ABC is a key channel for watching live NBA basketball, The Oscars, college football, and TV shows such as Big Sky.
Thanks to a wave of cord cutting, and the ongoing revival of TV antennas, there are a half dozen ways to watch ABC live without a cable TV provider.
This guide will show you how to watch ABC without cable TV services like Comcast or satellite TV. I’ll also show you how to live stream sports when you don’t have a local ABC channel by using the ESPN app.
Table of Contents
- Watch ABC Live for free: TV Antenna
- How to Watch ABC on Roku, Fire TV or Smart TV
- Does Sling TV have ABC?
- Is ABC on YouTube TV?
- How to Stream ABC sports live on ESPN3/ESPN app
- What shows are on ABC?
- What’s the best way to live stream ABC without cable?
Watch ABC Live for free: TV Antenna
Let’s quickly cover how to watch ABC for free without any kind of streaming service.
Using a TV antenna is the least expensive way to get a High Definition signal from local ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS for free.
People living within 30 to 40 miles of local broadcast towers have an excellent shot at getting local broadcast channels with a quality TV antenna.
You can use the free tool at AntennasDirect to see whether ABC is available in your area. Local channels broadcast digital signals in 1080i or 720p, which is High Definition.
If you are new to TV antennas, here is a list of resources that I have written to get you started.
- How to Choose the Best TV Antenna and OTA DVR
- How to Connect Multiple TVs to One Antenna
- Review: The Best Indoor TV Antennas
- Review: The Best Outdoor TV Antennas
How to Watch ABC on Roku, Fire TV or Smart TV
All you need to start streaming is an Internet connection, and a Smart TV or streaming device to start streaming live TV.
A Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Fire Stick or Apple TV will do the job. Most of these services have a free trial that lasts a week without any obligation.
Just remember to cancel before the trial ends if you decide that the streaming service isn’t for you.
Hulu with Live TV (now with ESPN+ and Disney+)
Hulu with Live TV has 75+ live TV channels, including ABC, ESPN, A&E, History, TBS, TNT and USA.
You can watch live TV on up to two screens at once. Subscribers get more than just live TV channels to watch. You’ll also have full access to ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu’s on-demand library.
Hulu with Live TV comes with unlimited Cloud DVR so you can record sports, news, movies or whatever else you want.
A subscription costs $69.99 per month.
Hulu’s channel lineup also has local NBC, ABC and FOX stations across the U.S. You can look over the channel lineup of Hulu with Live TV to see if it’s a good fit.
fuboTV
fuboTV carries local ABC stations, ESPN, FX and key sports networks as part of a Pro channel lineup. The Pro plan has 122 channels.
ACC Network, Big Ten Network, SEC Network, FS1, NBC Sports and Golf Channel are included in the standard channel package. AMC, HGTV, History and Investigation Discovery are some of the entertainment channels.
You can watch live TV on three screens at once.
Subscribers get 250 hours of Cloud DVR, and the ability to activate more than 40 apps for channels that are in your lineup. Fubo works on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, iOS and Android smartphones.
A subscription costs $69.99 per month. fuboTV has a library of on-demand movies, and TV shows.
fuboTV works on Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV and Android TV devices. There are mobile apps for iPhones, Android and you can watch on web browsers.
You can sign up for a free 7-day trial without obligation.
DIRECTV STREAM
A DIRECTV STREAM subscription includes local ABC stations in its entry-level channel bundle.
The Entertainment plan has 65+ channels for $69.99 per month. Subscribers can watch live TV on up to 20 screens at once.
ESPN, ESPN2 and FS1 are included in the channel lineup. You get 20 hours of Cloud DVR and 40,000 on-demand movies and shows.
Subscribers can get three months of Showtime, STARZ, Cinemax and EPIX for free before the monthly rates kick in.
You can sign up for a free 5-day trial without any obligations.
DIRECTV STREAM works on Roku, Android TV, Fire TV devices, Apple TV and smartphones and tablets. Subscriptions run month to month and so you can cancel whenever you want.
You can look over the different channel lineups before deciding whether to sign up.
Vidgo: Stream ABC on Roku or Fire TV
Vidgo carries local ABC stations as part of its 100+ channel live TV lineup. A&E, ESPN, History channel and Science Channel are part of the channel lineup.
Subscribers can stream on up to three devices at once. Vidgo has apps on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Android TV devices such as Google Chromecast. You can watch live TV on three screens at once. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial.
