'Harry Potter' Movies Airing on on TV in 2023: Dates and Times Revealed

Each family has its own holiday traditions and habits, but these days more and more people see this as the season to watch some Harry Potter movies. The franchise is not necessarily holiday-themed, but seven out of the eight movies have a Christmas scene, and most of them premiered around the holidays. If you're trying to plan a family movie night or a binge-watch, read on for all the places you can catch Harry Potter this month.

For starters, all eight Harry Potter movies are streaming now on Max, where you can watch them on your own schedule. The TV schedule is more precise, but it appears you can catch the movies airing on two cable channels this year – SyFy and USA Network. SyFy is airing a marathon on Sunday, Dec. 17 starting with the third movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at 11 a.m. ET. The movies will air back-to-back until the end of the series, though you'll have to stay up all night if you want to watch them. If you're looking for a particular title to jump in on, The Goblet of Fire begins at 2 p.m., The Order of the Phoenix begins at 5:30 p.m., The Half-Blood Prince begins at 8:30 p.m., The Deathly Hallows Part 1 begins at 12 a.m. and Part 2 begins at 3 a.m.

This partial marathon will start over on Monday, Dec. 18 with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire beginning at 6 a.m. The movies will air back-to-back from there once again, with the last installment starting at 7 p.m. If you miss that, you won't be able to catch Harry Potter on SyFy for the rest of the month. However, you'll have another chance to see it on cable on the USA Network starting on Saturday, Dec. 23.

USA starts from the beginning with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at 3:30 p.m. ET. The Chamber of Secrets starts at 6:50 p.m. and The Prisoner of Azkaban at 10 p.m. That marathon goes all night, but for those who want to pick it up the following day it starts with The Goblet of Fire at 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 24, followed by The Order of the Phoenix at 2 p.m., The Half-Blood Prince at 5 p.m., The Deathly Hallows Part 1 at 8:30 p.m. and Part 2 at 11:40 p.m. Finally, on Christmas Day USA will play Deathly Hallows Part 1 starting at 5:30 p.m. and Part 2 starting at 8:45 a.m., for those who didn't want to stay up late.

After that, Harry Potter does not seem to be on the cable schedule for the rest of 2023. In years past, the movies would air on Freeform as one of the network's many holiday marathons throughout December. The streaming wars have changed all that, however, with big companies calling their intellectual property home for good. Disney-owned Freeform no longer has the rights to Harry Potter, and they are not playing on Warner Bros. Discovery's premium channel, HBO, either.

Fans have been shocked by the absence of Harry Potter in this year's holiday TV schedule, both in the U.S. and in the U.K., where there is a similar phenomenon, according to a report by Joe.ei. The series is available to stream on Max, but for those that don't want to subscribe, the only other way to catch the movies online this month is to rent or purchase them from a digital store such as Amazon Prime Video, Google Play or iTunes.

For those who watch the series year after year, it may be worth investing in a hard copy on DVD or Blu-ray. Licensing rights may be fickle, but home media is reliable as long as you handle your discs with care. At the time of this writing, the Harry Potter eight-film collection on Blu-ray retails for $51.86.