If you root for a school in the Big Ten, then you know that missing the big game is just not an option. That makes Big Ten Network absolutely essential — in fact, it's important enough to almost make it worth paying for cable. Thankfully, you don't have to decide between your finances and your teams. We're here to show you how to legally watch Big Ten Network without cable. These legal methods below will give you the power to save major cash while still enjoying a Big Ten Network livestream on your TV — as well as on a whole bunch of other streaming devices, if you're into that! Let's get started: here's how to watch Big Ten Network without cable.
How to Watch Big Ten Network Without Cable
So you want to watch Big Ten Network online. Well, good news: there's a type of service called a “skinny bundle” that is designed to help you do just that. A skinny bundle may also be called a live TV streaming service, but the product is the same either way.
Here's the deal: unlike cable and satellite packages, skinny bundles deliver their content online. That means there are no regional monopolies, so you can expect lots of competitors vying for your business with low prices and great features. These are our favorite ways to stream college football and other NCAA sports online.
The list below covers all of the services we trust to help you watch Big Ten Network without cable.
Hulu's skinny bundle arm, Hulu + Live TV, offers subscribers a ton of great live content (plus the on-demand content you'd get from Hulu's older subscription service). And nestled into its channel list is — you guessed it — Big Ten Network. Hulu's free trial offer makes it easy to check out a Big Ten Network livestream free while you put Hulu + Live TV through its paces and decide if it's right for you.
A skinny bundle like fuboTV aims to please sports fans. It does a pretty good job of it, too, thanks to a solid collection of national and regional sports channels. And, yes, your Big Ten Network livestream is in the mix! fuboTV frequently runs promotions that discount its rates for your first month. You can watch BTN free online while you test things out as fuboTV also offers a free trial period, risk-free.
Sling TV is known as a haven for sports fans, so of course you can access the Big Ten Network here. To do so, add Big Ten Network as one of the “extras” to whatever bundle you choose. If you’d like to have a little more information on Sling TV first, no worries! Our Sling TV review can help you fill in some of those gaps.
YouTube TV
YouTube TV is one of the best skinny bundles on the market right now. Big Ten fans should definitely consider it for watching Big Ten Network online. You can sign up for the service's free trial offer by clicking on the link in this section. To get more familiar with YouTube TV, you can also look at our YouTube TV review.
Can I Watch Big Ten Network on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, or Chromecast?
You can watch every single one of the Big Ten Network’s big matchups on your big-screen TV. Yet you can watch it in a multitude of other ways as well. There’s no need to limit yourself to one device. Doing that is like limiting yourself to watching one game during football season! Online streaming means that you can watch BTN livestream on all sorts of different devices. In addition to streaming sticks, streaming boxes, and smart TVs, you can watch Big Ten Network live on smartphones, tablets, computers, and even video game systems.To find out which devices have access to Big Ten Network action, just take a look at the chart below.
| Roku | Fire TV | Apple TV | Android TV | Chromecast | iOS | Android | Web browser | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hulu + Live TV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| fuboTV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sling TV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| YouTube TV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
More to Watch for Big Ten Network Fans
The Big Ten is very good at sports. In 2021, nine Big Ten teams made the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Despite the name, there are fourteen schools that play basketball in the Big Ten, and so while that number is impressive, five teams didn’t make the cut.
While watching Big Ten Network without cable gets you a lot of college sports action, it doesn’t get you all of it. The annual NCAA basketball tournament is a good example of this, as the games air across multiple networks. Upsets always happen when you least expect it, so you don’t want to miss any of the fun. Our How to Watch March Madness Without Cable page will tell you exactly what you need to know to catch every thrilling moment.
I’ve tried and tried and tried again to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes on TV without cable. I even bought a Roku TV with no luck. If I do a trial with Hulu with LiveTV, what sort of internet connection speed do I need? One year I watched the Rose Bowl with fits and starts, starts and stops and stutters through the whole thing. It was depressing. I gave up.
Hi Julie, thanks for reading! Most live TV streaming service advertise that they’ll work with fairly slow internet, but I’d recommend a faster connection to avoid frustration — something like 50 Mbps at the minimum. Keep in mind that other devices using your internet matter, too, especially if people in your network are streaming on more than one device at once. Here’s some more information on streaming and internet speeds: https://cordcutting.com/a-guide-to-internet-speeds-how-internet-speeds-work-and-what-you-actually-need/
The BTN plus streaming channel is worthless. Read the reviews. I had a terrible time. It kept shutting down during the VB game stating I didn’t have a subscription, when I had an email confirmation. I emailed them 3 times and no one ever responded! And then reading the other reviews only made me realize how bad it is!
Sling does not have big ten