Tonight, the ball will drop in Times Square, New York City, signaling an end to 2017. Across the nation, viewers can ring in 2018 with a free live webcast of the big event, which you can watch above. The live stream will be commercial-free and will feature performances from Andy Grammer and country star Lauren Alaina. The live stream will begin at 5 p.m. ET, but the actual event is reported to start at 6 p.m. ET.
To Watch the LIVE Times Square New Year’s Eve Webcast on Mobile, you can also check out the Times Square Ball App. It is available on iTunes as well as Google Play. The features available on the app are listed on iTunes as being able to watch live streaming of the events in Times Square leading up to New Year’s Eve in addition to throughout the year. Users can view the highlight promo and other exclusive video content. They can also customize their own Countdown Clock with the user’s time zone of choice. In addition, you can follow and interact with the Times Square Ball via Twitter. The show will also be featured on TimesSquareNYC.org, NewYearsEve.nyc and TimesSquareBall.net free for mobile streaming as well.
Correspondents for tonight’s webcast are Andrea Boehlke and Jeremy Hassell. Actor and television host Jonathan Bennett hosted the webcast with these correspondents for the first time last year. The lighting and raising of the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball is from 6 p.m. to 6:03 p.m. ET. Representatives from the Philips Lighting Company are the people who flip the giant switch which lights up the ball.
In addition to the above free webcast, there are several countdown specials airing on TV, that can also be viewed via the corresponding network’s live streaming services. Fox’s New Year’s Eve with Steve Harvey: Live From Times Square, will debut tonight, airing live from 8 – 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. through 12:30 a.m. on the FOX network. This is the first time the special has ever aired. The previous few years, Pitbull’s New Year’s Revolution was FOX network’s New Year’s Eve special. The annual Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve will also air tonight. It will be featured on the ABC network, as scheduled, with Ryan Seacrest as the host. Seacrest’s co-hosts this year include the returning Jenny McCarthy in Times Square, Lucy Hale from New Orleans and newbie Ciara, broadcasting from Los Angeles. All-American New Year is another program set to air, running from 8 p.m. – 1 a.m. on FOX News, with Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery and Jesse Watters as the hosts. Telemundo is another network that will also be airing its Bienvenido 2018 special from 10 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. The special will broadcast live from Times Square in New York City, with Danna Paola, Zuleyka Rivera, Jorge Bernal and Karim Mendiburu as the co-hosts of the annual event. Performers expected for the event include Gente de Zona, Zion & Lennox, Nacho, Jencarlos Paty Cantu, Gerardo Ortiz, and Victor Manuelle.