A Vidgo subscription costs $59.95 per month. You can look over the channel lineup before deciding whether to sign up.
Does Sling TV have ABC?
No. If you’re a Sling TV customer, you won’t find ABC in your channel lineup. You should try a TV antenna and see if there are local broadcast towers that can get a local ABC station into your home for free.
ABC used to be offered under Sling TV’s “Broadcast Bundle”, but that package went away in 2019 in an apparent dispute.
Is ABC on YouTube TV?
Yes. ABC and ESPN were among a dozen Disney-owned channels that were briefly removed from YouTube TV on Dec. 18 due to a contract dispute. The dispute was resolved a day later and all channels were restored.
YouTube TV has 85+ channels for $64.99 per month, and you’ll be able to watch ABC live.
There are YouTube TV apps for Roku, Apple TV and a mobile app for Chromecast. You can stream on up to two devices at once.
YouTube TV also has channels like CNN, FS1, FS2, Sundance TV and TBS. You can try out YouTube TV with a free 7-day trial.
How to Stream ABC sports live on ESPN3/ESPN app
If you don’t have ABC in your channel lineup, you can still watch ABC sports live on ESPN3 or the ESPN app. ESPN is actually a subsidiary of ABC.
Subscribers to Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV (Orange plan) and YouTube TV can activate the ESPN app and watch live sports airing on ABC.
If you don’t already have the ESPN app, you can download it from wherever you get apps for your device (e.g. The Roku Channel Store has the ESPN app for free for all Roku devices.)
What shows are on ABC?
If you’re wondering what kind of things you can watch on ABC with a TV antenna, here’s a list of the most popular shows currently airing, including the new show Big Sky.
- American Housewife
- American Idol
- The Bachelor
- Big Sky
- black-ish
- The Chew
- Designated Survivor
- Fresh Off the Boat
- General Hospital
- The Good Doctor
- Grey’s Anatomy
- How to Get Away With Murder
- Jimmy Kimmel Live!
- Kevin (Probably) Saves the World
- Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- The Middle
- Modern Family
- NBA Basketball
- NCAA College Basketball
- The Oscars
- Scandal
- Shark Tank
- Speechless
What’s the best way to live stream ABC without cable?
Hulu with Live TV makes the most sense if you want live TV channels and already subscribe to Disney+, Hulu on-demand or ESPN+.
Hulu’s Live TV package has 75+ live TV channels, unlimited Cloud DVR, and a huge library of titles from Disney+ Hulu and ESPN+ for $69.99 per month.
Subscribers can use a Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and even on iPhones or an Android smartphone. You can check out Hulu with Live TV’s channel lineup before deciding whether to sign up.
fuboTV is a slightly cheaper option. Subscribers get 119 live TV channels, 250 hours of Cloud DVR for recordings and an on-demand library of movies and TV shows.
A subscription costs $69.99 per month. fuboTV works on Fire TV, Roku, Apple, on smartphones, tablets and PCs. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial.
For more news on streaming, how-to guides and reviews, head over to the main page of The Cord Cutting Report or follow the CCR on Google News.
This article was published March 4, 2018, and has been updated.
Founder and Editor of The Cord Cutting Report. Before launching the site in 2016, he worked for more than two decades as a staff writer or correspondent for a number of daily newspapers, including The Boston Globe. His enthusiasm for tech began with the Atari 2600. Follow @james_kimble
Time to drop You Tube streaming….
I am outside of Philadelphia and i have a digital antenna-but ABC just simply doesn’t come in at all! I can get CBS, NBC, PHL17,FOX,CW,ION&ION PLUS and so on…but ABC DOES NOT WORK ! It really stinks
I don’t know why I would bother with Hulu Live TV, cable is cheaper. The whole point of cord cutting is to save money, not spend more!!!
First of all, you can only stream ABC online (or through Youtube TV, Hulu, Sling, etc.) if you are in one of a very small number of metropolitan areas. Last year, I knocked myself out on Oscars night trying to stream before figuring out that ABC had it locked down tight: you are not gonna live-stream if you’re outside Chicago, Fresno, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham or San Francisco.
I even tried changing my location, but YouTube TV is smart: you have to use your mobile device to show that you are where you say you are. The others use your internet connection and credit card zip code. I’m not saying it’s impossible to change those, but it is a lot harder than you imply here.
I think you mean to simply say that you can later watch TV shows online. That’s true. But watching live outside of the eight urban areas means paying for it or getting an antenna.