CouchTuner (and the new CouchTuner 2) is a free video streaming website offering a wide selection of television shows. Unlike some of the more well-known sites, CouchTuner does not require a membership or any fees to view the content.
All the TV hosted on the site is available for free. However, before visiting the site to find your favorite TV show, you should know the potential risks.
What is CouchTuner Video Streaming?
The CouchTuner website provides free access to hundreds of popular TV shows, including shows currently airing on television. The site even has content from premium cable networks, such as HBO and ShowTime.
Unlike some of the other streaming sites, CouchTuner focuses solely on television shows. You can watch these programs from any web browser or through a Kodi device, providing a convenient way to watch the latest episodes.
Is CouchTuner 2 Legal?
Free video streaming on CouchTuner is not legal. The owners of the site do not obtain the necessary copyright licenses to legally stream the content that they share.
All the content available on the site is pirated. However, the copyright laws concerning pirated content is also a gray area in many regions. This makes it difficult for individual entities and governments to take legal action against websites like CouchTuner.
While it is rare for an internet user viewing pirated content to face legal consequences, your internet service provider may punish your actions.
In some countries, ISPs restrict internet bandwidth when customers are caught accessing pirated content. By watching television on this site, your ISP may choose to limit your internet speeds.
Is CouchTuner2 Safe?
Besides the legal issues concerning the site, you should be aware of the safety risks. This site hosts a large amount of pirated television shows. These video files are not checked for viruses or malware.
The site also contains an overwhelming number of pop-up ads and other advertisem*nts. These ads and the third-party websites that they link to may contain malicious code. You may infect your computer with a virus before you even stream a video. By clicking on a pop-up, this might take you to a malicious website which can distribute malware or ransomware to your computer.
How Can You Safely Browse CouchTuner?
CouchTuner is not safe, and there is a high risk of downloading malware to your computer or mobile device. However, if you must visit the site, there are a few ways to increase your protection.
You should make sure that your antivirus software is up to date and activated. Your computer or mobile device should also have firewall software running to protect against automatic downloads.
Another good security measure is to use a browser sandboxing application. For example,sandboxie.com is a free sandbox software which allows you to run your Internet Browser (Chrome, Firefox etc) in a protected and isolated sandbox environment on your computer. Even if the website tries to infect your computer, the infection will not be spread to the rest of your computer machine.
These steps may help reduce the risk of viruses and malware. However, they will not stop your internet service provider from viewing your internet activity. Remaining anonymous requires the use of a virtual private network (VPN) service.
Instead of directly sending data from CouchTuner to your IP address, you are accessing the data through the VPN provider’s IP address. This prevents your ISP from viewing the sites and data that you access.
How Does CouchTuner Operate?
If CouchTuner is not legal, how do they keep their website up and running? Like most websites that offer illegal content, CouchTuner sets up servers in countries with no piracy laws. This increases the difficulty for the owners of the pirated content to sue the website owner.
On the occasions where the website is forced to shut down, another website is created to take its place. There are over a dozen different CouchTuner sites hosted in different countries with lenient or non-existent anti-piracy laws.
Currently, Couchtuner 2 operates mainly from the domains of couch-tuner2.in and also couchtuner.sx
Are There Safe Alternatives to CouchTuner?
There is no shortage of alternatives to CouchTuner. However, you should be just as cautious with sites that you have never heard of as you are with CouchTuner.
If a website offers free access to new releases, movies that are still in theaters, and other premium content, the site is not likely legal or safe. Your best option is to stick with the recognizable names in streaming, such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.
There are also many streaming services that offer live television with a subscription, providing legal access to TV shows. Moreover, there are many free video streaming websites that are showing copyright-free content (or public-domain videos) which are completely legal and safe as we describe in this article here.
In the end, CouchTuner is simply not worth the risk. The free content hosted on the site is illegal. If you want to watch your favorite TV shows, there are many legal options with affordable subscription fees and no malware.
