41 titles on the air now, made between 1902 and 2022 - about 27 hours of viewing in all. 13 are feature-length (40 minutes or more) and 28 are shorts. 14 are silent films presented with a public-domain (CC0) piano score.
Every science-fiction title on the air at Starlite TV, from the trick films of the early 1900s through 1950s B-movies and modern open-licensed shorts. Each is in the U.S. public domain or under a Creative Commons license that permits it.
They play around the clock on Rocket Age, our 24/7 sci-fi channel.
Where to start
Prime-time headliners and titles with full background guides.
The Lost World (1925)68 min · Rocket Age Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, published his adventure novel The Lost World in 1912. It introduced the explosive Professor George Edward Challenger, who insists that dinosaurs still survive on a remote plateau in South America — and leads an expedition to prove it.
A Trip to the Moon (1902)15 min · Rocket Age Georges Méliès was a stage magician who ran his own theatre in Paris before discovering cinema in the 1890s.
★ = prime-time headliner. Click a title for its next showtimes in your time zone and the full rights evidence. Why these are free to show: Published before 1931: 17; U.S. government work: 16; Public domain (documented): 5; Creative Commons license: 3. How we check: Content & Rights.
Starlite TV is free and needs no account. It works like broadcast television: each channel runs its own 24/7 schedule, so you join whatever is playing when you tune in. Every title above has a page with its upcoming airtimes, converted to your local time. It plays in any modern browser on phones, tablets, computers and smart TVs.
Watch NASA's own Apollo mission films free on Starlite TV - from Apollo 4 to Apollo 17, plus Mercury, Gemini, Skylab and the Space Shuttle. Public domain, streaming 24/7.
A starter guide to the essential silent films you can watch free and legally on Starlite TV: Metropolis, Sunrise, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Battleship Potemkin, Nosferatu and more.
