Don’t miss the 2025 Tournament of Roses Parade
Don’t miss the 2025 Tournament of Roses Parade
The annual tradition welcomes viewers to the new year with some of the most gorgeous floral arrangements you will ever see.
While the Rose Bowl game is known as the Granddaddy of Them All, the Tournament of Roses Parade that proceeds the football festivities is the grandest floral spectacle you could ever hope to see. New Year’s Day 2025 marks the 136th Rose Parade and there will be numerous ways for you to stream the parade, as it will air on ABC, Great American Family, NBC, Pluto TV, Univision, and other platforms. The parade will begin at 11 a.m. ET on Jan. 1, 2025. If you are looking for a live TV streaming service to watch the parade, I recommend taking advantage of DIRECTV STREAM’s five-day free trial. But, if you are looking for the simplest way to stream the Rose Parade, I recommend free streamer Pluto TV.
How to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade
- When: Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025 at 11 a.m. ET
- TV: ABC, Great American Family, NBC, Pluto TV, Univision
- Stream: Watch with a five-day free trial to DIRECTV STREAM or for free on Pluto TV.
Everything you need to know about the 2025 Tournament of Roses Parade
Watch a teaser of the Tournament of Roses Parade
Why we recommend DIRECTV STREAM to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade
DIRECTV STREAM
DIRECTV STREAM is The Streamable’s choice for the best live TV streaming service for users who want the most channels. With an unbeatable lineup of local, news, sports, and entertainment channels, four main channel packages, an unlimited DVR, and 20 simultaneous streams at home, DIRECTV STREAM is a great choice for any cord-cutter.
Can you stream the Tournament of Roses Parade for free?
If you are just looking for a streaming service to watch the parade and nothing else, there are options available for you. We’ve already discussed the five-day free trial from DIRECTV STREAM, but there are other streamers to choose from. The free streamer Pluto TV will be streaming the parade from Pasadena, but unlike DIRECTV STREAM and some other options with free trials that we will discuss shortly, it will only have one feed. Also, if you own a TCL Smart TV, the parade will stream on your home screen and will be available on-demand for 24 hours.
Philo offers a seven-day free trial, but as a skinny bundle, the only channel covering the parade on the service is Great American Family, so you won’t be able to bounce back and forth between all of the broadcasts.
If you are looking for a live TV streaming service so that you can sample all of the different broadcasts, then, in addition to DIRECTV STREAM, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, and YouTube TV all offer free trials, but they vary in length, so be wary. DIRECTV STREAM’s industry-leading trial runs for five days, while Hulu + Live TV’s is a solid three days.
Those are pretty straightforward, but when it comes to the sports-minded streamer Fubo, things can get a little complicated. As The Streamable’s expert David Satin discovered when signing up for the services, figuring out how long Fubo’s trial is — even as you are signing up — can be a bit difficult. Nonetheless, it will be at least one day, with the potential to be as many as seven, depending on a wide range of factors that Fubo does not share publicly. If corporate synergy factors into your streaming decision-making, Fubo is an official partner with the Tournament of Roses.
The YouTube TV trial is said to be “up to two weeks,” but can be as short as two days. So it is difficult to ascertain what you are actually getting before you go through the signup process.
If you are looking to watch the parade for free, I would recommend DIRECTV STREAM, because that streamer has the longest guaranteed free trial.
What are all of the streamers you can use to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade?
Fortunately for New Year’s revelers of all kinds, there are eight different streaming services that will stream the Tournament of Roses Parade, so you have options to choose from if you don’t already subscribe to any of them. We discussed DIRECTV STREAM and the other three streamers offering free trials options above, but there are others as well.
Perhaps the best remaining option would be to go directly to the source. Since NBC is broadcasting the parade this year, you can sign up for Peacock and watch the parade for as little as $8.
Sling TV is another great option if you are looking for a service for more than just the parade. Normally, Sling costs $46 per month, but you can currently get 50% off your first month of service, meaning that you can watch a month’s worth of shows, games, and events for as little as $23. Sling has two different base packages, Orange and Blue. You can subscribe to one or both. If you do opt to combine Orange and Blue it will run you $61 monthly — still substantially cheaper than the comparable live TV streaming services — but with the first-month deal, you can stream everything on both packages for just $30.50.
If you are looking to find a long-term streaming service and want to avoid the potential of having to pay more if price hikes strike, then DIRECTV via Internet is your best bet. Packages start as low as $70 per month and come with a two-year price guarantee. This, of course, locks you into a two-year contract, but with prices increasing fairly regularly, it is understandable why this would be an attractive offer to many people.
Ultimately, there are tons of different ways to stream the 2025 Tournament of Roses Parade, and while we recommend DIRECTV STREAM as the best way to stream all of the holiday programming on TV this season, you have plenty of options to find the platform that meets your needs.
| DTV STREAM | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Free 3-Day Trial | Free Trial | Get 50% OFF | Sign Up | |||
| $86.99 | $94.99 | $82.99 | $28 | $45.99 | $45.99 | $82.99 | ||
| ABC | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Great American Family | + $28 | ✓ | + $8 | ✓ | + $6 | + $6 | - | |
| NBC | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Univision | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | - | - | ✓ | |
About the Tournament of Roses Parade
There is no greater fest for flower lovers than the Tournament of Roses Parade. On New Year’s Day in Pasadena, California, the parade will feature 41 rose-covered floats, 21 marching bands from around the world, and 18 equestrian teams. The floats will be as tall as 75 feet long and 35 feet high and will feature incredible pyrotechnics, smoke, waterfalls, streamers, and bubbles.
The parade will officially commence with a flyover from the B-2 Spirit flyover and the parade will also feature the USMC Mounted Color Guard, parade grand marshall Billie Jean King, and the Rose Queen and her Rose Court. If you tune into the NBC broadcast, you will witness Al Roker’s 25th parade as he hosts alongside Hoda Kotb.
How to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade from anywhere
If you’ll be away from home and can’t watch the parade as you normally would, you can still catch all of the action no matter where you are in the world with a VPN. A VPN can be used on your phone, tablet, or computer and make you appear to be back home — even when you’re not — making sure you feel at home no matter where you are. A VPN is a safe and secure way to stay protected online while streaming your favorite sports, movies, and shows on the go. Keep in mind that you will still need to be subscribed to a live TV streaming service or Peacock in order to stream the Tournament of Roses Parade with a VPN.
NordVPN is one of the best providers around, at one of the best prices. Currently, you can get two full years of protection for just $3.59 per month — plus you’ll get three extra months FREE. A high-speed VPN with best-in-class security that can be used on up to 10 devices at once — what more could you ask for? Simply sign up, install the software on your device of choice, and start streaming just as you would back home. It couldn’t be easier!
While NordVPN is our recommendation for the best VPN to use while you are traveling, there are a number of other high-quality options available depending on what you are looking for.
- Best Features: ExpressVPN | Starting at $5 per month
- Best Budget Option: Surfshark | Starting at $2.50 per month
- Best Free Option: Proton VPN | Free plan available