How to Watch Olympic Basketball and Swimming Events

Olympic Basketball 2024: When and How to Watch From Anywhere

The 2024 Summer Olympics commence in Paris on Friday with the opening ceremony, and Olympic basketball tips off a day later on Saturday. Twelve teams have qualified for the men's Olympic tournament headlined by Team USA, which is made up of a dozen NBA stars, including LeBron James, Steph Curry and Anthony Edwards. Team USA begins its Olympic gold medal defense -- the US has won gold in the past four Olympics, dating back to the 2008 Beijing Games -- on Sunday against Serbia. The US women have been even more dominant, winning gold in every Olympics since the 1996 Games in Atlanta. They'll be seeking their eighth straight Olympic title, starting with their first game on Monday, July 29 against Japan. While Peacock is the best way to stream the 2024 Olympic games, you can watch much of the Olympics across NBC's family of channels -- NBC, USA Network, E!, CNBC and Golf Channel -- with cable or satellite TV or a live TV streaming service. If you're looking to watch all of the basketball at the 2024 Olympics in the US, you'll want Peacock. Even after a recent price hike, which raises the monthly charge from $6 to $8, Peacock is one of the most affordable streaming services. With it, you can watch any event live; NBC states Peacock will stream 5,000 hours of live coverage throughout the Games, including all 329 medal events and, crucially, every game of both the men's and women's basketball events. In addition to live-streaming each event, Peacock will have a whip-around show, Gold Zone, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET (4 a.m. to 2 p.m. PT) each day. If you're watching an event on Gold Zone that you're really into, you can continue to watch it even if Gold Zone cuts away to something else. Peacock will display Live Action on-screen prompts that will let you stay with the event or follow Gold Zone's coverage. Peacock will also have four multiview options that will let you watch four events at once. You'll be able to watch NBC's nightly Primetime in Paris show on Peacock, and Peacock will have its own daily recap show "hosted" by AI Al Michaels. For both the men and women, the group stage games will be played about 2.5 hours north of Paris in Lille, France. The knockout rounds from the quarterfinals to the gold medal game will be played at Bercy Arena in Paris. A dozen teams will go for hoops gold for both the men and women. In each case, the 12 teams are divided into three groups of four. Each team will play the other three teams in its group and the top two teams in each group will advance to the knockout round along with the two best third-place finishers. Here are the groups: Men's basketball starts on Saturday, July 27 and ends with the gold medal game on Saturday, Aug. 10. The women's event runs from Sunday, July 28 to Sunday, Aug. 11. A full list of games for the men's event and the US women can be found at the foot of this page. Paris is 6 hours ahead of New York and the rest of the Eastern time zone. It's 7 hours ahead of the Central time zone, 8 hours ahead of Mountain time and 9 hours ahead of Pacific time. This difference means that most events will be shown live in the morning and afternoon for US viewers. It's a team of NBA stars. Most notably, Victor Wembanyama is playing for the host nation. The 7-foot-4-inch sensation from France was the first pick in the 2023 NBA draft and lived up to his billing. Playing for the San Antonio Spurs, Wembanyama averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.6 blocks a game and was named the Rookie of the Year this past season. Team France will not be lacking in size with the 7-foot-1-inch Rudy Gobert also in the lineup. Gobert is a three-time NBA All Star and has been named NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times. Canada will field 11 NBA players, led by guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray. Germany is also fields a deep team led by Franz and Mo Wagner, and Dennis Schroeder. Greece and Serbia are more one-man shows with recent NBA champions with multiple league MVP awards at the center of their efforts. Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic who won the 2023 NBA title with the Denver Nuggets leads Serbia, and two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo who won the 2021 NBA title with the Milwaukee Bucks leads Greece. Nope, you can watch select games on TV, but Peacock will give you access to every game in both tournaments. In the US, you need five TV channels for the Olympics: NBC, USA Network, E!, CNBC and Golf Channel. USA Network will show US team sports, including basketball. NBC will broadcast its Primetime in Paris show each evening in the US. Mike Tirico hosts the show, which includes reports from Snoop Dogg. Sling TV is the most affordable option if you live in one of the few markets where it offers NBC. Failing that, YouTube TV is the best service for the Olympics because its base plan, which costs $73, offers all five channels you'll need. If Sling takes a conditional gold medal and YouTube TV gets the silver among live TV streaming services for watching the Olympics, then Hulu with Live TV is awarded the bronze. It costs only $4 more per month than YouTube TV and includes all five channels for watching the Olympics. Read more: Best Sports Streaming Service for 2024 With a live TV streaming subscription (or cable-satellite plan), you'll be able to authenticate yourself as a paying TV subscriber to watch live streams of every event on NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC app or the NBC Olympics app. That's a great option if you don't want to sign up for Peacock and want to pick and choose which events to watch. All of the live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. For more information, check out our live TV streaming services guide. If you find yourself unable to view Olympics basketball locally, you may need a different way to watch the games -- that's where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it's also a great idea if you're traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins. With a VPN, you're able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. Most VPNs, like our Editors' Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this. Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you're streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions. The BBC will broadcast the 2024 Games on its free-to-air channels, but coverage is limited to BBC One and BBC Two. You can also live stream all the action from Paris on the BBC iPlayer. The BBC promises more than 250 hours of live coverage of the Olympics across the two channels, but not every match of the men's and women's basketball events is set to be shown. For those in the UK wanting more comprehensive coverage of both tournaments, as well as the Olympics as a whole, Discovery Plus is where it's at, which is offering 3,800 hours of live coverage across 55 dedicated online channels. Aussies can watch Olympic basketball on the Nine Network. The Network will have select live coverage of the Olympics, and you can watch on-demand highlights on the network's streaming service 9Now. Meanwhile, pay-TV service Stan Sport will show all 329 Olympic events ad-free and in 4K Ultra HD. In Canada, the Games will be broadcast on TV channels CBC, TSN and Sportsnet. They will be shown on the free CBC Gem streaming service also.

