Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 24, 2017. (Getty)
President Donald Trump is about to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress. His State of the Union will begin at 9 p.m. Eastern tonight, January 30. The speech is expected to be about an hour long, but coverage on most TV stations and online will last for two hours so it can include the Democrats’ response to the speech after his is over. Some TV stations and livestreams will even start their coverage 30 minutes to an hour early, so you can see the guests and government officials arriving. Most news coverage will end at 11 p.m. Eastern.
This will end up being one of the biggest speeches Trump delivers, and State of the Union addresses typically draw massive audiences. In February 2010, Barack Obama’s State of the Union was seen by 48 million viewers, according to TIME. And Trump’s address to Congress last February drew about the same numbers: 47.74 million viewers across 11 networks, according to Variety. So we can expect tonight’s to be viewed by about the same number of people.
Here’s what you need to know about Trump’s address to Congress, when it starts, and how you can watch it:
DATE: January 30, 2018
START TIME: 9:00 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Pacific.
LENGTH: The address to Congress is expected to last between 60 and 90 minutes, ending no later than 10:30 p.m. Eastern. After that, the Democrats will give their official response.
TV CHANNEL: Trump’s address will be airing on most major TV networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, CSPAN, CNN, and more.
ABC – Click here to access the ABC channel finder and locate your local station. ABC will cover the speech and the Democratic response from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern.
NBC – Click here to access the NBC channel finder and location your local station. NBC will cover the speech and the Democratic response from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern.
CBS – Click here to access the CBS channel finder and location your local station. CBS will cover the speech and the Democratic response from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern.
Fox – Click here to access the Fox channel finder and location your local station. Fox will be devoting its regular programming to cover the State of the Union from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Eastern.
CNN – Just click here to go to TV Guide’s listings. Then change the “Provider” (right under TV Listings) to your local provider. You’ll be able to scroll down to see what channel CNN is on for you. CNN will cover the SOTU from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern.
C-SPAN – Just click here to go to TV Guide’s listings. Then change the “Provider” (right under TV Listings) to your local provider. You’ll be able to scroll down to see what channel C-SPAN is on for you. C-SPAN will cover the SOTU beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern, and then will re-air the President’s speech in its entirety at 11 p.m. Eastern.
PBS – Just click here to go to TV Guide’s listings. Then change the “Provider” (right under TV Listings) to your local provider. You’ll be able to scroll down to see what channel PBS is on for you. PBS News Hour will have a special broadcast from 9-11 p.m. Eastern.
FOX Business Network – Just click here to go to TV Guide’s listings. Then change the “Provider” (right under TV Listings) to your local provider. You’ll be able to scroll down to see what channel Fox Business Network is on for you. Coverage will begin at 9 p.m. Eastern and at 11 p.m. Eastern, Hannity will be live from the Russell Senate Office Building rotunda.
LIVE STREAM: Click here to check out how to watch the show online via live stream.
