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 August 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, and you can watch it free for DIRECTV'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 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
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. Philo doesn't carry MSNBC / MS NOW.
No. Fubo 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.
No. Disney+ only streams the Disney family (ABC, FX, Nat Geo, ESPN and the Disney kids channels), and MSNBC / MS NOW isn’t part of it. The best way to watch MSNBC / MS NOW without cable is YouTube TV above (free-trial).
No. HBO Max only streams the Warner Bros. Discovery family (HBO, Discovery, HGTV, TNT, CNN and the rest), and MSNBC / MS NOW isn’t part of it. The best way to watch MSNBC / MS NOW without cable is YouTube TV above (free-trial).
No. There’s no Prime Video Channels add-on for MSNBC / MS NOW, so Prime can’t stream it on demand or live. The best way to watch MSNBC / MS NOW without cable is YouTube TV above (free-trial).
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 |
$94.99/mo | 5 days | 4 | Get it |
| Sling TV |
$45.99/mo | None | 3 | Get it |
| Hulu + Live TV |
$82.99/mo | 3 days | 2 | Get it |
| YouTube TV |
$9.99/mo | 7 days | 2 | Get it |
MSNBC / MS NOW 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 MSNBC / MS NOW 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 MSNBC / MS NOW with: Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV
Get Surfshark →Whichever you pick, connect to a US city first, then sign in to MSNBC / MS NOW or the service that carries it as normal. Choose a VPN with a money-back window so you can confirm it un-blocks MSNBC / MS NOW before you commit.
No. MSNBC / MS NOW 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 MSNBC / MS NOW 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 MSNBC / MS NOW through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. To set it up, add the channel from the Roku Channel Store, sign in, and open MSNBC / MS NOW in the live guide.
On Amazon Fire TV, you can watch MSNBC / MS NOW through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. To set it up, download the app from the Amazon Appstore, sign in, and open MSNBC / MS NOW in the live guide.
On Apple TV, you can watch MSNBC / MS NOW through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. To set it up, install the app from the App Store, sign in, and open MSNBC / MS NOW in the live guide.
On Android TV & Google TV, you can watch MSNBC / MS NOW through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. To set it up, grab the app from the Google Play Store, sign in, and open MSNBC / MS NOW in the live guide.
On Chromecast, you can watch MSNBC / MS NOW through Sling TV and Hulu + Live TV. The gap: DIRECTV and YouTube TV 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 MSNBC / MS NOW in the live guide.
On Samsung & LG smart TVs, you can watch MSNBC / MS NOW through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. To set it up, install the app from your TV's own store (Tizen or webOS), sign in, and open MSNBC / MS NOW in the live guide.
On phones & tablets, you can watch MSNBC / MS NOW through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. To set it up, download the app from the App Store or Google Play, sign in, and open MSNBC / MS NOW in the live guide.
On game consoles, you can watch MSNBC / MS NOW through Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. 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 MSNBC / MS NOW in the live guide.
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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