There are all kinds of pirate sites where you can watch live network and cable signals for free on the Internet. But once upon a time, there was only one and it was supposed to be legitimate - Aereo. This unique entity allowed subscribers to pick an "anternna" for the TV channels they wanted and for a small price, they could watch network and local television from anywhere over their computers.

"Aereo's gimmick was a huge warehouse full of servers lined with tiny TV antennas. Users could log onto Aereo's service, at which point they'd be assigned one of these antennas, which could be used to pick up traditional OTA broadcasting. Users could not only watch this programming on any internet-connected device but even record it on a server-side DVR for later viewing."

So what happened to Aereo? The story behind this pioneer that I remember hearing about but never got to try out is told at the link below. As the author notes, there was too much red tape, station anger and it was too far ahead of its time. But it was great while it lasted. 

Aereo: How The Internet TV Company Got Shut Down By The U.S. Supreme Court