Boxee in January will give viewers another reason to cut the cord: live TV functionality.

The company has announced a live TV dongle that lets viewers watch ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox in HD without a monthly fee. The device, called the Live TV Stick, costs $49 and is available for preorder. If you don't have reception in your area, though, the Live TV Stick won't work.

In a blog post, Boxee reasoned that many viewers were on the fence about canceling their cable subscriptions because they'd miss live sports and live TV shows such as Dancing With the Stars, "but these things are all available on broadcast TV channels like ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC for free, over the air in HD."

Boxee, which lists for $199, lets you watch TV shows, movies and web content on your TV. Users can access content from Vudu, Netflix and YouTube, among other sources. When introduced last November, the Boxee Box was initially clunky, but an HTML5 upgrade in May improved the user experience.