As someone who appreciates the thrill of longshot bets, the pure excitement of horse racing, and the spectacular display of elegant headwear, I find the Kentucky Derby to be one of the most captivating sporting events of the year. I’m already looking forward to next year’s race on Saturday, May 3rd, 2025.

In a hurry? These services provide the channels you need to watch all of the Kentucky Derby and much more:

Fubo: The best streaming service for international sports also provides 150+ well-selected channels. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.
DIRECTV STREAM: Get a great channel lineup with the best selection of RSNs in the industry. A 5-day free trial is now available for DIRECTV STREAM.
Sling TV: This low-cost service allows you to select just the channel lineup you want. Save 50% on Sling TV now.

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Why You Need a VPN Today

However, first you need a VPN to unblock US streaming services from . Our favourite is ExpressVPN. It’s definitely not the cheapest option at $4.99/month, but it just works – and across all your devices.

They have servers in 25+ US cities/states and 105 countries, which unblock access to premium streaming platforms available only in the US, as well as free “on demand” TV services worldwide.

You’ll have access to local platforms as if you were in the country, meaning you can watch BBC iPlayer as if you were in the UK, CBC Gem as if you were in Canada, plus hundreds more worldwide.

Hotdog users get three months free at ExpressVPN, so it’s a “no-brainer” for us. Decide for yourself with their 30 day money-back guarantee.

IMPORTANT: Once you’ve installed your VPN and connected to a US server, you’ll still need to subscribe separately to access premium streaming services.

Table Of Contents

1 Kentucky Derby Channels
2 Watch Kentucky Derby Free
3 Stream Kentucky Derby Without Cable
4 2025 Kentucky Derby Schedule
5 Other Horse Racing Events
6 Wrapping Up

The Kentucky Derby is held annually in Louisville, Kentucky — on the first Saturday in May. The race is 1.25 miles long and features 3-year-old thoroughbreds. And, of course, it is held at the venerable Churchill Downs.

The first race took place in 1875 and has been an annual tradition nearly ever since. While hundreds of thousands of people will head to Louisville to see the race or to party at Churchill Downs, if you can’t go, you can watch the Kentucky Derby at home, even if you don’t have cable.

In fact, thanks to the rise of streaming services like Fubo, there are several ways to watch the Kentucky Derby online free without cable and if you keep reading you can learn about all of them.

Kentucky Derby Channels

Complete coverage of the Kentucky Derby spans most of the day on Sat May 6th 2022. These are all EDT:

12:00 pm – 7:30 pm: NBC

The race itself is scheduled for 6:00 pm (EST). But don’t be late since it will all be over in right around two minutes.

That also means that there is roughly 7 hours of coverage before the race. This is great if you want to learn about horse racing and especially about the Kentucky Debry and its participants this year.

Watch Kentucky Derby Free

Since most of the coverage of the Kentucky Derby will be on NBC, you can watch it all for free by setting up an antenna. See our HD Antenna Guide for details on doing it.

Sling TV Antenna Deal

If you are interested in this option, consider signing up with Sling TV. It offers a great deal. If you sign-up for three months of service, they will let you have an indoor HD antenna and AirTV 2 for $49. That’s normally $149.94.

Save 50% on Sling TV Now

Why should you care? This will allow you to watch your OTA channels within the Sling TV app. So you can have all your antenna channels right along with your streaming channels — no moving from app to app.

Of course, if you sign-up for the Sling Blue plan, you will get 40+ channels that include NBC and Fox in many locations. So you may not even need to use an antenna. But even if you don’t, having extra stations like ABC, CBS, Telemundo, Univision, and UniMas is great.

See our Sling TV Kentucky Derby Guide, Preakness Stakes Guide, and Belmont Stakes Guide.

Stream Kentucky Derby Without Cable

Most of the major live TV streaming services offer NBCUniversal channels. Normally, both NBC and USA are included in base plans. Serious racing fans will also want TVG and many TVG2. These channels are less well-covered but still widely available.

Fubo (previously FuboTV)

Fubo offers 150+ channels for $79.99/month. These include NBC, USA, and TVG. If you also want TVG2, you will need to add Sports Plus with NFL RedZone for $10.99/mo. This includes 25 other channels as well.

All Fubo plans come with unlimited cloud DVR storage and streaming on up to 10 devices at home and away.

Fubo is great for sports fans, but it makes a great choice in general. You receive a wide variety of popular channels and you can add on others. There are no contracts, so you can cancel any time.

Our Fubo review is filled with more details.

