The 2024 NFL season is upon us and this season brings a ton of changes for football fans. Although it can get complicated, don’t worry. We’ll walk you through everything you need to know to watch every play of your favorite team.

What’s new this year? Netflix will carry Christmas Day games. Venu Sports was supposed to provide a streaming option for games on ABC, ESPN, and Fox, but its launch was denied in a court case. Prices are changing on multiple services.

Here’s a general lay of the land:

The Streamable’s Recommendation

If you don’t feel like reading further, we recommend DIRECTV STREAM and Prime Video for most people. That combo gets you nearly every game except for a few streaming exclusives.

Sling TV can replace DIRECTV STREAM if you’d like to save money, though your location really matters since not all areas have access to ABC, NBC, and FOX, and Sling doesn’t carry CBS.

Live TV Streaming Options

To see the games broadcast on broadcast or cable TV, you’ll need a streaming option that offers ABC, CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC, and NFL Network. We’ll also discuss the popular NFL RedZone and NFL Sunday Ticket options.

If you want maximum channels, DIRECTV STREAM is your best bet. If you want to save even more money, Sling TV should be your pick. Our service matchmaker can guide you to the right choice.

Here are your live TV streaming contenders for the 2024 NFL season:

FOX

FOX hosts your local NFC teams and also allows you to watch in 4K. While streamers like Fubo offer the 4K feed, you can use any TV provider and sign in with the Fox Sports App to see the 4K feed without an additional fee.

You will not be able to stream the games on Venu Sports as planned because of the court ruling.

FOX will broadcast the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025.

CBS

CBS carries AFC home games. While the simplest option is to get a live TV streamer, there’s another nifty option if you only care about your local broadcast: just get Paramount+. That streaming service includes all local NFL broadcasts if you live near an AFC team. The price is right and you can sample it with a generous free trial.

Paramount+ is a perfect choice if you have Sling TV, since it solves the lack of CBS.

NBC

As usual, NBC carries Sunday Night Football. Every NBC game is also available on Peacock, so if you only care about Sunday Night Football, that’s your cheapest option.

ABC

ABC will simulcast three Monday Night Football games that also air on ESPN, but it is also home to exclusive contests:

• Week 3: Commanders vs. Bengals
• Week 4: Seahawks vs. Lions
• Week 15: Bears vs. Vikings

The court ruling blocks ABC from streaming games on Venu Sports.

ESPN

The Worldwide Leader in Sports is still home to Monday Night Football. You’ll see every MNF game on ESPN except for the three ABC games listed above. ESPN is included on DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.

Your cheapest option to see ESPN is Sling TV. You can get 50% off your first month to give it a whirl.

NFL Network

If you want to watch the league’s international games, you’ll need NFL Network. Here’s the schedule:

• Week 5: Jets vs. Vikings
• Week 6: Jaguars vs. Bears
• Week 7: Patriots vs. Jaguars
• Week 10: Giants vs. Panthers

You’ll also need NFL Network for a “Saturday Showdown” tripleheader in Week 17. The matchups have not yet been set.

Every major live TV streaming service carries NFL Network. You can also watch NFL Network on your TV with NFL+ (starting at $6.99 / month).

Netflix

It’s the start of a new Christmas tradition. On December 25, Netflix will be the only place to watch two Week 17 games that will likely have playoff implications:

• Chiefs vs. Steelers
• Ravens vs. Texans

NFL RedZone

Our favorite way to watch football on Sundays is to kick back with the brilliant NFL RedZone channel. Host Scott Hanson guides you around the league from game to game so you catch the best action from every battle. There are never any commercials, and you get to see every touchdown from every game. It’s seven straight hours of wall-to-wall football action, and it’s heaven if you play fantasy football. It’s especially fun when several games come down to the wire.

The add-on is available for every major live TV streamer, and we assure you, it’s worth the extra cash. If you’re looking to save money, Sling TV is our choice. You can get RedZone and the Monday and Sunday night games for the lowest overall price, though ABC is only available on Sling in eight markets and NBC is only in 11 areas.

If you only care about RedZone and no other games, you can watch on your TV with a subscription to NFL+ for $14.99 / month. Just remember, RedZone only covers Sunday afternoon games.

NFL Sunday Ticket

NFL Sunday Ticket is exclusive to YouTube and YouTube TV. If you’re willing to pay for the service, you’ll be able to see every Sunday afternoon out-of-market game in the league. It’s very expensive, but it’s your only legal lifeline if your beloved team plays in a different market.

We prefer NFL RedZone for keeping an eye on your favorite team without having to sit through time outs and injuries and replays, but if you must see every play of your team, Sunday Ticket may be necessary.

Venu Sports

This brand new sports streamer was supposed to launch in time for the 2024 NFL season, but a judge’s preliminary injunction has put that on ice indefinitely.

The service was going to offer games on ABC, ESPN, and Fox.

Streaming-Exclusive NFL Games

Prime Video

Prime Video is back for Year 3 with Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit. You must have this service if you want to watch Thursday Night Football, the Black Friday game, and one playoff game during Super Wild Card Weekend (TBD).

