Reviewed and updated June 2026 by our cord-cutting team · 12 options
ABC has it all: game shows for the whole family, reality TV staples, fan-favorite dramas, and everything in between.
ABC is also part of the channels that Disney recently pulled out of Spectrum, just like ESPN. If you are an ex-Spectrum customer, worry not, there are still many ways to watch ABC.
You can stream ABC live without cable on Fubo, DIRECTV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling Select, YouTube TV, or An OTA Antenna.
Our whole focus on these pages is the cheapest legitimate way to watch, and we mean cheapest in general, not just for ABC. We keep paid accounts on more than a hundred live TV and streaming services in the US, so we already know what each one costs month to month before ABC even enters the picture. We also look at every option, including the ones most sites skip past, like Spectrum TV Choice, because the cheapest door into a channel is often one nobody bothers to mention.
Most publications sort their lists by which service pays them the biggest commission. We don't, and there's no way around it: this list is ranked from cheapest to most expensive, full stop. The only thing that moves a service up this page is a lower price, based on what you actually owe after the first month ends, not the teaser in the ad.
I started A Good Movie to Watch in 2013, and for a long time cord-cutting was something we covered because readers kept asking about it, not because we went looking for it. The prices changed that. We now keep paid accounts on more than a hundred live TV and streaming services in the US, and we hold onto them on purpose, since the only reliable way to know that a service has raised its price or dropped a channel is to be the one getting the bill. The rest of that work is on our cord-cutting hub.
This ABC guide has been up since 2021, and we come back to it whenever something we wrote has stopped being true, which is more often than it should be. No company pays us to move it up the list, and we hold no stake in any of them. The affiliate links on this page are part of how we keep it free to read, but they have no effect on the ranking or on anything we say about a service. When one of them is overpriced or a chore to use, we tell you that, even the ones paying us a commission.
Here's the move most people miss: don't treat a free trial as a one-time thing you spend once. Line them up back to back instead. Sign up for one service's trial, then the next, then the next, and you can string together a few weeks of free live TV in a row, which is usually enough to cover the bulk of a season or a tournament without ever paying for a single month.
Sling’s new skinny bundle called Select includes 11 TV channels for $19.99, making it the cheapest way to get NFL Network or Fox Sports 1. This is Sling’s answer to DirecTV’s genre packs and other bundles that the cord-cutting industry is starting to offer to grapple with one reality: cord-cutting was becoming a lot like cable. Sling Select is a welcome alternative.
The $19.99 base price doesn't include your local ABC. Sling tacks on $5/mo if your market gets one or two locals and $10/mo for all three, and plenty of markets get no ABC at all. Even when it works, you're paying for a live feed of a network you can grab off an antenna for nothing.
At $25 to $30 with locals this is the cheapest live-TV path to ABC, but only if your ZIP is one of the lucky markets. Check your ZIP first, and if you just want ABC, a $30 antenna pays for itself in a single month.
Sling is establishing itself as a viable cheap alternative to cable, with many local as well national channels available at as little as $60.99. Sling allows to manage packages, so for example if you don’t watch a lot of sports you can remove that package and save a good amount of money. Getting Sling when you’re trying to cut the cord is the closest thing to an “à la carte” service, you only pay for what you use.
ABC lives on the Blue side, not Orange, and Sling only carries local ABC in a handful of markets (NYC, LA, Chicago, Philly, San Francisco and a few others), usually with a $4 to $9 surcharge on top of the $60.99. In most of the country Sling doesn't carry ABC live at all.
If you're outside those few ABC markets, $60.99 buys you a service that can't even show you ABC live. Confirm your market carries it before you sign up, and otherwise grab an antenna.
The “MySports” package from DirecTV is the cheapest way to combine ESPN, ESPN+, Fox Sports, ABC, TNT, and NBC. It’s the sports bundle that we could have only dreamed of in the past, especially considering that DirecTV is widely considered to have the best picture quality out of every cord-cutting service.
This $69.99 bundle is built for sports, and it carries local ABC in roughly 90% of U.S. homes (still not all of them, so check your ZIP). It comes with ESPN Unlimited, which is the real reason to consider it, not the ABC feed.
Worth it if you want ESPN's full sports lineup plus live ABC for big games and local news. If your only goal is ABC, $69.99/mo is a lot to pay for a network an antenna delivers free.
Fubo is a live TV and on-demand streaming service. The platform had it beginning as a soccer stream service, but it quickly became popular as a viable alternative to expensive cable subscriptions in the U.S, offering an attractive bundle of more than 100 live channels as well as an endless array of on-demand movies.
