More free Channels & Content: Samsung adds to TV Plus

Samsung's fetching more content to TV Plus, its free, ad-supported streaming package made into a range of Samsung devices and unrestricted on the web.

The update raises various new shows, like Law & Order Special Victims Unit, Top Gear, NCIS, and Chicago Fire.

In addition to the latest shows, TV Plus is bringing two exclusive Samsung-owned channels: Ride or Drive, a station geared toward car fans, and Samsung Showcase, a channel dedicated to "concerts, events, and special programming." It's also partnering with A&E to launch a new home improvement-focused channel called Home.Made.Nation.

And while Samsung already offers several local and nationwide news channels, including ABC News Live, CBS News, NBC News Now, and more, Samsung says it plans on extending local news and weather coverage to more areas of the US. It also wants to double its video-on-demand library in 2023 by utilizing "new and expanded partnerships" with Lionsgate, Vice Media, and more.

First launched in 2015, Samsung TV Plus has been around for quite a while. The service comes installed on TVs released in 2016 or later, Galaxy devices, and select Family Hub refrigerator models. Last year, Samsung even launched TV Plus on the web, making its free channels available to anyone without an agreeing Samsung device. Right now, Samsung delivers 220 channels in the US, as well as a total of 1,600 channels split across 24 distinct countries.

Samsung says TV Plus saw a 100 percent growth in consumer viewing over the past 12 months, with viewers streaming 3 billion hours worldwide. In addition, the overall free ad-supported TV (FAST) streaming industry, which includes contenders like Paramount's Pluto TV, NBC's Peacock, Fox's Tubi, Amazon Freevee, Roku, and Comcast's Xumo, has been at the peak as well, filling in the gap for those who might not have linear TV but don't like to spend for a streaming service. In January, a data analytics group Kantar report revealed that 18 percent of homes in the US now use a FAST service, which has doubled year over year.

If you've bought a new Samsung TV, are thoughtfully considering it, or are now exploring every inch of your innovative TV interface, you might wonder what this free content service is.

Samsung TV Plus is created as a free content platform, delivering a unique and varied mix of TV channels that rely on your region. Don't you prefer subscribing to Netflix or Disney Plus after blitzing out for a new TV? Samsung TV Plus allows you to watch its ad-supported channels for free instead.

If you've arrived across Samsung TV Plus before and didn't believe there was much on it for you, that might have altered in the past few months. There are over double as many TV channels (518) globally and double the number of Samsung TVs supporting the app since the previous year.

So if you're after more info about Samsung TV Plus, what and how many channels you can get, and which TVs support it, read on for everything you could need below.

Samsung TV Plus has gained something of an overhaul on 2017-2020 Samsung TVs, with a new overlay layout that recaps recently-viewed channels and "top recommendations tailored to their viewing choices." It sounds like Samsung TV Plus is beginning to be treated as its content portal rather than an add-on.

 A free, ad-supported content service is available on Samsung TVs and your web browser if you're in the US. Despite comparable naming conventions, it is not a paid subscription benefit in the vein of Disney Plus or Apple TV Plus.

Samsung TV Plus is now open in 23 nations globally after doubling the number of territories in an early 2021 expansion. That implies you can now see it in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Thailand, and Korea, as well as new additions in Denmark, Finland, India, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Luxembourg, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Netherlands, and Sweden.

If your province isn't included in that inventory, you can't access Samsung TV Plus. Given the incremental growth of the service, though, we would expect new territories to be included in the coming years – and Samsung informs us that more European nations will get the service in 2021.

You can find the Samsung TV Plus app by spinning on the television and leading to the Samsung TV Plus icon on the home screen – it should be on the far left, in a fixed place rather than mixed with the third-party apps.

You can see Samsung TV Plus on your favorite internet browser if you're in the US. The browser rendition of Samsung TV Plus is sadly not yet available globally after it quietly launched in May 2021,  but if you're in the States, you can steer to the Samsung TV Plus website to give the app a go without needing to own a Samsung smart device.

The precise Samsung TV models that support Samsung TV Plus will vary between regions, but you can count on it featuring new and recent models.

Samsung tells us that all 2016-2020 smart TVs in the US, Europe, and Thailand support the service, while those in Canada can access it on Samsung TVs made in 2017 onwards. In Samsung's home nation of Korea, though, TVs as old as 2013 support the service.