How To Watch Big Ten Network without Cable

The Big Ten will open its season on Friday Oct. 23rd, when Illinois and Wisconsin square off at 8 pm. The game will air live at 8 pm ET on BTN and you don’t need cable to watch it. Each of the following live streaming services offers BTN in their channel lineup. The all offer a free trial so you can even watch this game live on Big Ten Network free!

FuboTV – They provide BTN as well as over 80 other channels. They also offer a 1-week free trial.

Hulu Live TV – Offers BTN, local channels, and a ton of other features. You can see all the channels offered in your area by entering your zip code on this Hulu Page.

Sling TV – BTN will launch on Sling TV on October 22, 1 day before the season starts. It’s available by subscribing to the Sling Blue package with the sports extra add-on for a total cost of $40 per month. They offer a 3-Day Free Trial.

Vidgo – A newer streaming service that offers fairly competitive pricing over other live streaming services. Vidgo includes BTN in its Core package, along with over 60 other channels. They offer a 3-day free trial.

AT&T TV Now – While the most expensive option at $80, they do throw in HBO at no additional cost. 

YouTube TV – Last but not least, you can watch BTN on YouTube TV. 

With the free trial, not only can you watch Friday’s game free on BTN’s games, but the following day you can watch these Saturday games airing on BTN free as well:

• Rutgers at Michigan State | 12 p.m. ET
• Iowa at Purdue | 3:30 p.m. ET
• Maryland at Northwestern | 7:30 p.m. ET

Each of these streaming services will allow you to stream Big Ten Network live through their apps. With your account credentials to Hulu, Vidgo, Sling TV, fuboTV, and YouTube TV, you can activate the BTN live stream in the Fox Sports app and watch there as well. The BTN live stream through these services is the same as having the channel through a cable provider. The network features games from the Big Ten Conference and original programming highlighting what’s going on at those universities. Let’s see which streaming service will be the best one for you to catch all the games on BTN.

Streaming Services with Big Ten Network

Thankfully, as with most cable content today, there are alternate ways to enjoy the channels and shows you want without forking over mountains of cash to a cable TV provider. Below are more details on the live TV streaming services that carry BTN.

Stream BTN with Hulu Live TV

Previously Hulu was known for its vast on-demand streaming library. However, Hulu also offers a live TV service that includes Live BTN. Hulu Live TV is one of the best live TV streaming services available. It consists of the following features:

• Over 60 live local and cable channels, including BTN, ESPN, Fox Sports, and more. See Channels in your Area
• The basic package comes with 50 hours of cloud DVR storage. (Upgrades available)
• Watch on 2 screens at once. (Upgrades available)
• Comes with 6 customizable profiles
• Includes entire Hulu streaming library
• supported on Roku, Fire TV Devices, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, iOS, Android, and more.

For full details and information on this streaming service, see our review of Hulu Live TV. There are no contracts so you can cancel any time without penalty.

Hulu Live TV offers BTN for $64.99/month after a 7-day free trial.

Watch BTN on Sling TV

BTN became available on Sling TV on October 22, one day before the Big Ten season starts. It’s available by subscribing to the Sling Blue package with the Sports Extra add-on for a total cost of $40 per month. Below are some of the features included in that package:

• access to AMC, History Channel, A&E, and other channels on Sling TV
• Sling also offers on-demand and a cloud DVR
• You can stream up to three devices at the same time on the Sling Blue plan
• 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.

Please read our Sling TV review for more information. There are no contracts so you can cancel any time without penalty. Sling offers a 3-Day Free Trial to try their service.

Stream BTN on FuboTV

FuboTV is an excellent place to go for sports channels, including BTN. Over 90 channels are offered in its Family package for $$$‘/month (after a 7-day free trial). Here are some of the highlights of the plan:

• BTN, ESPN, FS1, and more 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 AppleTV, AndroidTV, Roku, and Amazon FireTV. 

You can sign up for a 1-week free trial or check out our review of FuboTV for more details.

