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.

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

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.

Unblock Your Favorite Movies and Shows With a VPN

If you can’t watch your favorite movies and shows because of your location, a VPN will allow you to get the access you are entitled to, plus extra security and unequalled privacy. Check out our VPN Guide for everything you need to know, including our top pick ExpressVPN.

Get ExpressVPN Today

Other brands worth checking out include Hotspot Shield and CyberGhost.

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.

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

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.

Superpower Your Live TV Streaming With a VPN

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.

i	See our VPN Buyer’s Guide for complete information on how to choose the best VPN for your needs.

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:

6:00pm	Discovery On Demand
7:00pm	Expedition X – Ghost of WW2 The team journeys to Okinawa, Japan to investigate reports of possessions by the spirits of people who died in the bloody battles of World War 2; they travel into the dark heart of the island where sinister caves hide shocking secrets.
8:00pm	Expedition X – Mexico's Haunted Cenotes In the Yucatan, Phil and Jess investigate watery caverns believed to be portals to the Maya underworld; some say angry spirits are to blame for strange lights and bizarre animal behavior, but the sacred cenotes hide secrets darker than any legend.
9:00pm	Expedition Unknown – Graveyard of the Great Lakes After witnesses report ghostly lights and sounds, Phil and Jess dive into an investigation to uncover the truth behind alleged paranormal activity on Michigan's shipwreck coast.
10:00pm	Ghost Adventures: House Calls – Auburn Attachment Zak dispatches the team to Washington where a family is concerned about a possible demonic energy in their home; a shocking experience leads the guys to suspect dark forces influenced the daughter to allow evil to enter her life.
10:00pm	Discovery On Demand
11:00pm	Expedition Unknown – Cracking the Secret Josh Gates goes on a nationwide treasure hunt to solve a mystery no one has cracked for 40 years: The Secret; Josh travels coast-to-coast and back in time using cutting-edge augmented reality and tapping into a network of obsessed Secret detectives.
12:00am	Expedition X – Mexico's Haunted Cenotes In the Yucatan, Phil and Jess investigate watery caverns believed to be portals to the Maya underworld; some say angry spirits are to blame for strange lights and bizarre animal behavior, but the sacred cenotes hide secrets darker than any legend.
1:00am	Expedition Unknown – Graveyard of the Great Lakes After witnesses report ghostly lights and sounds, Phil and Jess dive into an investigation to uncover the truth behind alleged paranormal activity on Michigan's shipwreck coast.
2:00am	Ghost Adventures: House Calls – Auburn Attachment Zak dispatches the team to Washington where a family is concerned about a possible demonic energy in their home; a shocking experience leads the guys to suspect dark forces influenced the daughter to allow evil to enter her life.
2:00am	Discovery On Demand
3:00am	Expedition Unknown – Cracking the Secret Josh Gates goes on a nationwide treasure hunt to solve a mystery no one has cracked for 40 years: The Secret; Josh travels coast-to-coast and back in time using cutting-edge augmented reality and tapping into a network of obsessed Secret detectives.
4:00am	Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing – Legendary Showdown Two bitter rivals go head-to-head in a multi-step water and bushcraft elimination; Steven uses his tracking skills and out-strategizes Jeff to secure a critical cache; Gary forages a huge protein score; one survivalist is eliminated.
6:00am	Engineering Catastrophes – Oil Rig vs. Sinkhole An oil rig in a Louisiana lake drills in the wrong place and causes a massive whirlpool that drains the entire lake; exploring why this sinkhole disaster was one of the greatest engineering catastrophes in American history.
6:00am	Discovery On Demand
7:00am	Engineering Catastrophes – Olympic Stadium Fiasco Montreal's Olympic Stadium is an ambitious engineering project with a striking space-age design, but it's distinctive roof has caused more than $1 billion in cost overruns; experts reveal what went wrong and how cutting-edge science can fix it.
8:00am	Engineering Catastrophes – Terror in Tacoma Rocking suspension bridge.
9:00am	Mysteries of the Abandoned – American Ghost Park Deep in the wilderness of the American South, a long-abandoned amusement park is home to secrets of a forgotten, imaginary world; experts reveal why this bizarre place was built and what caused its downfall.
10:00am	Discovery On Demand
10:00am	Mysteries of the Abandoned – Secrets of Mafia Island A Mediterranean island paradise is not all that it seems; a complex of abandoned buildings once served to imprison the world's most dangerous Mafiosi; experts reveal who was imprisoned here and the secrets they left behind.
11:00am	Mysteries of the Abandoned – Ghosts of the Cursed Castle The ruins of a historic Scottish castle is now a bewitching wilderness of hidden dangers with deadly booby traps obscured afoot; experts and historians reveal a bygone Second World War military hospital with bizarre ties to an infamous Nazi occupant.
12:00pm	Mysteries of the Abandoned – Factory of Death A deserted facility in the remote countryside features mysterious graffiti that may be highly advanced mathematical equations pointing to a dark secret; experts investigate this classified military wasteland with a deadly past.
1:00pm	Mysteries of the Abandoned – The Doom of El Dorado The remnants of a settlement in Nevada are interspersed with disintegrating machinery; experts uncover an abandoned mine where dreams of discovering a fortune were met with chaos and murder.
2:00pm	Discovery On Demand
2:00pm	Mysteries of the Abandoned – Ruins of the Rust Belt A complex of tall, windowless buildings in the American Rust Belt hold the secrets to a lost empire of industry and wealth; experts investigate these mysterious structures to reveal why this once powerful metropolis is now home to abandoned ruins.
3:00pm	Mysteries of the Abandoned – Fortress of the Spy Experts expose the truth behind a strange, battle-scarred building in the Middle East that holds the secrets to one of the world's most infamous deceptions.
4:00pm	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.
5:00pm	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.
6:00pm	Discovery On Demand
6:00pm	Mud Madness – All's Fair in Mud and War At Arkansas's Greasy Bend Off-Road Park, rivals Bryce and Josh wager big money on the small tire bounty course; Larry calls up an old friend to help him turn his season around; AJ does whatever it takes to take down his top competition.
7:00pm	Caught! – Caught in the Act Criminals and reprobates worldwide sneak into pockets, purses and beds; while some get away with their crimes, others are caught in the act, which leads to surprise arrests, fistfights and passionate acts of revenge.
7:30pm	Caught! – Prisoners Gone Wild Whether they're in Missouri, France, or even Brazil, prisoners will always attempt hare-brained schemes to escape jail; they try to escape with help of modern technology, a Mission Impossible-esque disguise, and even a helicopter.

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+.

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

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: