Discovery Channel Without Cable: Live Stream Online or Watch With Discovery App

Discovery is one of the iconic cable TV stations. It isn’t most people’s favorite channel, but it’s one that most people want around because of its consistently interesting high-quality content. Thankfully, it isn’t necessary to have cable to include Discovery in your channel lineup.

In a hurry? If you just want to make sure you have Discovery and related channels, these streaming services are great choices:

Debuting in 1985, the Discovery Channel almost immediately became one of the important sources of information for those who enjoyed topics such as history and science. In 1988, the first iteration of Shark Week was seen by viewers in hundreds of thousands of households throughout the United States.

Today, Discovery is available to more than 50 million households. And it is available on a number of streaming platforms. In addition, there are a number of offshoots such as Investigation Discovery, Discovery Family, and Discovery Life.

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Discovery Family and Discovery Life

Discovery has two other channels that are usually (but not always) available with it:

• Discovery Family: Cartoons such as Transformers, Pound Puppies, Littlest Pet Shop, Super Monsters, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic reign until evening. Then live-action shows the whole family can watch together take over. These include Too Cute! (puppies), America’s Cutest Cat, and Chopped Junior, a pint-sized cooking competition.
• Discovery Life: Originally a health and fitness channel, now runs mostly TLC shows with a spotlight on emergency room horror stories, addiction, mental illness, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth. Popular series include My Strange Addiction, Untold Stories of the ER, I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant, and Sex Sent Me To The ER.

How to Watch Discovery Channel Live Without Cable

Watching content via a streaming service may be ideal for those who want the flexibility to watch television on their terms. Most platforms allow you to cancel service whenever you want or take your plan to a new home or apartment without the need to go through a formal transfer process.

The Discovery Channel is a premium “cable” network, which means that you won’t be able to watch it with an antenna. The same is true of the other channels that fall under the Discovery umbrella of networks.

To watch these channels without a cable or satellite subscription, you will need to subscribe to one of the several streaming platforms that offer it as part of their base or premium packages.

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Streaming Services with Discovery Channel

Most major streaming platforms provide access to content produced by Discovery and its sister networks. Therefore, it should be relatively easy to find a plan that meets both your needs and your budget.

FuboTV

Discovery is available in the base (Pro) FuboTV plan for $79.99/mo. You can also get Discovery Life and Discovery Family with the Fubo Extra ($7.99/mo) plan that includes 48 total channels. It has 1000 hours of cloud DVR storage and allows streaming up to 10 devices.

If you want to watch this channel in Spanish, you can acquire Discovery Familia, Discovery en Español, and 14 others with the Latino Plus add-on for an extra $19.99 per month.

If you are a sports fan, FuboTV is the way to go. Of its 130+ channel lineup, a third are sports-oriented. It also features what we consider the best interface in the industry.

For all the details, see our FuboTV review.

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Philo

Philo comes with Discovery, Discovery Life, and Discovery Family as part of its base 65+ channel lineup. You will pay $25/mo for this service, and you can add various movie and entertainment options for an additional monthly fee.

Philo may be the best option for those who don’t watch sports or don’t want to pay extra for local channels. The absence of these kinds of channels is what keeps its price so low.

But apart from relatively limited channel selection, Philo is a first-class streaming service with a great interface, unlimited DVR, and streaming on up to 3 devices.

See our Philo review for all the details.

Try Philo Free for 7 Days

Sling TV

Discovery Channel is available along with 40+ others with the Sling Blue package for $40.00/mo. You also get Investigation Discovery as well as the local affiliates of Fox and NBC. Unfortunately, there is no way to get Discovery Family and Discovery Life with Sling TV.

But if Discovery Channel is enough, Sling TV is an awesome service with 50 hours of DVR, streaming on 3 simultaneous devices, and a great interface. Save 50% on Sling TV now!

See our Sling TV review for more information.

Save 50% on Sling TV Now

DIRECTV STREAM

DIRECTV STREAM (formerly AT&T TV) offers Discovery Channel and Investigation Discovery with its base Entertainment play with 75+ channels for $79.99/mo. If you upgrade to the Ultimate plan ($119.99/mo), you get 130+ channels including Discovery Family and Discovery Life. Discovery en Español is also available as an add-on.

Read our DIRECTV STREAM review for details.

Get DIRECTV STREAM Free for 5 Days

Hulu + Live TV

Hulu + Live TV offers Discovery Channel along with 85+ others for $76.99/mo. It also comes with unlimited cloud DVR (9 month storage). This includes a bunch of sports channels and network affiliates in almost every location. You also get Disney+ and ESPN+. Try one month for $76.99.

You can get Discovery Family and Discovery Life through the Entertainment add-on ($7.99/mo), which includes 14 other channels. In addition, Discovery Familia and Discovery en Español can be yours by signing up for the Español add-on ($4.99/mo).

Get all the details in our Hulu + Live TV review.

Try Hulu + Live TV Today!

