I love the History channel, even if it doesn’t always match what we traditionally consider historical content. In fact, I find it fascinating how some of their most popular shows on television often stray from conventional history. Like many others, I can’t imagine going without it, and thankfully, I don’t have to rely on cable or satellite services to watch my favorite programs.
In a hurry? If you are just looking for a great cable replacement service that includes History, these will make you very happy:
- DIRECTV STREAM: Makes it easy to switch from cable to streaming with their 90+ channel Entertainment plan and options for much more. A 5-day free trial is now available for DIRECTV STREAM.
- Sling TV: The top low-cost streaming service provides a great base channel lineup in both its plans. Save $25 your first month with Sling TV.
- Philo: This service gives you 70+ live TV channels for just $28/month!
If you can’t watch your favorite movies and shows because of your location, try ExpressVPN to get access to the content you deserve.
Table Of Contents
In 2008, the channel formerly known as The History Channel was rebranded as simply “History,” and much of the documentary content was replaced with reality shows of questionable historical merit, such as Pawn Stars and Ice Road Truckers, and speculative pseudo-documentary series like Ancient Aliens.
Reality TV and sensationalist documentaries get a bad rap, but there’s a reason they’re popular — vicarious thrills and secret conspiracies are fun. Ancient curses might be hoaxes (Or are they? You decide.), but the high-priced, locked-in curse that is your cable bill is all too real. Fortunately, it’s one that’s super easy to break.
Read on to learn how you can continue enjoying American Pickers while sending your cable bill to the dustbin of…
How to Watch History Live Without Cable
History is owned by A+E Networks, which also owns A&E, Vice, FYI, Crime + Investigation, and Lifetime in addition to History, Military History, and History en Español. Other channels often watched with History are Discovery, American Heroes Channel, MotorTrend, Science Channel, and Curiosity Stream.
History is a pay channel, meaning it’s not available over the air (OTA). You can’t watch it for free with an antenna. Instead, you need to subscribe to a paid service from a TV provider to watch it. That TV provider doesn’t have to be a cable or satellite company, though.
Over-the-top (OTT) services deliver the same channels through the internet, for lower prices with no contracts, commitments, or installation visits.
Streaming Services with History
Sorry, sports fans; the sports-oriented FuboTV does not carry History. The same goes for YouTube TV. Neither offers any of the A&E channels. But the rest of the major streaming services all do.
Most of the services that carry History also have the Spanish-language History en Español available as well. Unfortunately, their hawkish brother Military History is not as ubiquitous — it only shows up in Hulu + Live TV’s lineup.
Philo
Philo is the one you want if you’re #1 priority is to save money while still having some selection in your viewing. If you want over 60 channels, it doesn’t come any cheaper than this: $28/month, with a 7-day free trial.
The channel lineup includes History, American Heroes Channel, Discovery, FYI, MotorTrend, and the Science Channel. It also comes with unlimited cloud DVR storage and streaming on up to 3 stations.
Philo’s drawbacks include pretty big gaps in their channel lineup. They provide no WarnerMedia, no NBCUniversal, and no local networks. And they offer limited premium channels. They do not currently carry Curiosity Stream, Military History, and they are the only major service to not carry any Spanish-language stations.
See our Philo review for more information.
Sling TV
Sling TV divides their channels up a bit differently, with a Blue and an Orange package, $40.00/month each for both for $55.00/month. History is available with both, but Discovery is only on Blue and MotorTrend is only on Orange. These plans come with 50 hours of DVR storage.
Sling TV gives you great latitude in customizing your lineup with Extras — add-on packages of 5-10 channels for $6 each (except for Sports Extra, which is $11).
American Heroes Channel is included in the Heartland Extra, FYI is in the Lifestyle Extra, and the Science Channel and Newsmax are in the News Extra. You can get each one separately (for a total of $18/mo extra), or go for the Total TV Deal for $21/mo extra, which gets you all the Extras (including Sports) and bumps your DVR storage from 50 to 200 hours.
Sling TV also has premium channels like Curiosity Stream available a la carte starting at $3/mo each. History en Español is part of the “Best of Spanish TV” package, including 6 Spanish-language channels for $10/mo.
