You don't need a cable bill to keep watching MSNBC / MS NOW. Here's every way to stream it online, and how to do it for free.
Reviewed and updated June 2026 by our cord-cutting team · 5 options
With MSNBC, get the latest original news and coverage as well as commentary from sister news channel NBC.
MSNBC is available without cable on Sling TV Blue, DIRECTV, Hulu with Live TV, Peacock, YouTube TV, or Spectrum TV Choice.
The cheapest way to watch Msnbc is Peacock for $10.99/month.
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Yes, with a free trial. MSNBC / MS NOW is on DirecTV Stream, and you can watch it free for DirecTV Stream's 5-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
All signature DirecTV Stream plans come with MSNBC and other news channels like CNN, HLN, and Fox News. They also come equipped with 4k channels, unlimited DVR, and on-the-go viewing. But they are expensive, with the most basic plan priced at $86.99/month. So, if you don’t mind losing a couple of channels (particularly local and sports), then your best option is to go for DirecTV Stream’s “MyEntertainment” genre pack. At just $35/month, the plan already comes with MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, and 40 more channels. It’s also bundled with Disney+, Hulu, and Max at no additional cost, which makes it ideal for film and TV fans. It’s also more affordable than Sling, which is the next cheapest way to watch MSNBC live.
The price climbs steeply between tiers, and a regional sports fee gets added on top.
DirecTV Stream plans
Our breakdown of DirecTV Stream →
Yes, with a free trial. MSNBC / MS NOW 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.
Hulu with Live TV combines Hulu originals with more than a hundred live channels, including MSNBC and other news outlets like CNN, HLN, and Fox News. It’s a popular choice for families, since Hulu with Live TV often comes bundled with Disney+ and ESPN+, so there’s something to watch for everyone. A potential downside, however, is that Hulu with Live TV only allows for two simultaneous streams. For reference, YouTube TV allows for three, while DirecTV Stream and Fubo offer unlimited simultaneous streams.
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 →
Yes, with a free trial. MSNBC / MS NOW 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.
YouTube TV’s extensive channel lineup, unlimited cloud DVR, and familiar interface are some of the reasons why it remains a popular cable replacement option for cord-cutters. One particularly interesting feature is the service’s multiview function, which lets you watch four channels at once. Multiview applies to MSNBC and other news, sports, business, and weather channels.
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. Sling TV carries MSNBC / MS NOW but has no free trial, so you pay from day one — at $45.99/mo it's the second-cheapest way to watch MSNBC / MS NOW on this list.
Sling Blue is a live TV plan that comes with nearly 50 of the most popular cable channels in the country. In select markets, it also carries local ABC, NBC, and FOX channels, but users in those areas are charged a monthly $5 broadcast fee. If you want to boost your news lineup, Sling does offer a “News Extra” add-on for $6/month. It carries business channels like CNBC and international news channels like NDTV World.
There's no ESPN on the Blue lineup, and local channels only come in a handful of markets.
Sling TV plans
No. Fubo doesn't carry MSNBC / MS NOW.
No. Philo doesn't carry MSNBC / MS NOW.
No. Paramount+ doesn't carry MSNBC / MS NOW.
No. Peacock doesn't carry MSNBC / MS NOW.
No. Frndly TV doesn't carry MSNBC / MS NOW.
The honest way to watch MSNBC / MS NOW 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 MSNBC / MS NOW, odds are you want USA Network too. It's a sister channel, so every service above that carries MSNBC / MS NOW carries USA Network as well, and the same free trials get you both. See our full guide to watching USA Network without cable for the per-service breakdown.
| Service | From | Free trial | Plans | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DirecTV Stream |
$86.99/mo | 5 days | 3 | Get it |
| Hulu + Live TV |
$82.99/mo | 3 days | 2 | Get it |
| YouTube TV |
$9.99/mo | 7 days | 2 | Get it |
| Sling TV |
$45.99/mo | None | 3 | Get it |
Cheapest is the question everyone starts with, and it's the wrong place to stop. A $35 plan that drops MSNBC / MS NOW 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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