It’s a question I inevitably ask my wife every single year: when and where do I watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on TV? I’m sure with NFL football playing simultaneously over the parade in the western time zones, there’s also the question of how to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade online free live streaming as well — especially with coverage on NBC and CBS. Don’t worry because we’ve got you covered with this unnecessarily complicated annual event.
2014 marks the 88th year of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and as with past years there will be a host of familiar balloons and some rookies joining the crew. New to the skies over New York City this year are a Red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger; the Pillsbury Doughboy; Skylanders Eruptor character; Thomas the Tank Engine; Paddington Bear; and a revamped Pikachu from Pokemon, just in time for its amiibo figure debut a few days ago.
This new crop of recruits joins old favorites like Spider-Man, Spongebob Squarepants and many others. You can check out the image above of the Eruptor balloon, which is mighty impressive, indeed.
The hosts for the 2014 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade are Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, and Al Roker. Their jibber jabber will be intercut with footage of the parade floats, balloon, and performances from acts including Sting, Idina Menzel, Hilary Duff, and many others. Also expect a sneak peek of NBC’s Peter Pan Live! that premieres next week.
The start time for the 2014 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is 9am EST and it runs for three hours in length. Note that TV coverage on NBC is keyed into that time regardless of time zone, so the west coast will start their coverage delayed at 9am PST or just as the actual parade is wrapping up.
Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade online live free streaming is accomplished by downloading the official NBC Parade app that offers multiple camera views, or going to Earthcam.com for a raw feed of Times Square. I’d personally recommend the phone app for mobile devices.
Note that CBS is running their own Thanksgiving Day Parade coverage during the same time period; from 9am to 12pm regardless of the time zone. Their Thanksgiving Day Parade TV coverage is hosted by Kevin Frazier and Thea Andrews, and they boast a performance by Taylor Swift as their big hook to lure you away from NBC. The CBS coverage is where you’ll find the various Broadway-related performances mixed in.
As for how to watch Thanksgiving Day Parade online free live streaming at CBS, simply visit the newish CBS All Access web portal where you can watch CBS online live and hope it’s supported in the area you live.
