How To Watch The Open Championship – Golf’s British Open

Golf’s Open Championship takes place at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland (also referred to as “The British Open.”) The Major tournament starts Thursday, July 14, and continues through Sunday, July 17. While the Open Championship is on the PGA Tour schedule, it’s officially run by the R&A; therefore, the Open Championship will not be on EPSN+. Instead, live coverage of the Open Championship will air on USA Network, and NBC with Special Holes and Group Coverage streaming live on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service. Peacock coverage will also include Primary coverage on NBC and extended coverage throughout the tournament. This article will explain everything you need to know about watching the Open Championship without a cable TV subscription.

How To Stream The USA Open: To catch all the coverage, you will need on USA Network and NBC or Peacock. To watch coverage on USA Network, you can use a free trial to DIRECTV STREAM or YouTube TV. Other options for streaming USA Network are Sling TV, Hulu Live TV, and FuboTV. Since all the Open Championship Coverage on NBC is also on Peacock, it makes sense to pick up a 1-month subscription to Peacock Premium for $4.99 and only worry about getting the USA Network on one of those live streaming services previously mentioned. Read on for the entire Open Championship schedule and more on these streaming options, including watching on-demand.

The Open Championship TV and Streaming Schedule

USA Network coverage is exclusive, and Peacock will stream coverage airing on NBC along with Featured Holes and Groups and extended coverage. In other words, you will need access to both USA Network and Peacock (NBC coverage is on Peacock). The TV schedule for the Open Championship is as follows:

(All Times Eastern)

• Thursday, July 14
  • 1:30 AM – 4 AM, Peacock (streaming)
  • 4 AM -3 PM, USA Network
  • 3 PM – on, Peacock (streaming)
• Friday, July 15
  • 1:30 AM – 4 AM, Peacock (streaming)
  • 4 AM – 3 PM, USA Network
  • 3 PM – on, Peacock (streaming)
• Saturday, July 16
  • 5 AM – 7 AM, USA Network 
  • 7 AM – 3 PM, NBC (also streaming on Peacock)
• Sunday, July 17
  • 4 AM -7 AM, USA Network 
  • 7 AM – 2 PM, NBC (also streaming on Peacock)

Peacock Coverage – Peacock featured holes coverage focuses on the 11th, 12th, and 13th holes. Coverage concludes once the last group has played No. 13. Peacock will also simulcast NBC broadcast coverage.

Watching The Open Championship Without Cable

ESPN+ will not have any Open Championship coverage. Featured holes and groups will stream on Peacock.

To avoid confusion, I recommend signing up for Peacock Premium. This will allow you to watch all the Peacock and NBC coverage of the Open Championship through the Peacock App, along with featured holes and group streams. I recommend a free trial to DIRECTV Stream for USA Network, but I also cover other options below.

Peacock

Peacock will be covering early rounds on its free plan. Coverage airing on NBC will also stream on Peacock’s premium tier, which costs $4.99 per month. They don’t require a long-term commitment, so you can cancel during the trial period and not be charged.

You can stream Peacock’s Open Championship on your TV or mobile device. The streaming service supports Roku, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple T.V. 4K and Apple T.V. HD, Xbox One S and Xbox One X, Playstation 4, Fire TV, Android devices, Android TV, Chromecast, and Chromecast built-in, Xfinity Flex 4K. Follow these steps to install Peacock on your device:

1. Subscribe to a Peacock using this link.
2. Search your device’s app store or channel store for “Peacock.”
3. Select the streaming service and press “OK.”, “Install” or “Download” depending on your device
4. Peacock is now installed on your Roku. Open Peacock, and log in with the credentials you used to subscribe to the service. Search for “Open Championship” and watch.

If you need more information, see our review of Peacock for details.

DIRECTV STREAM

You can watch NBC and USA Network through DIRECTV STREAM. You have to subscribe to their “Entertainment” package for $74.99 per month. You get a 5-day free trial; they don’t force you into a contract, and you can cancel anytime. If you cancel during the trial, you won’t be charged for the first month.

DIRECTV STREAM Entertainment Plan Deal: Currently DIRECTV STREAM provides a 5-day free trial for their "Entertaiment" Channel Plan. After the trial, the service costs $74.99 per month after. You can sign up on the DIRECTV STREAM website.

To stream USA Network and NBC, download the DIRECTV STREAM app to a supported device and use the on-screen guide. The service also includes unlimited cloud DVR storage and allows you to simultaneously stream to an unlimited number of devices in the home, and up to 3 outside the home.  

DIRECTV STREAM is supported on the following devices:

• 4th Gen Apple TV
• Google Chromecast, 2nd gen and higher
• Amazon Fire TV
• Fire TV Stick
• iOS devices
• Android
• Chrome and Safari browsers
• Roku

You can try DIRECTV STREAM by signing up for this 5-day free trial.

See our review of DIRECTV STREAM for more details on this streaming service.

