How to Watch MTV Without Cable

You don’t need cable to watch MTV. You can watch MTV through any of the following streaming services: Philo (free trial), Hulu, Sling TV, fuboTV, YouTube TV, Vidgo, and DIRECTV STREAM. These streaming services allow you to watch MTV on streaming devices, smart devices, and online, just as if you had cable.

Streaming Services that Carry MTV

Let’s take a look at all the ways you can watch MTV without subscribing to a satellite or cable TV provider.

Philo is The Cheapest Way To Watch MTV

Philo also has MTV2, MTV Classic, and MTV Live

Philo is our favorite option for watching MTV Live online. Philo is a live online TV streaming service that provides MTV, MTV2, MTV Classic, MTV Live, and 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. 

Sign Up For A Free Trial To Philo

Philo supports the Apple iPhone and iPad (running iOS 9 or newer), Android phones and tablets (running 5.0 or newer), Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast.

With online access to MTV streaming, you will never miss great shows like “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation,” “The Hills: New Beginnings” “Ghosted: Love Gone Missing,” “Teen Mom OG” “Ex on the Beach,” and “Are You the One?”

You can use your Philo credentials to sign on to the MTV app and watch many episodes there. For information, check out our review, which includes a list of all channels available on Philo.

Watch MTV on Hulu

Personally, use Hulu to watch live MTV online. Previously Hulu was known for its vast on-demand streaming library. However, they also offer Hulu Live TV service, including live MTV streaming and most top channels typically found on cable. Hulu Live TV starts at $69.99 after signing up and includes the following features:

• The basic package comes with 50 hours of cloud DVR storage. (Upgrades available)
• Watch on 2 screens at once. (Upgrades available)
• It comes with 6 customizable profiles
• Includes entire Hulu On-Demand streaming library

Not only will you be able to watch MTV live, but the included Hulu on-demand service will allow you to stream past seasons of MTV shows. You can check out Hulu’s MTV On-demand page to see what’s available. You don’t have to subscribe to the live TV service to access Hulu’s On-Demand Streaming library. Those plans start at only $6.99 per month after a 30-day free trial.

With Hulu Live TV, you can watch MTV on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, and more. See our review of Hulu for more information.

Watch MTV on Sling TV

MTV is not in Sling’s base packages. However, you can get MTV through the Orange or the Blue package if you add the “Comedy Extra” add-on package. This base package costs $35 per month and the Comedy Extra add-on is an additional $6 per month. A Cloud DVR is included.

Sling TV is available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, and more, so it’s not a problem to enjoy it on a TV, tablet, computer, or other smart devices. There are more channels than I’ve mentioned available on Sling TV than what I’ve discussed here. To find out more about what Sling TV offers and more information about Sling TV device compatibility, check out this detailed review of Sling TV or check out these offers for new subscribers.

Watch MTV 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. Their service offers MTV as a part of 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.)

Vidgo doesn’t force you into a contract, and you can cancel any time. They do offer a 1-week free trial and don’t force you into a contract. Therefore, you can cancel the service at any time. 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.  We have the full details in our guide to Vidgo’s live streaming service.

Watch MTV on DIRECTV STREAM

MTV is one of the channels available on AT&T’s streaming service DIRECTV STREAM. For a price of $69.99, you will get the following:

• watch 20 streams simultaneously per subscription 
• a cloud-based DVR
• channels like MTV, AMC, HGTV, Discovery, and more
• supported on AppleTV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon FireTV, and more

You can check out everything this service offers by taking advantage of their online offer or read about it in our DIRECTV STREAM review.

Watch MTV on FuboTV

FuboTV is an excellent place to go for sports, but it offers many other channels, including MTV, in its “Pro Plan” for $69.99 per month (after 7-day free trial). Fubo TV includes:

• One 100 channels including MTV, 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 for a 1-week free trial or check out our review of FuboTV for more details.

