The 2018 Winter Olympics officially kick off tomorrow in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The Opening Ceremony will mark the beginning of the affair at 8PM tomorrow, Pyeongchang time. For those of us in the United States, that’s 6AM ET and 3AM PT. Thankfully, NBC will be rebroadcasting the Opening Ceremony tomorrow evening.
But, how do you stream the Winter Olympics and all of the events? Read on to find out…
NBC and its family of networks take the reins in broadcasting the Winter Olympics stateside. NBC will broadcast 176 hours of live coverage starting this evening and running through February 25th.
NBC Sports will air 369 hours of coverage, including a block of 24-hour coverage from February 18th through February 25th. CNBC will also handle some of the broadcasts, presenting 46 hours of coverage from Monday, February 12th through Friday, February 23rd.
Finally, USA Network will present 40.5 hours of ice hockey and curling, primarily in the early hours of the morning – between 7-9:30 a.m. ET.
There’s also the Olympics Channel, which offers 24-hour news coverage of the Winter Olympics.
If we’re being technical, the Winter Olympics have already started with some curling events – but things will “officially” kick off following the Opening Ceremony tomorrow. Head to NBC’s website for a full breakdown of the schedule.
How to stream the 2018 Winter Olympics on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac
Streaming the Winter Olympics isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to do. In fact, your best bet to guarantee coverage of all events is to find a friend with a traditional cable subscription. But, that’s not always an option.
The NBC Sports app for iOS and tvOS will allow you to stream 30 minutes of live video your first viewing session, and then 5 minutes of live video everyday thereafter. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not really enough to even make it worthwhile.
Thus, you can log into the NBC Sports app with a cable provider to unlock 1,800 hours of live coverage, the majority of which is online only.
However, luckily we live in an age of internet TV providers and those providers offer free trials. The trials are only valid for new customers and aren’t long enough to span the entire length of the Olympics. However, you can stack the trials, meaning that once one trial is, you can create a trial at one of the other platforms.
- Sling TV – Free 7-day trial
- DirecTV Now – Free 7-day trial
- YouTube TV – Free 7-day trial
- Hulu with Live TV – Free 7-day trial
Sling TV is the most affordable option for streaming the 2018 Winter Olympics. At $25 per month, with the Blue package, you get NBC, NBC Sports Network, and USA. You can add the Olympic Channel for $10 more and CNBC for $5 more, bringing you to $40 for access to all Olympic content.
DirecTV Now offers all five channels, but it’s pricey at $60 a month for the “Go Big” plan, which is required for access to the Olympic Channel.
YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV both offer all of the channels except USA Network. YouTube TV is also limited in terms of market availability. Hulu with Live TV comes in at $40, while YouTube TV is $35.
Once you have an account with one of the internet TV services, you can use those login credentials to sign into NBC’s website and the NBC Sports app for access to all 1,800 hours of live coverage. Or, if you only want to watch what the networks broadcast, you can simply watch with your internet TV service’s respective application.
Recap
To recap, streaming the 2018 Winter Olympics without traditional cable isn’t super straight forward, but here’s what you can do:
- Create an account with DirecTV Now, YouTube TV, Hulu, or Sling TV
- Stream via the respective TV application of that service OR use your login credentials to sign into NBC’s site or the NBC Sports app
- Enjoy the 2018 Winter Olympics!
What events are you most looking forward to? Let us know down in the comments and check out the full schedule here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4oBmLsd5YA
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