| Service | Price/mo | Has Animal Planet? |
|---|---|---|
| Philo | $25.00 | Yes |
| Sling Blue | $45.99 | No |
| Sling Orange | $45.99 | No |
| DirecTV Stream | $82.99 | Yes |
| YouTube TV | $82.99 | Yes |
| Fubo | $89.00 | No |
| Hulu + Live TV | $89.99 | Yes |
Prices and lineups as of 2026-07-19. Verify on the provider's own page before you sign up; carriage and pricing change often and can vary by zip code.
When we first checked Animal Planet against our data, Fubo and Sling Blue were both marked as carrying it. Re-checking cabletv.com's Animal Planet channel guide and its Sling TV lineup comparison table on 2026-08-05 showed both were wrong. Neither Sling Orange nor Sling Blue lists Animal Planet in its base channel set, and it is not offered as a paid add-on on either tier. Fubo's own channel lineup does not include it either. We corrected all three rows rather than publish the old, wrong answer.
That leaves a real, honest gap. Animal Planet is one of the few lifestyle channels on this site that is not carried everywhere: 4 of the 7 services have it, 3 do not. If your household already subscribes to Fubo, Sling Orange, or Sling Blue for other channels, do not assume Animal Planet comes along for free.
Fubo is built around live sports, with regional sports network fees baked into its $89.00/mo price. It still carries several other Warner Bros. Discovery channels on this site in full, including Discovery Channel, TNT, and TBS. Animal Planet's absence from Fubo is a single-channel carriage decision, not a wider dispute between Fubo and Warner Bros. Discovery. We found no open carriage dispute affecting Animal Planet on any of the seven services as of 2026-07-19.
That distinction matters for accuracy: a household that already checked Discovery Channel or TBS against Fubo and found them included should not assume Animal Planet followed the same path. Each channel on this site is checked against each service on its own, since ownership alone does not predict carriage.
Animal Planet itself will never be free over the air; it is a cable-only network with no broadcast-spectrum presence, at any price, from any provider. If your household also wants local news or network primetime, pairing Philo's $25.00/mo plan with a one-time antenna purchase is a common way to fill that gap cheaply. Seehow antennas actually work for the indoor/attic/roof distinction before you buy one.
Check the full monthly cost comparison to see how Philo and the other six services stack up against a typical cable bill before you commit to one.
Philo at $25.00/mo is the straightforward pick if Animal Planet sits alongside other general-entertainment and lifestyle viewing in your household, the mix Philo was built around. It skips live sports, 24-hour cable news, and every ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX/PBS local affiliate by design, which is why it can charge a fraction of what the full-lineup services cost.
If your household also wants ESPN or a broad sports lineup, Sling Orange and Fubo will not cover Animal Planet, and neither will Sling Blue. YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and DirecTV Stream cover everything at once, Animal Planet included, in the $82.99-$89.99/mo range. Check the rest of your household's must-have channels against ourchannel finder before deciding, since Animal Planet is one of the few channels on this site where the cheapest plan and the widest plan agree, and the mid-tier Sling plans are the ones left out.
Discovery Channel andFood Network are carried on all 7 services we track, no gaps at all. TNT and TBS split across the two Sling tiers but stay on every other service. Animal Planet is the most restricted of the lifestyle/factual channels on this site: it loses Fubo entirely and both Sling tiers, keeping only Philo, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and DirecTV Stream.
A household weighing Animal Planet against Discovery Channel or Food Network should not assume the three behave the same way just because they share a parent company and a similar audience. If Animal Planet is a must-have and your household was leaning toward Sling Orange or Sling Blue at $45.99/mo, check Philo first. It costs less, at $25.00/mo, and it is one of the four plans that actually carries the channel.