It's just not Christmas if you don't watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. I don't make the rules — that's just how it is.
Fortunately, it's easy to stream A Charlie Brown Christmas online. In 2020, all of the classic Peanuts holiday cartoons, including A Charlie Brown Christmas, were moved to Apple TV Plus for exclusive streaming. But (after some coaxing from the Charlie Brown fans on social media), Apple also opted to continue the tradition of airing the holiday specials on traditional broadcast TV, just in a different spot than usual.
Amid all the changes, here's how to stream A Charlie Brown Christmas online.
How to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas on Apple TV Plus
A Charlie Brown Christmas has been available for streaming on Apple TV Plus since December 2021. Apple is the new home for all of the Peanuts specials — as well as new show starring Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Woodstock and the rest of the Peanuts gang.
Apple TV Plus costs $4.99 a month and is available on most major streaming platforms. That includes web browsers, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, iPhones, iPads and select smart TVs.
How to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas from anywhere
Before we get to the gritty details (that sounds like something Pigpen would deal with, but whatever), it's worth exploring one of those annoying things of streaming content in the current days. What if A Charlie Brown Christmas isn't available where you are?
That's where a VPN could be the answer. A virtual private network takes all of your network traffic and tunnels it through a specific set of servers in a specific country. Say, the United States. It's the next best thing to actually being in the US, I'm told.
How to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas for free
When Apple initially made the announcement in 2020 that A Charlie Brown Christmas and the other Peanuts holiday specials would be only available to watch on Apple TV Plus, viewers were as angry as Charlie Brown at the kite-eating tree and they made their voices heard on social media. Apple listened and has partnered with PBS to air these specials live.
This year, A Charlie Brown Christmas will be shown on PBS and PBS Kids at 7:30 pm ET/PT on December 19. (You'll need to check your local listings for that, just to be sure, though.)
The good news is that most streaming services carry PBS, and it's also likely available over the air with an antenna.
Is A Charlie Brown Christmas on CBS anymore?
Nope. Apple TV Plus and PBS are your only options right now. Welcome to the future.
Is there more Charlie Brown coming to Apple TV Plus?
A Charlie Brown Christmas isn't the only special from the Peanuts gang on Apple TV Plus.
Because Apple TV Plus is the new and (mostly) exclusive home for Charlie Brown, it's also where you'll find the likes of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, as well as A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. There will also be a brand new holiday special, For Auld Lang Syne — a New Year's special — which debuts on the streaming platform on December 10. There will also be a collection of Christmas-themed vignettes, created and written by Charles M. Schulz, called It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown on Apple TV Plus.
Other Peanuts original series on Apple TV Plus include The Snoopy Show and Snoopy in Space.
