How to access local channels on Pluto TV

Key Takeaways

You don’t have to rely on cable for content, not when you can choose streaming bundles.
Pluto TV offers free local channels along with various genres.
It also has CBS channels in its local news category.

Sick of the runaround when it comes to cable? You’re not alone. There’s a reason why the number of people you know with a cable subscription is dwindling dramatically. You don’t really need it nowadays, especially when you can get almost everything you want on different streaming platforms.

You can choose bundles like the Disney+ / Hulu / ESPN+ bundle, which has you covered with all sorts of great content. You can get Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and others that’ll give you access to many cable channels without the chaos of all the content you don’t care about. There’s also the more creative option of getting a smart TV antenna and manually pick up broadcast and local channels by just plugging it into your TV.

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There are pros and cons to all of these options, but if you’re most worried about picking up local channels, there are other ways to watch them, one such way being with Pluto TV. It’s a free streaming platform and one of the most popular apps available for download wherever you prefer to stream. Its library is vast, but it also has access to some free local channels — if you know where to look, of course.

But, there is a catch when it comes to watching local channels through Pluto TV. Let me explain more.

Pluto TV

Pluto TV is a free streaming platform that offers thousands of on-demand titles as well as hundreds of live TV channels. There are a number of genres and categories to choose from.

What local channels can you get on Pluto TV?

It’s exactly what you’d expect

Don’t get caught up in the content overload of Pluto TV, but stop and appreciate the kinds of media that surprise you, like comedy, drama, and kids’ channels — there are also game shows, reality TV, history and science, home and food, daytime TV, and more.

There’s also an option for news and opinion, which offers some of the local channels that you can get. Some local stations from some of the bigger markets out there, like New York and Los Angeles, are available in the news and opinion sections. That’s a lot of what you’re going to find in terms of local channels on Pluto TV. But that’s the case for any “local” news channels around the United States. You’re going to get the news from the largest city in your area more often than not.

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How do you choose which local channels to watch?

There are multiple ways to pick

To go to the local channels, they are found in the news and opinion category.

Open up Pluto TV.
Click the left arrow on your Roku remote.
In the menu, you will see Channel Guide. Click it.
Scroll down to News + Opinion (it’s the 15th category. Click OK.
This will bring you over to the channels. You can now scroll through them and choose which of the local channels you want to watch.

If you want to scroll through the news and opinion category in the Pluto TV channel guide, you’re going to find a number of national news and local news channels available to stream a little farther down the list, after national options like ABC News and CNN. But, if you’re looking for a specific channel when it comes to local news, like NBC New York, you can search for it on demand.

If you live near a large city, you can search for the name of a particular city in the on-demand section, as well. You’ll probably get an array of different titles, such as NBC New York, CBS News New York, but also CSI: New York.

You may have to do some more scrolling through to get the exact channel that you want.

Is Pluto TV completely free, or is there a catch?

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There are more catches with Pluto TV than you might guess.

If you do find the channel that you want, you can save it for later. Once you click into the channel, you can press the right arrow on your remote and select the heart icon. That will add the channel to your favorites, where it will remain in your favorites until you un-heart it.

You can find the favorites at the top of the channel guide. Even if you don’t have any favorites, it will still be the first option.

In the channel guide, if you scroll all the way down to the bottom, the final category is Local News. That is where you will find the rest of the local channels available on Pluto TV. There’s a number of them too, so you’ll be able to watch plenty of local news.

Which local channels are available on Pluto TV?

There’s an abundance of CBS channels

Since Pluto TV is owned and operated by Paramount Global, there are a lot of CBS channels and CBS-related content available to stream. You can get CBS exclusives as a part of the content, as well as other CBS channels on their own. On the homepage, there’s a carousel that suggests CBS content for you.