Halloween on TV Without Cable: What's Free and What Isn't (2026)
Disclosure: Household Advocate is an independent bill review service and is not affiliated with any internet, cable, or phone provider mentioned in this post. We do not receive compensation from any provider. Our only goal is to help you find savings.
The grandkids are coming over, the candy bowl is out, and somebody wants to watch Hocus Pocus. Do you need a cable package for that?
Mostly, no. A good share of Halloween TV is free with an antenna or a free app. A few favorites are not, and for those there are cheaper answers than a year of cable. Here's the honest breakdown for the rest of October.
Free this weekend: the Great Pumpkin
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown streams free in the Apple TV app on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 17 and 18. Outside those two days it needs an Apple TV subscription. Two more free weekends are coming, and they're worth writing on the calendar:
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving: Nov. 14 and 15
A Charlie Brown Christmas: Dec. 12 and 13
Free with an antenna
Svengoolie on MeTV - Saturday, Oct. 17, 8:00 p.m. Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Spooky sitcom episodes on MeTV - Sunday, Oct. 18, starting at 10:00 a.m. The Brady Bunch, Leave It to Beaver, Gilligan's Island and more.
Halloween cartoons on MeTV - weekday mornings Oct. 19 through Oct. 30, 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. A good one for little kids before school.
Svengoolie on MeTV - Saturday, Oct. 24, 8:00 p.m. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, with Spooky Stooges at 6:00 p.m. before it.
The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror - Sunday, Oct. 25, 8:00 p.m., FOX. This year's edition is the 37th.
The Wizard of Oz on MeTV - Sunday, Oct. 25, 11:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., with The Wiz at 1:30 p.m. in between.
Ghosts Halloween episode - Thursday, Oct. 29, 8:30 p.m., CBS.
Halloween night on MeTV - Saturday, Oct. 31, 7:00 p.m. Svengoolie Presents The Wizard of Oz, then Don't Be Afraid of the Dark at 10:00 p.m.
MeTV is a free over-the-air channel. If you don't see it, run a channel scan from your TV's settings menu.
Free with an app
Pluto TV has a Halloween collection of more than 200 movies this month, free with ads and no subscription. One caution: it is mostly horror for grown-ups, like Scream and Friday the 13th, so it is not the place to park a six-year-old. Tubi is another free app worth a look.
Many public libraries also offer free movie streaming with a library card. Check your library's website.
Not free: Hocus Pocus and the Freeform favorites
Freeform's 31 Nights of Halloween is where most of the family classics air, and Freeform is a cable channel. An antenna won't get it. The evening airings people ask about most:
Hocus Pocus: Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 6:20 p.m. - Saturday, Oct. 17 at 5:00 p.m. - Monday, Oct. 19 at 8:55 p.m. - Thursday, Oct. 22 at 6:30 p.m. - Saturday, Oct. 24 at 6:55 p.m. - Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 8:50 p.m. - Halloween at 1:00 p.m. and 7:20 p.m.
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Friday, Oct. 16 at 6:50 p.m. - Sunday, Oct. 18 at 9:15 p.m. - Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 5:05 p.m. - Halloween at 3:10 p.m.
The Addams Family: Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 6:50 p.m. - Saturday, Oct. 17 at 7:10 p.m. - Monday, Oct. 26 at 6:50 p.m.
Monsters, Inc.: Sunday, Oct. 25 at 6:50 p.m. - Thursday, Oct. 29 at 4:00 p.m.
Casper: Sunday, Oct. 18 at 6:45 p.m. - Thursday, Oct. 29 at 8:35 p.m. - Halloween at 4:50 p.m.
Beetlejuice: Monday, Oct. 19 at 6:50 p.m. - Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 9:00 p.m.
Three ways to watch without a cable package:
Sling Day Pass - $4.99. It gives you 24 hours of the Sling Orange lineup, which is the package Freeform belongs to. Buy it on Halloween afternoon and you're covered for the evening.
Sling Essentials - $20 a month. It includes Freeform, Disney Channel, and MeTV. One month covers the rest of October, and there's no contract.
Disney+. Hocus Pocus is there to watch any time. Subscribe for a month and cancel when you're done.
Setting this up for Mom or Dad?
Write the channel and time for two or three of these on an index card and leave it by the remote. If the grandkids are visiting and want Hocus Pocus, a $4.99 Day Pass on Halloween costs far less than keeping a cable package all year for a handful of nights. And if a cable bill is staying, it's still worth a look at what it costs. Start at householdadvocate.com/help-a-parent.
Quick cheat sheet
The Great Pumpkin: Free on Apple TV, Oct. 17 and 18
The Simpsons, Ghosts, Svengoolie, The Wizard of Oz: Antenna, free
Scary movies for grown-ups: Pluto TV, free
Hocus Pocus and the Freeform lineup: Sling Day Pass, $4.99
The bigger point
Nobody should pay for cable twelve months a year to watch a few holiday movies. If you're paying $150 or more a month for TV and mostly watch local channels and a handful of favorites, there's a good chance you're paying for a lot you don't use. That's what we do at Household Advocate: we look at what you actually watch and what you're actually paying, and show you where the savings are. The review is free.
