Football fans across the nation are gearing up for Super Bowl LX, the New England Patriots vs. the Seattle Seahawks, set to take place tonight, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. ET at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
If you’re more of a here-for-the-snacks-and-halftime-show viewer, don’t worry — you’ll be treated to a performance by Bad Bunny and others.
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This year, the game will be broadcast on NBC and Telemundo, and will stream live on Peacock as well. Unless you have cable or plan to watch the game over the air (OTA) with an antenna, the best and cheapest way to watch the Super Bowl is with Peacock or a live TV streaming service.
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We’ve found all of the ways you can stream the Super Bowl this year, including by taking advantage of free trials. Here are all of your options. (Note that while sports-focused streaming service Fubo would typically be an option, the streamer is currently in a contract dispute with NBC, so you can’t watch any NBC channels there at the moment.)
How to watch Super Bowl 2026 without cable
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Stream the Super Bowl live with a Peacock Premium (with ads) plan for $11 a month (or $110 for the year). You’ll also get Winter Olympics coverage, shows from NBC and Bravo, and Peacock Originals like The Traitors. If you upgrade to Peacock Premium Plus for $17 a month (or $170 for the year), you’ll get an ad-free experience plus the ability to download shows. (Note that live sports, including the Super Bowl, still have ads even on this plan.)
There are a couple of discounts available: If you’re a college student, you can get a year of Peacock Premium for $6 a month. You can also bundle Peacock Premium with Apple TV for $15 a month, essentially getting you Apple TV for an extra $4 a month, down from the usual price of $13 a month.
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DirecTV’s streaming offer has gone through a number of name changes. In the past, it’s been DirecTV Stream, AT&T TV, AT&T TV Now, and DirecTV Now. Whatever you call it, you’ll get your local NBC station to watch the game in 4K on its lowest-tier package: The $85 per month Select package. The service also offers Telemundo for its Spanish-speaking NFL fans. There’s also a five-day free trial for any package.
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DirecTV’s other streaming packages offer additional channels, with prices from $90 to $115 per month. DirecTV recently started offering 4K streaming, and it’s available on all its packages at no additional charge.
In addition, DirecTV Stream includes generous unlimited Cloud DVR storage. At home, you can watch the game or any other show on up to 20 streaming devices at once on your home network. Away from home, you can share your stream with up to three other devices.
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Hulu with Live TV offers NBC on all its packages. Sign up for one of the service’s bundles with Disney+ and ESPN Select (all with ads) for $90 a month after a three-day free trial, or pay $100 a month for the no-ads experience.
With any of these packages, you can stream on two screens at once. For another $10 a month, you can play as many streams at once at home. But you’re still limited to three screens while away from home.
Another nice plus is that you can store unlimited videos in your cloud DVR archive for up to nine months. One thing you can’t do, however, is watch or store the Super Bowl in 4K. While you can watch many Hulu shows, such as Only Murders in the Building, Kindred, and Reboot in 4K, live TV shows, including the Super Bowl, aren’t available in 4K.
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YouTube TV offers more of the most popular channels than its competitors. By CNET’s count, out of the top 100 networks, YouTube TV offers the most channels, 78, of any streaming service.
YouTube TV enables you to watch your local ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS, and NBC channels in most areas. That means, of course, you can easily watch the Super Bowl on the service with its lowest-priced plan, the YouTube TV Base Plan, for $60 a month for the first two months (after that, it’s $83 a month). Spanish speakers, however, must pay $15 per month for the “Spanish Plus” add-on package.
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YouTube TV also offers a feature that can make watching the game more enjoyable. All TV broadcasts come with delays between the live action and what you see on your TV. As you may know, live broadcast delays on streaming services are longer than OTA’s delays. They can range from six to 60 seconds. This latency is due to transmission slowdowns between the cameras and your screen.