DIRECTV STREAM

DIRECTV STREAM has multiple packages available. Local channels are included in all packages. The smallest package for $86.99/month includes 90+ channels including NBC and USA Network.

Get DIRECTV STREAM Free Trial

If you want FanDuel TV, you need to upgrade to the Choice plan for $114.99/month. This also includes MLB Network, NBA TV, and access to DIRECTV STREAM’s unmatched selection of regional sports networks.

All DIRECTV STREAM plans include streaming on unlimited devices at home and away. They also come with unlimited cloud DVR storage.

You can find out more with our DIRECTV STREAM review.

Hulu + Live TV

Hulu + Live TV is a top choice in streaming because they manage to offer the best of cable channels and on-demand content. The plan starts with Hulu’s industry-leading on-demand service. Then it adds ESPN+ and Disney+. And tops it off with 95+ live TV channels for $82.99/month.

Get Hulu + Live TV Free

It includes USA and NBC. If you want TVG and TVG2, you need to add the Sports Add-on for $9.99/mo. It also comes with NFL RedZone, MAVTV, and the Outdoor and Sportsman channels.

The base plan includes unlimited DVR storage and streaming on up to two devices, which you can increase to unlimited with a $9.99/mo add-on.

Hulu Live will be a great choice for someone looking for a setup that includes plenty of channels and a robust on-demand option. No matter how picky a viewer you are, you should find something to watch here.

YouTube TV

YouTube TV offers one more chance to check out the Kentucky Derby live stream. The plan is very similar to Hulu + Live TV. It includes NBC and USA in its base plan for $72.99/month. To get TVG, you need the Sports Plus add-on for $10.99/mo.

You get more channels with YouTube TV and you can stream on 3 devices rather than two. But they both offer unlimited DVR storage with a 9 month time limit. And it doesn’t include Hulu + Live TV’s on-demand library, ESPN+, and Disney+.

2025 Kentucky Derby Schedule

Here is the weekend schedule:

Thu May 1: Thurdy
Fri May 2: Kentucky Oaks and The Barnstable Brown Gala
Sat May 3: Race Day

Other Horse Racing Events

The day before the Kentucky Derby, Fri May 6th, the Kentucky Oaks will be held. This is very similar to the Derby except that it is limited to fillies.

Pre-event coverage of the Kentucky Oaks will stream live on Peacock from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm (EDT). The race itself will air on USA from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm (EDT).

NBC will also air the Preakness Stakes (May 20) as well as the Breeders’ Cup (Nov 5). The Belmont Stakes (Jun 10) will be on Fox.

And if you fancy some English steeplechasing, the Grand National is held every year in April. Unfortunately, it’s not available on any US-based service, but it does stream in the UK on ITV.

2025 Results

Check back with us to see who will win the 2025 race.

Wrapping Up

So, there you have it. The services mentioned are the easiest ways to watch the Kentucky Derby online without cable.

Even if the service you choose doesn’t offer the NBC live stream, you can stream the Kentucky Derby with a paid subscription to Peacock.

While NBC is offered through the majority of streaming services, our top choice for streaming the Kentucky Derby is Fubo. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.

Page Updates ▼▲

Aug 20, 2024

Updated shortcodes
Updated 2025 schedule
Added 2024 results and draw
May 18, 2023

Added buttons for streaming services. Added info about guide. Changes to sections. Updated some sub-sections. Cross linking.
May 3, 2023

Updated some sub-sections. Updated some section headings. Various changes to content.
Sep 21, 2022

Updated some sub-sections. Pricing updates. Image changes.
Jun 12, 2022

Misc content updates.
Jun 2, 2022

Image changes. Various changes.
May 22, 2022

Added info about guide. Added sub-section. Pricing updates. Added some more links. Reworded some things.
May 6, 2022

Mentioned channel info. Added links. Reformatting. Misc changes to content.
Apr 25, 2022

Reworked one section. Added some more links.

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Frank Moraes

I am a Senior Content Editor at Hotdog.com, specializing in sports streaming and regional programming issues. With a PhD in Atmospheric Physics from the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and extensive experience in remote sensing technology, including early video streaming, I bring a unique technical perspective to the streaming industry.

My expertise in sports coverage, particularly for out-of-market games and regional sports networks, stems from years of hands-on experience as an early adopter of streaming services and my work addressing fans' viewing challenges. As a longtime cord-cutter and subscriber to multiple streaming platforms, I combine my technical knowledge with practical user experience, making me a leading expert in the field of sports streaming and entertainment technology.