How to Watch the WNBA on Your TV in 2021

Sifting through the channels, services, and devices you need to catch all the action

UPDATE: For a breakdown of how and where to watch WNBA games in 2023, see below.

https://twitter.com/cwetzel31/status/1654146615253385217

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Death, taxes, and WNBA fans puzzling over how and where to watch their favorite teams. It’s time for WNBA basketball again! Which means it’s also time to quell the confusion again. More ways to watch is a sign of the growth of the game, so it can’t be a bad thing, but it can make your brain hurt. That’s why we’ve put together a guide to make sense of it all.

The full WNBA schedule, including which channel or website each game is on, can be found here. For a Google Calendar with all WNBA games or one for your favorite team, click here. Now, let’s dive into the tricky stuff.

Summary

If you really want to watch every single WNBA game this year on your big screen, you’ll need a way to watch both traditional channels like ESPN or CBS and streaming games on services such as Twitter or League Pass. You can watch the traditional channels via either a cable or satellite subscription or with an online service such as YouTubeTV, AT&T TV Now, or Hulu. You’ll also need a device for the streaming games. If you’re an Apple household, we suggest using Apple TV. If not, we’d recommend purchasing the much more affordable Chromecast to project from your phone or computer.

Details

There are six traditional TV channels carrying nationally-televised WNBA games in 2021: CBS, CBS Sports Network, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and NBATV. The rest of the games will either be on Twitter, Facebook, ESPN3, or League Pass. The chart below breaks down the number of games on each channel. If you live in a WNBA market, the League Pass games of your local team may be blacked out, in which case you will need to find them on a local channel.

Broadcast Games: Cable/Satellite Subscribers

If you have a satellite or cable subscription, watching a game on your TV from one of the six traditional networks is pretty simple. All you’ll need to do is make sure you have a package that carries those channels and then find them on your TV. We’ve compiled a list of each of the channel numbers for some of the top providers. Channel numbers for ABC and CBS vary by zip code, so you will need to check your local listings to find them.

Broadcast Games: Cord Cutters

Services

If you are one of the growing number of people cutting the cord and opting to use an online streaming service, the first thing you’ll need to figure out is if your service has the channels you need. This chart shows the six traditional channels that carry WNBA games and their availability on each of the four major streaming services. To have access to all six, you’ll need to subscribe to YouTubeTV or AT&T TV Now.

Devices

To watch on a TV with one of these services, you’ll need to have a streaming device (unless you have a smart TV). The four most popular services — YouTube TV, AT&T TV Now, Hulu, and Sling — are all available on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku devices. Using Chromecast and a computer is an option for each of these services as well.

If you use a lesser-known service such as Fubo or Philo and your service doesn’t have an app on your device, you do have a couple of options for the CBS games as well as the games on ESPN networks (including ABC). CBS games will be carried on Paramount+ and CBSSN games can be seen on the CBS Sports app, while the ESPN app has the games on its three networks. You’ll need to log in with your TV provider, and both networks have apps on Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku in addition to being compatible with Chromecast.

Streaming-Only Games

By far, the biggest challenge for many seems to be for the largest category of games: those not on a traditional provider. At the moment, we are not aware of any method for cable/satellite subscribers to watch these games directly through those subscriptions, so all WNBA fans must use some kind of streaming device to watch them.

For any game on League Pass, you can use the League Pass app (with a subscription) on Apple TV or project it using a Chromecast device. Other devices such as Roku, Fire TV, and more do not currently support League Pass. With a League Pass subscription, you can also stream WNBA games that are on NBATV, Twitter, or Facebook, but that isn’t the only way to watch them.

All services mentioned in this article have apps on Android phones and tablets as well as iPhones and iPads, so if you’re a cord-cutter, tune in on any of your devices! Once you’ve found your game, sit back, grab some popcorn, and cheer on your team!

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Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also buy Her Hoop Stats gear, such as laptop stickers, mugs, and shirts!

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