If you're into bloodsports, there's another way to watch Obama v. Romney tonight. Aereo, the Barry Diller-backed startup that lets you live-stream network TV, just offered New Yorkers two hours of free viewing tonight from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m--and free viewing for both subsequent presidential debates. Users don't have to input their credit card information, but they do have to own a Mac since the service still only works through Safari browsers.
For those of you outside Steve Jobs' reality distortion field, there are a number of other options.
YouTube is live-streaming both the presidential and vice presidential debates for the first time ever, via both YouTube’s Election Hub and ABC News’s YouTube channel. C-SPAN is also live-streaming the rhetorical sparring match.
And if you miss cable's wailing of the partisan banshees to tell you how you're supposed to feel about the assorted sound bites, well, there's always Twitter.