Hulu Live TV

Hulu Live TV provides NBC and USA Network in their channel lineup. You can check your zip code on the following page to verify the channels you will receive Hulu Live TV Channels by Zip code. If you decide to keep Hulu Live TV, you will be charged $69.99 per month after the trial. There is no contract, and you can cancel at any time. A Hulu Live TV subscription includes

• Unlimited cloud DVR storage. (Recordings save for nine months)
• Watch on two screens at once. (Upgrades available)
• Comes with six customizable profiles
• Includes entire Hulu streaming library
• full access to Disney+ and ESPN+

Hulu Live TV is supported on Roku, Fire TV Devices, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, iOS, Android, and more. You’ll find more information on Hulu’s supported devices and everything else you would need to know in our full review of Hulu Live TV.

YouTube TV

YouTube TV is similar to DIRECTV in that you can get access to USA Network and NBC with a 7-day free trial. However, if you forget to cancel, YouTube TV will cost you $64.99 per month.

YouTube TV provides:

• USA, NBC, Local Network Channels, and over 70 other channels
• unlimited cloud DVR storage
• stream on three devices at once
• YouTube TV supports Roku, Android, iOS, Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, and more. 
• Includes YouTube TV on-demand
• offers a 1-week free trial.

You can read our review of YouTube TV for more details.

fuboTV

FuboTV carries USA Network. NBC is also carried in many parts of the country, but not as many as Hulu Live TV, DIRECTV STREAM, or YouTube TV. You can see if NBC is available using this link. FuboTV offers a 7-day free trial, so you can watch The Open Championship for free. After the trial, The “Pro Plan” costs $74.99.

• Over 100 channels, including USA, ESPN, and FS1, are available in fuboTV’s channel lineup
• You can watch on three screens at the same time 
• 250 hours of cloud DVR storage
• The FuboTV app is available on major platforms, including Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

You can sign up or check out our review of FuboTV for more details.

Sling TV

USA Network is available on Sling TV’s Blue package. Sling TV also offers NBC as a part of their Sling Blue package in the following markets:

• New York – WNBC
• Philadelphia – WCAU
• Chicago – WMAQ
• Boston – WBTS
• Washington, DC – WRC-TV
• Miami/Ft. Lauderdale – WTVJ
• Hartford/New Haven – WVIT
• Dallas/Ft. Worth – KXAS
• Los Angeles – KNBC
• San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose – KNTV
• San Diego – KNSD

You can check Sling TV’s promo page for new offers. They often have great deals for signing up.

Sling TV is supported on Windows and Mac PCs and laptops, Android and iOS devices, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Nexus player, Xbox One, 4th Generation Apple TV, Chromecast, and more. See our guide to Sling TV for more information.

Watch The Open Championship On-Demand

We understand you may not want to get up at 3 AM to watch the Open Championship. Not to worry, if you subscribed to Peacock and one of the services that offer USA Network, you can watch the Open Championship whenever you like. The USA Network coverage will be available once it airs live through the NBC Sports App. The NBC coverage, featured holes, and featured groups coverage of the Open Championship is available to stream anytime on the Peacock app once it begins the live stream. Below is instructions for streaming both on-demand.

Watch USA Network Open Championship coverage on-demand

To watch USA coverage of the Open Championship, download the NBC Sports app, sign up for a streaming service that carries USA Network, and log into the app and get access to watch. The NBC Sports App is supported on Apple iOS & tvOS, Android, AndroidTV, Amazon Fire TV, Contour, Contour Stream Player, Roku, and Chromecast. Follow the steps below, and you should have no problem watching all three weeks of the Open Championship.

1. Use a Free Trial to a Service that carries USA. Those are:
   • DIRECTV STREAM – offers a 1-week free trial.
   • YouTube TV –  offers a 1-week free trial.
2. Go to the channel store or app store on your device. On Roku, it’s called the “Channel Store.”
3. Search for the NBC Sports app
4. Add the NBC Sports app to your device and then open it. 
5. Go to “Browse” on the menu to the left of the screen. Under “All Networks,” navigate to “USA” and press the OK button on your remote.
6. Using a computer or mobile web browser, you go to https://www.nbcsports.com/activate.
7. You will then be asked for a TV provider and a username/password. For example, If you subscribe to DIRECTV STREAM, select “DIRECTV STREAM,” then enter your login and password for DIRECTV STREAM.
8. Once you sign in, your TV screen will refresh after a minute or so. You should now have access to the Open Championship through the app.

Watching Peacock Open Championship coverage on-demand

All of the NBC coverage, featured holes, and featured groups coverage of the Open Championship is available on-demand once the event starts live that day. You access on-demand on Peacock the same way you would access the live coverage. The steps are as follows:

• Subscribe to a Peacock using this link.
• “Search” your device’s app store or channel store for “Peacock.”
• Select the streaming service and press “OK.”, “Install” or “Download” depending on your device
• Peacock is now installed on your Roku. Open Peacock, and log in with the credentials you used to subscribe to the service. Search for “Open Championship” and watch.