Whether it’s the UFC, the NBA, or the NFL, we all have a sport that we love to watch. And what better place to keep up with our favorite games and matches than ESPN?
What if you don’t have cable though? Does this mean that you have to miss out?
Thankfully not!
With so many great cable TV alternatives, there are lots of ways to watch the channel, without having to pay $100s for a cable subscription.
After all, with cable prices set to rise in 2020 by as much as $20 to $30 a month, a lot of us just can’t afford the cost of cable and have decided to cut the cord or just opt for free basic cable TV. Even if you can make room for the cost of cable in your budget, you might just not want to sign up for it!
Whatever the reason, there are plenty of ways you can enjoy sports coverage from ESPN sans cable.
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Table of Contents
How to Watch ESPN without Cable
Here are the best ways to watch ESPN online without cable.
1. ESPN+
- Price: $5.99 a month
- Free trial available: No
Let’s start out with ESPN+. This is a no brainer really. For just $5.99 a month, you can stream exclusive live sports and archived content from the:
- MLB
- NHL
- Serie A
- FA Cup
- Top Rank Boxing
- And more!
You even get UFC Fight Nights and PPV events!
You can also access lots of college sports, like football, basketball, and lacrosse.
There’s also ESPN+ Originals from some of the top names in sports, such as Peyton’s Places with Peyton Manning and Ariel & The Bad Guy with Ariel Helwani. There’s plenty more on offer, from documentaries to UFC coverage, all of which you can read more about on the website we linked to above.
You can stream live, rewind or replay on up to 3 devices at once. Content is available in HD on the big screen. You can stream content on a huge variety of devices, from Samsung Smart TVs to Xbox Ones to iPhones.
If you’re not looking for anything other than ESPN – so you don’t need any extra channels bundled into your subscription, I’d highly recommend ESPN+.
It’s the lowest priced service on this list!
The only downside is that there’s no free trial period on offer with this one. I’d guess it’s because the monthly cost is already so low anyway. So spending $5.99 isn’t too big a deal.
Now, if you do decide you want other channels in the subscription, you can sign up for The Disney Bundle. It costs $12.99 a month and in addition to ESPN+, you also get access to content from Disney and Hulu. So you get three streaming services for just $12.99 a month.
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2. fuboTV
- Price: $64.99 a month
- Free trial available: Yes
Next on the list we have fuboTV. It’s a streaming service that’s primarily focused on live sports although there are other non-sports-focused channels available with your subscription.
It offers lots of channels, including ESPN.
On there, you can watch and DVR live sports and TV from plenty of other places like:
- FOX
- NBC Sports
- A&E
- NBA TV
- TLC
- ABC
- AMC
There are hundreds of channels available and cloud DVR is included. The best part is that you can watch live on any device. It offers a great way for you to watch ESPN when you don’t have cable.
It’s pricier than ESPN+, costing $64.99 a month, but you get access to far more channels. There’s also an Ultra membership that costs $84.99 a month.
The best part is that fuboTV offers a free trial where you can try out its service for 7 days at no cost.
When you do start paying for a membership, you can cancel at any time, which is always handy.
3. Sling TV Orange Package
- Price: $30 a month
- Free trial available: Yes
Sling TV is a pretty popular streaming service. It offers quite a few packages, which can be a little confusing. Put simply, if it’s ESPN you’re after, then it’s the Orange Package that you want from Sling TV.
You can watch on a variety of devices from your Xbox One to your Apple TV.
The Orange Package costs $30 per month, although you can combine it with the Blue Package that also costs $30 a month and pay just $45 for the two.
Sling TV does provide free trials of its packages, but these often change. At the time of writing, the free trial period was 3 days. It’s not that long really, although it does give you the chance to test out the service a little before you part with any cash.
Sometimes it also runs deals where you can get the first month for a reduced price, like $20 instead of $30. Just have a look to see what offers are available to new members when you sign up.
4. YouTube TV
- Price: $64.99 a month
- Free trial available: Yes
Next on the list we have YouTube TV. You might think of YouTube as a place to watch free content, like cooking videos, workout videos, or gaming videos.
YouTube rolled out its own streaming service back in 2017 though and now you can pay to watch lots of channels, including, of course, ESPN.
Through YouTube TV, you can watch tons of other channels too like:
- ABC
- CBS
- FOX
- The Food Network
- Comedy Central
There are more than 85 channels to choose from.
According to the YouTube TV website, you can cut the cord for their service and save $500 a year.
YouTube TV does have a free trial. At the time of writing, the free trial period was 2 weeks, as a promo for the basketball, baseball, and hockey seasons starting up.
However, this free trial may be different when you come to sign up. So do have a look at all the details when you come to start your subscription.
With YouTube TV, you can watch live TV from major broadcast and popular cable networks. You can get local and national live sports, news and shows the moment they air.
It’s also a great way to watch local TV without cable. Local and regional programming is also included, offering complete local network coverage in over 98% of US TV households.
What’s great about YouTube TV is that you get unlimited cloud DVR storage space with your subscription. So you can record what you need to. And you also get six accounts per household, so you can share the service with your family members or roommates. Awesome, right?
