How To Watch A&E Live Without Cable: Your Best Options

Your best options to watch A&E live without cable include streaming services Philo, Sling Blue and Vidgo.

However, there are other options depending on your desired features and streaming objectives. Before you sign up for any of the streaming services, this blog post answers some very important questions below, you have to read.

A&E is an essential channel for those who enjoy thrilling documentaries, reality shows and crime series. However cutting the cord does not mean you have to give up A&E. Streaming can save you money over time without sacrificing your favorite shows.

Philo

• $20 per month
• 63 Channels
• 7-Day Free Trial

Philo is an affordable live TV streaming alternative to cable TV. At first glance, the service might be considered to good to be true. Philo is only $20 a month and has 63 cable channels including HGTV, TLC, AMC, Comedy Central and A&E.

If you are on the fence about Philo, you should know there are no contracts or additional fees and you can cancel anytime without expensive fees.

Aside from the 63 channels, the service also gives you access to an exhaustive on-demand library, consisting of 50,000 movies and TV show episodes. Not only can you stream AMC’s The Walking Dead or BBC America’s Killing Eve on-demand, but you can also watch some of A&E shows like The First 48.

However, the service’s on-demand content is not free from advertisements. After selecting a show, you will have to put up with a minute-long commercial and additional breaks during shows. While you can rewind, pause and fast-forward through movies and series, you can’t skip advertisements.

Despite this, Philo generously provides you with enough options to ensure you are up to date on your favorite shows. Even if the show is not available on-demand, the service’s playback feature allows you to watch any show aired within the last 72 hours.

Additionally, if you are too busy to watch shows live, the service’s unlimited DVR storage allows you to record and watch your favorite shows whenever you want. The service automatically deletes your recordings after 30 days, but it should be enough time to catch up on missed episodes. Since these are recordings, you can rewind and skip commercials.

There are some shows you can’t record. If you get a “Recording Disabled” notice, Philo probably does not have the rights to record the particular program or channel.

Unfortunately, since Philo’s content centers on entertainment and lifestyle channels, the service lacks top sports channels such as ESPN, Fox Sports and NBA TV. It has Motor Trend for motorsports events, but that’s it. You can’t purchase add-on packages to customize your viewing experience aside from EPIX and STARZ, which are $6 and $9 a month, respectively. 

Additionally, there are no local networks with Philo, regardless of where you live. Consequently, you will not get access to Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC affiliated networks. Their exclusion is one reason for Philo’s competitive price.

You can remedy these issues by purchasing a quality antenna for your local channels. If you want to know more about local networks and antennas, we have multiple articles on the topic on our website. You can browse through them here. With a decent antenna, you can fill some of Philo’s gaps in content while still costing less than cable TV.

Philo supports up to three streams at once. You can create ten profiles in one account, personalize recommendations and save content according to your interests.

When it comes to signing up and logging in to your account, Philo differs from other streaming services. Instead of requiring you to input a password, the service will ask you to enter a six-digit code, which it sends through your email address or phone number.

You don’t have to worry about the cost of purchasing an additional streaming device, as you can access Philo on mobile devices and web browsers. Philo also offers apps for media streaming devices like Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV and Roku.

While most streaming services offer more sports and local channels than Philo, it is at a higher monthly price. You can get creative and subscribe to another streaming service to complement your Philo subscription.

Sling Blue

• $30 per month
• 48 Channels
• 3-Day Free Trial

Sling TV has two initial plans: Sling Blue and Sling Orange. You can watch A&E on both packages, but Sling Blue offers more similar networks.

While you miss out on ESPN and Disney with Sling Blue, the plan does include networks like Discovery, NFL Network, Nick Jr., SYFY and more. You also gain access to local channels like NBC and Fox-affiliated networks with the Blue plan but you will still be missing among others, CBS, PBS and ABC.

However, like the streaming service Philo, we recommend you purchase a good antenna for your local networks

Despite those limitations, Sling TV is still one of the best services for watching international content. There are plenty of channel packages catering to Asian, European, Latin and Middle Eastern subscribers.

For those who wish to watch shows in Spanish, Sling TV offers plenty of ways to do so. For instance, $10 a month provides the Best of Spanish TV add-on. This extra includes UNIVERSO, History en Español, beIN SPORTS Ñ, Azteca, Nat Geo Mundo, Discovery en Español and more.