Now, some YouTube TV apps come with the option of reducing this delay,
The new option is available in the YouTube TV app under the “More” menu > “Broadcast Delay”. You can choose between “Default” and “Decrease for 48 hours.” If you choose to decrease, you’ll see the game a few seconds faster. But, Google warns, “The lower the broadcast delay, the less buffer the video player will have. With a lower broadcast delay, you’re more likely to experience playback interruption.”
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That means the game may freeze at times, or you may experience choppy video. I fear the big game’s load on the internet makes it more likely than not that you’ll see a lot of bad playback. The choice is yours. Personally, I plan to try it because if the video goes south, I can always switch back to Default.
YouTube TV also has unlimited cloud storage, and you get six accounts to share with your household. You can use this service on three screens at once. Super Bowl watchers can also watch the game in 4K, but you must pay an additional $9.99 for 4K Plus to get that resolution. Therefore, the total monthly cost for YouTube TV with 4K streaming after the first two months is $93 a month.
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You can watch the Super Bowl with Sling TV’s Orange and Blue plan ($30 for your first month, then $61 per month), Blue plan ($46 a month), or Select plan ($20 a month), but only in certain areas where NBC is available. Find out by entering your zip code on Sling’s website before you sign up.
With Sling TV, subscribers automatically get 50 hours of free DVR storage, but you can extend that to 200 hours of storage by adding DVR+ for an additional $5 a month. With Sling Blue or Sling Latino, you can watch TV on up to three screens at once. If you also subscribe to Sling Orange, you can add one more screen for a total of four.
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Unless you can get the game with an antenna from a local NBC station, you’ll need one of the TV cable replacement services listed here.
Gray-market streaming services will also show the big game. Don’t go there. Some don’t work well, and others can infect your smart TV with malware. Malware is now targeting Samsung TVs, Amazon Fire TVs, and Sticks. It is not worth taking a chance with your smart TV, even if it is the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl streaming options, compared
| Monthly subscription cost | NBC included with base plan | Spanish language options included | Free trial available | |
| Peacock | $11 | Yes | Yes | No |
| DirecTV | $85 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hulu + Live TV | $90 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| YouTube TV | $83 | Yes | No | Yes |
| Sling TV | $45 | Yes (in some areas) | No | No |
When is the Super Bowl?
The Super Bowl game begins on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. ET. The game will take place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
What time is the Super Bowl?
Kickoff for the Super Bowl is at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 8.
How to watch Super Bowl 2026 for free
If you have an antenna, you can get a 1080p HDTV stream of the Super Bowl game for free. Find our favorite indoor and overall antenna options here. Otherwise, to get the big game, you’ll need a live TV-streaming service that offers your local NBC station.
Your live TV choices are Peacock, DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.
How to watch Super Bowl 2026 online from anywhere using a VPN
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Grammy Award-winning rapper-singer-songwriter Bad Bunny will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show. Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Charlie Puth will sing the national anthem.
If you don’t have cable, satellite, or OTA, you’ll need a live TV-streaming service that offers CBS to get the big game.
Your choices include Peacock, DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.
Regardless of how you watch the game, you’ll need at least an 8Mbps or better internet connection. Faster is always better. If your service provides streams in 4K, you’ll want a speedy 16 Mbps or faster connection.
The least expensive way to watch the game is with an antenna. For now, the Super Bowl is still on broadcast television, but this might not be the case going forward.
More and more NFL games are only available on streaming services. Two years ago, the post-season AFC Wild Card game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens was aired exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. It was the first NFL playoff game to be exclusively streamed on Prime Video, and it won’t be the last. I don’t think the Super Bowl will become a pay-for-view event in the next few years, but it will happen.
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In the meantime, make sure your streaming service supports your local NBC station. Before putting your money down, ensure the service delivers the game. Sure, you’ll be fine most of the time, but you don’t want to explain to your buddies that they can’t watch the game if you’re one of the unfortunate few who can’t stream a local NBC station.
The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2025, beating the Kansas City Chiefs 40 – 22.
The Super Bowl will be available to stream for Prime Video customers in the US with a subscription to Peacock Premium Plus.
ZDNET senior contributing editor Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols contributed to this story.
