The 90th annual Academy Awards ceremony takes place tonight, and while we’ve already made our case for why Jordan Peele’s Get Out should take home the top prize, the race for Best Picture is wide open this year.
If you don’t have a TV, there are still ways to watch the Oscars broadcast online, but sadly, options are limited for actual cord-cutters—that is, people who don’t subscribe to a cable or satellite service. ABC will offer a live-stream of the event only in certain markets and only to customers of “participating TV providers.” What’s a participating TV provider? Well, that basically means a cable or satellite company, or possibly a streaming service, that offers ABC as part of a package. The network has a full list of participating providers here.
Here’s a list of the markets where the ABC live-stream is available:
- Chicago
- Fresno
- Houston
- Los Angeles
- New York City
- Philadelphia
- Raleigh-Durham
- San Francisco
Also, customers with a DirecTV subscription can watch the live-stream in the following markets:
- Albuquerque
- Boston
- Ft. Smith/Fayetteville
- Jackson, Mississippi
- Kansas City
- Milwaukee
- Monterey-Salinas
- Oklahoma City
- Omaha
- Pittsburgh
- Portland-Auburn, Maine
- Savannah
- West Palm Beach
You can access the live-stream by going to ABC.com/watch-live and selecting “Live TV.” Or if you’re on your phone, you can access the stream via the ABC mobile app.
Some streaming services may also offer live access to ABC. Sling TV offers the network in select markets as part of its “Broadcast Extra” add-on. If you’re a Sling TV subscriber, you can add that immediately. Sony’s PlayStation Vue also offers ABC in various packages.
If you’re not a customer of a “participating TV provider” and you can get to an actual TV set, you can still watch the Oscars the old-fashioned way, with an antenna. The airwaves are free—or so they keep telling us.
The Oscars ceremony begins at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT). Red carpet coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
