With the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics officially kicking off with opening ceremonies today at 11 AM EST/ 2 PM PST, you’re probably wondering how to watch live streams and keep up to date with events from your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. NBC will be delaying the TV broadcast of the opening ceremonies until 7:30pm tonight in the US, but you can still catch everything live on your Mac or mobile device using the apps below:
NBC: In the U.S. your only official option for streaming coverage of the games is through NBC. The network’s website will be streaming competition coverage from all 15 sports and you can also get live streams on your iPhone or iPad through the NBC Sports Live Extra app.
Unfortunately you will have to sign in to a cable provider in order to access the majority of streams through NBC. That won’t work for cable cutters of course, but there is just about every cable provider supported including Xfinity, Time Warner Cable, Direct TV, Dish, Verizon FIOS, COX, Charter, AT&T U-verse, Optimum, Suddenlink, Mediacom, Cable One, WoW!, Brighthouse, RCN, and many more. NBC will, however, offer a 30-minute temporary pass (and 5 minutes a day after) for those without a cable subscription.
CBC: For Canadians, the games will be available through CBC and fortunately won’t require users to sign in to a cable provider to access coverage. The network will have 12 live video feeds of events (up to four at once!) that you can access on both your Mac and iOS devices. You can grab the live streams starting with today’s opening ceremonies through the CBC website or the CBC Olympics iOS app.
Of course cable cutters unable to access the official NBC streams in the US could always use a VPN service like Hola to access the free streams from Canada or other countries.
BBC: In the UK, the official provider of live streams and coverage for Sochi 2014 is the BBC. The network will be live streaming over 650 hours of coverage via six HD streams that can be accessed through the BBC Olympics website or the BBC Sport iOS app for users in the UK. Coverage will officially kick off later today with the opening ceremonies at 11 AM ET. Again, for users in the U.S. without a cable subscription to access NBC feeds, using a VPN service could allow you to access the free BBC streams from the UK.
TenPlay (Australia): In Australia, official coverage of the games will be available through TenPlay on the network’s website as well as through a special Sochi 2014 on Ten app it has on the App Store.
Schedule and Results: You can access a full schedule and results from events on the Sochi 2014 website here, but you can also get notifications and up dates through many of the popular sports apps for iOS like NBC Olympics Highlights and Results, Yahoo Sports, ESPN SportsCenter, and the official Olympics app by the International Olympic Committee.
Other countries: Streaming rights for the rest of Europe and other countries have been split up this year between a long list of networks. We can’t list them all, but you can find out what network is providing official coverage in your country here.
