DirecTV Offering Free Channels During the Coronavirus Stay-at-Home Period
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, more and more people are staying at home. Because of this, DirecTV is offering additional content to its subscribers at no cost to help them keep informed and entertained. The additional free video content is available for U-verse subscribers as well.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen free previews of HBO and Cinemax, Showtime and currently Starz (through April 2).
In addition to the free movie channel previews, the following channels are also being made available no matter the DirecTV package you have.
- News: BBC World News , CNBC, CNN, CNN International, Fox Business Network, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, One America News Network
- Entertainment: American Heroes, Aspire, AWE, AXS TV, Comedy.TV, Cooking Channel, Crime & Investigation, Destination America, Discovery Life, DIY Network, Eleven Sports, FM, Fuse, FX Movie Channel, fyi, Great American Country, GSN, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, HDNET MOVIES, IFC, Justice Central, LMN, MGM HD, MTV Live, Nat Geo WILD, OWN, Oxygen, Science Channel, ShortsTV, Smithsonian Channel, Sony Movie Channel, SundanceTV, The Weather Channel, Travel Channel, TV One, UPtv, WGN America
- Kids: Discovery Family, Disney Jr., Disney XD, Nick Jr., Universal Kids
- Spanish Language: Azteca, Bandamax, Canal 22 Internacional, CANAL ONCE, Centroamérica TV, Cine Estelar, Cine Mexicano, Cine Nostalgia, Cinelatino, De Película, De Película Clásico, Discovery En Español, Discovery Familia, Enlace, Estrella TV, FOROtv, Galavisión, GoITV, History En Español, HITN, MegaTV, Multimedios, Nuestra Tele, Pasiones, Telefe, TUDN, TV Chile, Televisión Española, UNIVERSO, Univision tlnovelas, ViendoMovies, V-me, WAPA América
And, we should be seeing another HBO and Cinemax Freeview April 17-20, 2020.
And an Epix Freeview is scheduled for April 2 – 16, 2020.
Additionally, a free preview of the streaming service Hallmark Movies Now is available for DirecTV customers who don’t already subscribe to this service.
May 19, 2020, is now the end date for the channels not available on your package’s programming.
Reduce Your DirecTV Bill
A quick aside: If you’re a DirecTV subscriber and you feel your monthly bill is a little too high, be sure to read our piece “How to Lower Your DirecTV Bill,” to get specifics on how to pay less for your DirecTV service. You just might be able to save a significant amount – like I and many of our readers have done over the past few years – on your entertainment costs.
I didn’t know they did this, and I coincidentally started watching a couple of these channels only to find them suddenly removed. Upon losing the first customer service gave me no real answer. Upon losing the second I was told it was channels given for free for the pandemic. I’m glad I wasn’t a jerk to customer service because I had no idea I was getting these for free as a courtesy. I found this article while trying to find confirmation online.
Steve,
Glad you found our article that helped explain the extra channel offerings DirecTV provided. Turns out, additional channels had been offered through the end of July. Now that August has arrived those channels have now been removed.
We’ll have to see if DirecTV decides to offer an additional period of free channels in the coming months.
Considering these free channel offerings have been somewhat based on pandemic lockdowns, I’d personally rather we NOT have more free channels, and have this Covid-19 mess come to an end! Alas, that’s likely wishful thinking for the near term.
Thank you guys for everything. In a time of such devastation in our country. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for offering specials during this stay at home period; please look into adding the Bounce channel to Direct tv.