With Sling Blue, you can stream on up to 3 devices at a time. The Orange-only channels are limited to a single device.
Learn more in our Sling TV review.
DIRECTV STREAM
DIRECTV STREAM (formerly AT&T TV) is the priciest option on here, but, without FuboTV, it’s your best one if you’re hardcore into sports, especially local sports.
It offers a four-tiered system starting with the Entertainment package at $79.99/month. It includes well over 75 channels, including History, Discovery, MotorTrend, and your local network affiliates.
If you upgrade to the Choice package ($108.99/month), you also get the Science Channel included, plus all the regional sports channels in your area and 3 months HBOMax free. Go up to the Ultimate for $119.99/month and you get everything in the lower packages as well as American Heroes Channel and FYI.
Military History and Curiosity Stream are not available, History en Español is available as an add-on.
See our detailed review for more information.
Hulu + Live TV
Hulu has over a dozen History original series and specials available on their low-cost on-demand service, including multiple seasons of Ancient Aliens and Pawn Stars. Hulu + Live TV combines this library with over 85 channels and ESPN+ and Disney+ for $76.99/month.
The live channel lineup includes History, Discovery, FYI, and MotorTrend. You can top it off with American Heroes Channel, Military History, and Science Channel by getting the Entertainment Add-on for $7.99/mo (and, as mentioned, this is the only service that offers Military History at all). History en Español is available with the Español Add-on.
Hulu + Live TV offers unlimited cloud DVR with 9 months of storage and streaming on two devices at once, plus all your local network stations are included.
See our complete review for more information.
Other Ways to Stream History
Some streaming services have offered History Channel content in the past. For example, there are many pages that claim Netflix has tons of History shows, but that’s not as true as it once was. The following services do currently provide select History shows and documentaries. Only Frndly provides the live History Channel, the rest are on-demand only.
- Frndly TV: The A+E Networks channels, including History, are among Frndly’s most recent additions. The price has gone up, but it’s still hardly breaking the bank at $6.99/mo for 40 family-friendly channels full of information, documentaries, and entertainment. (Frndly TV review)
- Discovery+: A+E made a deal with Discovery to share some of its older content on Discovery+, including History shows and specials. Plans start at $4.99/mo.
- History Vault: History has its own streaming service that has commercial-free on-demand classic History documentaries and shows for $4.99/mo. It’s not live-streaming, but it’s the next best thing, and new subscribers get a 7-day free trial.
- A&E Crime Central: Brings together true-crime content from all of A+E’s networks into one library for $4.99/mo, with History series such as America’s War on Drugs, The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer, and Kingpin.
- Pluto TV: A free on-demand streaming service that carries several History shows, such as seasons 14-16 of Modern Marvels and 2 seasons of Ancient Aliens.
- Hulu On-Demand: Hulu has over a dozen History titles in their expansive on-demand streaming library, including all six seasons of the popular Vikings series.
- Peacock: NBCUniversal’s low-cost on-demand streaming service has several History series, including Ancient Aliens, The Curse of Oak Island, Pawn Stars, and American Pickers.
Note that none of these will have new episodes of current shows. The only way to get those is to sign up with a TV provider that carries History.
Watch History With Popular Streaming Devices and TVs
If you have a recent TV or other streaming device, chances are that it will be supported by most of the services we’ve discussed here. Here are some of the details; for more, see our individual stream service reviews.
Strangely, DIRECTV STREAM does not support Android TV-based televisions. But all the other services do. In its defense, DIRECTV STREAM supports its own device that you can purchase for $5/mo (for 24 months).
One of the more popular ways to stream video is to cast to your TV from a smartphone, tablet, or web browser. This is done with Chromecast either built-in as an external device. All services allow you to do this.
Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and DIRECTV STREAM support Samsung model smart TVs. Both Sling TV and Hulu also support LG and Vizio smart TVs.
All the services support the TV “stick” devices: Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku, as well as Roku TV. And the same goes for phones and tablets based on iOS (iPads and iPhones) and Android.
Hulu and Sling TV support the Xbox One gaming console. The PlayStation and Nintendo Switch are both supported by Hulu. And VR fans who sign up with Sling TV can use the Oculus.
