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:
- Fubo: With 150+ channels, it offers something for everyone. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial!
- Philo: Super inexpensive live TV streaming service with 7-day free trial.
- Sling TV: Probably the best streaming service in terms of customization with a 50% discount your first month.
If you can’t watch your favorite sports, TV and movies because of your location, try ExpressVPN to get access to the content you deserve. Signup now.
Table Of Contents
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Discovery On Demand | |
Homestead Rescue: Raney Ranch – Do or Die Marty struggles to finish the cliff-top cabin; the family must risk another river crossing to get materials across for a final crucial build; Misty and Maciah begin their own dream cabin on the homestead. |
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Discovery On Demand | |
Homestead Rescue: Raney Ranch – Risky Business In a race against the coming snow, the Raneys push beyond their limits to finish two cabins, harvest the garden and mount a hunting expedition. |
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Homestead Rescue: Raney Ranch – Stairway to Heaven As Marty recovers from a bad fall, the Raneys scramble against the oncoming winter to finish cabin walls and build a staircase from an ancient family spruce; Matt leads a last-ditch moose hunt, which is pivotal to keeping them stocked with meat. |
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Homestead Rescue – Texas Rift An extended family of homesteaders are on the brink of disintegration in Texas, crowded with their animals on a sliver of their land; to overcome the rift between the homesteaders and the homestead itself, the Raneys must execute an epic overhaul. |
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Discovery On Demand | |
Homestead Rescue – All My Stresses Live in Texas A family of recent transplants from California that is longing for ranch life in central Texas finds itself on one of the most unsuitable homesteads the Raneys have seen yet; to save them, the Raneys must execute a total homestead makeover. |
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Homestead Rescue – Land of Fire and Ice A recently divorced single mother finds herself unprepared for winter in interior Alaska; facing late summer wildfires, the Raneys embrace 22 hours of daylight to battle still-frozen ground to secure water and food stores to survive the winter. |
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Discovery On Demand | |
Homestead Rescue – By a Landslide The Raneys meet their match on a homestead in Idaho, where millennial off-gridders are plagued with dead soil, grizzly bear visits and constant landslides; making matters worse, COVID strikes one of the Raneys, jeopardizing the rescue. |
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Homestead Rescue – Georgia Clay Mayday A young homesteader and her military boyfriend face a ticking clock in the east Georgia woods; the Raneys must solve the unsanitary conditions, poor soil and crumbling infrastructure before the next big rains hit the homestead. |
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Homestead Rescue – Black Hills Hope The Raneys struggle to revive an inherited Wyoming hill country homestead with a tragic legacy; to bring water to the property, Marty must solve the mystery of an untapped well; Misty and Matt combine forces on one of their most ambitious builds. |
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Discovery On Demand | |
Homestead Rescue – Rubble With a Cause In a rescue first, the Raneys arrive at a Washington state homestead and find the couple's cabin recently collapsed; with winter weeks away, on land with a dangerous predator funnel, the race is on to solve the shelter, food and predator threats. |
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Homestead Rescue – Bus, Sweat and Tears Bus-dwelling Virginia homesteaders struggle for a foothold; after learning the couple sent their son to live with his grandmother until the homestead can thrive, the Raneys undertake one of the biggest rescues ever to reunite the family. |
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Discovery On Demand | |
Street Outlaws: Red Line – Fastest in America -- Night 5 Tricia returns and JJ tries a power move to put the MSO back on top for Night Five. |
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Street Outlaws: Red Line – Fastest in America -- Night 6 Night Six is the last night of low-money rounds, and tensions are at an all-time high between Sherrybeth and Brett; Cali ends up in a brawl with Detroit. |
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Mysteries of the Abandoned – Florida Death Fortress A desert island adrift in the Gulf of Mexico contains a massive and marooned structure with a contagious past; experts investigate and uncover a desolate military fortress turned prison and plagued by a deadly disease. |
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Discovery On Demand | |
Mysteries of the Abandoned – Phantoms of Chernobyl Exploring what happened to the large town located just outside of Chernobyl on the eve of disaster, a fleet of ghost ships, and a dangerous mountain road that changed history. |
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Mysteries of the Abandoned – Hitler's Nightmare Palace The ruins of a dreamlike Polish palace hide an astonishingly dark history that's shrouded in mystery to this day; experts investigate and uncover an ornate gothic structure that concealed a nightmare of Nazi experimentation. |
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Mysteries of the Abandoned – Wild West Apocalypse Stories of incredible engineering projects now deserted, including a massive military site that was once a hotbed for nuclear testing, a top-secret airbase hidden inside a mountain, and an otherworldly power plant. |
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+.
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:
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