How to watch the Winter Olympics without cable, for about $30

Mike Snider | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption The cheap way to watch Olympics in VR With a $10 cardboard viewer and a smartphone, you can access fully immersive Olympics, though you probably won't want to watch for long.

The Winter Olympics competition is more than halfway completed, but even if you have cut the cable cord there's still time to see plenty of skating, snowboarding, hockey and other sports before the Closing Ceremony on Sunday.

Over the next several days there's men’s skating (Friday night), the U.S. men's hockey team faces the Olympic Athletes from Russia team (Saturday morning), the U.S. women's hockey team's semifinal game (Monday morning), women's skating and lots of snowboarding.

More: USA TODAY's Olympic Schedule & Results

First, you need to know that watching the Games is still geared toward subscribers of pay TV. Then, find a workaround.

Over the 18 days of the event in Pyeongchang, South Korea, NBCUniversal plans to live-stream or broadcast a record 2,400 hours across NBC and its other channels including NBC Sports, CNBC, USA and The Olympic Channel, the NBCOlympics.com site and the NBC Sports app. (You can also use the app to catch up on action you've missed.)

If your TV package includes NBC, you will be able to use your pay-TV credentials to watch everything on NBCOlympics.com or the NBC Sports app, too.

However, viewers without pay-TV credentials can only watch for free for 30 minutes the first day they visit the site or app. After that, you can watch for five minutes each subsequent day. A library of short-form, on-demand videos, usually less than five minutes long, will be watchable for free. (Note: This is different from the Super Bowl, during which NBC offered free online video access for all.)

If you are a big Winter Olympics fan, that won't likely satisfy you. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to increase your viewing options.

More: The low-tech guide to watch the highest tech Olympics in history

More: USA TODAY's Winter Olympics coverage

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For starters, an antenna can be used to capture NBC's over-the-air broadcast signals. You could also check into media streaming platform Plex, which records those signals to your computer or storage device so you can watch later or when you are on a mobile device. The monthly Plex Pass is $4.99 and you connect your antenna to a digital tuner and run it through your computer (details here).

If you get broadband Internet service at home (either wired or on a mobile device), you could turn to one of the growing selection of Internet-delivered streaming TV services such as Sling TV and DirecTV Now.

Sling TV and DirecTV Now

These services let you select a personalized pay-TV package — without a monthly contract — that you can stream using an app on your TV using popular devices such as Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Google Chromecast and other Android devices such as NVIDIA Shield and some game systems.

Each of them has live feeds from the various NBC Universal channels and live, local NBC channels across much of the country. Each also has free trial periods of a week or so, which gives you a chance to watch the first week of action and see if you like the service (you could wait to tune in when the finals of your favorite events are scheduled). And most services let you log in to NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app to watch online action that is on channels you get through your streaming TV subscription.

The Olympics offers "a great opportunity" for these streaming TV services to attract new users, says John Tantum, co-founder of Suppose, a site that lets users compare TV services based on their needs. "There's no commitment, so the entire Olympics can be available for just $35-45 and a user can cancel the service at the end of the month," he said. "But many people will like the service and realize that they can happily live without their cable or satellite TV service, which is probably costing them two to three times as much."

The absence of a contract is important to nearly all (94%) subscribers of these broadband TV services, according to a recent survey of 1,000 active subscribers done by The Diffusion Group.

Internet streaming services may make it harder, at some point, for consumers to get the service for a month and then cancel. But for this season at least, the contract-free offers continue. Here's a quick breakdown of the medal-winning broadband TV services:

►DirecTV Now. The AT&T-owned service has local NBC channels in 46 markets and includes CNBC, NBC Sports and USA channels in its lowest-priced package ($35 per month; free seven-day trial), which has an ongoing introductory offer of the first three months for $10 each (use code YESNOW3). Another deal gives you a free Amazon Fire TV device if you pre-pay for two months of DirecTV Now.

For any service, consumers "really need to check every market" to see if they get a local NBC channel, Tantum said. In Tampa, none of the streaming TV services has the local NBC station, he says, while in Las Vegas, only YouTube TV has the local broadcast affiliate. That local broadcast would be important if you want to, say, watch the skating competitions live.

►FuboTV. Originally a soccer-focused streaming service, fuboTV (free seven-day trial, first month at $19.99; $44.99 monthly) now has more than 60 channels including local NBC stations covering 70% of U.S. households and the other four channels carrying Olympics action. FuboTV plans to have an expanding library of highlights from the Games, too. FuboTV also has a cloud DVR to record 30 hours of programming; pay $9.99 more per month for 500 hours of DVR space.

►Hulu. Hulu's Live TV service ($39.99 monthly, free seven-day trial), which has live NBC channels for more than 75% of U.S. TV households, has a customized interface to let you pick your favorite sports. That will keep you updated on upcoming live coverage and the availability of on-demand coverage you may have missed.

►PlayStation Vue. Sony's TV offering has a multiview feature — you can watch three channels at the same time — something that could come in handy during the Games. The service (starts at $39.99 monthly, free five-day trial), has live NBC feeds in 38 markets and includes CNBC, NBC Sports and USA in its entry-level programming package. You can add The Olympics Channel by upgrading to the $44.99 monthly Core programming package ($44.99 monthly). Other perks: a cloud DVR and ability to stream on five devices simultaneously including three outside the home. Only subscribers with a live NBC feed can use their PS Vue credentials to log on and watch live on the NBC app.

►Sling TV. The first service to deliver live local TV via broadband — Dish Network launched it three years ago — Sling TV has local NBC feeds in 11 markets including Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and the San Francisco area. (Check Sling's website to see if it offers NBC in your area). The Sling Blue package ($25 monthly, free seven-day trial) includes NBC, if available, NBC Sports and USA. To add CNBC, get the News Extra package for an additional $5 monthly Add a 50-hour cloud DVR for $5 monthly.

►YouTube TV. Among its 40-plus channels, this nearly year-old service ($35 monthly, free seven-day trial) has NBC live channels in 66 markets, covering 70% of the U.S. Also on board are CNBC, NBC Sports, USA and The Olympic Channel. Among YouTube TV's perks: unlimited cloud DVR recordings for nine months, six separate accounts and three simultaneous streams.

Each of the streaming services will use different approaches to present the Olympics "in their own flavor," says Peter Chave principle architect at Akamai Technologies, which provides cloud services and global delivery of streaming video including the Olympics Games.

NBCUniversal, which has the rights to all the Olympics Games through 2032 and has sold more than $900 million in advertising for the Pyeongchang Games, wins whether you watch on a traditional pay-TV provider or on a streaming service, he says. "If you are not on a cable network, they want to try to capture you as a viewer with a similar personalized, rich experience and that gives them reach outside of their usual footprint," Chave said.

If all this makes you wonder, "Wouldn't it just be easier to have a pay-TV subscription?", here's what else cable is offering. NBCUniversal's parent company Comcast has an elaborate offering for its X1 subscribers with 50 virtual channels, daily updates and some programming in 4K Ultra HD high-dynamic range video with Dolby Atmos sound. DirecTV and Dish Network will also provide a channel of 4K and 4K HDR programming, too (DirecTV in Dolby Atmos, as well).



Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.