How to watch ESPN Plus on your TV

ESPN app on Apple TV
(Image credit: WhatToWatch.com)

If you subscribe to sports streaming app ESPN Plus, you'll be glad to hear that you don't need to stick to your pokey smartphone or tablet screen to use it; no, you can use your nice, big, high-definition TV to enjoy all the ESPN-aired games too.

ESPN Plus ranks as perhaps the best streaming service for sports fans with live streaming for college football, the other kind of football, college basketball, MLB, NHL, the PGA, rugby, MMA, boxing, cricket and other games, but also documentaries and factual shows too.

While ESPN Plus is available on plenty of devices like laptops, computers, smartphones and tablets, watching it on your TV lets you see sports on big and high-res displays, with your audio set-up too.

If you want to watch ESPN Plus content on your TV, you'll need to understand how to navigate to that special content. The ESPN app is available on Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV, Xbox, the Roku platforms, smart TVs and in web browsers, too, but the navigation is largely the same on every one of them.

How to watch ESPN Plus on your TV

  1. Open the ESPN App on your streaming device. If it's not yet installed, get it from your device app or channel store
  2. Highlight the settings gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen
  3. Click to enter the settings menu
  4. Open Account Information
  5. Choose "Login to ESPN Account" to see your activation code
  6. Visit es.pn/activate on your phone, tablet or PC
  7. Follow the directions on the site to login with your ESPN Plus account
  8. Your TV will confirm when you've successfully linked your account
  9. Back on the ESPN TV App main screen, select ESPN Plus

Now your TV is all set up to watch ESPN Plus content. The ESPN Plus section has live content and original shows including documentaries all waiting for you. Just select the ESPN Plus section each time you open the app to see what's new.

If your streaming device doesn't have an ESPN app, you have options. If you have a Chromecast, you can cast ESPN Plus from your phone to your TV. If you have an older Apple TV, you can use AirPlay ESPN Plus from your iPhone to your TV. Or you can pick up a new streaming device that can run the ESPN app. Make sure to stop back after for help getting everything set up.

ESPN Plus is a great option to stream sports outside of a bundle. You will need to have a subscription to watch ESPN Plus sports and shows on your TV. 

But if you do have an interest in bundling, ESPN Plus has that too, as it is part of the Disney Bundle, pairing it with Disney Plus and Hulu for a monthly fee of $12.99. ESPN Plus is also now a standard feature of the Hulu with Live TV streaming service.

ESPN Plus supported TVs

Here are all the supported devices that allow you to watch ESPN Plus directly on your TV:

  • Android TV
  • Amazon Fire TV
  • Apple TV
  • Facebook Portal TV
  • Roku
  • Samsung Smart TV
  • Xfinity XClass, Flex, X1

Other ways to watch

Roy Delgado is a freelance writer for WhatToWatch. His focus is streaming, specializing on sports. He binge-streams 32 games over the first two days of NCAA March Madness annually. He built his own DVR 15 years ago, and still tinkers to make his media setup its best.