Vidgo

Like Sling TV, Vidgo offers both the primary Discovery network as well as Investigation Discovery as part of its base package for $69.99/mo for a total of over 100 channels.

For $84.99/mo, you can upgrade to the Vidgo Premium package, which includes Discovery Life and Discovery Family. Discovery Familia and Discovery en Espanol are both available as part of the Vidgo Mas package, which offers 25+ channels for $39.99/mo.

Check out for Vidgo review for more information.

Try Vidgo Today!

Other Ways to Get Discovery Channel

There are other ways to watch Discovery without signing up for a cable or satellite subscription.

• Discovery+: This $4.99/mo plan allows you to stream most Discovery shows. You do not get the live stream, however. But you also get content from the sister channels.
• YouTube TV: Its base plan comes with Discovery and Investigation Discovery along with 100+ other live TV channels for $72.99/mo. None of the other Discovery channels are available.
• Discovery App: You can stream Discovery through its app, but you will need a streaming subscription to log in.

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You can’t beat a VPN for privacy, security, and access. We have used them for years as an important part of our streaming toolkit and we recommend ExpressVPN. Other brands worth checking out include Hotspot Shield and CyberGhost.

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TVs and Streaming Devices for Discovery Channel

You’ll need a device capable of installing streaming apps to watch Discovery Channel. This should be easy enough because you almost certainly own one or more of them. For example, all the services support the standard “stick” devices:

• Amazon Fire TV
• Apple TV
• Roku.

Mobile devices running Android and iOS (iPhone/iPad) are also supported. And you can use them to cast Discovery to your TV using Chromecast.

All the services (except DIRECTV STREAM) support Android TV-based devices. And, of course, you can use a web browser, which can be connected to a TV.

All the services except Philo and Vidgo support Samsung smart TVs. Hulu + Live TV, FuboTV, and Sling TV support LG and Vizio smart TVs. FuboTV supports Hisense TVs. Hulu, Sling, and FuboTV also support the Xbox One gaming console.

There are other devices supported. See our individual reviews for a complete list.

Today’s Discovery Schedule

Here is today’s schedule in Eastern Time:

