Don’t Have Peacock? Get Nearly All Its Olympic Coverage for Free With the NBC Sports App
Don’t Have Peacock? Get Nearly All Its Olympic Coverage for Free With the NBC Sports App
If you’re watching the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics on TV, you’re seeing lots of promotion for Peacock as the be-all, end-all destination for Olympic action. But if you don’t feel like paying for Peacock, you may already have a free option to get nearly everything that Peacock offers, the NBC Sports app.
This little-hyped app is free to access as long as you have a live TV provider. If you don’t, you can sign up for any live TV streaming service that offers NBC. While this would be a more expensive option for watching the entirety of the Olympics, if you are specifically interested in watching a shorter segment of the Games, you can enjoy free trials with DIRECTV STREAM (five days), Hulu + Live TV (three days), and Fubo (at least one day).
When you download and open the NBC Sports app, you’ll have the opportunity to preview everything for free for 30 minutes. After that, you’d need to add your the TV Everywhere credentials that you use to log into your cable, satellite, or live streamer provider. Once you’ve authenticated your subscription, you’ll get virtually everything Peacock offers, including the “exclusive” whip-around coverage of the Gold Zone channel.
The mobile interface is especially helpful. Under the Live > Olympics tab, you can scroll to see which events are currently broadcasting medal rounds. If you’re looking for a specific sport, go to that Live > Olympics tab and use the dropdown box labeled “All Sports” and you’ll be able to see an alphabetical list of every sport. Click on your choice and you’ll see whether there are any events available.
Using your phone to control your viewing makes a lot of sense, since so many TV providers seem to offer incomplete information with their channel guides. It’s hard to know which events are preliminary or final with a TV interface, but the NBC Sports app makes that clear. You can also use your phone to “cast” to your TV or streaming device.
The NBC Sports app also features some of the bonus programming, like the highlight show with Kenan Thompson and Kevin Hart.
What Peacock Exclusives Are Not Available With the NBC Sports App?
It appears you cannot access the “Watch With Alex Cooper” content or the A.I. Al Michaels-voiced personalized Olympic recaps. There may be other missing content, but it’s not immediately evident.
If you’re just looking to have the Olympics on in the background, the Gold Zone channel is great — you’ll see all the most important moments without having to flip channels. That is supposed to be a Peacock Exclusive, but you are able to access it in the NBC Sports app.
It seems that all sports available on Peacock are also streamable through the NBC Sports app, which is frankly amazing.
Comparing Live TV Providers to Access the NBC Sports App
While you can access the NBC Sports App with a cable subscription, most viewers will get more bang for their buck with a live TV streaming service. There’s no contract, you can cancel anytime, and you’ll have more options to add or remove channels to fit your budget and needs.
If you’re leaving cable for the first time and want to see as much of the Olympics for free as possible, we recommend the five-day free trial of DIRECTV STREAM. The service includes an unlimited DVR, 20 simultaneous streams, and a huge channel lineup. Subscribers get 31 of the top 35 cable channels channels offered by this service. If you max out your options, you can get as many as 283 channels.
We like DIRECTV STREAM for its great picture and an unbeatable lineup of regional sports networks. Once you give it a try, you’ll probably be happy to make it your live TV provider.
Another top option is Hulu + Live TV. You can try it free for 3 days. In addition to 33 of the top 35 cable channels, you’ll also get the great on-demand libraries of Hulu, Disney+, and the live sports of ESPN+. That’s a fantastic value for three free days.
Thanks to those free services, this is the best overall entertainment value available right now.
If you want to save money over the long haul, we recommend Sling TV. This ultra-flexible live streamer offers lots of different channel packages. While there is no free trial, Sling frequently offers deep discounts on your first month. No other live-streaming service offers more ways to save money.
Unfortunately, NBC is only available on Sling if you live near Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Hartford/New Haven, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, or Washington, D.C.
Another strong choice is Fubo. Subscribers get 19 of the top 35 cable channels and immediate access to the hard-to-find Bally Sports networks. We generally don’t recommend Fubo because of its high price, but it does offer some channels that are hard to find.
Ultimately, if you are looking for the most complete and cheapest way to watch the duration of the Paris Summer Games, then Peacock is your best bet. With subscriptions starting at just $7.99 per month, that is a fraction of the cost of any of the live TV streaming services that you can use to access the NBC Sports App.
Peacock
Peacock is a subscription video streaming service from NBCUniversal that includes original shows, blockbuster movies, and classic television series. Peacock is home to “Yellowstone,” and “The Office,” as well as original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports including NFL, MLB, WWE, Olympics, Premier League, NASCAR, French Open, College Football and Basketball, and PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.