How to Watch the Olympics 2024 on the Best Olympic Streaming Service - CNET

The starting gun is all set to sound for the swimming events at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, with a strong showing expected once again from Team USA. Recent Olympics have proved to be a straight fight between the United States and Australia for dominance in pool-based events, with the US leading the swimming medal tally at the past six Games. American hopes will be largely pinned on Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel, Team USA's two most decorated swimmers. Ledecky is widely expected to win the Women's 800m and 1500m freestyle and is also heavily tipped to make it a golden hat-trick with a win in the 400m free. Seven-time Olympic medalist Dressel, meanwhile, offers the USA's best hopes in the Men's events but could face strong competition from teammate and four-time champion Ryan Murphy in his efforts to claim the largest medal haul at Paris 2024. Below, we outline the Olympic swimming TV schedule and provide recommendations for the best streaming services for watching the Men's and Women's events in the US, as well as international viewing options for Canada, Australia and the UK. If you're looking to stream swimming events at the 2024 Olympics in the US, you'll want Peacock. Even after a recent price hike, which raises the monthly charge from $6 to $8, Peacock is one of the most affordable streaming services. With it, you can watch any event live; NBC states Peacock will stream 5,000 hours of live coverage throughout Paris 2024, including all 329 medal events and, crucially, all swimming events from this year's Games. In addition to livestreaming each event, Peacock will have a whip-around show, Gold Zone, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET (4 a.m. to 2 p.m. PT) each day. And if you're watching an event on Gold Zone that you're really into, you can continue to watch it even if Gold Zone cuts away to something else. Peacock will display Live Action on-screen prompts that will let you stay with the event or follow Gold Zone's coverage. Peacock will also have four multiview options that will let you watch four events at once. You'll be able to watch NBC's nightly Primetime in Paris show on Peacock, and Peacock will have its own daily recap show "hosted" by AI Al Michaels. The 2024 Olympics' Men's and Women's swimming events will take place at the Paris La Defense Arena, a modular multipurpose venue in Nanterre, a northern suburb of Paris. The venue will also host the Paris 2024 water polo competitions. Swimming events kick off on Saturday, July 27, with heats for the Women's 100m Butterfly and conclude with the final of the Women's 4x100m Medley Relay on Sunday, Aug. 4. A full schedule for swimming events at the 2024 Olympics, including timings, can be found at the foot of this page. Paris is 6 hours ahead of New York and the rest of the Eastern time zone. It's 7 hours ahead of the Central time zone, 8 hours ahead of Mountain time and 9 hours ahead of Pacific time. This difference means that most events will be shown live in the morning and afternoon for US viewers. Nope, you can watch select events on TV, but Peacock will give you access to every heat, semi-final and final. In the US, you need five TV channels for the Olympics: NBC, USA Network, E!, CNBC and Golf Channel. USA Network will show US team sports, including swimming. NBC will broadcast its Primetime in Paris show each evening in the US. Mike Tirico hosts the show, which includes reports from Snoop Dogg. Sling TV is the most affordable option if you live in one of the few markets where it offers NBC. Failing that, YouTube is the best service for the Olympics because its base plan, which costs $73, offers all five channels you'll need. If Sling takes the conditional gold medal and YouTube TV gets the silver among live TV streaming services for watching the Olympics, then Hulu with Live TV will be awarded the bronze. It costs only $4 more per month than YouTube TV and includes all five channels for watching the Olympics. Read more: Best Sports Streaming Service for 2024 And with a live TV streaming subscription (or cable/satellite plan), you'll be able to authenticate yourself as a pay TV subscriber to watch live streams of every event on NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC app or the NBC Olympics app. That's a great option if you don't want to sign up for Peacock and want to pick and choose which events to watch. All of the live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. For more information, check out our live TV streaming services guide. If you find yourself unable to view the Olympics Swimming locally, you may need a different way to watch the games -- that's where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it's also a great idea if you're traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins. With a VPN, you're able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. Most VPNs, like our Editors' Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this. Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you're streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions. The BBC will broadcast the 2024 Games on its free-to-air channels; however, coverage is limited to just BBC One and BBC Two. You can also live stream all the action from Paris on the BBC iPlayer. While the BBC promises more than 250 hours of live coverage of the Olympics across the two channels, not every heat of the swimming events is set to be shown live. For those in the UK wanting more comprehensive coverage of swimming as well as the Olympics as a whole, Discovery Plus is where it's at, which is offering 3,800 hours of live coverage across 55 dedicated online channels. Aussies can watch the Olympic Swimming on more than Nine Network. The Network will have select live coverage of the Olympics and you can watch on-demand highlights on the network's streaming service 9Now. Meanwhile, pay-TV service Stan Sport will show all 329 Olympic events ad-free and in 4K Ultra HD. In Canada, the Games will be broadcast on TV channels CBC, TSN and Sportsnet and shown on the free CBC Gem streaming service.