Streaming television in the context of Streamed

A television show, TV program (British English: programme), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is transmitted via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platforms. This generally excludes breaking news or advertisements that are aired between shows or between segments of a show. A regularly recurring show is called a television series, and an individual segment of such a series is called an episode. Content is produced either in-house on a television stage with multiple cameras or produced by contract with film production companies. Episodes are usually broadcast in annual sets, which are called seasons in North America and series in other regions. A one-off television show may be called a television special, while a show with a limited number of episodes is a miniseries. A television film, or telefilm, is a feature film produced for broadcast by a terrestrial or cable network.

Television shows by terrestrial and cable networks are most often scheduled for broadcast ahead of time and appear on electronic guides or other TV listings. The rise of streaming television, however, has made television schedules less relevant than in earlier decades. Some programming may be aired live—that is, events are broadcast at the time they happen rather than at a later time or date—but the vast majority of programming is produced ahead of time. Originally, viewers had no practical way to record a show for later viewing; this changed with the advent of home video, first in the form of videotape recorded on VCRs and later in the form of digital video recorders. Cable television providers began offering certain programming "pay-per-view" or on-demand, with viewers paying a one-time fee to watch a program at a time of their own choosing. Streaming television allows viewers to watch programming at any time with a subscription to the OTT platform service.

Streaming media is multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a stream of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time or near real-time; this contrasts with file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains an entire media file before consuming the content. Streaming is more commonly used for video on demand, streaming television, and music streaming services over the Internet.

While streaming is most commonly associated with multimedia from a remote server over the Internet, it also includes offline multimedia between devices on a local area network. For example, using DLNA and a home server, or in a personal area network between two devices using Bluetooth (which uses radio waves rather than IP). Online streaming was initially popularized by RealNetworks and Microsoft in the 1990s and has since grown to become the globally most popular method for consuming music and videos, with numerous competing subscription services being offered since the 2010s. Audio streaming to wireless speakers, often using Bluetooth, is another use that has become prevalent during that decade. Live streaming is the real-time delivery of content during production, much as live television broadcasts content via television channels.

In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show (or series) that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. "Limited series" is a more recent American term which is sometimes used interchangeably. As of 2021, the popularity of the miniseries format has increased in streaming, broadcast, and cable television.

The term "serial" is used in the United Kingdom and in other Commonwealth nations to describe a show that has an ongoing narrative plotline, while "series" is used for a set of episodes in a similar way that "season" is used in North America.

Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. In a secondary meaning, it may refer to streaming television where all viewers watch the same stream simultaneously, rather than watching video on demand.

Shows broadcast live include newscasts, morning shows, awards shows, sports programs, reality programs and, occasionally, episodes of scripted television series.

A smart TV, also known as a connected TV (CTV, or rarely, CoTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features that allow users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart TVs are a technological convergence of computers, televisions, and digital media players. Besides the traditional functions of television sets provided through traditional broadcasting media, these devices can provide access to over-the-top media services such as streaming television and internet radio, along with home networking access.

Smart TV is different from Internet TV, IPTV, or streaming television. Internet TV refers to receiving television content over the Internet instead of traditional systems such as terrestrial, cable, and satellite, regardless of how the Internet is delivered. IPTV is one of the Internet television technology standards for use by television broadcasters. Streaming television is a term used for programs created by many producers for showing on Internet TV.

Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial and streaming television. In the United States, subscription television began in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the form of encrypted analog over-the-air broadcast television which could be decrypted with special equipment. The concept rapidly expanded through the multi-channel transition and into the post-network era. Other parts of the world beyond the United States, such as France and Latin America have also offered encrypted analog terrestrial signals available for subscription.

The term is most synonymous with premium entertainment services focused on films or general entertainment programming such as, in the United States, Cinemax, HBO, MGM+, Showtime, and Starz, but such services can also include those devoted to sports, as well as adult entertainment.

Roku (/ˈroʊkuː/ ROH-koo) is a brand of consumer electronics that includes streaming players, smart TVs (and their operating systems), as well as two streaming services (The Roku Channel and Howdy). The brand is owned by Roku, Inc., an American company.

As of 2024, Roku is the U.S. market leader in streaming video distribution, reaching nearly 145 million people.

A home cinema, also called home theater, is an audio-visual system that seeks to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood in private homes using consumer grade electronic video and audio equipment for watching home video or streaming.

In the 1980s, home cinemas typically consisted of a movie pre-recorded on a LaserDisc or VHS tape; a LaserDisc Player or VCR; and a large-screen cathode-ray tube TV set, although sometimes CRT projectors were used instead. In the 2000s, technological innovations in sound systems, video player equipment, TV screens and video projectors changed the equipment used in home cinema set-ups and enabled home users to experience a higher-resolution screen image, improved sound quality and components that offer users more options (e.g., many Blu-ray players can also stream movies and TV shows over the Internet using subscription services such as Netflix). The development of Internet-based subscription services means that 2020s-era home theatre users do not have to commute to a video rental store as was common in the 1980s and 1990s.

Fox One is a streaming television service owned by Fox Corporation that was launched on August 21, 2025. The service includes programming from all of Fox's broadcast and most of their cable properties, except Fox Soccer Plus, and is available in a bundle with Fox Nation. Pay-TV providers which provide access to the company's networks through TV Everywhere authentication will automatically allow access to the service for their subscribers for no additional cost, including streaming access to Fox affiliates.

Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by Amazon MGM Studios or licensed to Amazon, as Amazon Originals, with the service also hosting content from other providers, content add-ons, live sporting events, and video rental and purchasing services. Prime Video is offered both as a stand-alone service and as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. Amazon Prime Video is the second-most-subscribed video on demand streaming media service in the United States, after Netflix. The service has around 205 million paid memberships worldwide.

Operating worldwide, the service may require a full Prime subscription to be accessed. In countries like the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany, the service can be accessed without a full Prime subscription, whereas in Australia, Canada, France, India, Turkey, and Italy, it can only be accessed through a dedicated website. Additionally, Prime Video offers a content add-on service in the form of channels, called Amazon Channels, or Prime Video Channels, which allow users to subscribe to additional video subscription services from other content providers within Prime Video.