While Philo has little to no customization, Sling TV is the opposite. As evidenced above, Sling allows users to customize their channel lineup depending on their interests. If you want to couple A&E with sports, you can purchase the Sports Extra add-on for an additional $10 a month. With this add-on, you get NFL RedZone, Big Ten Network, NBA TV, Fox Sports 2 and more.

If you want similar networks to A&E, you can opt for the Hollywood Extra add-on, which consists of Sundance TV, FXX, FXM and more for $5 a month.

There are plenty of extras to choose from. These are as follows:

There are even premium networks like EPIX ($5/mo), STARZ ($9/mo) and Showtime ($10/mo).

Like its channel lineup, the service’s DVR storage is also customizable. Initially, you get 10 hours of DVR storage for free. But for an additional $5 a month, you can increase this to 50 hours. However, unlike Philo, Sling TV lets you keep your recordings as long as you subscribe to the service. If you pause your subscription, you have a generous 30 days to renew before you lose your recordings.

Sling TV has a long list of compatible streaming devices. The supported devices include, but are not limited to, Amazon Fire TV, Android devices, iOS devices, Chromecast, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Xbox One and even web browsers.

So, even if someone is watching on the TV in the living room, you can always access the service on your smartphone or computer—especially since Sling TV allows three concurrent streams.

If you want to try out the service, Sling TV offers a 3-day free trial. But you can also enjoy limited free content with Sling Free.

As the name suggests, Sling Free gives anyone access to select on-demand and preprogrammed content without signing up. The site boasts 5,000+ TV shows and movies. But since the service is free, you can expect advertisements.

The available content on Sling Free is somewhat dated. There are great shows offering complete seasons like Hell’s Kitchen, 21 Jump Street and Forensic Files. But there are also shows with only select episodes like Teen Titans Go!, The Walking Dead and Conan.

Although Sling Free is not a great alternative to cable TV, it’s general purpose is to convince people to subscribe to Sling TV.

To access Sling Free, you need to go to the Sling website and click “Watch Free Now.” You can also access Sling Free from the app by pressing “Explore Free Shows.”

Vidgo English

• $55 a month; $10 a month for the first two months
• 85 Channels
• 3-Day Free Trial

Vidgo wasn’t always a $55-per-month streaming service. It wasn’t long ago its standard plan was as low as $40 a month. But now, the service only has two options: the English-language plan and the Spanish-language plan.

Vidgo’s English plan costs $55 per month and includes 88 channels—with top-end networks like ESPN, ABC, Fox, Disney Channel, Hallmark Channel and A&E. However, both plans currently cost $10 a month for the first two months. This promotion is good news for those who wish to test drive the service without committing to the normal price.

In terms of on-demand content, Philo and Sling TV are a cut above Vidgo. The plan lacks on-demand content. It is also missing cloud DVR and offline viewing. At the time of writing, Vidgo is purely a live-TV streaming service, but the service plans to add DVR and on-demand content soon.

To address these issues, Vidgo offers a 24-hour playback feature. But for some viewers, this might not be enough.

Like Sling TV, Vidgo’s local TV viewing is limited. The service offers ABC and Fox, but it is missing CBS, NBC and Telemundo. Unfortunately, you are limited to Fox News and Fox Business with Vidgo.

Since you won’t have access to NBC or SBG local channels, you can’t watch regional sports. You can work around this with a good antenna. But Vidgo’s regular price might make it difficult for people on a budget to pair it with another service.

Thankfully, Vidgo’s channel lineup has many of the most popular lifestyle and entertainment channels. Aside from A&E, you also get BET, Comedy Central, Disney Channel, HGTV and TLC.

Apart from its top-end channel lineup, one of the best and unique aspects of Vidgo is its Social Watch Party feature. With Social TV, you can remotely enjoy your favorite shows and movies with friends and family. You can invite others to your scheduled watch party to watch the same show at the same time. Through chat windows, you can express yourself with memes, GIFs or live video reactions. You can also join other watch parties and hang out with like-minded fans.

However, there are a few caveats with Social TV. First, the feature is only available on mobile. Secondly, your friends need to be Vidgo subscribers for them to join your watch parties.

