The Sky Leaders Debate is being hosted by the pay TV titan but you don’t need to put down any money to watch tonight’s political punch-up. Though Sky subscribers will get the dubious pleasure of seeing the three leaders in HD, the debate is actually being screened in lots of other places. Here’s five free ways to watch the Sky Leaders Debate and see Cameron, Clegg and Brown battle it out again…
1 Switch on Freeview
While Sky is providing the studio and set for tonight’s Leaders Debate (which looks significantly better than ITV’s Krypton Factor style effort), the live feed will be carried on several channels. If you’ve got Freeview, you’ll be able to choose between Sky News, the BBC News Channel and BBC Parliament. Those channels are also included in the standard Virgin Media and Talk Talk TV packages.
2 Download the iPhone app
The free Sky News iPhone app gives you free live streaming via WiFi or 3G, so if you’re away from your living room you can still peer at the politicians. iPhone TV Catchup will do the same thing for both Sky News and the BBC News Channel. If you can’t watch the debate, you could also grab the LBC 97.3 app which will give you the live debate audio, again over WiFi or 3G.
3 Head online
Sky News also streams for free online. If you prefer the BBC, you can watch the BBC News Channel live through iPlayer. Both channels are also available for free through TV Catchup. The Daily Telegraph website will also be streaming the Leaders Debate. If you don’t fancy actually looking at their faces, you can also listen to the debate live on Radio 4 via iPlayer or via the LBC website.
4 Watch on your Xbox 360
If you’re an Xbox Live Gold account holder you can access Sky News for free from your Xbox 360 without needing to stump up any cash for Sky Player. You’ll just need to tear yourself away from Splinter Cell: Conviction for the duration of the Sky Leaders Debate.
5 Catch up later
If you’re busy when the Sky Leaders Debate is on, you can catch up with it later. The BBC will be broadcasting the entire debate as live after Newsnight. If you don’t want to have to stay up into the wee hours (BBC 2’s replay will start at 11.20pm), you’ll be able to catch-up with the Leaders Debate via iPlayer and the Sky News website.
The Sky Leaders Debate starts at 8.00pm tonight. Will you be watching it?
