With the new season of The Haves and The Have Nots and hit shows like Family or Fiancé and Love & Marriage, we decided to update our guide to watching The Oprah Winfrey Network (or OWN). OWN isn’t just available through cable and satellite TV. The channel is available through numerous online streaming services like Philo, Vidgo, fuboTV, and YouTube TV.
By signing up for those services, you can watch OWN through their streaming app, or use your account username and password to log into the “Watch OWN” app on Apple and Android devices, Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, or stream Own live on oprah.com.
How to Watch OWN without Cable
The following services carry Own in their channel lineup. With these services, you can watch OWN the same way you would on cable TV.
Philo is The Cheapest Way to Watch OWN
Philo provides cord-cutters the best value when it comes to streaming live TV. The service provides OWN and over 60 other channels for $25/month. You can check out a free trial and see if the service will meet your needs. Philo also includes a cloud DVR for you to record shows to watch later.
We consider Philo the best streaming service to watch Own because you get so much for $25 per month:
- Over 60 cable channels, including Own
- unlimited cloud DVR
- stream on 3 devices at once
- support for most streaming devices and the ability to watch online
Sign Up For A Free Trial To Philo
Philo is supported on Apple iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets, Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku. Check out our review of Philo for more information.
OWN is on Vidgo
Vidgo is a newer streaming service that offers fairly competitive pricing over other live streaming services. The only catch is they do not currently offer a DVR. Vidgo includes OWN in its Core package, along with over 60 other channels. New customers can sign up for the Core Plan for $55 per month. (They offer discounted promo pricing for your first 3 months.) They do offer special pricing for new customers. Vidgo doesn’t force you into a contract so you can cancel any time.
Vidgo is supported available on Android, iOS, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, and more. You can also stream the service on up to 3 devices at the same time. We have the full details in our guide to Vidgo’s live streaming service.
Stream OWN on FuboTV
FuboTV is another live streaming option that carries OWN in their channel lineup. Its basic package will cost $64.99/month (starting August 1st) and includes over 90 channels! Some of FuboTV features include:
- channels like OWN 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.
OWN is on YouTube TV
Google’s live TV streaming service YouTube TV offers live OWN and several other channels to their lineup. YouTubeTV does include a DVR with limitless storage space for recording your shows. Plus, you can watch your library of recorded shows anywhere! The YouTube TV channel lineup includes OWN, HGTV, TLC, and dozens of other channels for $64.99 a month.
Youtube TV supports Android, iOS, Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, and more. The YouTube TV app isn’t available on Roku. However, users can use YouTube TV through the YouTube app on Roku devices. Check our review of YouTube TV for more information.
Streaming OWN Shows Online
You can watch OWN live and many OWN shows on-demand on the Watch OWN app. However, the app requires credentials from one of the services above to unlock all the content. We cover that later in this article.
Some OWN shows are available on Hulu’s subscription service, including If Loving You is Wrong, Queen Sugar, The Paynes, and Tyler Perry’s The Haves and The Have Nots. Hulu rotates their content routinely, so check Hulu’s Oprah Winfrey Network page to see what is available. The streaming service starts at $5.99/month or $11.99/month to watch ad-free.
Netflix includes “Greenleaf” in its streaming service, as well. Depending on how many screens you want to watch, Netflix costs between $8.99-$15.99 per month.
Watching OWN on A Streaming Device
Once you subscribe to one of the streaming services that carry OWN, all you need to do is download the streaming services app to a supported device, and then you can start watching OWN.
Watch OWN on Roku
To watch OWN on Roku, follow these instructions.
- Subscribe to a streaming service that carries OWN (Philo, Vidgo, fuboTV, or YouTube TV.)
- On your Roku Menu, navigate to “Search” and press “OK” on your remote
- Enter the name of the streaming service you subscribe to in the search bar
- Select the streaming service and press “OK.”
- Select “Add Channel” press “OK” on your remote. If the channel is already installed, “Go To Channel” will be an option.
- The App is now installed on your Roku. Open the app, and log in with the credentials you used to subscribe to the service. OWN will be a channel available through the app’s live TV guide.
Watch OWN on Fire TV
To watch OWN on Fire TV, follow these instructions.
- Subscribe to a streaming service that carries OWN (Philo, Vidgo, fuboTV, or YouTube TV.)
- On your Fire TV Home screen, click on the search icon in the screen’s upper-left corner.
- Enter the name of the streaming service you subscribe to in the search bar
- Select the streaming service and press “OK.”
