Mike Snider

USA TODAY

Fans of the Olympics have a binge-watching marathon ahead of them with NBC's coverage of the Summer Games in Rio.

If you want to follow the exploits of U.S. swimmers Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, sprinter Usain Bolt and the rest of the Olympic athletes — but have cut the cord — you will need to get your streaming game in shape to catch the competition, which runs through Aug. 21.

Of course, you can always connect an antenna to your HDTV to get NBC's digital-TV signal if you can pick up a nearby station. (Check the Federal Communications Commission's map to see.) Want to record to watch at your leisure? ChannelMaster, Tablo and TiVo are among the DVR options available.

Rio 2016 Summer Olympics | USA TODAY NETWORK

But the real action will be online. Here are 3 ways to live stream the Games:

1. NBC

More than 4,500 hours of pomp and competition will be streamed live on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app (available for Android, iOS and Windows devices, as well as Amazon Fire, Apple TV and Roku).

That is 1,000 more hours of live video than NBC streamed for the London Olympic Games four years ago. More than 82 million unique visitors watched 149.3 million total streams of those Games.

"This was basically in the Dark Ages of live-streaming," said Chris Brantner, who runs the CutCableToday.com news site. "Now, with better technology, awareness and more streaming services, I firmly believe the 2016 Olympics will break all records for live-streaming sporting events."

Pay-TV customers can log onto NBC's apps by authenticating their subscriptions, but cord cutters will have to leap some hurdles. Without those pay-TV credentials, you will be able to watch only 30 minutes on your first visit and five minutes daily after that.

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However, there are ways to watch the Games without committing to your local pay-TV provider — or borrowing a logon and password from a relative or friend.

2. PlayStation Vue

Sony's PlayStation Vue service ($29.99-$44.99 monthly, watch on PlayStation 4 and other devices), delivers local NBC broadcasts and Telemundo in several cities. (Go to PSVue.com to see what live channels you can get on the service.)

Subscribers also get the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), as well as Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC and USA, all of which will carry Olympics broadcasts. And they get the ability to log onto the NBC Olympics site and app, which will carry all of the competition, including what would be shown on NBC.

Golf Channel, which will carry the Olympics' golf competition, can be added by choosing the $34.99 Core programming package, which has more than 70 channels, compared with the $29.99 Access package. And NBC Universo, which will feature soccer, is available in a $4.99 additional Spanish-language programming package ($3.99 for PlayStation Plus members).

3. Sling TV

Another streaming option is Sling TV, launched last year by satellite-TV provider Dish Network. Sling TV has more than 40 channels in its Sling Blue $25 monthly plan, including live NBC broadcasts in 10 markets (Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Hartford, Conn.; Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego and Washington) and NBCSN, Bravo and USA.

Best apps keeping tabs on the 2016 Olympics

You can add the Golf Channel as part of a Sports Extra package that costs an additional $5 monthly. And a special Olympics promotion starting Aug. 1 will let viewers watch for free CNBC and MSNBC, channels typically part of a World News package, costing an additional $5 monthly. You can watch Sling on many connected devices, including Android, iOS and Windows devices. However, a Sling TV account does not gain you access to the NBC Sports app.

Both PlayStation Vue and Sling TV have seven-day free trial offers, enough to get you through much of the Olympic preliminaries.

"Cutting the Cord" is a regular column covering Net TV and ways to get it. If you have suggestions or questions, contact Mike Snider at msnider@usatoday.com. And follow him on Twitter: @MikeSnider.