Best free option
DIRECTV
HLN is true crime on repeat now rather than a news channel, so five days shows you the whole rotation.
Start free trial →
You don't need a cable bill to keep watching HLN. Here's every way to stream it online, and how to do it for free.
Reviewed and updated September 2026 by our cord-cutting team · 9 options
From true crime original series to news shows like Morning Express and Weekend Express, HLN offers a good mix of easily digestible programming and intriguing stories.
HLN is available without cable on Sling TV Blue, DIRECTV, Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV, Spectrum TV Stream, or Spectrum TV Choice.
The cheapest way to watch Hln is Spectrum TV Stream for $45/month.
The fastest ways to watch HLN without cable, at a glance
HLN is true crime on repeat now rather than a news channel, so five days shows you the whole rotation.
Start free trial →Sling's news lineup is the cheapest live HLN, and it comes with CNN, which is where HLN's programming budget went.
Get Sling TV →A week of YouTube TV is the longest free run at HLN, with DVR to bank the Forensic Files blocks that air overnight.
Start free trial →YouTube TV carries HLN next to the news networks and the locals, which is what HLN viewers usually watch around it.
Get YouTube TV →We routinely follow over a hundred live TV and streaming services in the US, closely monitoring their plans, features, and channel lineups. All of that work is on our cord-cutting hub.
Beyond this, we have been reviewing the best on streaming services since 2013, recommending highly-rated but little-known movies and shows: we find the gems that you haven't yet watched, that you will probably like.
HLN is on DIRECTV, and you can watch it free for DIRECTV's 5-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
If you haven’t yet cut the cord, DirecTV Stream would be the closest thing in the streaming world. It’s nearly as pricey, but the wide channel line-up, multiple simultaneous streams, and the unlimited DVR makes it a more convenient way to watch HLN. On top of that, you can also enjoy other true crime channels like Investigation Discovery and True Crime Now, as well as your regular news channels. Wanting a cheaper option? DirecTV Stream has a slimmer MyEntertainment bundle we listed below.
The price climbs steeply between tiers, and a regional sports fee gets added on top.
DIRECTV plans
No, not free. Sling TV carries HLN but has no free trial, so you pay from day one. At $45.99/mo it's the cheapest way to watch HLN on this list.
Out of Sling’s two base plans, Sling Blue is the bundle that has HLN. That’s because Blue primarily holds more news and entertainment channels than Sling Orange. It’s also one of the cheapest ways to stream HLN, especially with our 50% discount for the first month.
There's no ESPN on the Blue lineup, and local channels only come in a handful of markets.
Sling TV plans
HLN is on Hulu + Live TV, and you can watch it free for Hulu + Live TV's 3-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
Already have Hulu? Hulu + Live TV is an easy way to add live TV channels along with your on-demand plan. You can stream HLN, or similar channels like Investigation Discovery, Justice Central and American Crimes, alongside with various crime docuseries from ABC, FX, and Hulu itself. Compared to subscribing to another streamer, it’s usually cheaper for Hulu users to swap to Hulu with Live TV.
It caps you at two simultaneous streams, the fewest of the big live-TV services; lifting that cap costs about $10 more a month.
Hulu + Live TV plans
Our breakdown of Hulu + Live TV →
HLN is on YouTube TV, and you can watch it free for YouTube TV's 7-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
With its huge channel line-up and intuitive interface, YouTube TV has quickly become a favorite streamer for live TV. There’s no need to hunt down quality entertainment when you can just search for HLN the same way you would search in YouTube. Their line-up includes other exciting true crime channels like Investigation Discovery, American Crimes, and Law & Crime.
At around $83 a month it's one of the priciest options, and add-ons push the bill past $100 fast.
YouTube TV plans
No, not free. Spectrum TV Choice carries HLN but has no free trial, so you pay from day one. At $53.19/mo it's the second-cheapest way to watch HLN on this list.
Spectrum TV Choice is an internet television service that is available only by call-in and only to Charter Spectrum internet customers.
The channels available to you will depend on your location, but usually you can choose 15 more channels to add to your plan. Please be careful that after 30 days, you might not be able to change the list of 15 channels you choose.
You can read more in our dedicated explainer here: Spectrum TV Choice Explained: Plans, Pricing, Channels.
The advertised $30 nearly doubles at checkout: a compulsory broadcast fee of up to $23.20 lands on top, before taxes. You also need Spectrum internet at a serviceable address, and you usually have to sign up by phone.
Spectrum TV Choice plans
Our breakdown of Spectrum TV Choice →
Yes, but only a few originals on demand. HLN doesn’t stream live on HBO Max; only a slice of CNN and HLN originals turn up on demand, with no live news channel.
