Where To Watch The London 2012 Olympics

There's been a lot of searching on the internet by people looking for ways to watch the 2012 London Olympics. I've done a little research and find there's more then one way to see Olympic games. This is by no means a complete listing of sources, and it will be updated if I become aware of other sources. If you have found coverage that isn't listed here, please feel free to update this information by adding a comment.


So, lets look at the sources I've found for 2012 Olympics Coverage!

Source 1: The NBC Networks

If you're in the USA, NBC (a division of Comcast, of course!) is the official carrier of the Olympics. In addition to extensive coverage on the networks of NBC-Universal, including NBC, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, two HD specialty channels and a 3D channel, paying subscribers can stay connected to the London Summer Olympic Games wherever they go exclusively via NBCOlympics.com, and the NBC Olympics and NBC Olympics Live Extra apps available to mobile and tablet users. If you have a TV Antenna, you should be able to watch the Olympics on your local NBC affiliate. If you have even the most basic of pay TV services, you should also get NBC. What other coverage you will get from your provider is dependent on what package you have and what your provider chooses to provide. Another pay TV channel that has Olympics coverage is Universal Sports. Until last year, NBC - Universal Sports was a broadcast network available to millions of  viewers for free using a TV Antenna. In the last Olympics, NBC-US provided great coverage of events that were not on the NBC schedule. With the takeover of NBC by Comcast, NBC-US became a pay tv network, and also recently removed the ability to pay for their content online. So now the only way to watch Universal Sports Olympic coverage is to have it in your pay TV package. To watch ANY NBC Olympic coverage online requires you to log in with your user account credentials from your Pay TV provider. The same is true for any NBC online access - in other words, to watch any NBC Olympics coverage online, you must already be paying for it!

 Source 2: International and Foreign Language Networks

NBC may have the broadcast rights for the USA locked down, but other countries also have networks with broadcast rights to the games. If you live along the Canadian border, you may have enjoyed coverage from CBC in the past. However, CBC was outbid by CTV for this year's Olympics. So you will need to see if your local pay TV system carries this network, or if you have an Antenna, you'll nee to see if there is an affiliate that you can watch. There's a list of CTV affiliates HERE: http://www.ctv.ca/About/Corporate-Info/Local-Affiliates.aspx . In Mexico, Televisa has rights to the games, so if you are along the Mexican / US border you will want to check with your cable provider or see if there is an affiliate that you can receive with an Antenna. Televisa provides programming throughout Mexico through four networks through local affiliates. 253 Mexican local television stations air programming from all four terrestrial networks. The four Televisa networks are:

Network	Flagship	Programming
Canal de las Estrellas	XEW 2	general programming, sports, first-run telenovelas, and news
Canal 5	XHGC 5	youth-oriented programming, American series, and movies
Galavisión	XEQ 9	telenovelas reruns, sports, and comedy shows
FOROtv	XHTV 4	all news channel, talk, and debate programming

 In the USA, the Telemundo network is available free with a TV Antenna or on most cable systems in the most basic tier. It is an NBC network, and therefore is broadcasting Olympic coverage - in Spanish.

From Wikipedia, here is a list of other countries Olympic Broadcasters, some of which you may have in your Pay TV package or have access to on the internet or through a streaming device.

