It's Way Too Hard to Find NBC's Olympic Live Streams. Here's a Shortcut

What's This?

Russian fans cheer during women's curling competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 10, 2014, in Sochi, Russia.

Image: Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

By Sam Laird2014-02-12 17:20:29 UTC

Let's get one thing straight: NBC, generally speaking, does a fantastic job covering the Olympics despite difficult time differences and other logistical hurdles.

But, for a company making a big show of live streaming every Olympic event, NBC sure makes it harder than you'd think to actually find that live content on its site. Here's a quick rundown of the problem — which, we imagine, you're already familiar with — and a simple shortcut to making your Olympic streaming hassle-free and fun for the whole family.

The Problem

When you go to stream.nbcolympics.com and log-in with your cable provider credentials (all this coverage doesn't come free, after all), here's what you're presented with:

NBCstreaminglogin

To reiterate: That is the men's hockey final from 2010. Four years ago. What's more, links at the top of the page for individual sports don't lead directly to live video, unless there is a competition currently happening or just about to begin. There, are, however, plenty of reminders about TV programing and even prompts to record televised action on DVR. Only the "Watch Video" tab — which says nothing about live content — takes you to NBC's "Live Extra" online hub, and even then there's not an immediate, simple, straightforward schedule for the day's events.

Hardcore sports fans or media cognescenti may not see this as much of a problem, but for many casual Olympic fans — who simply want to see what's on tap for a given day as quick as possible, then pick and choose times to tune in — it's led to frustration. Consider one American colleague of mine who logged in to the streaming site, watched some of the hockey match from 2010, then talked trash to a Canadian coworker without realizing she was discussing a four-year-old match. A harmless offense, but she felt quite silly.

The Solution

It's not actually that hard to find NBC's live-streamed Olympics coverage — if you know where to look. First, you've got to go just nbcolympics.com, not stream.nbcolympics.com. Then if you scroll down a tiny bit, under "Related Stories," you'll see a link for "Full Live Stream Schedule."

Or, as first pointed out to us by reader Mike Mahoney via Twitter, you can simply bookmark this page. It's the daily streaming schedule for live events, and updates each day, and the URL doesn't change. Events are presented in simple list form with brief paragraphs of background info to give you some context.

It's simple. It's straightforward. It's all we ever wanted in the first place. And now, hopefully, it's easier for you to find.