The 2018 Winter Olympics will take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from February 9 to 25. Nearly 3,000 athletes from 92 countries will compete in 102 events for the right to be Olympic champions.
As sports goggles go, it's hard to beat the Winter Olympics. The competition creates stories that are difficult to replicate elsewhere. If you want to tune in to some of this year's action, you need to know what options are available to you.
We're going to explain where you can stream the 2018 Winter Olympics in the US, UK, and Canada, and explain how you can keep tuning in even if it's not being broadcast live in your country.
Whether or not you can watch the 2018 Winter Olympics for free depends on who owns the broadcast rights in your country.
In the United States, it is not possible to watch for free. NBC paid $4.38 billion for the rights to broadcast the 2016 Summer Olympics How to Follow Your Favorite Rio 2016 Olympic Athletes and Events How to Follow Your Favorite Rio 2016 Olympic Athletes and Events Excited for the Olympic Games? Follow your favorite events, athletes and Olympic events with these five top-notch tools. Read more and 2020 and the 2014 Winter Olympics How to stay up-to-date on the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics How to stay up-to-date on the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics are almost here! By using the following apps and news sources, you'll be able to keep up with the action as it happens. Read more and 2018.
On television, NBC has finally bowed to public pressure and will broadcast the events live, rather than reserving the best action for primetime slots. Presumably, the decision was aided by the 14-hour time difference. How to Instantly Convert Time Zones with One Click How to Instantly Convert Time Zones with One Click Always having trouble converting your time zone to another? This nifty extension makes it foolproof and easy. Read more . Many of the most exciting events naturally fall into US prime time.
You can also watch on the go thanks to the NBC Sports app. It will broadcast 1,800 hours of live broadcast footage from South Korea. And for the first time, the app will also broadcast a live broadcast of the TV channel in addition to showing the events in isolation.
To use the NBC app, you'll need to be a Pay TV subscriber. If not, you can see 30 minutes of action the first time you visit the app, and only five minutes per day thereafter. Interestingly, Snapchat users will get a key moment from NBC's primetime broadcast on the app. Discover tab every day.
How Cable TV Packages Are Expensive How to Cut Your Cable Bill in 5 Simple Steps How to Cut Your Cable Bill in 5 Simple Steps Cable TV can be expensive. So if you want to save some money on your monthly expenses, keep reading as we share the five simple steps to lower your cable bill. Read More:You don't want to sign up just to watch the 2018 Winter Olympics. Fortunately, there are alternative ways to access the NBC feed. We will see some later in the article.
If you live in the UK, you're in luck. You'll be able to see all the action in Pyeongchang for free.
Both the BBC and Eurosport will broadcast the contest. BBC1 and BBC2 will show coverage of the Winter Olympics from midnight to 8pm daily. The footage will be a mix of live action, catch-up shows, and highlights. Eurosport is available on cable or satellite.
Anyone watching through the BBC will be able to cycle through all the events currently live by pressing the red button on their TV remote. You can also watch all the live footage and catch up on the day's highlights on BBC iPlayer for free.
In Canada, the CBC owns the broadcast rights. If you have a cable subscription with a company like Bell TV or Rogers Cable, you will receive the channel. CBC is also available as a free OTA channel. What can you watch using a TV antenna? What can you watch using a TV antenna? What if there was a cheap and legal way to get access to many of the big networks? You would probably turn around. Well, it turns out there is! The trusty TV antenna advances. Read More
On television, the action is divided into three programs. Olympics Primetime is every night from 7pm to 2am ET, the morning of the Olympics will be shown from 6am to noon ET, and the overnight Olympics will be broadcast from 2am to 6am ET.
CBC will also provide live coverage from each venue and each medal ceremony through its app.
If you are not sure who owns the broadcast rights in your country, check the official website of the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Go to olympic.org and click Watch Live In the top left-hand corner. Choose your country from the dropdown list to see who will display the action.
Since the average American household pays for cable TV, you may be trying to find a cheaper way to access live NBC broadcasts.
You can use one of the over-the-top “slim package” providers Sling TV vs. DirecTV Now vs. PlayStation Vue:How do they compare? SlingTV vs. DirecTV Now vs. PlayStation Vue:How do they compare? In this article, you'll learn the differences between the three major OTT Internet TV streaming services:Sling TV, DirecTV Now, and PlayStation Vue. Read more . There are five to choose from, all offering NBC for a fraction of the cost of a cable package.
DirecTV offers $35/month. “Live a little” package. Includes all national NBC channels and provides user credentials for the NBC Sports app.
PlayStation Vue's “Access” package costs $40/month and offers all of NBC's channels. However, it does not give you access to the NBC Sports app.
Hulu with Live TV is $40/month. Package includes all NBC channels and access to the NBC Sports app.
YouTube TV is $35/month and includes all NBC channels and access to the NBC Sports app. On the downside, it's only available in certain cities.
Sling TV's $25/mo Blue plan includes NBC, NBCSN and its sister channel, USA CNBC and MSNBC are part of the News Extra add-on and will give you an extra $5/mo back. You also have access to the NBC Sports app.
If you live in a country where the 2018 Winter Olympics aren't broadcast or are too expensive to justify the cost, you can try and fake your location.
In theory, it will allow you to tune in to live streams from countries where the competition is streaming for free online, like the UK.
Generally speaking, there are three ways to mask your location. You can use a VPN service, a Smart DNS service, or a proxy. Please note that some sites no longer allow you to access their services if you are using a VPN.
If you are looking for a VPN provider, check out ExpressVPN. It offers a 30-day free trial and then costs $8/month. Sign up with this link to get three free months of ExpressVPN!
The 14-hour time difference means it will be difficult for European and US viewers to catch all the action live.
However, if you're a fan of winter sports and planning a few late nights and early mornings, check out this awesome Google Calendar.
Made by Reddit user /u/weissbrot, the schedule lists all the events in each sport and converts them to your local time zone. You can even set alerts for competitions you don't want to miss.
If you want to watch Winter Olympic events, the first step is to see which network owns the broadcast rights where you live.
Next, set whether you need to pay for the service. If it does, see if there are cheaper ways to access the channel.
Lastly, use a VPN or DNS service to view geo-restricted feeds from other countries.
How do you plan to watch all the action from South Korea? Please let us know in the comments below!
