How to watch the 2018 Grammy Awards online

It’s a milestone year for the 2018 Grammy Awards, the 60th annual ceremony celebrating the year’s best songs, albums, producers, performers, and other aspects of the music industry. This year’s show is particularly noteworthy because it features a far more diverse list of nominees than previous years. This is largely due to the fact that the Grammys allowed online voting for the first time, making it possible for far more of the roughly 13,000 voting members to easily sound off on nominees.

Who’s the host?

Once again, James Corden will be emceeing. Corden, the host of The Late Late Show with James Corden — also known from Carpool Karaoke, and the 2014 movie adaptation of Into The Woods, in which he played the Baker — is returning to host for the second year in a row. For the previous five years, LL Cool J hosted.

Who’s up for the big awards?

For the biggest awards of the night, we’ve got the unavoidable summer hit “Despacito” up for Record of the Year, but it’ll face stiff competition from Childish Gambino, Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Bruno Mars. The latter four are all also nominated in the Album of the Year category, along with Lorde. Song of the Year is between “Despacito,” “4:44,” “Issues,” “1-800-273-8255,” and “That’s What I Like.”

The Grammys include 84 awards, so you’ll want to check the full list of nominees here to see if your favorite artist or song made it in.

I’m just here for the performances. Who’s up?

As always, the Grammys feature a star-studded set list. This year, it includes Lady Gaga, Pink, Childish Gambino, Little Big Town, Ben Platt, Bruno Mars and Cardi B, DJ Khaled, Rihanna and Bryson Tiller, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, Logic, Alessia Cara and Khalid, Kesha with Camila Cabello, Cyndi Lauper, Julia Michaels and Andra Day, Kendrick Lamar, U2, Elton John and Miley Cyrus, Sam Smith, Sting, and more.

When does the party start?

You’ll be able to catch the 60th Grammy Awards at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT on Sunday, January 28th. The show is allegedly set to run for three and a half hours, but given how often award shows run overtime, take that with a grain of salt.

The ceremony will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City, marking the first time the show has been held outside Los Angeles since 2004. While we’re doing trivia, Grammy fans will also note that the show is a few weeks early this year, in order to avoid conflicting with the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. (It was also moved in 2010 and 2014, for similar Olympic-dodging reasons.)

Okay, I’m in. How do I watch?

Since 1973, CBS has broadcast the Grammys. If you’ve got cable, satellite, or a good old-fashioned TV antenna, you’re already set. Head to your local CBS affiliate (Channel 2 in both NYC and the LA / Hollywood area).

I’m a cool, cord-cutting person of the future. How do I watch online?

So here’s the bad news: if you’d like to watch online, the easiest way is with CBS All Access, which is incidentally kind of terrible. All Access costs $5.99 a month, but you can sign up for a free trial to watch the Grammys if you haven’t already wasted yours on, say, Star Trek: Discovery.

I hate CBS All Access. Any other options?

I don’t blame you. Over-the-top subscription services like DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, Sling TV, YouTube TV, Fubo TV, and Hulu’s live TV service all offer CBS, at least in some areas, and if you can get the network on one of those services where you live, you should be able to watch the Grammys live. (You’ll have to check local listings for specific over-the-top services, and different services may or may not have CBS, based on location.)

Most of those services also offer free trials, so that’s an option, too, but you’ll want to remember to cancel them once the show is done so you don’t get charged.

There’s also the chance that CBS could block the Grammys from airing on over-the-top services, like NBC has done in past years with the Golden Globes. But for now, there’s no reason to think it won’t be available.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/26/16938032/2018-grammy-awards-how-to-watch-online