The Best Streaming Services for Watching Live TV Online in 2025

DirecTV Stream is 1 of the champion cablegram alternatives, offering endless flexibility to customize your perfect TV experience. The work features 3 Signature Packages, each with a antithetic enactment of channels to acceptable your preferences. The Entertainment battalion includes implicit 90 fashionable channels focused connected amusement and family-friendly programming. The Choice battalion adds 35 further channels, including specialty channels and determination sports. For those who privation it all, the Ultimate battalion offers much than 160 channels covering everything from movies to sports to news.

For those with much circumstantial tastes, DirecTV Stream besides offers caller Genre Packs—each focused connected a peculiar benignant of content, similar unrecorded sports, entertainment, oregon news. These packs are much affordable and cleanable for viewers who cognize precisely what they privation to watch.

With your subscription, you'll bask unlimited DVR storage, simultaneous recording, and streaming connected an unlimited fig of devices successful your home. Plus, you tin ticker your favourite shows up to 72 hours aft they’ve aired—even if you forgot to grounds them!

Hulu + Live TV

Best Streaming Bundle With TV

Hulu + Live TV combines the fashionable Hulu streaming work with a unrecorded TV bundle that features implicit 95 channels. It's an fantabulous prime for fans who privation to acquisition the champion of Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, and more, arsenic it includes the Disney Bundle successful its monthly cost, a work that would typically acceptable you backmost $16.99 per month. This means, successful summation to much than 95 unrecorded TV channels, you'll besides get the basal Hulu (with ads), Disney+ (with ads) and ESPN+ (with ads).

With Hulu + Live TV, you'll besides bask unlimited DVR abstraction to grounds your favourite movies and shows. Plus, the work allows you to watercourse connected 2 supported devices astatine the aforesaid time, oregon you tin upgrade to unlimited screens truthful the full household tin ticker without anyone getting kicked off. There's besides a three-day escaped proceedings of Hulu + Live TV that lets you trial retired the work for escaped earlier having to perpetrate to a monthly subscription.

Fubo

Best For Sports Variety

Fubo is simply a unrecorded TV subscription work with a beardown absorption connected sports, offering much than 200 channels and unlimited Cloud DVR retention to grounds your favourite content. Known for having 1 of the astir broad catalogs among unrecorded TV streaming services, Fubo does travel with a higher terms tag. Most Fubo plans let streaming connected up to 10 devices simultaneously, and you tin ticker connected up to 3 devices portion connected the go.

For sports enthusiasts, Fubo is the eventual choice, providing entree to implicit 55,000 unrecorded events each year, including NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, NCAA assemblage sports, NASCAR, planetary soccer, golf, tennis, boxing, MMA, and overmuch more. With implicit 35 determination sports networks included successful the basal plan, you'll ever person a crippled to catch. There's a seven-day escaped proceedings of Fubo disposable for caller subscribers that lets you trial retired the work for yourself.

Sling Freestream

Best For Free TV

If you're conscionable looking for thing to ticker without a peculiar preference, Sling Freestream mightiness beryllium a coagulated option. It features implicit 600 channels with much than 40,000 on-demand movies and TV shows— wholly escaped of charge. Of course, don't expect immoderate caller movies oregon TV shows. You'll mostly find reruns and older content, but with specified a wide variety, you're bound to find thing absorbing to watch.

While not required, creating a escaped Sling TV relationship gives you 10 hours of complimentary DVR recordings, allowing you to pause, fast-forward, and rewind content. Plus, you'll gain rewards and adjacent person a accidental to triumph prizes conscionable by watching TV oregon movies done Sling Freestream. Sling Freestream besides gives you the enactment to upgrade with assorted add-ons from the Sling TV plans aboriginal connected from wrong your profile.

There are plentifulness of different escaped streaming services retired there, but this mentation from Sling TV is our wide apical pick.

Live TV Streaming FAQs

Can You Watch Live TV For Free?

Certain TV shows and channels tin beryllium viewed for free, but don't expect immoderate large networks. One of the easiest ways to drawback unrecorded TV is by utilizing a TV antenna to prime up your section channels and a fistful of extras. Aside from that, your champion stake is to cheque retired a escaped streaming tract oregon app similar Sling Freestream (mentioned above), the Roku Channel, Tubi, and more.

Which Live TV Streaming Services Have Free Trials?

Each of the unrecorded TV streaming services mentioned supra offers a escaped trial, though the duration varies slightly. Hulu + Live TV provides a three-day trial, DirecTV Stream offers 5 days, and Fubo is the astir generous, with a seven-day trial.

Should You Get Cable Instead?

Well, we've truly travel afloat ellipse now, haven't we? After years of cutting the cord and moving exclusively to streaming, galore radical are starting to consciousness the burn. With truthful galore streaming services available, contented being removed, and changeless terms hikes, it astir feels similar going backmost to cablegram could marque much sense.

While you tin often find basal cablegram for astir $50–$100 per period successful astir areas, these prices are usually limited-time promotional offers. Signing a declaration often locks you successful for a twelvemonth oregon two, and erstwhile that clip is up, the terms tin skyrocket. Then, you're faced with the determination of either sticking with the higher terms oregon hunting for a caller provider.

One of the main advantages of streaming services is the flexibility they connection with month-to-month billing. Once you’ve had your capable of a peculiar service, you tin cancel with nary hassle—and if thing caller catches your eye, you tin easy resubscribe.

Ultimately, the determination is yours to make. If you’re fed up with the ever-expanding fig of streaming services and rising costs, cablegram mightiness beryllium a bully enactment to see again.

Matthew Adler is simply a Commerce, Features, Guides, News, Previews, and Reviews writer for IGN. You tin travel him connected the tract formerly known arsenic Twitter @MatthewAdler and ticker him watercourse connected Twitch.

Originally posted:

Mar 23, 2025 6:02 pm