When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Fresh off of last month's presidential debate, JD Vance and Tim Walz will meet tonight to debate and showcase their skills as prospective vice presidents. We've combed through all of the global watch options and identified everything you need to know about how to watch the vice presidential debate, including free streaming options.
The vice presidential debate will be held in New York and air on CBS. Longtime CBS News journalists Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan will moderate the two VP nominees in what will be their respective first forays into nationally broadcast debating. The event is expected to last 90 minutes, from 9 p.m. until about 10:30 p.m. ET.
Former President Donald Trump chose Vance, a Senator from Ohio, as his running mate in mid-July, shortly before President Joe Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris, in turn, picked Walz, the Governor of Minnesota, as her running mate in early August. Tonight's debate will give the two VP candidates a chance to formally introduce themselves to a national audience and represent their running mates in the final month before the election.
Keep reading to learn how to watch tonight's debate, including how to live stream the event without cable. We've highlighted international watch options and ways to tune in for free from anywhere.
The vice presidential debate will air on CBS on Tuesday, October 1, at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT in the US. If you don't have CBS through cable or an antenna, you can live stream the network through streaming services like Paramount+, DirecTV Stream, or Fubo. You can also catch a free live version of the debate through the CBS News website or the CBS News YouTube.
Paramount+ is the cheapest way to livestream the CBS network. Subscriptions start at $7.99/month for the Paramount+ Essential plan, which offers ad-supported on-demand content and select live offerings, like CBS News. If you want to watch the general CBS channel live 24/7, you'll need to upgrade to the Paramount+ with Showtime tier, which costs $12.99/month and offers ad-free on-demand content across CBS, Paramount, and Showtime. All plans come with a one-week free trial.
You can also watch CBS through a month-to-month live TV package like DirecTV Stream or Fubo, which offer tons of live channels beyond just CBS. DirecTV Stream plans start at $80/month and include a five-day free trial. The base Entertainment plan carries 90+ live channels. Fubo also starts at $80/month and offers a seven-day free trial. The base Pro plan features 100+ live channels.
Other major US networks and channels are scheduled to simulcast the debate tonight, including ABC, FOX, NBC, and CNN. This means that you should be able to watch the debate through pretty much any basic cable package and many top streaming services.
As was the case with the presidential debates, the VP debate will be simulcast on BBC News in the UK. You can access this option via BBC iPlayer, which is completely free and just requires account creation to use (if you don't already have one). Since the debate will be broadcast live as it airs in the US, it will start airing at 1:15 a.m. BST.
The free CBS News website and CBS News YouTube channels should be available in multiple regions, but if you find yourself in an area where you're unable to access them (or your existing streaming subscriptions), a VPN will be able to help you out. Short for virtual private networks, VPNs are easy-to-use cybersecurity tools that enable people to temporarily alter their electronic device's virtual location so that they can keep up with their usual websites and apps from anywhere.
ExpressVPN is a great option if you don't already have a VPN. It's a user-friendly option with a 30-day money-back guarantee, among other perks, which we detail in our ExpressVPN review.
As we've mentioned above, the VP debate is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET sharp. The debate will last 90 minutes, as was the case for the two 2024 presidential debates. The event should end at around 10:30 p.m., although most major networks (including CBS) have their TV guides blocked out until 11 p.m.
At the time of writing, there are no additional debates officially scheduled between the presidential or vice presidential candidates. The Trump and Harris campaigns have both lobbed the idea of an additional debate in the past. Following the first debate against Harris, Trump said that he wouldn't participate in another. More recently, the Harris campaign accepted CNN's invitation for a possible additional debate, although the Trump campaign has not agreed to it.
Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.