• Week 2: Buffalo Bills at Miami Dolphins
• Week 3: New England Patriots at New York Jets
• Week 4: Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants
• Week 5: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
• Week 6: San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks
• Week 7: Denver Broncos at New Orleans Saints
• Week 8: Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Rams
• Week 9: Houston Texans at New York Jets
• Week 10: Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens
• Week 11: Washington Commanders at Philadelphia Eagles
• Week 12 Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns
• Week 13 (Black Friday): Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs
• Week 14: Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions
• Week 15: Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers
• Week 16: Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals
• Week 17: Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears

If you live in the market of a Thursday night team, you will be able to see the game on a local network.

ESPN+

ESPN+ is the exclusive home for the Week 7 Chargers-Cardinals MNF game. Luckily, that’s the only game you’d need ESPN+ for.

Remember that if you choose Hulu Live TV as your live TV provider, you’ll get ESPN+ and Disney+ for free.

Peacock

If you have Peacock, you get all the NBC Sunday Night Football games. It is the only way to see the Packers-Eagles game in Week 1.

Alternative Broadcasts: Manningcast & More

Many fans enjoy the brotherly hijinks of Peyton and Eli Manning and their various celebrity guests on the Manningcast on ESPN2 and ESPN+. The brothers will be back for 12 games this year on the same platforms. Sling TV is your least expensive way to watch.

2024-25 Manningcast Schedule

Prime Video also offered some alternative audio broadcasts for fans during its Thursday Night Football games. We assume that will continue. “Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats” is helpful for fantasy football players.

We expect Nickelodeon will bring back its popular Slimecast for a few games this year.

What’s the Cheapest Option to Stream the Most Football?

First things first, you need to decide if you want to watch the streaming-exclusive games on Prime Video (17 games), Netflix (2 games), Peacock (1 game), and ESPN+ (1 game). If so, you will need to spend a total of at least $71 unless you can take advantage of some promos or deals. For example, Amazon Prime members get free access to Prime Video.

Several streamers are offering discounts right now. We calculated those and averaged everything out over five months to cover the football season. Note that Hulu Live TV will be raising its prices in October. This chart includes that in the calculation.

Without NFL RedZone

With NFL RedZone

Remember, you can simply buy a standalone NFL RedZone subscription via NFL+ for $14.99 / month, but most of these live streamers offer the channel (along with others) at a lower price.

Can You Watch NFL Games for Free?

If you take advantage of free trials to these services, you can watch football for free. DIRECTV STREAM offers a free trial and most of the channels you need. Prime Video offers a 30-day free trial for Thursday Night Football. Paramount+ always has a free trial for CBS games. Once the trials are up, you will have to pay, however.

You can get a 3-day free trial of Hulu Live TV, which includes free ESPN+. Our experience tells us this will not be an option within three days of their exclusive streaming game.

There are no free trials for Peacock or Netflix.

What About an Antenna for NFL?

An antenna can typically get you four games per week: either CBS or FOX will offer two games while the other offers one, and you can stream Sunday Night Football. As you see above, Monday Night Football coverage would be limited to the ABC games, and you wouldn’t see anything on Thursday nights unless your local team was playing that week. You’d also lose out on the streaming exclusives from ESPN+ and Peacock, along with the NFL Network games.

If you do want to try an antenna, these are great choices:

You can also invest in an HDHomerun if you want to DVR the games on your computer to watch later.

Should You Watch on NFL+?

NFL+ is a great option for some fans, but only if you have very specific needs. You’ll get your live local and primetime games on your phone or tablet, but not on your TV.

With the standard subscription, you can watch NFL Network on your TV. With the premium subscription, you can also watch NFL RedZone on TV.

With an NFL+ Premium subscription, you can also watch replays of every single game without ads, condensed game replays, and coaches film. The service also allows fans to choose their audio stream (home, away, and national calls).

The service also allows users to watch out-of-market preseason games on any device. Users can also access NFL library programming ad-free.

If you love football, NFL+ probably isn’t your best bet, however. You can’t use it to watch games on Thursday, Sunday, or Monday night, so that’s a deal-breaker for us.

What Channel Has the Super Bowl This Year?

Super Bowl LIX will be on FOX. You will be able to watch the game on DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.

How Can I Tell What Channel or Service My Favorite Team is On?

Bookmark your favorite team's page on TheStreamable.com. In the event of flex scheduling or any other change, we will always have the most updated information on when and where to watch.

Summary

For most people, the best way to watch the NFL is a combo Hulu Live TV and Prime Video. Whether you choose to add NFL RedZone or not, this duo gives you all the most important games at the best price.

For users in Sling-friendly territories, the 4-month package is hard to pass up, but you’d still need a CBS option like Paramount+.

For the streaming-exclusive games, you can decide if adding a service is worth the extra price. You could also just go to a sports bar and spend that money on food or drinks.

For this NFL season, we don’t recommend Fubo and YouTube TV because the value is better with DIRECTV STREAM or Sling TV. We don’t recommend NFL+ because it leaves too many games out to be useful.