Best free option
DIRECTV
truTV matters twice a year, during March Madness, and the rest of the time it is Impractical Jokers reruns. Time the five days accordingly.
Start free trial →
You don't need a cable bill to keep watching truTV. Here's every way to stream it online, and how to do it for free.
Reviewed and updated November 2026 by our cord-cutting team · 4 options
truTV is home to shows like Impractical Jokers, 101 Places To Party Before You Die, and Fast Foodies, which means this is where you'll find the funniest reality and lifestyle series. Since it's owned by Warner Bros. media, it also occasionally airs sports programs like NHL on TNT and NCAA coverages from its partner channels.
truTV is available without cable on Sling TV Blue, DIRECTV, Hulu with Live TV, DirecTV MySports Skinny bundle, or Spectrum TV Stream.
The cheapest way to watch Trutv is Spectrum TV Stream for $45/month.
The fastest ways to watch truTV without cable, at a glance
truTV matters twice a year, during March Madness, and the rest of the time it is Impractical Jokers reruns. Time the five days accordingly.
Start free trial →
Sling's cheaper lineup is the least expensive live truTV, and it carries the other tournament channels too, which is the only weekend it really matters.
Get Sling TV →DIRECTV has the widest lineup carrying truTV, and it is the only service here that gives you a free trial to test the tournament weekend.
Get DIRECTV →
Hulu + Live TV carries truTV live.
Start free trial →DirecTV MySports Skinny bundle carries truTV live.
Start free trial →| Service | From | Free trial |
|---|---|---|
 Sling TV |
$45.99/mo | None |
 DIRECTV |
$89.99/mo | 5 days |
 Hulu + Live TV |
$89.99/mo | 3 days |
 DirecTV MySports Skinny bundle |
$69.99/mo | 5 days |
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.
Top pick because it includes TBS and TNT at an affordable price.
Sling Blue is a live-tv bundle from cord-cutting alternative Sling, which is owned by the telecom provider Dish. It has many of the top 20 most watched national TV channels in the U.S. It costs $45.99/month but for markets with local channels, the streamer charges a mandatory extra $4/month for broadcasting fees.
Sling TV plans
Named the “best all-around streaming service for cord-cutters” by Rolling Stone, DIRECTV tries to be all the good things about cable without any of the hassle. It has a big selection of channels, possibly the best stream quality in the market, and great DVR capability. For example, unlike with competitor Youtube TV, your DVR recordings on DirecTV will be the same quality as the live stream (often in 4K). The service also comes with a decent monthly price tag, and Netflix-style practicality that allows you to stream Live TV from anywhere by downloading the app. Within your home, you can stream on up to 20 devices (!), and from outside your home you can stream on up to three devices.
DIRECTV plans
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.
Hulu + Live TV plans
Our breakdown of Hulu + Live TV →
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
Our breakdown of DirecTV MySports Skinny bundle →
Yes, but on demand only. HBO Max carries truTV’s shows on demand, since Warner Bros. Discovery owns both. You get the back catalog to stream any time; you just don’t get the live feed or its schedule.
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 truTV 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.
truTV 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 truTV 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 truTV with: Hulu + Live TV
Get Surfshark →Whichever you pick, connect to a US city first, then sign in to truTV or the service that carries it as normal. Choose a VPN with a money-back window so you can confirm it un-blocks truTV before you commit.
No. truTV 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.
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The people who test, price-check, and update our cord-cutting coverage.
Five criteria, each scored out of 10. The overall score is their weighted average: content 50%, value 20%, apps 20%, streaming quality 10%. Live TV packages are also scored on customization and add-ons (20%), with the other four scaled to 40%, 16%, 16% and 8%.
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.
Customization and add-ons
0A live TV package with no add-on packs to build on.
10Eight or more add-on packs at $15 a month or less.