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How to watch The Weather Channel without cable

Phil Nickinson
By

There are a million ways to get information on the weather these days. Windows, for one. Computers for another. But for a lot of folks, it’s still all about The Weather Channel — the ubiquitous channel that, appropriately enough, is all about The Weather. On a Channel.

And, unfortunately, it’s time for many in Florida and the rest of the Southeast to keep their eyes glued on The Weather Channel as Hurricane Idalia makes landfall this week in Central Florida. (And Franklin spins off the East Coast. And other areas of concern spin up in the Atlantic. Welcome to the 2024 hurricane season, everyone.)

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But for those who no longer have cable television, watching The Weather Channel can be surprisingly difficult. We’ll take the work out of it, though, and show you how to stream The Weather Channel online. And as always, keep your other eye on the National Hurricane Center website.

The Weather Channel on YouTube TV.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

How to stream The Weather Channel

If you’re no longer a cable subscriber and are looking to stream The Weather Channel through one of the traditional streaming services in the U.S. (these also are known as MVPDs, for multichannel video programming distributors), you’ll find you have surprisingly few options.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that The Weather Channel is available on the most popular streaming service, YouTube TV. That means more than 5 million accounts already can stream The Weather Channel as part of the single YouTube TV streaming plan (which as of this writing costs $73 a month).

The next biggest streaming service on which you’re also able to stream The Weather Channel is FuboTV, which sports just shy of 1 million subscribers at last count. The Weather Channel is included there on its base “Pro” plan, which runs $75 a month for 167 channels. Also available is The Weather Channel en Español.

Worth noting is that YouTube TV and Fubo TV also are the only streaming services that offer any sort of 4K option, though it’s mostly limited to live sports (or in the case of YouTube TV, also to a good bit of on-demand content).

The Weather Channel also is now available on Hulu With Live TV. That’s notable because Hulu With Live TV, in addition to being the second-largest live streaming platform in the U.S., also includes subscriptions to the Hulu on-demand library, ESPN+, and Disney+. It’ll cost you $75 a month to get on board.

The least-expensive way to get The Weather Channel actually is from a streaming service called Frndly TV. (As in “friendly.”) Its basic plan costs $7 a month and gives you more than 40 channels at SD video quality, and the ability to watch on one device at a time. You get get more options and better quality for $2 more, and the full smash for $11 a month.

And finally, you can stream The Weather Channel on DirecTV Stream. But you won’t find it on the least expensive plan. Instead, you’ll have to start with at least the “Choice” plan, which gets you 105 channels for $70 a month.

The Weather Channel on Roku.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Weather Channel TV app

If for whatever reason streaming The Weather Channel just isn’t your thing, there’s another option. “The Weather Channel TV App” is … a dedicated app to watch The Weather Channel on your TV. It’s not quite the same as the live, linear channel, but it’s better than nothing. With it, you’ll get weather alerts and updates, local forecasts, radar, maps, and on-demand shows.

And it’s available most everywhere such apps are found, including Roku and Amazon Fire TV, which takes care of the two biggest streaming platforms. You also can find it on Android TV, Apple TV, on Samsung smart TVs, and on Xfinity Flex.

The Weather Channel TV App costs $3 a month or $30 a year. And as an added bonus, if you already get The Weather Channel by some other means — be it cable TV or one of the streaming services we listed above — you can sign in to The Weather Channel TV App and get all of this, too.

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Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson
Section Editor, Audio/Video
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