Today’s History Schedule
See our History Channel Schedule page for all the details of what’s playing today.
Wrapping Up
Whether you’re a fan of the few straight-facts shows left, like Modern Marvels or you just can’t get enough of Giorgio Tsoukalos attributing anything and everything to aliens, you can watch History’s Greatest Mysteries without cable.
Sign up for one of the streaming services listed here, and it’ll be your cable bill that’s history.
FAQ
What kind of TV shows can I watch on History?
Once upon a time, back in the mid-1990s, there was a cable station called The History Channel, and it got ribbed a little bit for showing a bit too many World War II documentaries. But on the whole, its content was educational and fact-based. (You can still find some remnants of “The Hitler Channel” on History’s sister channel, Military History.)
History was one of several educational channels from the 80s and 90s to gradually but inexorably succumb to the siren song of inexpensive, unscripted “reality” programming and paranormal investigation shows after the turn of the millennium.
It’s currently mainly known for two things: investigative docu-series and specials on various paranormal topics, such as Bigfoot, UFOs, aliens, and ancient curses; and non-history-related reality shows covering such diverse subjects as pawn shops, low-temperature ground shipping, wetlands-dwelling alligator hunters, wilderness survival, dumpster-diving for antiques, and auto repair.
The most popular shows currently are:
- American Pickers
- Ancient Aliens
- The Curse of Oak Island
- Pawn Stars
- Swamp People.
Other shows featured on the History.com webpage include:
- 9/11: I Was There
- Alone
- Forged in Fire
- History’s Greatest Mysteries
- Modern Marvels
- Mountain Men
- The Men Who Built America
- The Unxplained
Does HISTORY Channel have a streaming service?
Yes. It’s called History Vault, and it contains thousands of History specials and series, all available on-demand ad-free. If you’re curious about what’s available, it’s free to download and browse, though you will need a subscription to actually watch anything. Sign up for $4.99/mo, or save 15% by paying $49.99/yr.
Note that History Vault only provides on-demand library content. You cannot watch the live History Channel through it, nor will you get brand new episodes of current shows as they air.
Is HISTORY Channel free with Amazon Prime Video?
No. Prime Video is still basically an on-demand service with some live sports events; it doesn’t have live channels like a cable, satellite, or live streaming TV service does. You can subscribe to History Vault ($4.99/mo) through Prime Video Channels, which gives you access to thousands of favorite shows and documentaries from History, but it’s not the live channel and you can’t watch brand new episodes.
Is HISTORY Channel on Netflix or Hulu?
Some of its shows are, emphasis on “some.” Netflix used to have a lot more, but as the licensing deals expire, A+E (History’s parent company) is keeping them for its own streaming services. Hulu has a dozen or so. Neither of them will probably satisfy a true hardcore History fan.
Is HISTORY Channel on Disney+?
No, History currently doesn’t have any content deals going with the House of Mouse. However, if you’re looking for documentaries, check out the National Geographic section of Disney+— it’s got lots of good stuff. Or if nothing but History will do, take a look at Discovery+ or History Vault — they both have large History collections and are just $4.99/mo each.
Where can I watch HISTORY Channel?
If you want to watch the live History Channel (instead of watching History shows on-demand), you’ll need a live TV provider. That means a cable or satellite company, or online streaming. We at Hotdog.com are big fans of the live TV streaming services — you can see our rundown of the ones that carry History above.
Is HISTORY Channel on YouTube?
Yes. It’s almost all clips, but there is the odd full episode of various shows (currently Swamp People S2:E16, Big History S1:E1, Battles B.C. S1:E7, MonsterQuest S3:E24, and others). There are also previews of new shows, behind-the-scenes peeks, and 20-30 minute clip collections like Forged in Fire‘s “Devastating Decapitations” or The Proof Is Out There‘s “Bigfoot is Real.” (yes, seriously.)
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Her expertise stems from being an early adopter of various entertainment technologies, from mail-order Netflix to modern streaming platforms. Alanna's in-depth knowledge of Sling TV's modular service and her ability to cover diverse streaming content make her a key expert in navigating the complex landscape of modern streaming options, especially in sports and entertainment.
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