2:00pm	Discovery On Demand
5:00pm	Dirty Jobs – Mud Mineral Excavator Everything goes wrong for Mike at a California mineral mine; then it's off to South Carolina to master rice milling.
6:00pm	Discovery On Demand
6:00pm	Dirty Jobs – Lightning Rod Installer Mike spends a day installing lightning rods on a home that looks like a castle, while being told to wear multiple pairs of underwear to protect him from being burnt while on the rooftop.
7:00pm	Dirty Jobs – Animal Control Specialist Mike works as an Animal Control Specialist, removing skunks and other wildlife that live around residential areas.
8:00pm	Dirty Jobs – Pile Jacketer; Concrete Cleaner Mike Rowe submerges in a murky Florida river to pour concrete jackets around crumbling bridge pilings; in North Carolina, Mike sucks out a concrete washout pit and sprays sediment as he turns toxic sludge into potable water.
9:00pm	Mud Madness – One Nation Under Mud Competitors strap in for the fall mud circuit in the gritty underground world of mud racing; with big money on the line, no one is holding back.
10:00pm	Discovery On Demand
10:00pm	Mud Madness – Ridin' Dirty at Rednecks Racers gear up for one of the circuit's wildest events: the Rednecks with Paychecks Fall Mud Crawl; Bryce Sparks sends it to win his daughter a new UTV; Randi fights to overcome a traumatic accident with a victory; two new drivers ignite a rivalry.
11:00pm	Mud Madness – Smash and Drag Bryce looks to defend his title against his nemesis, Josh, but things quickly get out of hand, ending with a broken rig and a bruised ego; hungry for a sponsor, AJ pushes his ATV to speeds of nearly 100mph.
12:00am	Dirty Jobs – Pile Jacketer; Concrete Cleaner Mike Rowe submerges in a murky Florida river to pour concrete jackets around crumbling bridge pilings; in North Carolina, Mike sucks out a concrete washout pit and sprays sediment as he turns toxic sludge into potable water.
1:00am	Mud Madness – One Nation Under Mud Competitors strap in for the fall mud circuit in the gritty underground world of mud racing; with big money on the line, no one is holding back.
2:00am	Mud Madness – Ridin' Dirty at Rednecks Racers gear up for one of the circuit's wildest events: the Rednecks with Paychecks Fall Mud Crawl; Bryce Sparks sends it to win his daughter a new UTV; Randi fights to overcome a traumatic accident with a victory; two new drivers ignite a rivalry.
3:00am	Discovery On Demand
3:00am	Mud Madness – Smash and Drag Bryce looks to defend his title against his nemesis, Josh, but things quickly get out of hand, ending with a broken rig and a bruised ego; hungry for a sponsor, AJ pushes his ATV to speeds of nearly 100mph.
4:00am	Big Little Brawlers – A Giant Challenge As Hot Rod recovers, Jack devises a plan to help 400-pound Andrew the Giant get in the ring, but first, he needs to lose weight; Lil Show's family surprises him in Tennessee; a slip of the tongue leads to a massive blowup between Pinky and Syko.
5:00am	Auction Kings – Triumph Chopper; Ruby Necklace A 92-carat ruby necklace; antique Triumph chopper; a case of Billy Beer.
5:30am	Scott Martin Challenge – Monster Bass Challenge vs. Joey Cifuentes Scott vs. the 2023 Bassmaster Rookie of the Year on Lake Ontario.
6:00am	Discovery On Demand
6:00am	Seasons on the Fly – Fishing Arkansas with Sea Run Cases The crew travels to Arkansas to fish with the great Casey Hughes; they hit the Norfork River and the Little Red River; featuring Jon Reddout of Sea Run Cases.
6:30am	George Poveromo's World of Saltwater Fishing – Salty Friends George Poveromo and friends fish the Florida Keys.
7:00am	Life on the Water – Kayak in Merrit Wildlife Refuge Brandon gets back to his roots and explores the waterways around Cape Canaveral in his Pelican Kayak with his old fishing buddy, Tyler Hendrix.
7:30am	Into the Blue – Reef Fishing out of Hawks Cay Captains Scott and Steve bounce around the reefs of Hawks Cay, catching a wide variety of reef dwellers.
8:00am	Saltwater Experience – Combat Fishing With Hunter Smallback Captains Tom Rowland and Rich Tudor take Hunter Smallback into the Everglades for some snook fishing, but soon they face a challenge when a few hungry Lemon sharks crash the party.
8:30am	Sportsman's Adventures – Bahia Honda: The Deep Bay Capts. Rick and Ridge Murphy fish the bridges of Big Pine Key for tarpon, permit and mutton snapper; guiding them is Capt. Mike Taute.
9:00am	Gold Rush: White Water – $70,000 Nugget With winter closing in and bedrock still far out of reach, the miners turn to the late Fred Hurt for help solving the problem. A major dredge malfunction shuts the operation down.
10:00am	Discovery On Demand
10:00am	America's Backyard Gold – Rocky Mountain Nugget Fever The former Idaho Territory of Idaho and Montana is still rich with gold; Dave shows where and how everyday miners think outside the box to get it.
11:00am	Naked and Afraid – Naked and Ghosted In a brutal Mexican jungle known to be haunted by Mayan spirits, All-star survivalists Sarah and Trent are tormented by rain, predators and spirits of the rainforest.
12:00pm	Naked and Afraid – Fear the Unknown A person who fears the dark, and believes in Bigfoot, and a tough mother take on the Mayan jungles of Belize.
1:00pm	Naked and Afraid – The Spirits Are Angry A haunted Colombian rainforest punishes the survivalists with threats from deadly jaguars, 300 species of snakes and relentless biting insects; the challenge is threatened when the survivalists don't heed the curse of the jungle.
2:00pm	Discovery On Demand
2:00pm	Naked and Afraid – A Screw Loose In a haunted Mayan jungle, a painful injury tests the resolve of survivalists Leah and Caesar, who contend with suffocating humidity, hungry predators, torrential rainfall, unrelenting insects, and intoxicating fruit.
3:00pm	Naked and Afraid – Haunted and Hungry A former Marine sniper and a Mississippi mom try to endure 21 days in a haunted Colombian swamp; extreme humidity, insects and infection prove difficult to endure.
4:00pm	Naked and Afraid – This is Harder Than it Looks A photographer and an engineer believe they have what it takes to survive 14 days in Limpopo, South Africa; after 10 days without food, these fans question their ability to make it to the end.
5:00pm	Naked and Afraid – Triple Threat Three 14-day fan challenge survivalists return to conquer 21 days in the dense South American jungle. But when they are hit with torrential rains, they must evacuate from life-threatening flash floods.

Wrapping Up

Over the past 35+ years, Discovery has been helping people learn more about the world around them. Whether you want to learn how to cook, renovate your home, or complete other tasks, it is likely a channel that you will enjoy watching.

The same is true if you are a science, history, or general education buff who likes to watch content that is thoughtful and exciting at the same time.

You can get Discovery through most general streaming services. And you can get most of its content by signing up for Discovery+.

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FAQs

How many channels are part of the Discovery brand?

In addition to Discovery, Discovery Life, and Discovery Family, Discovery Inc owns the Science Channel, Food Network, and almost a dozen other channels. Most of the channels are available through your favorite streaming service. They also own the Spanish-language channels Discovery Familia and Discovery en Español

Do I need to adjust my device’s settings to watch content in Spanish?

As a general rule, Discovery channels that broadcast in Spanish will stream just like channels that broadcast content in English. However, it may be possible to watch Spanish content with subtitles if you need help following along for any reason. Alternatively, it may be possible to watch content with Spanish subtitles if that makes it easier to meet your content consumption needs.

How to stream other family and kids channels?

Here are our guides for watching related channels: