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.

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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 the Hulu Live free 3-day trial.

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 for 3 Days Free!

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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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:

10:00pm	Discovery On Demand
11:01pm	Expedition From Hell: The Lost Tapes – It's Not Life or Death -- Yet Mickey fires one of the team's only experienced members before enlisting a local guide to lead them through a treacherous desert; when the team gets lost and runs out of water, things spiral, leaving one team member on the brink of death.
12:00am	Caught! – The Friendly Skies A compilation of hilarious clips from around the world featuring airborne comedy, including in-flight antics and unexpected encounters in the air.
12:30am	Caught! – Dashcam Disasters Dashcam use continues to rise, catching even more unbelievable vehicle events; semi-trucks wreak havoc on roadways; criminals flee cops in pursuit; crashes, collisions and cars flying through the air.
1:00am	Caught! – Security Cam Chaos Security cameras in front yards, backyards, storefronts and street corners capture crimes, mishaps and earth-shattering moments like break-ins. When lives are at risk, it is up to local law enforcement and communities to save the day.
1:31am	Caught! – Winner Takes All Best comedy clips; hits, misses and hilarious missteps.
2:00am	Discovery On Demand
2:01am	Expedition From Hell: The Lost Tapes – It Just Keeps Getting Worse Self-styled survivalist and demolition expert Mickey Grosman leads a team of amateur explorers deep into the Amazon on a quest to cross the South American continent; a water shortage leaves one team member on the brink of death.
3:01am	Expedition From Hell: The Lost Tapes – It's Not Life or Death -- Yet Mickey fires one of the team's only experienced members before enlisting a local guide to lead them through a treacherous desert; when the team gets lost and runs out of water, things spiral, leaving one team member on the brink of death.
4:00am	Deadliest Catch – Battleship Hampered by damage, Sig must outmaneuver an unknown captain to hold on to his ground; Jake allies with Wild Bill to make a critical deadline -- but when Bill calls in a favor, time runs short; Rick devises a strategy to ensure Jacob makes it home.
5:00am	Deadliest Catch – Last Stand of John Hillstrand Johnathan scrambles to save his pots from a Bering Sea grave; Sig revives a decades-old fishing computer to find a Bairdi hotspot, while Jake's manpower shortage forces him to put his niece on the hydraulics.
6:00am	Discovery On Demand
6:00am	Gold Rush: Mine Rescue With Freddy & Juan – Legend of Freddy and Juan Freddy and Juan help their own operations in the off-season; they reveal how they got into gold and why they teamed up to help struggling miners.
7:00am	Gold Rush: Mine Rescue With Freddy & Juan – Golden Boy A 17-year-old mining prodigy, his father and grandfather wrestle with wintry weather to get their season underway in central Alaska; with another snowstorm brewing on the horizon, Freddy and Juan race to complete fixes before it's too late.
8:00am	Gold Rush: White Water – A Tragic Beginning A heartbreaking revelation sends shockwaves through the crew as they tackle their toughest dive site yet in search of millions in gold.
9:00am	Gold Rush: White Water – Gold Out of the Gate Reeling from tragic news, Dustin and the miners fight to get a diver in the water earlier than ever before, and their determination is rewarded.
10:00am	Discovery On Demand
10:00am	Gold Rush: White Water – Trench Warfare On the gold and desperate for more, Dustin Hurt and his intrepid band of brothers engage in trench warfare as they chase the pay streak up Nugget Creek, but one wrong move has the miners on the retreat.
11:00am	Gold Rush: White Water – A Dying Wish Dustin departs Nugget Creek when he's needed most to attend Dakota Fred's 80th birthday celebration; with Dustin away, the miners turn to questionable tactics to dig them out of a deep hole.
12:00pm	Gold Rush: White Water – Fred Hurt Forever Devastating news about fellow miner "Dakota" Fred Hurt strikes Nugget Creek, sending shockwaves through the mine site; Dustin is forced to dig deep and push on in honor of his father.
1:00pm	Gold Rush: White Water – Fred's Golden Gift The loss of legendary gold miner Dakota Fred Hurt has the miners reeling; their determination as they push on to honor Fred's legacy pays off with a record-breaking discovery.
2:00pm	Discovery On Demand
2:00pm	Gold Rush: White Water – Unfinished Business After a record find, Dustin knows many more of those six-ounce nuggets are within reach, leading him into a rematch with the site that defeated him last season; to reach those life-changing nuggets means tackling their biggest engineering feat yet.
3:00pm	Gold Rush: White Water – Welcome to My Nightmare An airboat accident could end this record-breaking season, and severe weather could make matters worse.
4:00pm	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.
5:00pm	Gold Rush: White Water – Dustin's White Whale A mysterious white boulder dubbed Moby could be the gateway to more monster nuggets, but Mother Nature throws Dustin a sucker punch -- she won't give up her gold without a fight.
6:00pm	Discovery On Demand
6:00pm	Gold Rush: White Water – Get Rich or Die Trying Feeling the squeeze of winter's grip tightening around them, desperation pushes the miners a step too far in their search for millions in gold.
7:00pm	Gold Rush: White Water – The Final Interview: The Legend of Dakota Fred In his final interview, Fred Hurt shares his incredible journey; from chasing gold in the most remote corners of Alaska to battling cancer, these are the real stories behind his adventures, victories, and struggles to find gold and a legacy.
8:00pm	Gold Rush: White Water – Dancing With Death Mother Nature serves Dustin an eviction notice. With a season-ending blizzard in the forecast, the miners must push past their limits to add to their record gold haul by dredging every last ounce from the freezing depths of Nugget Creek.
9:01pm	Gold Rush: Mine Rescue With Freddy & Juan – Last Chance Gold After losing his job, Fred Dickinson enlists the help of Freddy and Juan to rescue his homemade operation, tap into one of Arizona's richest gold veins and provide for his young family of seven.
10:00pm	Discovery On Demand
10:01pm	Mysteries of the Abandoned – The Aviatrix's Sanctuary An old mining town in Wyoming provides sanctuary for Amelia Earhart; a hotel in the Deep South becomes a historical crossroads; a forgotten Connecticut theater hides secrets beneath the surface.
11:01pm	Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America – Banished From Bisbee A labor strike in an Arizona mining town ends in a mass kidnapping and deportation, a unique homesteading community gets its start in the Old West, and a leaning Carolina lighthouse becomes part of Civil War history.

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: