CMA Fest 2023 will air on ABC on Wednesday, July 19, at 8:00 p.m. ET. The CMA Fest was a three-day music festival that took place in June in Nashville, showcasing top names in country music. A special grand stage concert and highlights were filmed for this special televised version of this year’s 50th-anniversary event. The event was hosted by Elle King, Lainey Wilson, and Dierks Bentley and featured a massive lineup of more than 30 performances featuring the best of country music, including Tracy Lawrence, Jo Dee Messina, Tanya Tucker, Josh Turner, King Calaway, Little Big Town, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Old Dominion, Keith Urban, Carly Pearce, and more. Read on for how to watch this star-studded event.
- When is CMA Fest Broadcast: CMA Fest will air on Wednesday, July 19, at 8:00 p.m. ET
- Best Way To Watch CMA Fest Live: Watch live on ABC using a free trial to DIRECTV STREAM (free-trial) or YouTube TV (1-week-free-trial)
- How To Watch CMA Fest on Demand: The day after CMA Fest you can watch the event on-demand with Hulu’s Streaming Library (30-day free trial)
Watch CMA Fest Live Without Cable
The CMA Fest airs on Wednesday, July 19, at 8:00 p.m. EDT on ABC. The following summarizes your options are in our guide to watching ABC without cable and will let you watch CMA Fest when it airs on ABC.
Watch CMA Fest Free
The easiest way to watch CMA Fest for free is to use a free trial to a streaming service that carries ABC in their channel lineup. The following streaming services carry ABC and have a way to watch free for a trial period:
- DIRECTV STREAM – Streams ABC live. Sign up for their 5-day free trial
- YouTube TV– Streams ABC live and offers a free trial
There is another way to watch CMA Fest this year if you don’t have cable. You can use a TV antenna if you live close enough to an ABC broadcast tower.
Watch CMA Fest Live on Hulu
Hulu offers a live TV service that carries ABC in nearly all US TV markets along with cable TV and broadcast networks. Therefore, you can watch CMA Fest live as it airs on ABC. To see if live ABC is available in your area, you can use this tool: Hulu Live TV Channels by Zip code.
Hulu + Live TV is supported on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, iOS, Android, and more. You can read more about Hulu in our review of Hulu. There isn’t a month-to-month contract, so you can sign up to test the service without fear of a long-term commitment. You can sign up for Hulu Live TV using this link: Sign up for Hulu + Live TV.
How Much: $76.99 per month.
Watch CMA Fest on YouTube TV
YouTube TV is another great option to watch CMA Fest live. YouTube TV offers live ABC with its streaming service in nearly ALL markets in the US. The only market where YouTube TV doesn’t offer ABC is in the Rochester-Mason City-Austin market, which covers parts of Minnesota and Iowa. (YouTube TV does offer ABC in Rochester, NY, and Austin, TX.)
YouTube TV supports Android, iOS, Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, and more. The YouTube TV app has also returned to Roku devices after settling a dispute between the two companies. Be sure to check out our review of YouTube TV for more information. You can sign up for their free trial.
How Much: $72.99 per month.
Watch CMA Fest on fuboTV
FuboTV recently added ABC in most TV markets. You can check out FuboTV here. Fubo TV supports the following streaming devices:
- Android smartphones
- Android tablets
- iPhone
- iPad
- Apple TV (4th Generation only)
- Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick
- Roku
- Chromecast
For more information on FuboTV features, please see our Fubo TV review.
How Much: FuboTV costs $74.99.
Watch CMA Fest on DIRECTV STREAM
DIRECTV STREAM offers live ABC streaming in many markets. ABC is available through its “Entertainment” package for $79.99 a month, along with a ton of cable TV and other broadcast networks. DIRECTV STREAM offers ABC in over half the markets in the US. They offer a free trial to allow you to make sure ABC is offered in your area. For more information, check out our review of DIRECTV STREAM.
How Much: $79.99 per month through the “Entertainment” package.
Watch CMA Fest On-Demand
If you miss the live broadcast, Hulu’s streaming library will air the CMA Fest on-demand starting Thursday, July 20, at 3 A.M. EDT. Hulu’s Streaming Library, starting at just $7.99 per month after a 30-day free trial. The $7.99 plan is ad-supported. However, you can watch commercial-free by subscribing to Hulu’s ad-free plan for $17.99 per month. Hulu has a massive catalog of TV shows on-demand, and you will also have access to Hulu Originals like The Handmaid’s Tale, Shrill, and The Act. You can watch Hulu on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, and more. See our review of Hulu for more details.
