Best free option
DIRECTV
DIRECTV's trial is the quickest free route to TBS: five days of the full lineup, cancelled before it renews, costs nothing.
Start free trial →
You don't need a cable bill to keep watching TBS. Here's every way to stream it online, and how to do it for free.
Reviewed and updated October 2026 by our cord-cutting team · 6 options
TBS is known for two things: sports and comedy. The Turner channel famously airs the Stanley Cup Playoffs, All Elite Wrestling matches, March Madness, a couple of NBA games, and more postseason MLB games than any other network. On the comedy side, it's home to reruns of Warner classics like Modern Family, Friends, Young Sheldon, and American Dad. Not a lot of originals, but it combines the best of both worlds for a lot of people.
TBS is available without cable on Sling TV Blue, Sling TV Orange, DIRECTV, Hulu with Live TV, DirecTV MySports Skinny bundle, YouTube TV Sports Plan, Youtube TV Sports + News Plan, YouTube TV Sports + News + Entertainment Plan, YouTube TV, or Spectrum TV Choice.
The cheapest way to watch Tbs is Sling TV Orange for $45.99/month.
The fastest ways to watch TBS without cable, at a glance
DIRECTV's trial is the quickest free route to TBS: five days of the full lineup, cancelled before it renews, costs nothing.
Start free trial →
Sling is the least expensive live TBS on this page. The trade is a thinner lineup and no free trial to test it with first.
Get Sling TV →
A week is the longest free stretch of TBS on this page, and the DVR keeps recording the whole time.
Start free trial →The widest lineup of the services carrying TBS, which is the one to pick if you are replacing cable rather than chasing a single channel.
Get YouTube TV →
Hulu + Live TV carries TBS live.
Start free trial →
Spectrum TV Choice carries TBS live.
Get Spectrum TV Choice →| Service | From | Free trial |
|---|---|---|
 Sling TV |
$45.99/mo | None |
 DIRECTV |
$89.99/mo | 5 days |
 Hulu + Live TV |
$89.99/mo | 3 days |
 YouTube TV |
$82.99/mo | 7 days |
 Spectrum TV Choice |
$53.19/mo | None |
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.
Sling Blue may be missing Orange’s Disney and ESPN channels, but it does provide local channels in some markets, which is where you’ll find a lot of sporting events. It also has TNT and TruTV to round out the Turner Sports coverage, as well as the NFL Network and NBCSN. A potential issue? You can’t opt out of the $5 broadcast fee if you do get local channels where you live.
Sling TV plans
DirecTV Stream is as comprehensive as cord-cutting gets. Along with TBS, it has TNT, TruTV, RSNs, and dozens of other channels. It comes with unlimited DVR, too, so you can record games as much as you want. At nearly $90/month, however, you have to be extra sure before you subscribe to the streamer. You can look at their skinny bundles (called “genre packs”) or the other services listed here for cheaper alternatives.
DIRECTV plans
Like TBS, Hulu with Live TV has a good mix of comedy and sports. Comedy Central and a big chunk of Hulu Originals provide the former, while sports channels like TBS, TNT, TruTV, and ESPN provide the latter. It’s not as comprehensive as the competition (especially since WWE recently moved to Netflix and Peacock), but it has enough to justify its high price. The only real downside, aside from the price, is that Hulu with Live TV only allows up to two simultaneous streams.
Hulu + Live TV plans
Our breakdown of Hulu + Live TV →
YouTube TV has a nice enough mix of sports and entertainment channels to complement TBS. It has TruTV, TNT, and CNN. RSNs are quite limited, but it does have ESPN, CBS Sports, and ACC Network. What makes YouTube TV a great option is that it’s easy to grasp for anyone who’s used YouTube in their lifetime, and it has unlimited DVR.
YouTube TV plans
Uniquely, Spectrum TV Choice lets you decide which 15 channels you’d want on your lineup and allows you to change that selection monthly. It’s a useful feature that lets you customize your viewing without the hassle of trying too many things, although you’d first have to be a Spectrum internet user to avail of the service.
Spectrum TV Choice plans
Our breakdown of Spectrum TV Choice →
Yes, the library plus some live sports. TBS comedies and its catalog stream on demand inside HBO Max, and the B/R Sports add-on carries some of the live games TBS airs (MLB postseason, March Madness). The 24/7 TBS channel itself isn’t here.
When Warner Bros. Discovery folded discovery+ into HBO Max, the whole Discovery and Turner library came with it, so those networks stream on demand here.
The honest way to watch TBS 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.
TBS 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 TBS 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 TBS with: Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV
Get Surfshark →Whichever you pick, connect to a US city first, then sign in to TBS or the service that carries it as normal. Choose a VPN with a money-back window so you can confirm it un-blocks TBS before you commit.
No. TBS 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.
Thanks to a deal extension, TBS will continue to air MLB Tuesday and postseason games, along with the usual AEW, NCAA Men's Basketball, NHL, NASCAR, and NBA matches. It will also continue to air reruns of beloved sitcoms like Modern Family and Friends, though sadly no new episodes of its original series American Dad! Game shows Wipeout and The Cube were also cancelled earlier this year, presumably to make way for more sports.
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Four criteria, each scored out of 10. The overall score is their weighted average: content 50%, value 20%, apps 20%, streaming quality 10%.
Value for money
0The most expensive service of its kind.
10The cheapest service of its kind, with full content.
Content quality
0None of the 20 most-watched cable channels, or nothing from our recommended list.
10All 20 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.
10Five-star apps on all 12 major devices.
Streaming quality
0Below 720p.
104K on the plan we price.