How to Watch NBC 5 Chicago (WMAQ) For Free & Without Cable

Last updated: June 15, 2026

NBC 5 is the quiet giant of Chicago television. WMAQ is an NBC owned-and-operated station, run out of the NBC Tower near the river, and it shares that building with its Spanish-language sister station, Telemundo's WSNS. Channel 5 carries the full NBC lineup, Sunday Night Football, the Olympics, the Today show, plus a local news operation that has clawed its way back into the ratings fight. For free, an antenna pulls in WMAQ across the metro. For streaming, it's the rare local that nearly every live TV service in town carries, Sling included, which matters because Sling drops a lot of locals in a lot of markets. If you watch NBC for the football and the Olympics, this is your channel.

Chicago is about as easy as over-the-air TV gets. Almost every full-power station transmits from a single cluster downtown, most of it off the Willis Tower, and the land around the city is famously flat. Point a basic antenna toward the Loop and you will usually pull in the major networks without much trouble. The signal thins out as you push past the collar counties toward the Wisconsin and Indiana lines, where an amplified or outdoor antenna starts to matter.

Streaming NBC 5 Without Cable

With a free trial: Fubo and YouTube TV all carry NBC 5 and let you watch free during the trial period before any charge.

No free trial, but they carry it: Sling TV and Hulu + Live TV also include NBC 5, though you pay from the first day.

Every Local Channel in Chicago

Here is the full Chicago lineup, whether each channel is available free with an antenna and how well it comes in, plus the streaming services that carry it.

Antenna reception is free with a one-time antenna purchase. Services tagged “free trial” let you watch at no cost during the trial window; the rest require a paid subscription from day one.

Last updated: June 15, 2026