The Bachelor has been wooing fans since it first aired in 2002. As of early 2021, the show is in its twenty-fifth season. It’s old enough to be a contestant on The Bachelor! The reality TV hit is about one handsome man’s search for true love, but contestants often find a lot of drama along with it. And viewers love that drama, regardless of if it centers around a pilot named Peter or a philanthropist named Matt.
But what if you don’t have cable? Can you still see who gets the next rose on The Bachelor? We won’t keep you in suspense: you can watch The Bachelor without cable. There are multiple ways to do that, so which method you give your rose to is up to you. Read on to learn how to watch The Bachelor without cable.
How to Watch The Bachelor Online and Over the Air Without Cable
The Bachelor airs on ABC, which gives you more options if you want to watch The Bachelor without cable. Why is that the case? Well, ABC is a broadcast network. Broadcast networks are also known as over-the-air networks, which means you can pick them up via an antenna. We’ll discuss that option in depth below. First, though, let’s cover skinny bundles.
We’ll sometimes refer to skinny bundles as live TV streaming services. But regardless of your preferred nomenclature, this method of watching TV is a great way to watch The Bachelor online. See, skinny bundles are like cable TV without all the contracts, complications, and extra channels. Skinny channels are still “multichannel” packages, which means you’ll have different channels to surf between, but they don’t have as many “filler” channels. Live TV streaming services use your home internet connection and don’t need special hardware, so there’s no need to schedule an eight-hour window for a cable company technician to come by.
Is ABC available on live TV streaming services? That’s a yes, but there are some caveats. The biggest one is that skinny bundles don’t typically offer ABC in every market in the country. This is because ABC doesn’t own all of its local affiliates, so there are a lot of companies and channels to deal with — the ABC affiliate in Denver may not agree to the exact same contract as the one in Cleveland, for example. Luckily, most networks are covered. When in doubt, you can usually enter your zip code on a streaming service’s website to see which channels are available in your market.
With that background out of the way, let’s get specific. Here are the services we recommend you use to watch The Bachelor without cable.
The latest season of The Bachelor is available through the Hulu + Live TV streaming service. That’s not the same thing as the regular Hulu on-demand streaming service, so make sure you sign up for the right thing. If you do, you’ll get a live stream of ABC and the freedom to stream The Bachelor live or on demand.
The Bachelor is not a sport in the traditional sense, though it’s definitely competitive. But like a football game, there’s plenty of high emotion, and sometimes participants get injured and require medical attention. That’s a roundabout way of saying that while fuboTV used to be exclusively for sports fans, it’s now also a good option for fans of The Bachelor. Just make sure that you can get your local ABC station through fuboTV first. If you can, you’ll be ready to stream The Bachelor online.
YouTube TV
You may have seen YouTube TV ads pop up when you go to the main YouTube site to look up clips from last night’s NBA game. It’s often tempting to just ignore ads, but if you want to watch The Bachelor without cable, it might be worth clicking on one of those ads and/or looking for a YouTube TV free trial. YouTube TV is a solid but underrated option for streaming The Bachelor.
Free Over-the-Air TV
The Bachelor first aired in the spring of 2002. That may seem like a long time ago, but one thing about The Bachelor hasn’t changed since its very first airing: You can watch it for free with a TV antenna. And if you’ve got an HD TV, the picture quality will be a lot better than it was back in 2002.
So what do you need in order to watch free over-the-air TV? Well, the biggest thing you need is an antenna. The type of antenna you need depends on how close the nearest broadcast tower is. Once you set it up, just scan for channels, then head to ABC and start watching The Bachelor for free.
Can I Watch The Bachelor on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, and Chromecast?
The titular bachelor sends a lot of women home every season, but that doesn’t mean you have to go home if you want to watch The Bachelor without cable. You can watch it while visiting your hometown, or maybe even while you’re checking out someone else’s fantasy suite. The point is, the TV isn’t your only option for getting your fix of The Bachelor. You can also tune in on plenty of other devices. We’ll tell you exactly what devices are compatible with each streaming service in the chart below.
| Roku | Fire TV | Apple TV | Chromecast | iOS | Android | Web/ browser |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hulu + Live TV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| fuboTV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| YouTube TV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Watch What You Want, Bachelor Fans!
At this point, The Bachelor is a reality show classic. It’s provided hours of entertainment, and it’s also led to countless arguments over group chats about whether or not the right people ended up together. Yet one cannot subsist on The Bachelor episodes only. What do you watch when you’re all caught up on the latest happenings in the mansion?
For a different type of spectacle, consider The Masked Singer. It’s a competition of a different sort, as celebrities try to hide their identities while singing. You could argue that some contestants on The Bachelor are also trying to hide their identities, but this is different. This show involves elaborate masks and costumes. Once you start watching, it’s hard to look away.