Feel like this is one of those weird generational things, but isn't happy hotel TV just regular cable TV?

Not quite what you asked for, but here: https://puffer.stanford.edu/

https://www.myretrotvs.com/
Not exactly current, but as recent as 2009

As long as you have a TV made after the digital conversion in like 2008, stick a paperclip into the antenna connector and get free channels. Seriously. You'll be surprised how well it works. A real antenna is better and they're cheap too. I do this and watch Telemundo for background noise and a little bit of Spanish learning.

An antenna? If you don't have a TV, you can get a tuner dongle and antenna for your PC and use VLC or other streaming video clients. Unfortunately, the services that take over-the-air signals and put them online usually get killed off by lawsuits. But tuner dongles and half decent, compact antennas are pretty cheap.

Many of the free tier streaming services are packed with this content. Tubi, Roku, Plex Movies & TV, Google TV.

There are many m3u8 playlists online. You just need a player. I think VLC is the most common but people use other players specifically for iptv. For example I use simple iptv in Kodi.

Unfortunately most playlists have lots of dead channels. There are online channel checkers but they're pretty slow. Once you get a solid lineup of working channels, it's smooth sailing.

• https://github.com/iptv-org/iptv
• https://github.com/Free-TV/IPTV

Sounds like normal UK freeview terrestrial TV. I think there are freeview streaming sites and apps if you search.

Get an iptv subscription and just watch cable. As a bonus you can watch tv in Costa Rica and Dubai and China and shit

all the free tv stream things have all sorts of old shows. tubi, plutotv, roku, xemo, freevee, plex, wb.

There are many things like this on youtube that you can watch via third party software. The FBI files, all sorts of Alaska things, not sure about reruns. Ibjave used freetube for a long time but it doesn't always work. Not working at all on Linux right now. At least not with the latest update. Newpipe still works if you are on mobile.

https://stremio-addons.com/usa-tv.html

https://elementumorg.github.io/.

Same — hotel TV is peak guilty-pleasure territory! Forensic Files at 3 a.m., Alaska Survival, and Family Guy reruns are my go-tos — there’s something weirdly comforting about slope rider flipping channels in a hotel room.