Watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Free on Apple TV This Weekend

It’s less than two weeks until Christmas, making it the perfect time to cozy up with a mug of hot cocoa and enjoy your favorite holiday specials. This weekend Apple is streaming one of the most venerable of all for everyone to tune in — including those who have never subscribed to the service and don’t own any Apple devices.

The timeless Peanuts special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, will be available in Apple’s TV app across all platforms on Saturday, December 13, 2025 and Sunday, December 14, 2025 — with no subscription required.

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That means you can watch it on nearly any smart TV, set-top box, or game console, since the Apple TV app is available on nearly everything from Samsung and LG TVs to Roku boxes to Sony’s PS5. If you don’t have a supported device, it can also be streamed on any modern web browser by visiting tv.apple.com.

For those who aren’t up on their Snoopy trivia, A Charlie Brown Christmas was the animated special that started it all. First aired in 1965, it was the very first time Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy and the rest of the gang moved from static images in the funny papers to live, animated characters with real voices behind them.

That debut special, backed by what’s now become an iconic soundtrack from the Vince Guaraldi Trio, was followed by more classics, including It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown in 1966, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving in 1973, and ultimately led to over 40 more years of Peanuts TV specials, a 2015 feature film, and a whole new generation of Snoopy Presents specials produced by Apple TV as the new home for “all things Peanuts.”

Over the years, A Charlie Brown Christmas became a holiday tradition for many families, airing annually on CBS for its first 35 years before shifting to ABC for the 2001 holiday season. However, after Apple signed a deal taking over the rights to the entire Peanuts franchise, many feared that broadcast tradition would come to an end.

Apple made it clear from the start that it would continue “airing” A Charlie Brown Christmas free each holiday season — and this weekend’s free premiere is a continuation of that promise — but after Peanuts fans protested, Apple conceded by announcing a partnership with PBS to broadcast the specials on the PBS and PBS Kids stations.

It only did that for two years, but it’s probably fair to say that by 2022, both Apple’s TV app and the knowledge of Apple’s new custodianship of the franchise had gained enough of a reach that anyone who wanted to watch the classic holiday specials could almost surely find a way to do so during their free weekends on the Apple TV service.

It’s also a far more flexible arrangement than a television broadcast, as Apple opens up A Charlie Brown Christmas for two full days, so viewers can tune in and watch it on their own time.

Apple TV subscribers also have access to it year-round, along with the rest of the Peanuts back-catalog and a delightful collection of revitalized specials that Apple has produced since taking the reins, from 2021’s For Auld Lang Syne — the first Peanuts holiday special to be produced in over 20 years — to One-of-a-Kind Marcie and Welcome Home, Franklin, which take a closer look at some of the longstanding secondary Peanuts characters that have captivated our hearts over the years.

This week also marks the 60th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas, which first aired on December 9, 1965, so it’s an even more appropriate time to tune in this weekend. It’s a great way to get into the holiday spirit, whether it’s part of your holiday comfort TV regimen or you’re new to the Peanuts family.