Even though the New England Patriots aren’t a part of this year’s Super Bowl, you may have a passing curiosity about watching the big game on TV at home. Now, if you want to watch the game with fellow sports fans at a Portland area bar or restaurant, we can help, too.
But back to the task at hand: how to watch the Super Bowl on TV at home. With so many streaming services, cable, satellite and more, it’s not as straightforward as it once was to get the game on your TV. Hopefully, this guide will help you.
When and where is the game?
For starters, the game is Sunday, February 11. It starts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. The San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs face off at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
What channel is the Super Bowl on in Maine
This year, CBS is broadcasting the big game. So, if you watch traditional TV in Southern Maine, that would be WGME CBS 13. WGME is the CBS affiliate for Portland, Maine but covers most of Southern Maine and parts of New Hampshire. Its broadcast area includes Augusta, the state capital, as well as the Lewiston/Auburn area.
However, farther north, such as Bangor, you’ll want to watch the Super Bowl on WABI-TV, which is affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. It is Channel 5.
Now it you’re more interested in the Puppy Bowl, you’ll find it on these channels:
- Animal Planet
- Discovery
- TBS
- truTV
- Max
- discovery+
Channels carrying the game
According to CBS Sports, two channels will carry the game. CBS, obviously. But also Nickelodeon.
They say that the show on Nickelodeon will include family- and kid-friendly content and versions of the game. So, will that include the Usher halftime show? Who knows.
And what if you don’t have cable? You can watch CBS without cable with the following:
- DirecTV Stream
- fuboTV
- Paramount+
Smart TV broadcasts
If you have a Smart TV, then you won’t be flipping through the channels like with old-fashioned antennae TVs or cable or satellite. Instead, what’s important is having at least one streaming service with a live feed.
Currently, we use YouTube TV on our RokuTV to get live TV. It gives us the option of watching local channels, including Channel 13 for the big game. However, we don’t press 1 + 3 on our remote to get to Channel 13. Instead, we use the up and down arrows to find the game in our guide and then click on it.
Previously, we’d used Hulu TV to get live and local TV. Now we pay for Hulu to stream our favorite shows, like “Fargo” and “Reservation Dogs.”
We also pay for Paramount+ which is a CBS property. So, if you do, too, then you should be able to see the game via Paramount+ as well.
Streaming the game on your computer
CBS.com will broadcast the game online. However, you can’t just go to that URL and expect to see the game. Instead, you’ll have to sign into your paid TV provider first and then you’ll be redirected to the game.
This is relevant if you get live TV from one of these services:
- Cox
- DIRECTV
- DIRECTV STREAM
- DISH
- hulu
- Optimum
- Spectrum
- verizon
- Xfinity
- Youtube TV
Satellite channels
We don’t use satellite to get our TV channels anymore — at one point we paid for DISH but no more. So, I can’t speak firsthand to which channel CBS is on different services. However, according to my research, here’s what I found:
- DISH channel 4 is CBS
- DIRECT TV channel 13 is CBS
If I’ve missed any information about watching the game at home on TV or got any channels wrong, please let me know.
Finally, here are the Portland-area sports bars and restaurants hosting watch parties this year.