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I'm an American and I want to watch the Olympics. What do I do?

iamnotaprogrammer.com

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Re: I'm an American and I want to watch the Olympics. What do I do?

#71

Post by pbhjpbhj »

sudonim wrote: post #37
kalleboo wrote: post #23

> Sure! In fact, if you’re in the UK, you can legally stream every event of the Olympics live, and commercial free. Note that I believe you need to pay the licence fee to legally watch iPlayer (IIRC it pops up a dialog the first time you run it to confirm you've paid). So even in the UK you have to "pay for TV" to get this service. It costs approx £12/month.

Cool - I talk about that at the bottom of the article. But I added a note in that section that you need to pay for a TV license to stream legally. Thanks.

I'm nitpicking but I feel it's worth pointing out that not only do UK viewers of live TV need a license but all taxpayers contribute to the BBC by separate payments from direct taxation.

UK ISPs appear to throttle iPlayer traffic so ironically using a proxy might be worthwhile in the UK too.

Re: I'm an American and I want to watch the Olympics. What do I do?

#72

Post by jbscpa »

I DO have cable TV in the U.S. - Suddenlink

I spent 45 minutes online with the Suddenlink support person and got my account setup with username and password

ALL SET right?

So, with the Suddenlink support person on the phone I login to the NBCOlympics.com site and select Suddenlink.

I key in my username and password.

In about a minute the screen pops up and says I am all set to WATCH THE OLYMPICS LIVE.

Joy!!

Then in about 10 seconds another screen pops up:

"You do not have a subscription to view the requested content. Contact Suddenlink to upgrade your programming then log back in to view content."

What the heck??

So I ask the very helpful Suddenlink support person still waiting on the phone: What Up?

She confirms that since I do not have the EXTENDED basic package with optional add-ons with Suddenlink I do not qualify to WATCH THE OLYMPICS LIVE

BY THE WAY:

Did you read the nbcolympics.com FAQ:

"Q: What is required for accessing Live Extra content? A: You will need to verify that you subscribe to a cable, satellite or telco video tier that includes CNBC and MSNBC. There is no additional charge."

I do have CNBC and MSNBC. CNBC is channel 255 and MSNBC is channel 264 (in my market area)

And yet I cannot WATCH THE OLYMPICS LIVE

In the terms of the Olympics here is my message to NBC LET THE GAMES BEGIN - THE INTERNETS ALWAYS WIN.

Re: I'm an American and I want to watch the Olympics. What do I do?

#73

Post by Tichy »

brudgers wrote: post #51

"I use a service called Vyprvpn which is $14.99 a month. I get it as part of a bundle with a subscription to Giganews. That’s how I connect with a VPN to the UK. And you can too." So the author ended up paying to watch the Olympics. Illegally, instead of legally, I would add.

One difference might be the consequences of the subscription. A subscription to a big media outlet seems rather icky. I don't want to know what crap they'll try to feed you, pretending that it'll be worth your money. Subscribing to a VPN service presumably just expands your choices in a no frills way.

Re: I'm an American and I want to watch the Olympics. What do I do?

#74

Post by sudonim »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #71
sudonim wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool - I talk about that at the bottom of the article. But I added a note in that section that you need to pay for a TV license to stream legally. Thanks.

I'm nitpicking but I feel it's worth pointing out that not only do UK viewers of live TV need a license but all taxpayers contribute to the BBC by separate payments from direct taxation. UK ISPs appear to throttle iPlayer traffic so ironically using a proxy might be worthwhile in the UK too.

That's a great thing to point out. My mistake. I added a note about that in the article.

Re: I'm an American and I want to watch the Olympics. What do I do?

#75

Post by Tivs »

If you have a proxy to connect to in Asia, India, or Africa (easy to find) you can watch the live stream on http://www.youtube.com/olympic. Simple clean interface with schedule and easy stream selection for the current events happening. It's also commercial free as well as being up to 1080p. You can even change the language of the broadcast.

Re: I'm an American and I want to watch the Olympics. What do I do?

#77

Post by cabalamat »

kalleboo wrote: post #23

> Sure! In fact, if you’re in the UK, you can legally stream every event of the Olympics live, and commercial free. Note that I believe you need to pay the licence fee to legally watch iPlayer (IIRC it pops up a dialog the first time you run it to confirm you've paid). So even in the UK you have to "pay for TV" to get this service. It costs approx £12/month.

> I believe you need to pay the licence fee to legally watch iPlayer

Not entirely true. If you only use iPlayer for catchup, you don't need a TV license. But if you use iPlayer to watch TV programmes as they are being broadcast on TV, you do.

Re: I'm an American and I want to watch the Olympics. What do I do?

#79

Post by illumin8 »

jimhirshfield wrote: post #69

This won't get you live coverage, but it will get you legal NBC coverage on your home TV... The broadcast industry does not want American's to know this, but they are legally obligated to provide the free "over the air" stations on cable (coax) even if you do not pay for cable service. In other words, do what I have done: 1. You need a modern cable-ready TV 2. Plug the coax into the wall (assumes your residence had c…

NBC is only broadcasting Olympic events on cable channels, not on the basic NBC OTA channels...

Re: I'm an American and I want to watch the Olympics. What do I do?

#80

Post by mattvot »

sudonim wrote: post #40
rmc wrote: post #34

It is illegal if you live in the UK and consume TV to not pay for your TV license. Legally, I’m unclear of if an American connecting on a VPN to a live stream in the UK is breaking the law. I would guess that it hasn’t really come up with the TV license people yet. I don't know about the UK law, but nearby Ireland has a similar "TV Licence". The law there is not "you need a licence to watch TV", but "if you're in Ire…

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/ > You must be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV. It makes no difference what equipment you use - whether it’s a laptop, PC, mobile phone, digital box, DVD/video recorder or a TV set - you still need a licence.

Worth noting that you can legally watch any recorded show online without a licence
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