The calendar has officially flipped to February, and for sports fans, that means one of the biggest events of the year is almost here: the Super Bowl.
This year’s Super Bowl LX will see the New England Patriots take on the Seattle Seahawks, with a halftime show featuring rapper Bad Bunny, and all the action is going down this Sunday, Feb. 8.
Of course, one of the biggest questions heading into the weekend is how to watch the Super Bowl, since it doesn’t air on the same channel every year and rotates annually between CBS, FOX, NBC, and ABC/ESPN. Fox handled the broadcast last year, but this year it’s NBC’s turn — which means where (and how) you tune in looks a little different.
For starters, if you have cable or a live TV streaming service subscription (like YouTube TV or Sling TV), the only place you’ll be able to catch the game will be on NBC, where pre-game coverage begins at 1pm EST (10am PST), with the actual game kicking off at 6:30pm ET (3:30pm PST).
If you don’t have cable or a live TV subscription, the only streaming service airing the game live will be Peacock, NBC’s official streaming service. However, it’s not free, and you’ll need a Peacock Premium subscription to watch the Super Bowl, which costs $11 per month or $110 per year.
You can’t watch the Super Bowl for free this year
The cheapest way to watch is Peacock
The biggest bummer about this year’s Super Bowl is that there’s no real way to watch it for free. Last year, when Fox handled the broadcast, it made the game available to stream for free on Tubi, its free ad-supported TV (FAST) streaming service.
This year, NBC isn’t taking the same approach. The game won’t be free to watch, and there aren’t any Peacock free trials floating around right now either. Unfortunately, that means if you want to tune in, you’ll need a digital antenna, a live TV streaming subscription, or Peacock. That said, there are plenty of live TV streaming services carrying the game, including YouTube TV, DirecTV, and Sling TV.
The cheapest live TV option is Sling TV. You can watch NBC with its Sling Blue plan, which costs $46 a month. Next up is DirecTV, where the most affordable way to get NBC is through its MySports Genre Pack for $70 a month, which also includes several other sports channels. Finally, there’s YouTube TV, which also carries NBC. It normally costs $83 a month, but new subscribers can snag a promo that drops the first two months to $60 per month ($23 off), saving $46 total.
Overall, if you’re watching on live TV, NBC is where you’ll find the Super Bowl. If you’re streaming, Peacock is the place to go, and it’s also the cheapest option. The game kicks off this Sunday, Feb. 8, with pregame coverage starting at 1pm ET (10 am PT), and kickoff is set for 6:30pm ET (3:30 pm PT).
