This Sunday, televisions will be graced with the 88th Academy Awards. Celebrities will walk the red carpet. Commenters will ask who they are wearing. And Chris Rock, who is definitely funnier than your friends, will host. The three-hour soiree is airing on ABC this Sunday night starting at 7pm ET, and you probably want to watch (or at least have on in the background while you scroll Facebook looking for best-dressed lists).
Those of us who cut the cord might already be preparing in the days ahead by binging on Oscar nominated vids streaming online. But you might be wondering how you'll be able to watch the show come Sunday if you don’t have a television or cable at home. Here's how.
The easiest option: Head to ABC's site and stream it. Just like last year, ABC is streaming it for free (in some markets)...and just like last year, there could be some issues. The network’s Oscar stream in 2015 cut multiple times to random programming. The interruptions were also compounded by network TV’s characteristically slow online streaming.
Back to that "some markets" part. ABC only offers livestreaming in Chicago, Fresno, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham, and San Francisco. Sorry, literally almost everywhere else in the country! When you go to the website, you will be prompted to fill-in your TV provider credentials. So you'll have to plug in a kindly friend or stranger's login info. Basically, if you’re a cord-cutter through and through, it's not a total solution.
Oscars? There’s an app for that. It’s (surprise!) made by ABC and is available for download in the App Store, on Google Play, and via Amazon. But again, it only works in the aforementioned cities, and again, will require that you have an account with a TV provider. (Or, again, the login information of someone who does. We're just saying.)
There will be tons of beyond-the-scenes Vines, from celebrities, red carpet-goers, show producers, party hosters, and on and on. A simple #Oscars or #Oscars2016 search is going to yield more than enough results---too many, probably. There are some particularly active celebs on Vine to check out, if you want to narrow it down though, like Chrissy Teigen, Ryan Seacrest, Taye Diggs, and Jimmy Fallon. (We're pretty sure those people will all be going to the Oscars...)
Now, that's for some meta Oscars coverage---but we know, you're probably looking to watch the real deal. Well where there's a live TV event, there's someone broadcasting it on Periscope. (Pro tip: Periscope doesn't have search, so try Perisearch.) Yes, those streams might get shut down, but there will be a few to at least try. Will it look good? Probably not: Someone shooting live video of their Oscar party (or solo watch session, no judgement) doesn't exactly scream "high quality." But hey, such is the life of a cord cutter.
Buy a digital antenna. They generally cost upwards of $20 and you can get one at any home electronics store. Just like traditional set of rabbit ears, using a digital antenna on your TV set will give you a dozen or so channels, including your local ABC affiliate.