Fubo's $73.99 Pro plan includes local ABC in most major markets, but coverage depends on your ZIP, so run the lookup before you trust it. Fubo leans heavily on sports, and you're paying for a big channel count you probably won't watch just to get ABC.
Fine if you're a sports household that also wants ABC and locals in one app. For ABC alone it's overkill at $73.99, and an antenna does the live-ABC job for a one-time $30.
Youtube TV has quickly grown into one of the best choices for Live TV, offering both local and national channels like ESPN, CNN, Comedy Central, and others. Youtube TV’s marketing claims that by getting the platform, you could save up to $500 a year on cable. One major draw of the platform is unlimited cloud DVR storage that’s included in the $82.99 plan.
It’s also one of the most widely available Live TV streaming services, as you can get it on virtually every device from Fire TV to XBOX to Smart TV brands like LG.
YouTube TV carries local ABC in nearly every market, so this is one of the few services where ABC just works wherever you are. The catch is the price: $82.99/mo, and add-ons can push your bill past $100 fast.
If you want a full cable replacement with reliable local ABC and don't blink at $83/mo, this is the smoothest option. If ABC is the whole reason you're here, you're spending almost a thousand dollars a year for something a $30 antenna gives you live and free.
The “Hulu + Live TV” plan mixes Hulu’s exclusive offering of Originals with around 90 TV channels (the channels available depend on where you live). If you already have Hulu, getting the Live TV addition is usually cheaper than subscribing to another Live TV service. And if when you want to cancel the Live TV plan, you can click “cancel” on Hulu which will give you the option to keep the On-Demand part while canceling the Live TV.
Since Disney owns both Hulu and ABC, local ABC is solid here and you also get ABC shows next-day on demand. The base live plan runs $88.99/mo with ads, and the live channels are really a bolt-on to the Hulu and Disney+ bundle.
Makes sense if you already want Hulu and Disney+ and like getting live ABC plus next-day episodes in the same app. If you only care about ABC, $88.99/mo is backwards when an antenna covers the live feed for free.
Named the “best all-around streaming service for cord-cutters” by Rolling Stone, DIRECTV tries to be all the good things about cable without any of the hassle. It has a big selection of channels, possibly the best stream quality in the market, and great DVR capability. For example, unlike with competitor Youtube TV, your DVR recordings on DirecTV will be the same quality as the live stream (often in 4K). The service also comes with a decent monthly price tag, and Netflix-style practicality that allows you to stream Live TV from anywhere by downloading the app. Within your home, you can stream on up to 20 devices (!), and from outside your home you can stream on up to three devices.
This is satellite, so you're signing a 2-year contract and the early termination fee runs about $20 for every month left, up to $480. Local ABC is included where available, but Choice and up also carry a regional sports fee of $5 to $19.99/mo, and DirecTV is raising prices again on June 25, 2026.
Hard to recommend in 2026. You're locked into a two-year deal at $89.99 before fees, all to watch a network an antenna delivers free with no contract. Skip it unless you specifically need satellite because streaming isn't an option where you live.
FuboTV is the only sports-focused streaming service out there, and with three tiers of packaging, users can decide how dedicated they want to be to the sports world. For the die-hards, FuboTV’s Elite package is the most all-encompassing version they offer.
Elite with Sports Plus runs $94.99/mo and bundles in NFL RedZone and roughly 300 channels. Local ABC is included in most markets (check your ZIP), but you're paying nearly $95 for a sports-stuffed lineup, and ABC is a tiny slice of that.
This is a plan for sports diehards who want RedZone and every regional network. As a way to watch ABC it makes no sense at $94.99/mo. Get the antenna and a cheaper sports add-on if you need one.
There’s a reason why DirecTV Stream Choice is the provider’s most popular package to date: it carries over 105 channels, many of which are specialty sports channels like Big Ten Network, MLB Network, and NBA TV; it has local channels and RSNs where available; it offers premium add-ons like Starz and HBO; and maybe most important of all, it’s still under a hundred bucks, which is not something you can say about most live TV packages these days.
In other words, Stream Choice is for those looking for extra sports coverage while wanting to enjoy the usual benefits of DirecTV, like unlimited screens and DVR, and keeping it all under a reasonable budget.
DirecTV Stream Choice is the contract-free streaming version, listed here at $94.99/mo. Local ABC is included where available, but Choice carries a regional sports fee of up to $19.99/mo on top, and DirecTV's price hike lands June 25, 2026.
No contract is the one upside over satellite, but $94.99 plus a sports fee is steep for a package whose main draw over an antenna is cable channels. Only worth it if you actually want those cable and regional sports networks.
