How to watch ESPN on your Roku through the official app or a Live TV service
- You can watch ESPN on your Roku device by downloading the official ESPN app, or using an app with live TV like Hulu.
- The official ESPN Roku app is free to download, but you'll need to sign in with ESPN Plus or a cable provider.
- If you have a Hulu + Live TV or YouTube TV account, you can also watch ESPN live there.
For years, ESPN has been the most popular sports channel around. So it makes sense that there's a variety of ways to stream ESPN shows to almost any device.
If you've got a Roku device, there are two major ways to watch ESPN. You can either get the official ESPN app and log in using a cable provider or ESPN Plus account, or use a third-party app with live TV features.
Here's how to get ESPN on your Roku with either method.
How to watch ESPN on Roku with the official app
The official ESPN Roku app is free to download. You can get it by searching for ESPN from your Roku's homepage, selecting it when it comes up in the results, and then selecting Add channel.
Once you open the ESPN app, you'll see all sorts of shows and content to watch. But you'll notice that once you select something, you hit a wall.
Anything that has the ESPN Plus logo in the top-right corner requires an ESPN Plus account to watch. ESPN Plus is $6.99 for a month, or $69.99 for a year. You can sign up in the app through your Roku account, or through the website if you just want an independent account.
You can also bundle ESPN Plus with Hulu and Disney Plus for more savings. Read more about ESPN+ and the bundle ESPN+ with Hulu and Disney Plus for $14/month in our review of the streaming service.
Anything else requires a cable provider account. This means that you'll need to already have a cable package that includes ESPN — if you're not sure whether you have this, check with your cable provider.
This is the main way to watch ESPN on your Roku device, but you can also go through a third-party app.
Monthly Subscription Service (small)Bundle Monthly Subscription (small)How to watch ESPN on Roku with a live TV app
More and more people drop their cable packages every year. And once they do, they overwhelmingly turn towards live TV apps like Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV.
Both Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV include ESPN, along with its affiliates like ESPN 2 and ESPN U. These let you watch ESPN live, as well as record shows to watch again later.
For more information on how to get these live TV apps on your Roku, check out our longer articles on YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV. But once you've signed up and got the apps installed, you can just search for ESPN or a specific show and find it right away.
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