Where and when can you watch Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade today without cable
With nearly a century of marches under its belt, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade celebrates its 98th edition this week. It has been a tradition in New York City since the 1920s. During your Black Friday shopping and recipe planning, you can add the television event to your watchlist and stream it from home.
In addition to North Pole celebrity Santa Claus, this year’s parade will include appearances and performances by the Rockettes, Broadway’s Death Becomes Her and Hell’s Kitchen, Chlöe, The Roots, Coco Jones, Idina Menzel, The Temptations, The War and Treaty, Tom Kenny, Ellie the Elephant, Jennifer Hudson and Wicked star Cynthia Erivo.
Viewers can expect floats and balloons returning from last year’s parade, but there will also be a few new stars taking to the streets. Look out for giant inflatable versions of Minnie Mouse, Extraordinary Noorah & The Elf on the Shelf, Dragon Ball’s Goku and Marvel’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man among the balloons, and don’t miss Netflix’s Wednesday float.
Whether you’re entertaining guests this holiday or relaxing on the couch, you can follow the route as the festivities kick off from the Upper West Side to Macy’s 34th Street Herald Square flagship store. Here you can tune in and watch without cable.
Read more: This is how most people ruin turkey on Thanksgiving, according to an expert
What time does the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade start?
Tune in to the parade Thursday, November 28 at 8:30 AM ET (5:30 PM PT) to 12:00 PM ET. If you’re worried about missing it, don’t worry because NBC will air an encore at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT). You can watch live on Peacock, but make sure you grab this Black Friday deal on the service if you don’t already have it.
Today’s Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker will host the event, which will stream exclusively on Peacock at the same time it airs on NBC. Football fans can then tune in for the NFL game between the Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers, which will air later that evening.
Peacock offers two plans: Premium for $8 per month with ads, or ad-free Peacock Premium Plus for $14 per month. We note that there are some ads on the Premium Plus plan due to content licensing agreements.
Students should check if they qualify for a discount, and some subscribers may qualify for free Peacock Premium if you’re an Instacart or Xfinity customer.
Watch the parade on a live TV streaming service
Are you a cord cutter who has dropped the cable? Watch this year’s parade with a subscription to a live TV streaming service like YouTube TV, Fubo or Garland. Please note that NBC is only available in select cities on Sling Blue or Sling Blue + Orange plans.
The live TV streaming service carries NBC and you can watch content live or on-demand. The platform costs $73 per month and you can enter your zip code to see which local networks are available near you. Not ready for full deployment yet? The service offers a free trial and at this time new subscribers can get a limited-time discount. Read our YouTube TV review.
How to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade with a VPN
Maybe you’re traveling abroad and want to stream Peacock while you’re away from home. With a VPN you can virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to access the parade from anywhere in the world. There are also other good reasons to use a VPN for streaming.
A VPN is the best way to prevent your ISP from throttling your speeds by encrypting your traffic. Using a VPN is also a good idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network and want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins. Streaming TV can be a little smoother with a reliable, high-quality VPN that has passed our testing and security standards.
You can use a VPN to stream content legally, as long as VPNs are allowed in your country and you have a valid subscription to the streaming service you are using. The US and Canada are among the countries where VPNs are legal, but we don’t recommend streaming or downloading content from illegal torrent sites. We recommend ExpressVPN, but you can also choose another provider from our best list, such as Surfshark or NordVPN.
If you’re looking for a secure and reliable VPN, our Editors’ Choice is ExpressVPN. It’s fast, works across multiple devices, and offers stable streams. It normally costs $13 per month, but you can save money with ExpressVPN’s annual plan.
ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Read our review of ExpressVPN.
Follow the VPN provider’s installation instructions and choose a country where the parade will be streamed on Peacock (i.e. the US). For you open the streaming app, make sure you are connected to your VPN through your selected region. If you want to stream the event on more than one device, you may need to configure each device to make sure you’re logged in. Go to settings and check your network connections to verify that you are logged in and connected to your VPN account. Now you’re ready to open Peacock for streaming.
If you’re having trouble streaming, first make sure your VPN is active on the encrypted IP address. Double-check that you have followed the installation instructions correctly and that you have chosen the correct geographic area to view. If you are still experiencing connection issues, you may need to restart your device. Close all apps and windows, restart your device and connect to your VPN first. Please note that some streaming services have restrictions on VPN access.
For more information, here’s how to prepare for your Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping this year.