Best free option
Fubo
Fubo hands you a full week of NBC free, the longest no-cost run of any service that carries it.
Start free trial →
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 September 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.
The fastest ways to watch NBC without cable, at a glance
Fubo hands you a full week of NBC free, the longest no-cost run of any service that carries it.
Start free trial →
Peacock is the cheap route and the Premium Plus tier streams your local NBC live, but the lower tier is next-day only, which does not work for football.
Get Peacock →
YouTube TV carries the NBC affiliate in nearly every market with unlimited DVR, which is the fix for an Olympics fortnight.
Get YouTube TV →NBC is a broadcast network. An antenna gets the same local feed free and in better quality than any stream, with Sunday football included.
Check your coverage →| Service | From | Free trial |
|---|---|---|
 Sling TV |
$45.99/mo | None |
 Fubo |
$79.99/mo | 7 days |
 DIRECTV |
$89.99/mo | 5 days |
 Hulu + Live TV |
$89.99/mo | 3 days |
 YouTube TV |
$82.99/mo | 7 days |
 DirecTV MySports Skinny bundle |
$69.99/mo | 5 days |
 Peacock |
$12.99/mo | None |
 Sling Select |
$19.99/mo | None |
 Tablo TV |
– | None |
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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.
Sling TV plans
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.
Fubo plans
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.
DIRECTV plans
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.
Hulu + Live TV plans
Our breakdown of Hulu + Live TV →
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.
YouTube TV plans
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.
DirecTV MySports Skinny bundle plans
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.
Peacock plans
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.
Sling Select plans
One way to watch NBC without cable is through an antenna amplifier like Tablo. Tablo receives the freely broadcast signals of local channels like NBC and connects your streaming devices to them. You pay upfront for the equipment and installation, but once that’s done, you get channels appearing on the Tablo TV app at no monthly cost.
Tablo TV plans
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.
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.
This year, NBC cancelled a number of sitcoms to make way for NBA games after it struck a deal with the league. Michael Jordan is also rumored to be a correspondent for the network’s basketball coverage. The network also successfully secured its spot as the Olympics' home network at least until 2036.
Meanwhile, the network's beloved One Chicago and Law & Order procedurals are up for renewal next season. St. Denis Medical was also given the green light for a new season.
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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.