How To Watch Soaps in Wake of DirecTV and Dish Network Channel Losses

Happy New Year–maybe! Unfortunately, for some customers of DirecTV and Dish Network, Jan. 1, 2017 left soap fans without a way to watch because, in many areas, ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates went dark for satellite customers.

There’s good news for soap fans, though. If you’re missing The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, or Days of Our Lives, there are alternative ways to watch these shows.

Digital Antenna
First, most people can receive local channels for free over the air using an affordable digital antenna. If you have one installed, you can simply switch your TV from satellite to TV and scroll through the stations until you find the one your soap is on.

However, if you don’t have a digital antenna, you can still find a way to make sure you see your favorite stories.

How to Watch Days of Our Lives
You can watch Days of Our Lives online at the NBC DAYS website here. The episodes are not posted until after they’ve aired in all US time zones, but it is free to stream them each day.

You can watch on your computer, tablet, or phone depending on your preferences.

How to Watch The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless episodes appear in full on the CBS Y&R website here. You can watch the previous six episodes for free using their site. If you want to watch more than that, you can sign up for CBS All Access for $5.99 a month, which starts with a one-week free trail. Hopefully, that would be enough to get you through until the satellite providers come to an agreement.

Again, you can watch on your computer, tablet, or phone depending on your preferences.

How to Watch General Hospital
For General Hospital, you can watch through ABC Go here. There is an option to view the entire show or simply view a recap of the show. Unfortunately, you have to wait one week to watch these episodes for free. If you want to watch them the day they aired, you must sign in with your TV service provider.

You can also watch via Hulu by 8 pm EST each day.

Once again, you can watch on your computer, tablet, or phone depending on your preferences.

How to Watch The Bold and the Beautiful 
You can watch as many as 10 episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful for free on the CBS B&B website here. If you need access to more than 10 episodes, you can try CBS All Access free for one week and $5.99 a month after that.

You can watch on your computer, tablet, or phone depending on your preferences.

While these options aren’t as good as your satellite provider reaching an agreement with the networks, at least you can stay up to date with your favorite soaps during this time. Let us know how you’re dealing with the channel dispute in the comments below.

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