How to watch Samsung’s free TV Plus streaming service in South Africa
Samsung recently launched a web-based version of its free TV Plus streaming service, offering users access to more than 160 entertainment, news, sports, kids, gaming, and music channels.
Initially only available as an app on Samsung devices — including TVs, smartphones, and tablets — the samsungtvplus.com website now allows anyone to watch these channels.
It can be accessed on a browser through a computer, laptop, tablet, smart TV, or smart display.
Like the app-based service, the web-based version is only officially supported in 23 countries, including the US, Canada, UK, Australia, India, Brazil, and several European countries.
This means that if you visit the site from a South African IP address, you will be met with a “Can’t Connect” message informing you that “Samsung TV Plus isn’t available in your location”.
There is an easy solution to this — using a virtual private network (VPN) service.
MyBroadband was able to access the site by connecting to a US server in New York through the Surfshark VPN service.
Unlike most streaming services, we did not have to create a profile of any kind and only had to agree to the Terms of Service.
The channels available to you will differ based on the VPN location you’ve chosen.
These are some of the notable channels we found on offer under various categories in the US:
- News – CBSN, NewsNow from Fox, ABC News Live, Bloomberg Quicktake, Newsmax, USA Today
- Entertainment – Stories by AMC, TV Land Sitcoms, Drama Life, Ion Plus, Vice
- Crime – Crime 360, Law & Crime Trial Network, Court TV
- Comedy – The Pet Collective, Fail Army, Dry Bar Comedy
- Sports – beIN Sports XTRA, fubo Sports Network, Stadium, SportsGrid
- Game shows – BUZZR, Game Show Central, Deal or No Deal, Wipeout Xtra
- Gaming – IGN, GAMR 365, VENN, ESTV, MinecrafTV
- Reality – Kitchen Nightmares, MTV Pluto TV, Lively Place
- Kids – Nick Pluto TV, The Lego Channel, PBS Kids
- Science & Nature – Samsung Wild Life, Love Nature 4K
For a full list of channels available in the US, visit this page.
Below are images of what the service’s interface looks like while you are scrolling through its channel line-up.
Users can click on a particular episode/programme from the schedule list, after which it will start to play in the video window at the top. This can then be maximised to full screen.
While there is no subscription fee for the service, it does come with ads.
Titles are only available on a linear basis, meaning you are tied to a schedule and cannot stream episodes at a chosen time.
On the app, logging in with a Samsung account would give you access to additional features like continue watching, favourite channels, edit channels, set watch reminders, and create watch lists.
While you can also log in to your Samsung account on the browser-based version, these features do not appear to be supported on the web experience as yet.
In terms of streaming resolutions, we find you can typically choose from 360p, 540p, and 720p by clicking on the gear icon at the bottom right of the viewing window.
The 4K channels like Bloomberg TV+ UHD and Love Nature 4K were not available on the browser.
Subtitles and closed captions are also supported on certain titles.
It should be noted that circumventing geographic blocks on video streaming platforms is usually against the terms of service.
Legal experts have also warned that it may be considered piracy in South Africa and it is therefore not recommended that VPNs be used for geo-unblocking.
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