What Channel Is PBS On DirecTV?
by Mark Chen | Updated 12/30/23
Almost all DirecTV customers can watch PBS on Channel 389. But if you don’t want to surf all the way to Channel 389, there’s lowered numbered channels where you can watch great shows on PBS like Masterpiece Theater and Antique Roadshow instead.
These channels are different depending on where you live. We researched the top 100 cities in the US to find all the places you can watch PBS.
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DIRECTV PBS Channel List
PBS Channels By City | |||
Location | Channel | Location | Channel |
Birmingham | 21, 394, 395 | Baltimore | 22, 389 |
Little Rock | 2, 389 | Detroit | 56, 389 |
Yuma | 65, 389 | Minneapolis | 2, 17, 22, 389 |
Phoenix | 8, 389 | St. Louis | 11, 394, 395 |
San Francisco | 22, 54, 389 | Charlotte | 30, 58, 389 |
Bakersfield | 65, 389 | Omaha | 26, 32, 389 |
San Diego | 15, 389 | Albuquerque | 3, 5, 389 |
Fresno | 18, 389 | Las Vegas | 10, 389 |
Sacramento | 6, 389 | New York | 13, 21, 49, 50, 389 |
Los Angeles | 24, 50, 58, 389 | Columbus | 34, 389 |
Denver | 6, 12, 389 | Oklahoma City | 13, 389 |
Colorado Springs | 8, 389 | Portland | 10, 389 |
Washington DC | 22, 32, 42, 389 | Philadelphia | 23, 39, 389 |
Jacksonville | 7, 8, 389 | Nashville | 8, 22, 389 |
Fort Worth | 13, 389 | Memphis | 10, 18, 389 |
Miami | 2, 17, 389 | El Paso | 13, 22, 389 |
Tampa | 3, 16, 389 | Houston | 8, 389 |
Atlanta | 8, 30, 389 | San Antonio | 9, 389 |
Honolulu | 11, 389 | Austin | 18, 389 |
Chicago | 11, 56, 389 | Dallas | 11, 390, 391 |
Kansas City | 19, 389 | Norfolk | 2, 15, 389 |
Louisville | 15, 20, 30, 68, 389 | Seattle | 9, 28, 389 |
New Orleans | 12, 389 | Boston | 2, 11, 44, 389 |
PBS On Directv In California & Texas
Unlike other channels that we’ve covered, there’s really no pattern or logic to which channels PBS is available on DIRECTV.
We looked at California and Texas and the channels have no overlap within the big metros of those states and are even on different channel groups.,
For example in California, PBS is on Channel 65 in Bakersfield but on Channel 6 in Sacramento.
It’s really annoying and the easiest way to find the right channel is to take a look at the list below.
San Francisco: 22, 54
Bakersfield: 65
San Diego: 15
Fresno: 18
Sacramento: 6
We did a similar exercise for Texas as well.
El Paso: 13, 22
Houston: 8
San Antonio: 9
Austin: 18
Cities With Different/Multiple Channels
While you can usually watch PBS on DirecTV on Channel 389, there are a couple of cities where that’s not the case.
These cities include Birmingham, Orlando, and Dallas.
In those cities, you’ll need to go to channels 394 and 395 in Birmingham and Orlando and channels 390 and 391 in Dallas.
The lowered numbered channels for these cities are 21 in Birmingham, 18 in Orlando, and 11 in Dallas.
PBS usually has one or two lowered numbered channels other than 389 but there are some cities that really love PBS and have more than two.
The cities with the most PBS stations are Louisville and New York City. Channel 13, 21, 49, and 50 are all places where you can watch PBS in NYC while 15, 20, 30, and 68 are the right places in Louisville.
PBS is also super popular in LA, Washington DC, Boston, Minneapolis, and St Louis.
We put together a list of channels for these cities below.
Los Angeles: 24, 50, 58
Washington DC: 22, 32, 42
Boston: 2, 11, 44
St Louis: 11, 394, 395
Minneapolis: 2, 17, 22
Other Options
There are some channels where PBS tends to be on Directv channel lineups. The most popular channel numbers for PBS are 2, 8, 11, and 22.
Channel 8 and Channel 22 are the most popular channels. PBS is on Channel 8 in places like Little Rock, Miami, Boston, and Minneapolis
You can watch PBS on Channel 22 in San Francisco, Baltimore, El Paso, and Washington DC.
For the right cities for Channel 2 and Channel 11 – look below.
Channel 2 PBS Cities: Little Rock, Miami, Norfolk, Minneapolis, Boston
Channel 11 PBS Cities: Honolulu, Chicago, Dallas, St Louis
One thing that’s interesting is that PBS doesn’t seem to be popular in Brownsville. You can only watch PBS on Channel 389 in that city.
Lower Your TV Bill With Fubo!
We hope you were able to find whatever PBS channel you were looking for.
There’s so many great shows on PBS and creating this guide is one of our ways of supporting them.
If you want to save money and get more channels, try out Fubo.
They have channels like NFL Network and GAC that aren’t in all DirecTV packages.
Click the link below to get started.
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