For more than 90 years, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been promoting literacy and applauding students who excel. Now, the yearly spelling bee is back in its primetime TV home on ION!
You can watch the live coverage on ION or stream it via Bounce and ION Plus. It’s all part of Bee Week, May 31 – June 2.
Scripps Networks, which owns ION and Bounce, announced that the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee will air live on its networks. It's the first time the spelling bee has aired on a cable or streaming TV network, and it's set to reach the largest audience in the competition's almost century-long history.
ION and Bounce are two of the most popular broadcast television networks in the country, available to nearly 120 million homes in the U.S. They air popular off-network series, original movies and holiday films in addition to a variety of syndicated programming. ION Plus and Bounce XL also offer live streams of most of the programming, including the Bee's national competition, so you can watch it whenever you want.
While Ion isn't a popular choice for cord cutters, it does have some solid shows in its programming lineup. The network features reruns of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Criminal Minds and NCIS, among other popular procedural police and action series.
In addition to these shows, ION also features an assortment of off-network drama series and holiday movies. The network is available free over the air with a digital antenna, on cable (DISH channel 250 and DIRECTV channel 305), and over the top with Pluto TV.
The Bee has aired on ESPN since 1994, but it's moving to ION and Bounce this year because of scheduling issues. The Scripps company said that it wanted the spelling bee to be accessible to the widest possible audience, so it negotiated a partnership with ION and Bounce.
The Bee will start with preliminary rounds on May 31 and continue through the quarterfinals on June 1. Actor LeVar Burton will host the semifinal and final rounds on ION and Bounce. You can also watch the bee on Laff and TrueReal, as well as on the free-streaming platforms of ION Plus and Bounce XL.
For many years, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been a summer staple on ESPN. But this year, the contest is shifting to ION and Bounce, as its longtime owner Scripps decides to break with ESPN.
Among the 234 spellers competing this year are 12 from Arkansas, including MWMS eighth-grader Abhilash Patel, who’s a member of our local team. If you’re looking to cheer on a speller from Arkansas, here are some options:
First, you can watch the spelling bee via ION Plus (channel 1062). This free channel will only carry the first two rounds of the competition, but it should still give you a good idea of how the event is going. You’ll just need a smart TV that supports ION, such as a Samsung or Vizio.
You can also watch the bee through ION Plus on your phone or tablet. Just download the app to your device and enter your ZIP code. If you’re not in the US, you can use a VPN to fool your smart TV into thinking it’s in the United States and watch the event through ION Plus.
The ION and Bounce networks will broadcast the semifinals on June 1 and the finals on June 2. Both channels will also livestream the finals, but only through ION Plus and Bounce XL.
To learn more about the Bee, check out the official website here. You can also watch a special one-hour program called Road to the Bee on Ion and Bounce May 26 at 8/7c. Hosted by actor LeVar Burton, of “Reading Rainbow” and “Star Trek” fame, the show will delve into the history of the spelling bee and how it came to be.
If you want to watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee, you can watch on free-streaming platforms like ION Plus and Bounce XL. You can find these channels through free apps on Smart TVs and connected devices such as Roku and Amazon Fire TV. To watch the preliminaries, go to ION Plus at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 31, and the quarterfinals at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, June 1.
This year’s event will take place from May 31 to June 2. You can watch the preliminaries and the semifinals live to tape on ION and Bounce, as well as re-broadcast on Laff and TrueReal. The finals will air on ION and Bounce, as well. The competition will be narrated by LeVar Burton, who’s best known for starring in Roots and Reading Rainbow.
Avinav Prem Anand, an 11-year-old Far North Side resident, is competing in his first spelling bee. He’s among 233 spellers who’ve entered the Scripps National Spelling Bee this year, including 16 fellow Ohioans. He’s got a chance to win the bee for the first time. He will compete in the semifinals on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on ION Television, and you can watch the event live on ION Plus and Bounce XL.
There are a few different ways to watch this year’s National Spelling Bee, and the most convenient option is by signing up for a subscription to Sling TV. The company offers 3 base packages, including a no-contract option that’s half price for the first month. If you’re looking for a bit more oomph, they also offer a premium package called Hollywood Extra, which costs $6 per month. In addition to their impressive lineup of cable channels, Sling also offers a number of apps and services to help you watch on the go. They’re not quite the slew of options available at Comcast and Charter, but they should be a good fit for most cord cutters.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is on its way to ION, Bounce, Laff and TrueReal today, June 2. This year marks the first time the National Spelling Bee has been broadcast on Scripps' own networks. It is also the first time the finals have been aired live on ION and Bounce.
To watch the National Spelling Bee on TrueReal outside of the US, you need to use a top-notch VPN service. The best one we recommend is ExpressVPN, because it offers a number of unlocking features that will help you watch the show in any country.
In addition, you can also download a TrueReal app to watch the show on your phone or tablet. The app is free and works on Android devices. Its MediaStreamer feature allows you to stream TrueReal content on non-VPN-compatible equipment without any issues, making it a great choice for those looking to watch the show from abroad.
Moreover, you can watch the bee online on ION Plus and Bounce XL, which are both free to watch and can be found on Samsung TV Plus (channel 1062) and Vizio Free Channels (channel 115). You don't need a subscription to ION or Bounce to watch these channels, and they are available in every part of the country.
The National Spelling Bee is a popular event among kids across the world. Students compete in four segments to determine who takes home the Scripps Cup: Preliminaries, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and the Finals. This year, 234 spellers have advanced to the national competition and will take on students from across the United States. The finalists will battle in front of a panel of experts to find out who will win the title of national champion.