How To Watch The Presidential Debates On Apple TV

After what feels like about a million years of campaigning, we’re finally about to reach one of my favorite parts of every election: the moment when the candidates finally get to go head-to-head at the debates. But for so many of us, just turning on the old cable TV set has become a thing of the past. For those who need it, this is how you can watch the debates on Apple TV.

As all the Apple junkies know, Apple TV runs on the same basis that iPhones premiered way back in the day: apps. While many of these apps, like Netflix and Hulu, are far more conducive to lazy weekends of binging, they’re not particularly useful when it comes to keeping up on the political discourse. Luckily for you, though, that’s not all that Apple TV offers. They’ve also got all of the major news channels, some of which are completely free even without a TV provider.

Watching the debates and hearing what the candidates have to say is a really important part of our civic responsibility, so it’s a wonderful thing that Apple TV leaves zero space for excuses about getting access to them. Of the channels that will be showing the debate, Apple TV offers apps for CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and Fox News. You can also AirPlay the debate on MSNBC through your iPhone or iPad.

For the channels that have their own Apple TV apps, you don’t need to do anything to access them — they’ll just be on your home screen. One potential hitch is that they’re not always free without a TV provider, but even if you’re totally unplugged from that scene, ABC News will allow you to watch the debates for free. Following up on their very successful coverage of the convention, ABC News will broadcasting the debates live on Facebook and across several other channels, including Apple TV. This offers an additional benefit — the broadcasters will include some of the reactions that they get on Facebook, ostensibly including the good, the bad, and the crazy.

Whether you’ve had your side picked for a decade or you’ve managed to remain undecided, the debates are required watching for casual observers and political junkies alike. Fortunately for us, news providers are bending over backwards to make these debates as accessible as possible, broadcasting them across multiple channels and without commercial breaks. They’ve done their job, now it’s time for us to get out and do ours — and the easiest way to do that is to tune in through Apple TV.