The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan kick off today, Friday, Feb. 6, and for those who have cut the cord, there are plenty of ways to catch all the action without a traditional cable or satellite TV subscription.
Also: The best live TV streaming services
Where and when do the 2026 Winter Olympics Start?
The Olympics officially open Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, at 2 p.m. Eastern time -- 8 p.m. Central European Time (CET) -- in Milan Cortina with a ceremony at the San Siro Stadium. NBC will also re-air the Opening Ceremony at 8 p.m. ET for Primetime. The Games will feature 17 days of competition, ending on Feb. 22, with around 2,900 athletes from over 90 nations competing.
How to watch 2026 Winter Olympics Live (or without cable)
NBCUniversal will provide daily coverage of the Winter Games' most exciting events. Altogether, NBC says it plans to present live coverage from all 116 medal events. This will include live coverage of skiing, ice skating, luge, curling, and more. The major events will air on NBC between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET. Olympics coverage will preempt all other shows.
Also: The best TV antennas
If you don't have a cable package, you have a couple of options to watch the Olympics: You can subscribe to Peacock for $11 per month to watch every event live. Or, you can buy an over-the-air (OTA) antenna, and watch on NBC for free. This is a great option if you live within range of a broadcast tower. You can also watch the opening and closing ceremonies, some medal ceremonies, and highlights for free on the NBC Olympics website.
Peacock
Best service for streaming the Olympics overall
The best way to watch the Olympics is to stream on Peacock Premium for $11 per month (with ads). It's important to note that the base plan, Peacock Select for $8 per month, does not include live sports coverage like the Olympics.
With Peacock, you can stream all 116 events live. To help you watch, Peacock will offer features such as Live Actions, which lets you set prompts to jump to new activities, and Discovery Multiview, which allows you to stream four sports simultaneously. You can also create a viewing schedule, search by sport or athlete, and keep updated with all the medals and awards.
New for the 2026 Winter Olympics, Peacock will offer a Rinkside Live feature that delivers a dynamic vertical view of ice skaters on your phone, plus live highlights and multiple camera angles, alongside the traditional broadcast. If you're watching on your TV, tablet, or laptop, you can see all camera angles simultaneously via Rinkside.
DirecTV
Upscale your games watching from HDTV to 4K
You can watch all the Olympic channels you need to watch the games -- CNBC, NBC, NBCSN, Olympics Channel, and USA -- on DirectTV, even on its lowest-price level, the $90 Entertainment package.
In addition, DirecTV includes unlimited cloud DVR storage. With it, you can keep as many DVR recordings as you'd like for up to nine months.
You can watch the game or any other show on up to 20 streaming devices simultaneously on your home network. Away from home, you can share your stream with up to three other devices.
Hulu + Live TV
All the stations you need for $90 a month
Hulu + Live TV offers an attractive combination of on-demand video and live TV for $90 per month after a three-day free trial. For Olympics watchers, it offers your local NBC channel, CNBC, NBCSN, the Olympics Channel, and USA.
Hulu also offers enhanced cloud DVR, increasing the available DVR storage from 50 hours to 200 hours. That should prove very handy for the Games. In addition, you can store an unlimited number of videos in your cloud DVR archive for up to nine months.
Sling TV
The most affordable full streaming service for the games
I like Sling TV's a la carte approach to channels. I enjoy picking and choosing channels, but I know some people find it more confusing than useful. That said, for the Olympics, you will be able to get by with Sling Blue, which costs $55 per month. Right now, you can get the Orange and Blue package for $35 per month for your first month, so you can choose this option and cancel it after the Olympics are over.
It takes digging, but Sling TV offers NBC and USA in "select areas." Which ones? Good question. This page will let you see what's available, but it doesn't explain the logic. For example, it tells me I can't get FOX, NBC, or ABC even though they are available OTA in my area.
If you're considering Sling TV, you need to look at the above-mentioned page if you want to watch the Olympic Games.
Sling TV's default cloud DVR offers 50 hours for free. You can upgrade to 200 hours for $5 per month. The video is shown in 720p. With a Sling Orange plan, you can only watch a single stream, and with Sling Blue, you can watch shows on three devices simultaneously. Combined, you can stream your shows on up to four devices.
YouTube TV
The most channels you can get
With over 100 live TV channels, YouTube TV offers more popular channels than its competitors, and includes all the relevant channels: NBC, USA Network, CNBC, and more. For a limited time, new users can get two months of YouTube TV for $60 per month, which is a $23 per month discount.
By CNET's count, out of the top 100 live TV networks, YouTube TV offers the most channels, 78, of any streaming service. YouTubeTV's DVR is also outstanding. With it, you can record as many shows as you like. The only restriction is that they'll disappear after nine months. I can live with that.
How to watch the Winter Olympics online from anywhere using a VPN
If you're outside the US and want to specifically watch NBC's coverage, you may need to use a VPN to stream the Olympic Games. NordVPN is our tested pick for the best VPN for streaming.