When Warner Bros. Discovery folded discovery+ into HBO Max, the whole Discovery and Turner library came with it, so those networks stream on demand here.
The honest way to watch HLN for free is a free trial, and the trick is not to spend them one at a time. Start one, then start the next when it ends, and you can string together a few weeks of free live TV back to back, usually enough to cover a tournament or a playoff run without paying for a month.
If you're cutting cable for HLN, odds are you want Investigation Discovery too. It's a sister channel, so every service above that carries HLN carries Investigation Discovery as well, and the same free trials get you both. See our full guide to watching Investigation Discovery without cable for the per-service breakdown.
| Service | From | Free trial | Plans | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIRECTV |
$89.99/mo | 5 days | 4 | Get it |
| Sling TV |
$45.99/mo | None | 3 | Get it |
| Hulu + Live TV |
$89.99/mo | 3 days | 2 | Get it |
| YouTube TV |
$82.99/mo | 7 days | 2 | Get it |
| Spectrum TV Choice |
$53.19/mo | None | 1 | Get it |
HLN and the US services that carry it are geo-locked to the United States, so your login stops working the moment you leave the country. A VPN fixes that: connect to a US server and the service sees a US address again. The catch is that streaming platforms actively block most VPN traffic, so the VPN you pick matters far more than the service does. These three reliably get back in:
A huge US server network (thousands of IPs across 15-plus cities) with SmartPlay DNS baked into every server, so streaming just works without extra setup. The best value of the top tier on a two-year plan.
Best for streaming HLN with: Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV
Get NordVPN →The budget pick, and the one to get if the whole household travels: it allows unlimited simultaneous devices on one account, plus a Smart DNS for TVs. Reliable with the on-demand and lifestyle services.
Best for streaming HLN with: Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV
Get Surfshark →Whichever you pick, connect to a US city first, then sign in to HLN or the service that carries it as normal. Choose a VPN with a money-back window so you can confirm it un-blocks HLN before you commit.
No. HLN is a cable channel and doesn't broadcast over the air, so an antenna can't pick it up. An antenna only gets the free broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, The CW), which pair nicely with one of the services above; check which of those reach your address here.
Every service that carries HLN runs on the major streaming platforms, so you can watch on just about any TV, phone, or console. Here's how, device by device:
On Roku, you can watch HLN through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Spectrum TV Choice. To set it up, add the channel from the Roku Channel Store, sign in, and open HLN in the live guide.
On Amazon Fire TV, you can watch HLN through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. The gap: Spectrum TV Choice doesn't offer a Amazon Fire TV app. To set it up, download the app from the Amazon Appstore, sign in, and open HLN in the live guide.
On Apple TV, you can watch HLN through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Spectrum TV Choice. To set it up, install the app from the App Store, sign in, and open HLN in the live guide.
On Android TV & Google TV, you can watch HLN through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Spectrum TV Choice. To set it up, grab the app from the Google Play Store, sign in, and open HLN in the live guide.
On Chromecast, you can watch HLN through Sling TV and Hulu + Live TV. The gap: DIRECTV, YouTube TV, and Spectrum TV Choice don't offer a Chromecast app. To set it up, cast it from your phone or use the built-in Google TV app, sign in, and open HLN in the live guide.
On Samsung & LG smart TVs, you can watch HLN through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Spectrum TV Choice. To set it up, install the app from your TV's own store (Tizen or webOS), sign in, and open HLN in the live guide.
On phones & tablets, you can watch HLN through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Spectrum TV Choice. To set it up, download the app from the App Store or Google Play, sign in, and open HLN in the live guide.
On game consoles, you can watch HLN through Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Spectrum TV Choice. The gap: DIRECTV doesn't offer a game consoles app. To set it up, download the app from the Xbox or PlayStation store, sign in, and open HLN in the live guide.
Cheapest is the question everyone starts with, and it's the wrong place to stop. A $35 plan that drops HLN 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.
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The people who test, price-check, and update our cord-cutting coverage.
Four criteria, each out of 100. The overall score is their weighted average: content 38%, value 27%, apps 22%, streaming quality 13%.
Value for money
0The most expensive service of its kind.
100The cheapest service of its kind.
Content quality
0None of the ten most-watched cable channels, or nothing from our recommended list.
100All ten channels, or the deepest catalog of titles we recommend.
Apps and devices
0A one-star app that runs on none of the 12 major devices.
100Five-star apps on all 12 major devices.
Streaming quality
0Below 720p.
1004K on the plan we price.
Services are compared only against others of the same type and price range, so a full live TV package is never ranked against a single-channel app. Read the full methodology →