Over 140 channels, unlimited DVR and RSNs included – DirecTV Stream Ultimate is one of the most complete cord-cutting streaming bundles out there. Think of every sports network for example, ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, NHL Network, etc, you name it, you got it. You also get over 55,000 (15,000 more than the base Entertainment package, mainly from Starz Encore) of on-demand movies and shows included. Of course, there is a price tag that comes with all of this that will rival the most expensive cable packages: over $100 a month.
With this package DirecTV is saying: if you want cheap, go to Sling. This is not cheap, but it has everything a family could need from a TV package.
Ultimate is $124.99/mo and adds more cable channels and premium sports, with local ABC included where available. You're still on the hook for the regional sports fee up to $19.99/mo, and the live ABC feed here is no different from the one a cheap antenna pulls in.
This tier is for people who want a near-full cable lineup, not for anyone chasing ABC. At $125/mo before fees, the math against a $30 antenna is brutal. Pass unless you genuinely watch the extra channels.
The most cable-like live TV package to date, DirecTV Stream Premier carries every possible channel you can think of. The sports department has ESPN and Fox Sports, to name a few, plus all the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB specialty channels. Meanwhile, the entertainment department has premium networks like HBO, Starz, Cinemax, and Showtime. It even has RSNs and local channels, all of which total more than 150 channels, so if you want your subscription to cover multiple bases, this is as comprehensive as it gets. All this comes to a hefty $160/month, which seems like a lot for a cord-cutting service, but with features like unlimited screens and DVR, it’s worth considering if you have the budget to spare.
Premier is the top DirecTV Stream tier at $169.99/mo, throwing in HBO Max, Showtime, Starz and the rest. Local ABC is included where available, plus that regional sports fee of up to $19.99/mo. None of those premium channels change the fact that ABC itself is free over the air.
The most expensive way on this page to watch ABC, by a wide margin. Only makes sense if you want every premium movie channel bundled in. For ABC, this is roughly $170/mo for something a one-time antenna handles.
A good old antenna (OTA stands for Over-the-Air) is still a great way to watch local channels like ABC for free. First, check that you can receive it on a website like RabbitEars, then make your pick of indoor antennas. There are many affordable options on Amazon but if you want something a little more reliable, high-end options include ClearStream, Tablo, and Mohu antennas.
The only catch with an antenna is reception. You need to be within range of your local ABC tower, and apartments or far-out rural spots may need an outdoor or amplified model. It also won't give you ESPN or any cable channels, just the free over-the-air broadcasts.
This is the answer for almost everyone who just wants ABC. A one-time $20 to $40 buys you live ABC in crisp HD, free forever, no monthly bill and no contract. Pair it with Hulu or Disney+ for next-day streaming and you've replaced an $80/mo live-TV plan for good.
| Service | Price | Free trial | Channels covered | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sling Select |
$19.99 | None | 11 | Get it |
| Sling Orange & Blue |
$60.99 | None | 43 | Get it |
| DirecTV MySports Skinny bundle |
$69.99 | 5 days | 16 | Get it |
| Fubo |
$73.99 | 7 days | 48 | Get it |
| YouTube TV |
$82.99 | 7 days | 68 | Get it |
| Hulu with Live TV |
$88.99 | 3 days | 57 | Get it |
| DIRECTV |
$89.99 | 5 days | 54 | Get it |
| Fubo Elite with Sports Plus |
$94.99 | 7 days | 60 | Get it |
| DirecTV Stream Choice |
$94.99 | 5 days | 59 | Get it |
| DirecTV Stream Ultimate |
$124.99 | 5 days | 63 | Get it |
| DirecTV Stream Premier |
$169.99 | 5 days | 62 | Get it |
| An OTA Antennaon-demand |
Free | None | 1 |
Cheapest is the question everyone starts with, and it's the wrong place to stop. A $35 plan that drops ABC the month after you sign up hasn't saved you anything. So the first number we pay attention to is the real one, what you owe after the introductory month ends, not the figure in the ad. From there it comes down to whether the channels you actually want sit in the base plan or get stranded in an add-on, how the service behaves day to day (a slow app and a useless DVR wear on you faster than you'd expect), and how much of a fight it puts up when you decide to leave.
Whatever lands at the top of a list like this is the service that gets most of that right for the most people. Once in a while that's also the cheapest one. Usually it isn't.
Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you sign up through one. It never costs you anything extra, and that money is part of how we pay writers and keep the site free to read.
What it doesn't do is buy a place on the list. We order these services by price, by the channels they carry, and by how they hold up in actual use, and a commission has no bearing on any of it. Plenty of the services we link to get called overpriced or a pain to use right here on the page. Prices and lineups also change constantly, so it's worth checking the current numbers on the provider's own site before you sign up for anything.
The people who test, price-check, and update our cord-cutting coverage.
