Plex throws down the gauntlet in the cord-cutting/streaming wars with a recent post on its blog: the one where Plex announces free streaming live tv.

Remember the good old days of live TV? Plex says:

“Today Plex is bringing it all back… with free Live TV for everyone, in all 220+ countries that Plex serves. With over 80+ channels (plus even more coming soon) across all your favorite genres. And this is in addition to the 14,000 (and counting) free movies, documentaries, and TV shows you can find on Plex on-demand, so there’s always something on to fit your mood.”

80 channels of live TV, free to stream? It’s true!

But the catch is, you’ve probably never heard of the vast majority of them. RetroCrush, Comedy Dynamics, ConTV?

However, there are some quality channels, like Reuters, Yahoo Finance and Gravitas Movies.

You might even find a new guilty pleasure, like the Wu Tang Collection, KMTV or the Bob Ross Channel.

On the streaming side, there’s lots of news, movies and TV. And ads, now and again. Just like live TV!

My take: So much choice! I can remember when there were less than a handful of TV stations over the air to choose from. And they all played news at the same time. I kinda miss that — everyone was plugged into the same content, so it was a shared experience. And there were only one or two newspapers in town as well. With the proliferation of content on dozens of cable channels and now hundreds of internet streaming services, the mediasphere has shattered into a cracked mirror with one shard for every genre or narrow point-of-view. I think this means society has been slivered as well. I can see Plex appealing to folks who want to cancel their TV and streaming services and who only want to pay for internet connectivity, which has turned into an essential basic service. I can also see it appealing to those who have already cut the cord and nostalgically want some live TV again. Spoiler alert: you will get those pesky ads too!