You don't need a cable bill to keep watching NBCSN. 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 · 6 options
You can watch NBCSN without cable with a free trial on YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, and Fubo, or with a subscription to Sling Orange + Blue. Below, we count down the best ways to watch NBCSN that cord-cutters use. We made this ranking based on each service's value: how many other channels each dollar of subscription will get you.
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.
Yes, with a free trial. NBCSN 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 plans
Yes, with a free trial. NBCSN 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 a live TV and on-demand streaming service. The platform had it beginning as a soccer stream service, but it quickly became popular as a viable alternative to expensive cable subscriptions in the U.S, offering an attractive bundle of more than 100 live channels as well as an endless array of on-demand movies.
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. NBCSN 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.
The “Hulu + Live TV” plan mixes Hulu’s exclusive offering of Originals with around 90 TV channels (the channels available depend on where you live). If you already have Hulu, getting the Live TV addition is usually cheaper than subscribing to another Live TV service. And if when you want to cancel the Live TV plan, you can click “cancel” on Hulu which will give you the option to keep the On-Demand part while canceling the 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 →
Yes, with a free trial. NBCSN 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 has quickly grown into one of the best choices for Live TV, offering both local and national channels like ESPN, CNN, Comedy Central, and others. Youtube TV’s marketing claims that by getting the platform, you could save up to $500 a year on cable. One major draw of the platform is unlimited cloud DVR storage that’s included in the $82.99 plan.
It’s also one of the most widely available Live TV streaming services, as you can get it on virtually every device from Fire TV to XBOX to Smart TV brands like LG.
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. Sling TV doesn't carry NBCSN.
No. Philo doesn't carry NBCSN.
No. Paramount+ doesn't carry NBCSN.
No. Peacock doesn't carry NBCSN.
No. Frndly TV doesn't carry NBCSN.
No. Disney+ only streams the Disney family (ABC, FX, Nat Geo, ESPN and the Disney kids channels), and NBCSN isn’t part of it. The best way to watch NBCSN 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 NBCSN isn’t part of it. The best way to watch NBCSN without cable is YouTube TV above (free-trial).
No. There’s no Prime Video Channels add-on for NBCSN, so Prime can’t stream it on demand or live. The best way to watch NBCSN without cable is YouTube TV above (free-trial).
The honest way to watch NBCSN 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 NBCSN, odds are you want NBC too. It's a sister channel, so every service above that carries NBCSN carries NBC as well, and the same free trials get you both. See our full guide to watching NBC without cable for the per-service breakdown.
| Service | From | Free trial | Plans | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIRECTV |
$94.99/mo | 5 days | 4 | 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 |
NBCSN 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 NBCSN with: Hulu + Live 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 NBCSN with: Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV
Get Surfshark →Whichever you pick, connect to a US city first, then sign in to NBCSN or the service that carries it as normal. Choose a VPN with a money-back window so you can confirm it un-blocks NBCSN before you commit.
No. NBCSN 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 NBCSN 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 NBCSN through DIRECTV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. To set it up, add the channel from the Roku Channel Store, sign in, and open NBCSN in the live guide.
On Amazon Fire TV, you can watch NBCSN through DIRECTV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. To set it up, download the app from the Amazon Appstore, sign in, and open NBCSN in the live guide.
On Apple TV, you can watch NBCSN through DIRECTV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. To set it up, install the app from the App Store, sign in, and open NBCSN in the live guide.
On Android TV & Google TV, you can watch NBCSN through DIRECTV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. To set it up, grab the app from the Google Play Store, sign in, and open NBCSN in the live guide.
On Chromecast, you can watch NBCSN through Fubo 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 NBCSN in the live guide.
On Samsung & LG smart TVs, you can watch NBCSN through DIRECTV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. 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 NBCSN in the live guide.
On phones & tablets, you can watch NBCSN through DIRECTV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. To set it up, download the app from the App Store or Google Play, sign in, and open NBCSN in the live guide.
On game consoles, you can watch NBCSN through Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV. 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 NBCSN in the live guide.
Cheapest is the question everyone starts with, and it's the wrong place to stop. A $35 plan that drops NBCSN 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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