You don't need a cable bill to keep watching NBC. 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 · 9 options
NBC is available without cable on Fubo, Sling TV Blue, DIRECTV, Hulu with Live TV, DirecTV MySports Skinny bundle, Peacock, Sling Select, YouTube TV, or Tablo TV.
The cheapest way to watch Nbc is Tablo TV for $0/month.
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Yes, with a free trial. NBC is on DIRECTV, and you can watch it free for DIRECTV's 5-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
DirecTV Stream is pricey, but it covers all bases when it comes to live TV streaming. It offers NBC and all the other local channels, has unlimited DVR, provides remote and simultaneous viewing, and it’s fairly easy to flip through. Out of all the streaming services, DirecTV Stream is the most similar to traditional cable, except you don’t have to commit to a contract. You can cancel your subscription to DirecTV Stream anytime you want.
The price climbs steeply between tiers, and a regional sports fee gets added on top.
DIRECTV plans
No, not free. Sling TV carries NBC but has no free trial, so you pay from day one — at $45.99/mo it's the third-cheapest way to watch NBC on this list.
Sling Blue is a live TV plan owned by telecom company Dish. It offers 50 hours of DVR and carries popular channels like CNN, FS1, and AMC. In select markets, it also streams local affiliates of NBC, FOX, and ABC. You have to pay an extra $5/month for local channels, but the final cost still beats the price tags of a lot of the other live TV services in this list.
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. NBC is on Fubo, and you can watch it free for Fubo's 7-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
Fubo is known by many as a sports-forward live TV streaming service. And while that is true, it also offers a good number of entertainment, lifestyle, and news channels — among them your local NBC. A carriage dispute resulted in Fubo losing Warner Bros. channels like CNN, TNT, and TBS, but if you don’t mind missing them on your lineup, then Fubo is a worthwhile cord-cutting option.
It leans heavily on sports, and a regional sports fee of a few dollars up to about $17 by ZIP gets added on top.
Fubo plans
Yes, with a free trial. NBC 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 is a streaming package that combines live channels with Disney+, ESPN+, and, of course, Hulu on-demand at no extra cost. It’s the best option if you’re already subscribed to those services, since getting them via bundle usually costs less. Your local NBC comes with the plan, as do other local channels. It also has unlimited DVR. Where it differs from most services is that it only allows two, instead of the usual four, 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. NBC 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.
Thanks to its familiar interface and wide-ranging channels, YouTube TV is one of the more popular cable alternatives right now. It features local channels like NBC, easy-to-use cloud DVR, and premium add-ons in case you want to strengthen your streaming lineup. It’s great for general viewers, though it might not be the best fit for sports fans, since YouTube TV’s picture quality can be inconsistent. It also doesn’t have too many RSNs when compared to Fubo and DirecTV Stream.
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. Peacock carries NBC but has no free trial, so you pay from day one — at $10.99/mo it's the second-cheapest way to watch NBC on this list.
Peacock’s Premium Plus plan, which goes for $13.99/month, now comes with your local NBC channel. Along with this, Peacock streams live sports and boasts an on-demand catalog filled with original titles and popular NBC programs. The premium tier supposedly removes ads from on-demand titles, but some subscribers have complained about still getting them. Another point of improvement? For the price, it would be nice to get live feeds of NBC’s sister channels, like USA or Bravo.
Most network shows land next-day on demand rather than as a live feed.
Peacock plans
No. Philo doesn't carry NBC.
No. Paramount+ doesn't carry NBC.
No. Frndly TV doesn't carry NBC.
No. Disney+ only streams the Disney family (ABC, FX, Nat Geo, ESPN and the Disney kids channels), and NBC isn’t part of it. The best way to watch NBC 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 NBC isn’t part of it. The best way to watch NBC without cable is YouTube TV above (free-trial).
No. There’s no Prime Video Channels add-on for NBC, so Prime can’t stream it on demand or live. The best way to watch NBC without cable is YouTube TV above (free-trial).
The honest way to watch NBC 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 NBC, odds are you want Cozi TV too. It's a sister channel, so every service above that carries NBC carries Cozi TV as well, and the same free trials get you both. See our full guide to watching Cozi TV 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 |
| Fubo |
$84.99/mo | 7 days | 2 | Get it |
| Hulu + Live TV |
$82.99/mo | 3 days | 2 | Get it |
| YouTube TV |
$9.99/mo | 7 days | 2 | Get it |
| Peacock |
$10.99/mo | None | 2 | Get it |
NBC 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 NBC with: Hulu + Live TV, Peacock, 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 NBC with: Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, Peacock
Get Surfshark →Whichever you pick, connect to a US city first, then sign in to NBC or the service that carries it as normal. Choose a VPN with a money-back window so you can confirm it un-blocks NBC before you commit.
Yes. NBC is a broadcast network, so a one-time over-the-air antenna pulls it in free, in HD, with no monthly bill. Reception depends on how close you are to the transmitter, so check your address for coverage before you buy an antenna.
Every service that carries NBC 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 NBC through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Peacock. To set it up, add the channel from the Roku Channel Store, sign in, and open NBC in the live guide.
On Amazon Fire TV, you can watch NBC through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. The gap: Peacock doesn't offer a Amazon Fire TV app. To set it up, download the app from the Amazon Appstore, sign in, and open NBC in the live guide.
On Apple TV, you can watch NBC through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Peacock. To set it up, install the app from the App Store, sign in, and open NBC in the live guide.
On Android TV & Google TV, you can watch NBC through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Peacock. To set it up, grab the app from the Google Play Store, sign in, and open NBC in the live guide.
On Chromecast, you can watch NBC through Sling TV, Fubo, and Hulu + Live TV. The gap: DIRECTV, YouTube TV, and Peacock 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 NBC in the live guide.
On Samsung & LG smart TVs, you can watch NBC through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Peacock. The gap: Fubo doesn't offer a Samsung & LG smart TVs app. To set it up, install the app from your TV's own store (Tizen or webOS), sign in, and open NBC in the live guide.
On phones & tablets, you can watch NBC through DIRECTV, Sling TV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Peacock. To set it up, download the app from the App Store or Google Play, sign in, and open NBC in the live guide.
On game consoles, you can watch NBC through Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Peacock. The gap: DIRECTV and Fubo don't offer a game consoles app. To set it up, download the app from the Xbox or PlayStation store, sign in, and open NBC in the live guide.
Cheapest is the question everyone starts with, and it's the wrong place to stop. A $35 plan that drops NBC 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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