Watch Big Ten Network on Vidgo

Vidgo is a newer streaming service that offers fairly competitive pricing over other live streaming services. Vidgo includes BTN in its Core package, along with over 60 other channels. New customers can sign up for the Core Plan for $45 per month. (They offer discounted promo pricing for your first 3 months.) Features include

• ESPN, History, MTV, and other channels
• watch on three devices at the same time
• Vidgo customers can watch shows from the past 24 hours.
• Vidgo is supported on available on Android, iOS, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV. You can also stream the service on up to 3 devices at the same time.

Vidgo doesn’t force you into a contract so that you can cancel any time. They do offer a 3-day free trial, which you can cancel within the first three days at no charge.

We have the full details in our guide to Vidgo’s live streaming service.

BTN on AT&T TV Now

AT&T TV Now is another way to watch BTN. Big Ten Network is part of their “Max” package. At $80 per month, you get the following:

• watch on 2 streams simultaneously per subscription 
• a cloud-based DVR
• channels like BTN, AMC, HGTV, Discovery, and more
• The Max package also includes HBO
• supported on AppleTV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon FireTV, and more

You can check out everything this service offers by reading our AT&T TV Now review.

BTN on YouTube TV

YouTubeTV also offers BTN streaming live, as well as limitless storage space for recording your shows. Your library of recorded shows can be streamed anywhere. YouTubeTV costs $64.99 a month. A subscription to YouTube TV includes the following:

• access to ESPN, FS1, BTN, and over 70 other channels
• unlimited cloud DVR storage
• stream on three devices at once
• Youtube TV supports Roku, Android, iOS (includes AirPlay to Apple TV), and Chromecasts/Chromecast-compatible TVs. 

Check our review of YouTube TV for all the information on this service. YouTube TV offers a 1-week free trial.

Watching BTN on Roku and Other Devices

To watch BTN on Roku, Fire TV, or other supported devices, subscribe to either Hulu, Vidgo, Sling TV, fuboTV, AT&T TV Now, or YouTube TV, download their app to your device, and you can watch BTN through their app. Most of those services will also allow you to watch BTN through the Fox Sports app

Streaming BTN on the Fox Sports app

If you subscribe to FuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV, or Sling TV, you can watch BTN online using the Fox Sports app. Below are the steps to install Fox Sports and watch BTN on Roku. However, the steps for other streaming devices are similar.

1. Go to the channel store on your device.
2. Search for “Fox Sports.” You will see the “Fox Sports app.” Add it to your device. 
3. Open the app. If it’s your first time opening the app, you may be asked to create or sign in with your Fox Sports profile. You can skip this step.
4. You will then be asked to “Sign in with your TV provider.”
5. Select “other provider.”
6. You will then see an activation code and a URL (activate.foxsports.com)
7. Using a web browser, go to activate.foxsports.com and enter the activation code.
8. Still, on your browser, choose the streaming service you subscribe to for BTN. I use Hulu, but Hulu, Vidgo, Sling TV, fuboTV, and YouTube TV are acceptable. Sign in using your login credentials to that service
9. Your TV screen will refresh, and you will see BTN and other Fox sports networks available through the app.

The Fox Sports app is supported on the following devices:

• Android
• iOS
• Apple TV
• FireTV
• Android TV
• Xbox One
• Roku
• Samsung Smart TV

BTN Plus

BTN also offers a service called BTN Plus, which lets you watch live streaming of non-televised games. This way, you get plenty of content for all schools in the Big Ten Conference. You can view these games on the BTN Plus app for $14.95/month or $119.95/year. This service unlocks all untelevised games from the following schools:

• University of Michigan
• Northwestern University
• Wisconsin University
• The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Penn State University
• Ohio State University
• Michigan State University
• Purdue University
• University of Minnesota
• Indiana University
• University of Iowa
• University of Nebraska
• Rutgers University
• University of Maryland

For information on watching other TV channels online check out: How To Stream Specific TV Channels

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