MTV is Now on YouTube TV

In late June 2020, YouTube added MTV along with several other channels to their lineup. They also suddenly raised their prices to $65 per month. 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 MTV for $64.99 a month. 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. Check our review of YouTube TV for more information.

Watching MTV on A Streaming Device

Once you subscribe to one of the streaming services that carry MTV, all you need to do is download the streaming services app to a supported device, and then you can start watching MTV.

Watch MTV on Roku

To watch MTV on Roku, follow these instructions.

1. Subscribe to a streaming service that carries MTV (Philo, Sling TV, YouTube TV, FuboTV, etc.)
2. On your Roku Menu, navigate to “Search” and press “OK” on your remote
3. Enter the name of the streaming service you subscribe to in the search bar
4. Select the streaming service and press “OK.”
5. Select “Add Channel” press “OK” on your remote. If the channel is already installed, “Go To Channel” will be an option.
6. The App is now installed on your Roku. Open the app, and log in with the credentials you used to subscribe to the service. MTV will be a channel available through the app’s live TV guide.

Watch MTV on Fire TV

To watch MTV on Fire TV, follow these instructions.

1. Subscribe to a streaming service that carries MTV (Philo, Sling TV, YouTube TV, FuboTV, etc.)
2. On your Fire TV Home screen, click on the search icon in the screen’s upper-left corner.
3. Enter the name of the streaming service you subscribe to in the search bar
4. Select the streaming service and press “OK.”
5. Select “Download,” and the channel will install
6. 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. MTV will be a channel available through the app’s live TV guide.

Watch MTV on Apple TV

To watch MTV on Apple TV, follow these instructions.

1. Subscribe to a streaming service that carries MTV (Philo, Sling TV, YouTube TV, FuboTV, etc)
2. Scroll right to the search icon in the upper-left corner of the screen
3. Enter the name of the streaming service you subscribe to in the search bar
4. Select the streaming service click the cloud icon, and the channel will install
5. 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. MTV will be a channel available through the app’s live TV guide.

Is There an MTV Subscription

No. There isn’t a way to directly subscribe to MTV. However, you can watch MTV live and on-demand through the website or the MTV app. Your login credentials from FuboTV, Philo, YouTube TV, and Vidgo will work to unlock all the content available through the MTV app.

Unlock Full Episodes on The MTV App

To unlock full episodes on the MTV app, you need to have a valid TV provider. Your credentials for streaming services like Philo, Hulu Live TV, DIRECTV STREAM, and YouTube TV can all be used to unlock full episodes on the MTV 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 MTV app working on our device. While the steps below use Philo and Roku to watch MTV, most streaming services and devices will have the same process. You can test this out using a 1-week free trial to Philo.

1. Go to the channel store or app store on your device. On Roku, it’s called the “Channel Store.”
2. Search for “MTV”
3. Add the MTV app to your device and then open it. 
4. Your Roku device will then show you an activation code and a URL to activate the MTV app.
5. Using a computer or mobile web browser, you go to the URL.
6. You will then be asked for a TV provider and a username/password. I’m entering the username and password I use for Philo.
7. Once you sign in on MTV’s website, your TV screen will refresh. You should now have access to full episodes on the MTV app.

Supported Streaming Devices

The MTV app is supported on all of the following streaming devices:

• Android Devices
• iOS Devices
• Apple TV
• Roku
• Amazon Fire TV
• Chromecast
• Android TV

Watch MTV for Free

Some of the streaming services that carry MTV offer a free trial. If you use different email addresses, you can take advantage of those and watch free MTV for almost a month or longer. Let’s look at the free trials available.

• Philo – offers a 7-day free trial
• DIRECTV STREAM – Watch with this 5-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 MTV free. If you get creative with email addresses and payment methods, you could watch free MTV even longer. Doing this would let you test out the various live TV streaming services to see which one you like the best.

How To Stream MTV Shows

Below are articles on how to watch popular MTV shows, even if you don’t have cable.

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