This Wednesday, President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney are going to face off in the first of three televised presidential debates. The two candidates will meet at the University of Denver to answer questions around foreign domestic policy, and the whole spectacle will be moderated by Jim Lehrer.
The debate will be aired by a multitude of TV channels, including ABC, CNN and PBS, starting at 6 p.m. PT (9p.m. ET). Of course, there are also going to be a number of live streams as well as second-screen experiences. Check out our definitive guide to watching the debate online below:
- ABC News will be streaming the debate live on its YouTube channel as well as the YouTube politics channel and ABC’s iPad app.
- CBS News will stream the debate live on Ustream.
- CNN will stream the debate on its website. The news network will also allow viewers to create clips of their favorite answers and share them with their friends. CNN will also stream to its iOS apps.
- Fox News will be streaming the debate on its site starting at 4:45pm PT, and also feature some insights into the most popular topics of the evening through an exclusive collaboration with Twitter.
- Hulu will feature live feeds from ABC, Fox and The Wall Street Journal, including pre- and post-debate content. The site will also have an archived version of the entire debate available soon after.
- The Wall Street Journal is providing a live feed of the debate on it site as well as through its WSJ Live apps on the iPad, on Android devices and various Smart TV platforms.
- Politico’s website streams the debate as well as some pre- and post-debate coverage, starting at 5pm PT.
- Univision’s live stream of the presidential debate will be translated into Spanish in real-time.
- C-SPAN is going to stream the debate on it site as part of its debates hub. C-SPAN’s live feed comes with closed captions, which can be turned on here.
- The Sunlight Foundation will provide a fact-checked live stream with contextual data as part of its Sunlight Live project.
- Aereo will give New York-based viewers two hours of free access to its TV streaming service to watch live streams of major broadcasters’ debate coverage on their laptops or mobile devices.
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Android users can cheer and boo with their mobile device.
The Peel companion app will allow Android usersto digitally cheer and boo during the debate, and see how others like the performance of both candidates. The app will also reveal who won the debate amongst Peel’s base of users.
- Ponderoo gives iOS users a chance to provide feedback on the debate with a somewhat experimental, but intriguingly simple interface.
- Al Jazeera English teamed up with Reddit for context and commentary during the debate.
- Twitter is providing curated tweets on its #debates micro-site.
We will update this post with new links right up to the start of the debate.
For more on how to watch news and other TV programming without paying for cable, check out my ebook Cut the Cord: All You Need to Know to Drop Cable.
Image courtesy of Flickr user League of Women Voters of California.
