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Almost every cord cutter who streams the Olympics will be breaking the law

Published Feb 6th, 2014 4:52PM EST
How To Watch Olympics Online

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Beginning Friday when the 2014 Winter Olympics kick off in Sochi, NBC will stream much of the action online to computers and to mobile devices through the NBC Sports Live Extra app, which is available for both Android and iOS phones and tablets. If you’re a cord cutter and you manage to stream any of the Olympics online, however, the odds are pretty good that you’ll be breaking the law.

Slate notes that NBC’s decision to stream this year’s Olympics is a terrific move for people who want to watch while away from their TVs. But unfortunately, the only people who can access the feeds are people who use their login credentials for their cable or satellite TV company’s websites. This means that cord cutters in the United States will not be able to access the Olympics feeds legally — unless they subscribe to Aereo, which will also provide online feeds of NBC’s coverage of the Olympics.

Aereo, after all, isn’t illegal… yet.

For those of you who subscribe to a pay TV service, NBC will be streaming tape-delayed Olympics coverage on NBCOlympics.com, and its NBC Sports Live Extra app for iOS (free download) and Android (free download) will carry the same content.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.