5. Hulu + Live TV
- Price: $54.99 per month
- Free trial available: Yes
ESPN is included with the Hulu + Live TV package. You get access to more than 65 channels and the entire Hulu streaming library.
It costs $54.99 a month, which is pretty reasonable when you consider you’re getting content from Hulu’s library, as well as those live channels.
If you want to be able to stream full seasons of TV shows and movies, in addition to watching ESPN, then Hulu is ideal.
There are lots of channels available, such as:
- TLC
- CNN
- FOX
- CBS
- ABC
- ID
- Lifetime
You can record live TV, starting with 50 hours of storage. And you can stream on multiple devices from your PlayStation 4 to your Samsung TV, whether you’re at home or on the go.
Plus you can watch on two screens at the same time.
Hulu even has a free trial available, which is great. The free trial lasts for a week, which gives you time to test out the service before you have to part with any cash.
When you do start to pay for a subscription, you can cancel it at any time. This is always useful, unlike with cable TV where you’re often bound to a longer contract.
6. AT&T TV Now Plus Package
- Price: $55 a month
- Free trial available: Yes
Finally, we have the AT&T TV Now Plus Package. It’s another legit way to watch EPSN when you don’t have cable.
This is another all-round package that includes lots of different channels, including, of course, ESPN.
Aside from ESPN, you also get access to channels like:
- BET
- FX
- CNBC
- SyFy
- National Geographic
- FOX
- E!
- Oxygen
- ABC
- CNN
Cloud DVR storage is included, and you can stream on up to three screens at the same time.
Like with the other services that I’ve mentioned on this list, AT&T TV can be used on multiple devices.
Membership costs $55 a month. There is a free trial period available though, so you can test it out before you have to pay anything. The free trial lasts 7 days, giving you plenty of time to stream ESPN for free.
Can I Watch ESPN on Amazon Prime (Fire TV), Apple TV, Chromecast or Roku?
Yes, you actually can!
As you’d expect, these days every company has apps. This goes for streaming providers as well who have free TV apps for all the major devices.
For example, YouTube TV works on Chromecast, Roku and AppleTV. So you can use it to watch ESPN on one of those devices.
You can also watch ESPN without cable via Hulu Live, Sling TV, and YouTube TV if you have a Nvidian Shield.
Can You Watch ESPN Online for Free?
If you watch a lot of sport and sport related documentaries and shows but don’t have ESPN, you probably wondered if you can actually watch ESPN on the internet for free.
Unfortunately, while you may see ads and websites claiming to have a “hack” that lets you watch any channel and streaming network for free, there is no legitimate and legal way to watch ESPN online for free.
Now, there is one legit “hack” that works.
Free Trials!
That may be the “cheapest way to watch ESPN“!
If you are one of many people who don’t care that much about sport in general but wouldn’t mind catching a major sport event (say Super Bowl or World Cup) as a one time deal, you can opt for a free trial and watch ESPN for free legally.
Every single one of the providers we mention above offer free trials (usually lasting for 7 days).
If you like what you see and want to continue, you can pay their price and keep the channel. If not, simply cancel your trial and move on with your life.
So Which One is the Best?
There are so many ways you can watch ESPN nowadays when you don’t have a cable subscription.
In terms of which one is the best, it really depends on what it is you’re looking for.
If you’re not really interested in any other content other than ESPN, maybe you already have a Netflix subscription (learn how to watch Netflix for free!) and stream stuff from there for example, then I’d say ESPN+ is the best choice.
It costs just $5.99 a month. That’s not a ton of money so putting that cost on top of the other streaming services you might already use isn’t going to impact the ol’ budget too much. Plus you can also get the bundle and get access to content from Disney and Hulu as well as ESPN for just $12.99 a month.
That being said, if you are looking for more of a well-rounded package, Sling TV is a great choice. $30 a month isn’t too much, compared with the $60+ charged by places like fuboTV and YouTube, and you get access to hundreds of channels.
Like I said though, it really does come down to your personal preferences. So I would recommend visiting the sites that I linked to above – the ones that are in your price point of course – and then just have a read of all of the features.
Compare each service side by side and see which one most suits your needs.
Now you don’t have to wonder how to watch ESPN without cable. Just give our tips a try.
We are using “BCE Premium TV”, We can watch ESPN, Fox Sports, NBCSN and over 100 Premium Sports HD channels all in one package with reasonable price ( $20/monthly ). I highly recommend it.
Has ESPN+ changed. When I tried it last year, ESPN was not included in the package, it was more targeted to supplementing ESPN.
Live ESPN, ESPNU, ESPN2 are NOT included with ESPN+ any more. You have to have sign in with a cable provider to watch live sports on their main channels even if you’re paying for ESPN+. Disney can kiss my behind.
Misleading advertising, plain and simple. We should start a class action lawsuit against this type of bait and switch tactics. Shame on greedy tv providers. Especially ESPN.
I bought ESPN+ but could not use it WITHOUT ESPN as you need to access via a cable provider for ESPN first before you can access ESPN+. I subscribed to Sling (which is horrible) but gives me access to the NHL Network and TNT and TBS which covers select hockey games not found on ESPN+ as well as ESPN channels. When the hockey season is over, I plan to kill Sling and am looking for a cheaper alternative. I understand Disney may provide ESPN as a stand alone app soon.