You can stream Vidgo on iOS, Android, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Chromecast and select web browsers. Like Philo and Sling Blue, Vidgo allows three simultaneous streams.

Can You Watch A&E on Amazon Prime Video?

You can watch A&E on Amazon Prime Video. Some of A&E’s programs like Storage Wars, Northern Treasures and The First 48 Presents: Homicide Squad Atlanta are available to watch. However, it is worth noting Amazon Prime is a significantly different platform from the other live streaming services we mentioned.

Amazon Prime Video, is purely an on-demand streaming service. There are no live TV offerings, but the service boasts an extensive library of shows, movies and original content. If you want to record shows, the service allows offline viewing, which functions almost like DVR. 

Amazon Prime Video costs $12.99 a month or $119 per year, but there is a cheaper option. Amazon Video loses Prime benefits like free two-day shipping, discounts and Twitch Prime membership, and costs $4 less ($8.99 a month).

Both Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Video provides ad-free content, three simultaneous streams and 30-day free trials.

Can You Watch A&E on Netflix?

Like Amazon Prime, some A&E shows are also available on Netflix. There’s Tiny House Nation, The Frankenstein Chronicles, Bates Motel and Longmire, to name a few.

Netflix is like Amazon Prime Video. It is primarily an on-demand streaming service. It lacks live TV viewing, but it offers some of the best original series and movies available.

Netflix remains inexpensive, with its cheapest plan costing $8.99 a month. However, this basic plan only gives you access to standard definition quality (SD) and a single stream. This plan is improved upon by the standard and premium plan, which costs $13.99 and $17.99 a month, respectively. The premium plan allows for 4K+HDR streaming and four simultaneous streams. The standard package is the middle ground of the two—offering high definition (HD) streaming and two simultaneous screens.

Unlike Amazon Prime, there are currently no free trials available.

Does A&E have a streaming app?

A&E does have a streaming app and it is free. While there are episodes and movies locked behind subscription verification, there are some unlocked ones you can immediately watch as soon as you finish downloading the app from the app store.

There are only select unlocked episodes from certain shows, but there are plenty. For docuseries, they have 40 episodes of 60 Days In, the full first season of Kids Behind Bars: Life or Parole, and 28 episodes of Court Cam. For reality TV, there are 100 episodes of Shipping Wars and 129 episodes of Duck Dynasty.

Discovery+ Price

On January 4^th, Discovery+ entered the congested streets of on-demand streaming, hoping to compete with Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and other similar services.

With more than 55,000 episodes from top cable channels like ID, HGTV, TLC, Food Network and A&E, the service caters more on lifestyle enthusiasts and reality show buffs.

Discovery+ strays away from its competitors through its lineup. While services like Disney+ offers movies and series from popular franchises, Discovery+ strives to be the best in delivering reality shows and documentaries to its consumers.

The new service costs $4.99 a month. But if you want your viewing to be ad-free, there is a $6.99-a-month option.

Furthermore, the Discovery+ app is available on Android and iOS devices, Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV and Xbox consoles. You can also stream on four devices at the same time.

At the time of writing, the service offers a 7-day free trial. Verizon is currently promoting Discovery+ by offering select customers a complimentary ad-free version for 12 months.

Conclusion

You can unshackle yourself from high monthly cable bills and still watch your popular shows and movies.

Most cable TV users don’t want to cut the cord because of fear in losing their favorite shows. In truth, there are plenty of alternatives out there—some of which are even free.

If you want a cost-efficient streaming service, Philo has it, at $20 a month. You can even pair it with another service and a quality antenna.

Sling Blue costs $10 more than Philo, but its customizable options help you personalize your streaming experience at a slight cost.

Vidgo costs more than it’s competitors. However, its top-end channel lineup and the Social TV feature, gives it a unique advantage.

On-demand streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and, more recently, Discovery+ also carry some of A&E’s best shows.

There are many ways to watch A&E on live stream or on-demand, if you wish to free yourself from cable TV’s high price. We list plenty of cost-efficient alternatives in this article. Just subscribe to get all the live coverage you want over your internet connection. In the end, the choice is yours.

Lloyd Rano Opalec

How do you stream A&E? Have you tried any of the streaming services discussed? How was your experience? Let us know in the comments section below. This will help readers with their streaming decision.

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