By: Nick Gambino
The 89th Academy Awards or, as they’re more casually known, the Oscars airs this Sunday, February 26 at 8:30pm EST.
A lot of us will be tuning into to see if La La Land will actually sweep the award show and how many awards other favorites like Moonlight, Hidden Figures, Fences and Hacksaw Ridge will win.
Whether you have a TV or not there are plenty of options available to make sure you get to see Jimmy Kimmel host Hollywood’s biggest night.
TV
If you’re part of the dying breed who still watches TV shows on an actual TV where you get actual TV channels then you can catch the Oscars on ABC. Red carpet coverage will start as early as 7pm on the channel with additional coverage on several networks like E!
Online with a TV subscription
Something tells me the number of people who will tune in via an internet connection is going to be higher than years prior. Luckily there are plenty of options to watch online.
First, if you pay for TV but won’t be home when the fun starts or if the wife and kids could care less about what Hollywood celebs are being awarded little gold statue men, you have a very easy solution available to you.
ABC is streaming the show live to all paying TV subscribers. Just visit ABC.com or download the ABC app on Android, iOS or Kindle Fire devices. Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Android TV also have ABC apps. So you can sneak off to your bedroom away from the wife and kids to watch the Oscars in the dark, alone. Boy, that’s sad.
Now unfortunately ABC will not be streaming everywhere. You’ll have to be in specific areas. So if you live in “Chicago, Fresno, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham or San Francisco” then you’re in luck.
Or if you’re a DirectTV subscriber then you can stream in “Albuquerque, Boston, Ft. Smith/Fayetteville, Jackson (Mississippi), Kansas City, Milwaukee, Monterey-Salinas, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Portland-Auburn (Maine), Savannah or West Palm Beach.”
But if you live in Oregon, Rhode Island, Iowa or any other place not on the list, ABC streaming is not an option for you.
Online without a TV subscription
Now if you don’t have TV of any kind then you’re going to need some other online options.
Sling TV is a popular option these days to watch TV without subscribing to traditional television. For $20 a month you can watch ABC content allowing you to watch the Oscars on numerous devices including Apple TV.
Playstation Vue is the only other TV subscription service out there making it the only other online option to watch the show. It’s a bit pricier than Sling TV at a minimum of $30 a month without an Apple TV app. So I’d go with Sling TV as the first option.
The Academy Awards air this Sunday at 8:30pm EST hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on ABC.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nick Gambino is a regular script writer and tech beat reporter for NewsWatch. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and daughter.
