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Wildcard Weekend is here! So if you’re wondering how to watch NFL playoffs without cable or satellite in 2024, read on.
But if you don’t who’s playing who and when, we’ll look at the schedule for Wild Card weekend first. If you’re already in the know, just use the Table of Content to skip ahead.
Who’s broadcasting the NFL Playoffs?
The NFL Playoffs for the 2023-2024 season are divvied up between Peacock, NBC, CBS, FOX, and ESPN/ABC.
Wild Card Weekend schedule
It’s technically now called Super Wild Card Weekend since the NFL added a 3rd Wild Card team in 2021, but the song remains the same. However, the initial format of 3 games each on Saturday and Sunday has changed to include a Monday night game.
This means there are now 2 games on Saturday, 3 games on Sunday, and 1 game on Monday night.
Saturday, Jan. 13
- 4:40 PM (ET) AFC Game on NBC: Cleveland Browns (5th) @ Houston Texans (4th)
- 8:10 PM (ET) AFC Game on Peacock: Miami Dolphins (6th) @ Kansas City Chiefs (3rd)
Sunday, Jan. 14
- POSTPONED TO MONDAY 1:00 PM (ET) AFC Game on CBS: Pittsburgh Steelers (7th) @ Buffalo Bills (2nd)
- 4:30 PM (ET) NFC Game on FOX: Green Bay Packers (7th) @ Dallas Cowboys (2nd)
- 8:15 PM (ET) NFC Game on NBC: L.A. Rams (6th) @ Detroit Lions (3rd)
Monday, Jan. 15
- 4:30 PM (ET) AFC Game on CBS: Pittsburgh Steelers (7th) @ Buffalo Bills (2nd) [RESCHEDULED FROM SUNDAY]
- 8:15 PM (ET) NFC Game on ESPN/ABC: Philadelphia Eagles (5th) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4th)
How to watch every NFL Playoff game
Here are all of the Wild Card Weekend games according to broadcaster and which streaming services carry them.
2 NFL Playoff games on NBC
Saturday, Jan 13 at 4:40 PM (ET): Cleveland Browns @ Houston Texans
Sunday, Jan 14 at 8:15 PM (ET): L.A. Rams @ Detroit Lions
There are 2 NFL playoff games on NBC — the first Wild Card game on Saturday, between the Browns and the Texans, and the Sunday night game between the Rams and the Lions.
This means you’ll need a live-TV streaming service that has NBC (or Peacock), which are the following:
If you don’t have one of the above live-TV streaming services, the games will also be simulcast live on Peacock, which costs about a tenth of the price of most live-TV streaming services.
1 NFL Playoff game on Peacock
Saturday, Jan 13 at 8:10 PM (ET): Miami Dolphins @ Kansas City Chiefs
There is only one Wild Card game on Peacock and it’s a Peacock exclusive. For the first time in NFL history, a postseason game is broadcasting exclusively on a streaming service. (No, it won’t be simulcast on NBC.)
This means that to watch the game live, you need to be in the local television market of either the Dolphins or the Chiefs, or you need a Peacock subscription.
1 NFL Playoff game on CBS
Sunday, Jan 14 at 1:00 PM (ET): Pittsburgh Steelers @ Buffalo Bills
Monday, Jan 15 at 4:30 PM (ET): Pittsburgh Steelers @ Buffalo Bills
CBS has one NFL Playoff game. Similar to NBC, the network will also simulcast the game live on its own streaming service, Paramount+, which is also 10x cheaper than most live-TV streaming services.
If you don’t have Paramount+, you’ll need one of these streaming services that carries CBS:
1 NFL Playoff game on FOX
Sunday, Jan 14 at 4:30 PM: Green Bay Packers @ Dallas Cowboys
FOX has one NFL Playoff game. Unfortunately FOX doesn’t have an on-demand service like NBC and CBS to stream the game with. That means you’ll need a more expensive live-TV streaming service with FOX.
These are the live-TV streaming services with FOX:
1 NFL Playoff game on ABC/ESPN
Monday, Jan 15 at 8:15 PM (ET): Philadelphia Eagles @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Monday Night Football Playoff game between the Eagles and the Bucs will be simulcast on ABC and ESPN. That gives you the most possible options out of all the games.
These are the streaming services with live feeds of ABC and/or ESPN:
Watch NFL Playoffs on official league platforms
The league has 2 ways to watch every NFL playoff game without worrying about whether your service carries the right network: NFL+ and NFL Game Pass.
Watch NFL Playoffs on Game Pass
As of this season, NFL Game Pass is now operated by DAZN. The experience so far has been about as good as the Patriots’ season. So, like the Pats, we’re hoping things improve next year.
However, you can watch every single NFL game of the season, from preseason to the Super Bowl, without worrying about whether it’s in-market, out-of-market, or in your streaming service’s channel lineup.
The only catch is that it’s not available to the NFL’s biggest audience — Americans. That means you’ll need to sign up using a VPN and then sign in and watch the games using a VPN.
With the regular season over and just the playoffs and Super Bowl to go, NFL Game Pass only costs about 20 bucks for the entire postseason.
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Watch NFL Playoffs on NFL+
The other official option is watch the NFL Playoff games on NFL+. You get every NFL postseason game live, including the Super Bowl, for just 7 bucks.
But is there a catch?
Yes, of course. The catch is that you can only watch NFL+ on mobile devices. That means you can’t watch The Big Game on a big screen.
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Watch NFL Playoffs for free
With a bit of planning you can also watch the entire NFL postseason for free. The conditions for each service differ depending on whether you’ve had a free trial in the past, so your mileage may will vary.
Here are the lengths of free trials for each streaming service with NFL games.
- DirecTV Stream: 5 days
- Fubo: 7 days
- Hulu + Live TV: None
- Paramount+: 7 days
- Peacock: None
- Sling TV: None
- Vidgo: None
- YouTube TV: 7 to 30 days
As noted in the schedule above, the Steelers-Bills game has been postponed until Monday. That game is on CBS and therefore is simulcast on Paramount+. Click the banner* below to watch the game for free with a 7-day free trial.
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