
5 years ago
Clumsy, not well maintained. Once a video expires (free episodes expire) it is stuck in your "my list" with no way to remove. Videos are unavailable on expiration date, not the day after. Routinely get "video unavailable right now" messages. Buffering issues. Even with paid passport, not much of their extensive library is available. FF and Rewind in their player (Firestick) is rudimentary. The app and their offerings could be so much better. For me, it's currently not worth the passport costs.
Heidi Bertels
5 years ago
So nice to watch Masterpiece Theater and mysteries. I really wish the progress bar at the bottom of the screen worked so I could gauge the time better. It seems to work for a few minutes then - stays stuck on a number of minutes. The last episode I watched - was 14:45 for the entire show. It would be nice if when an episode is watched to completion - the next sequential episode would be next in when the app was opened again. And it would be nice if Passport would open on TV browser.
Matthias
4 years ago
SAFETY CRITICAL: Episodes are preceded by a 30 second full-screen-locked ad with no in-app method of halting or resizing the video. In emergency situations, it is critical that the simplest conforming method be available to halt the video. 1)If PBS wants 30s ads locked at full screen, make sure some type of halt option is displayed when the user taps the screen. 2)If PBS cannot do that, the video needs to resize when the phone is oriented vertically, then the user can access other functions.
Mike Bagwell
4 years ago
Excellent library of content. Netflix has really declined, so I cancelled it, and donated to PBS to become a member and gain access to Passport. I've enjoyed it a lot so far, except the video playback. The play/pause function is inconsistent and causes the time marker to jump around randomly, and there's no double-tap to fast forward or rewind a few seconds like most other video streaming apps have. So, great service and fairly good app, but the app could use some improvement.
A Google user
5 years ago
The Android app needs a way to skip forward and back! This is the only streaming video app of several I have used, including Netflix, Prime Video, Tubi, CBS and others that has no means of moving back or forward by 10, 15 or 30 seconds. This is totally unacceptable as it makes it impossible to back up to take another look at a missed detail or part of the video missed due to life's inevitable distractions. As a sustaining member of my local PBS station I find this omission very disappointing.
Janice Childers
4 years ago
I love PBS, but this app is really buggy. Doesn't keep track of what you've already watched in a series and the closed captioning keeps randomly coming on. I could deal with these small annoyances if it didn't constantly glitch, moving backwards or forwards a few seconds over and over. I have uninstalled/reinstalled more than once and restarted chromecast as well. The glitching makes it miserable to try to watch anything, very disappointing.
BA Wolf
4 years ago
App has improved, as has content available to Passport members. However, it's still a frustrating experience, notably: the locked promos than run 25 secs every time you do more than pause; the inability to do a simple 10 sec rev /ffwd (and having to manually move the marker only to encounter a huge leap back and a promo again), and having to hunt for the next episode, rather than a simple prompt to continue. Casting has been dimly lit w Samsung Smart View. [-> Only setting is My Station - ??]
Thomas Kilpatrick
4 years ago
Video player cannot fast forward or rewind and does not sync properly with Roku app. Please add functionality to skip ahead and rewind in 15 s increments or something like that (like what is possible in YouTube). Also when I watch something on TV via my Roku player, the pbs app on my phone doesn't sync the position properly. (Oddly the sync works in the other direction, ie, when I watch on my phone, the Roku app syncs the position properly.)
A Google user
6 years ago
As others have mentioned, while streaming an episode (such as Victoria) the program is interrupted and restarts at the beginning of the episode. Then I have to go through the extremely frustrating task of pressing on the progress bar to find the scene that we were watching. The app has also gotten stuck in the episode preview segment. Had to force the app to stop in Google settings and then restart the app to get it to work again. These problems have been happening for several weeks now.
A Google user
6 years ago
I have installed this several times and have so wanted to like it. But it keeps crashing when streaming to Chromecast on multiple devices. Bad enough that it will sporadically stop more than once during a program but then it starts over and returns me to the beginning. I can uninstall PBS Video and stream the same programs just fine from PBS website. And I can stream other app's content without problems, too. So, it's the app IMO.
A Google user
7 years ago
I let my membership lapse. I absolutely believe in PBS and their content, but the only 'gift' I ask for is streaming. Why is skipping still such a major problem? If you're going to offer a streaming app as a perk, you should make sure it's working properly and fix it when its not. The app looks great and on occasion, works. But 9ver the last year plus, whether I use the app on my phone or my tv, videos are either not available for playback or they constantly skip back or ahead a couple seconds. Literally constantly. Please fix it!
A Google user
6 years ago
The app is difficult to navigate and not intuitive . The playback controls are some of the worst of I've seen in an app. Moving forward or back in play results in a time count beginning from that moment, not from the start of the show. When using this with a chromecast, a screen (possibly buffering?) would often flash on the television showing the time and duration. This would flash for a fraction of a second. Very annoying.
Chris Yates
1 year ago
I have an older android TV without a voice capable remote. Until recently this app worked fine. Due perhaps to an app update, it no longer works on th TV. All is not lost, I open it on my phone and cast it to my TV. I subscribe to more than one PBS station, and I point my antenna to one of those stations. This app needs improvement.
Lydia Statz
1 year ago
Content is great, but a few bigs make it hard to work with. The app logs me out every time I leave, creating an extra step to access any content. Also, it doesn't remember what episode I played last or where I was within an episode, so I have to manually try to find my place every time I walk away and come back. With a few fixes, the app would be much better.
Moderatrix Nation
1 year ago
Being able to stream programs while at work is enjoyable, but the app lacks the ability to minimize as a pop-out while I use my phone with other apps like messaging like it does with other streaming apps like YouTube, MAX, Netflix, & so on. I have to search for the open app to go full screen again to continue watching. Also, it's a little cluttered & hard to know what to seek out to watch with no year/date of publication referenced to avoid watching old programs or to know at what point to watch
Judy L.
1 year ago
This is one of the best programs ever. Prof. Gates is a fantastic narrator of these people's histories & make-up. There are times when we don't particularly care for the artist whose story is being told, but thoroughly enjoy the events of the past that make them who they are. I do wonder why they choose the people for expose & wish I could help pick some of them. Either way, it's historically educational and completely entertaining. At times, pulls the heart strings though. WE LOVE IT.
David S
1 year ago
I'm so happy to binge watch so many great documentaries! I'd like to also mention a couple opportunities for improvement. One, I sometime check multiple shows before I pick one. Watching the same or related ads over and over every time after watching one minute of a show is annoying. Second, while it's great being able to restart a show where I paused earlier, it does not work consistently, especially switching between my Roku and Google.
Miller Dunlap
1 year ago
It's not possible to save things to "My list" or anything else because it's not possible to sign in to the app. The app takes you to a browser window to sign in, then never redirects back to the app - if you go back to the app (now that you've signed in) and try again to do anything, it says "sign in to your account" and takes you to a browser window . . . where the same process is repeated. Over and over again. Watch in your browser - don't bother with this app.
John Welch
1 year ago
The latest update introduced a sign in bug (sign in via web view, but then brought back to app just to be prompted to sign in via web view, endless loop). This is the kind of base functionality that should be tested thoroughly with every release, because if you are watching shows that require a subscription, you cannot without being able to authenticate.
