The American Music Awards of 2019 are live on Sunday night, and there are a few ways to tune in. The show is expected to be a big affair on network TV, but it is catering to cord-cutters more than ever this year as well. Here are all the ways you can catch the AMAs.
The 2019 AMAs will be broadcast on ABC this year as usual. Sadly, out of the four major networks this makes things the most difficult for viewers away from their cable boxes. ABC has specific geographic restrictions meaning that even viewers with a valid cable login cannot stream the network live from most cities and towns. Check the availability on ABC’s website or the mobile app.
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Thankfully, there are many other ways to get access elsewhere. Hulu + Live TV will have the show, along with a few other skinny TV bundles. Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku and Playstation Vue will all have the AMAs, according to a report by Newsweek.
Aside from the main telecast itself, it will not be hard to find some kind of AMAs content to keep up with in real time. The show is poised to take over social media on Sunday night, beginning with a free stream of the Red Carpet pre-show on Twitter. The AMAs’ official Twitter account will broadcast the arrivals through Twitter’s livestreaming app, Periscope.
Other outlets will be on the scene as well. CBS viewers can watch Entertainment Tonight‘s coverage, or tune in through CBS All Access to stream. The pre-show begins at 6 p.m. ET, and when it does the fashion takes will likely take over news feeds all at once.
Finally, there is the after-show, which will air on ABC immediately following the show itself. For those away from their TV it will play on ABC’s streaming app, Hulu + Live TV and most other live feeds following along. The after-show begins at 11 p.m. ET.
The AMAs are unique in award show season for its shift towards open-source voting. For many years, the nominees were chosen by select members of the music industry, based primarily on commercial performance, sales and radio airplay. However, in 2006 the AMAs shifted to a more democratic system with the rise of the Internet.
Fans now vote for their favorite artist online ahead of the awards. The AMAs website collects and tallies these votes, though at the time of this writing the polls are already closed.
The 2019 AMAs Red Carpet event begins at 6 p.m. ET. The show itself begins at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, followed by the after-show at 11 p.m. ET.