- Select “Download,” and the channel will install
- The App is now installed on your Fire TV. Open the app, and log in with the credentials you used to subscribe to the service. OWN will be a channel available through the app’s live TV guide.
Watch OWN on Apple TV
To watch OWN on Apple TV, follow these instructions.
- Subscribe to a streaming service that carries OWN (Philo, Vidgo, fuboTV, or YouTube TV.)
- Scroll right to the search icon in the upper-left corner of the screen
- Enter the name of the streaming service you subscribe to in the search bar
- Select the streaming service click the cloud icon, and the channel will install
- The App is now installed on your Apple TV. Open the app, and log in with the credentials you used to subscribe to the service. OWN will be a channel available through the app’s live TV guide.
Is There an OWN Subscription
No. There isn’t a way to directly subscribe to OWN. However, you can watch OWN live and on-demand through the web site or the OWN app. Your login credentials from Philo, Vidgo, fuboTV, or YouTube TV will work to unlock all the content available through the OWN app.
Using The OWN App
If you subscribe to Philo, Vidgo, fuboTV, or YouTube TV, you can watch OWN by downloading the app for that streaming service. However, these streaming services can be used as a TV provider to unlock all the content available on the OWN App.
New episodes of shows on OWN become available the day after they air on TV. You can also catch up on full seasons and watch hours of stand-up specials, classic shows, and more on the app. Without a TV provider account, you can watch OWN free through the OWN app for 24 hours.
How To Activate the OWN App
The best way to explain this is through an example. Let’s assume we have a Philo subscription and a Roku. We can follow the steps below to get the OWN app working on our device. While the steps below use Philo and Roku to watch OWN, most streaming services and devices will have the same process.
- Go to the channel store or app store on your device. On Roku, it’s called the “Channel Store.”
- Search for “OWN”
- Add the OWN app to your device and then open it.
- Your Roku device will then show you an activation code and a URL to activate the OWN app.
- Using a computer or mobile web browser, you go to the URL.
- You will then be asked for a TV provider and a username/password. I’m entering the username and password I use for Philo.
- Once you sign in on OWN’s website, your TV screen will refresh. You should now have access to all the video content the app provides.
Supported Streaming Devices
The OWN app is supported on all of the following streaming devices:
- Android Devices
- iOS Devices
- Apple TV
- Roku
- Amazon Fire TV
- Chromecast
- Android TV
Watch OWN for Free
Most of the streaming services that carry OWN offer a free trial. You can take advantage of those and watch free OWN for almost a month or longer if you use different email addresses. Let’s look at the free trials available.
- Philo– Sling TV offers a 7-day free trial.
- FuboTV – offers a 1-week free trial.
- YouTube TV – offers a 1-week free trial
As long as you cancel before the free trial expires, you won’t be charged. You can cycle the free trials to get nearly a month of OWN free. If you get creative with email addresses and payment methods, you could watch free OWN even longer. Doing this would also let you test out the various live TV streaming services to see which one you like the best.
What We Like About OWN
Maybe you love her because of her role in “The Color Purple” or because of her long-running talk show famous for its emotional beats. Maybe you read books from her Book Club or the magazine that she runs. Perhaps you idolize her like sitcom women Liz Lemon of “30 Rock.” Maybe, like Abbi Abrams of “Broad City,” you want to tattoo her likeness on your back.
However, at the very least, chances are the name Oprah Winfrey brings a smidge of joy when you hear it. After all, this is a woman who gleefully announced that every member of her TV show audience would get a car. She is synonymous with exuberance and zeal for, as she says it, “living your best life.”
As such, maybe you also enjoy watching the Oprah Winfrey Network or OWN. Although her talk show is off the air, you can still view the old episodes there. You can also see more recent conversations that Oprah has with other celebrities like Melinda Gates and Beto O’Rouke on her newer show, “Super Soul Sunday.” Or you can watch “modern masters” picked by Oprah (such as John Lewis and Gladys Knight) to share their life lessons on “Oprah’s Master Class.”
OWN also has quite a few other shows, both scripted and not scripted like Queen Sugar, Ambitions, Greenleaf, and The Haves and the Have Nots many of which feature African Americans.
You can find detailed recommendations for many of the shows in her magazine, naturally. Fortunately, whether you follow her advice and watch these shows or want to soak up images of Oprah herself, you can do so without cable.
For information on watching other TV channels online check out: How To Stream Specific TV Channels
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