There are many ways to watch television programs on your personal computer. The PC TV software package you need depends on your chosen method. The most straightforward method is to buy a TV tuner card. It is a small piece of electronic accessory that must be available in any decent computer accessories store.

Another option is to watch television programs through the internet. For this you do not need any additional hardware part, other than that needed for an internet connection. Normally, you will have to download a PC TV software application.

TV Tuner Cards

TV tuner cards of several leading hardware companies are available. You need to have the tuner card fixed on the slot on the motherboard of the computer. You will also need to install the driver software for the card installed. You will get the software along with the card. You will also need to have some sort of cable TV or terrestrial TV connection. Once you connect the cable from cable receiver or antenna to the input of the TV tuner card, you can watch, capture, and even record your favorite TV programs. For recording TV programs, you may need to download PC TV software from the internet, because not all card manufacturing companies provide recording facility on their software package.

Internet Television

This is a fairly recent introduction. There are websites that are authentic providers of live streaming videos of various television stations. You can log on to these websites and get a membership. A majority of such websites require membership fee. You may need to download some kind of PC TV software for viewing the videos. Then there are dedicated sports websites that provide live videos of sports matches. Generally, these are also pay per view channels.

Also there are websites that provide streaming video. They make use of what is known as peer to peer technology. It is very hard to find a website providing this facility because it is considered illegal. Also it may not be reliable too.