Territory	Broadcaster	Ref
Albania	RTSH	[18]
Algeria	ENTV	[18]
Angola	TPA Maximo	[18]
Argentina	TyC TV Pública Digital	[19][20]
Asia	Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union ESPN Asia AsiaSat	[6][21]
Australia	Nine Network Foxtel 2GB ABC	[4][22][23][24]
Austria	ORF	[25]
Azerbaijan	İTV	[26]
Bahamas	ZNS Cable Bahamas Limited	[27]
Bahrain	IAA	[28]
Barbados	CBC	[18]
Belarus	Belteleradio	[29]
Belize	Channel 7	[18]
Belgium	VRT RTBF	[25]
Benin	ORTB	[18]
Bermuda	Bermuda Cablevision	[18]
Bolivia	Bolivisión	[30]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	BHRT RTRS	[25][31]
British Virgin Islands	CBN	[18]
Bulgaria	BNT	[32]
Benin	RTNB	[18]
Brazil	BandSports ESPN Brasil Rede Record SporTV	[33][34][35]
Cameroon	CRTV	[18]
Canada	Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium1	[36][37][38]
Caribbean	International Media Content Limited SportsMax	[39]
Central African Republic	RTC	[18]
Chile	Canal 13 TVN	[40]
China	CCTV	[41]
Chinese Taipei	ELTA PTS CTV CTS FTV TTV	[42][43]
Colombia	Caracol TV	[44]
Cook Islands	CITV	[18]
Costa Rica	Repretel	[45]
Côte d'Ivoire	RTI	[18]
Croatia	HRT SPTV	[46][47]
Cuba	ICRT	[48]
Cyprus	CyBC	[49]
Czech Republic	ČT	[50]
Democratic Republic of the Congo	RTNC	[18]
Denmark	DR TV 2	[25][51]
Dominica	SAT Telecoms	[52]
Dominican Republic	Grupo Corripio	[53]
Ecuador	Latele RTS	[18]
Egypt	ERTU	[18]
El Salvador	Telecorporación Salvadoreña	[18]
Estonia	ETV	[54]
Ethiopia	ETV	[18]
Europe	Eurosport EBU	[55][56]
Fiji	Fiji Television Sky Pacific	[57]
Finland	Yle	[58]
France	France Télévisions	[59]
Gabon	RTG	[18]
Gambia	GRTS	[18]
Georgia	GPB	[25]
Germany	ARD ZDF	[60]
Ghana	GTV	[18]
Greece	ERT	[25]
Grenada	Grenada Broadcasting Network	[61]
Guatemala	Televisión Guatemalteca	[18]
Guinea	RTG	[18]
Guyana	National Communications Network	[18]
Hong Kong	i-Cable aTV TVB	[62][63]
Hungary	Duna TV MTV	[18][64]
Iceland	RÚV	[25]
India	Doordarshan	[65]
Indonesia	TVRI RCTI	[66][67]
Iran	GEM TV Group	[68]
Israel	IBA	[69]
Italy	RAI Sky Italia	[70][71]
Ireland	RTÉ	[72]
Jamaica	CVM Television TVJ	[73][74]
Japan	Japan Consortium2 NOTTV3	[75][76]
Jordan	JTV	[18]
Kazakhstan	El Arna Khabar	[77]
Kenya	KBC	[18]
Latin America	Grupo Albavisión4 Terra Networks5	[78][79]
Latvia	LTV	[80]
Lithuania	LRT	[81]
Luxembourg	RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg	[18]
Macau	TDM CCTV	[41][82]
Macedonia	MRT	[18]
Malaysia	RTM	[83]
Malta	TVM	[18]
Mauritania	TVM	[18]
Mauritius	MBC	[84]
Mexico	Televisa	[85]
Middle East	Arab States Broadcasting Union OSN	[86][87]
Moldova	TeleRadio-Moldova	[25]
Mongolia	UBS	[18]
Montserrat	Ptv7	[18]
Montenegro	RTCG	[18]
Morocco	Arryadia	[18]
Mozambique	TVM	[18]
Namibia	NBC Maximo	[18]
Netherlands	NOS	[88]
New Zealand	Prime SKY TV	[89][90]
Nicaragua	Ratensa	[18]
Niue	BCN	[18]
Nigeria	NOC NTA FRCN AIT Maximo	[18][91]
North Africa	OSN	[87]
North Korea	SBS KRT	[9][92]
Norway	NRK Viasat	[93]
Panama	Corporación Medcom TVMax	[94][95]
Paraguay	Paravisión SNT Cerro Corá	[18]
Peru	América Televisión	[96]
Philippines	AKTV AksyonTV TV5 Solar Entertainment Corporation Hyper	[18][97][98][99][100]
Poland	TVP N	[101][102]
Portugal	RTP SportTV	[103][104]
Puerto Rico	Puerto Rico TV	[105][106]
Romania	TVR Dolce	[107][108]
Russia	Pervyi Kanal VGTRK NTV Plus	[25][109]
Saint Kitts and Nevis	ZIZ	[18]
Samoa	SBC	[18]
Senegal	RTS	[18]
Serbia	RTS	[25]
Seychelles	SBC	[18]
Singapore	MediaCorp mio TV	[110][111]
Slovakia	RTVS	[25]
Slovenia	RTVSLO	[112]
Solomon Islands	One Television	[18]
South Africa	SABC SuperSport Maximo	[18][98][113]
South Korea	SBS KBS MBC	[9][114]
South America	ESPN Latin America6 DirecTV	[115][116]
Sub-Saharan Africa	Octagon SABC SuperSport	[98][113][117]
Sudan	SSTV	[18]
Spain	RTVE	[118]
Sri Lanka	SLRC	[119]
Suriname	STVS	[18]
Sweden	SVT	[120]
Switzerland	SRG SSR	[121]
Thailand	TV Pool7 TrueVisions	[122]
Togo	TVT	[18]
Tonga	Television Tonga	[18]
Trinidad and Tobago	CCN TV6	[123]
Tunisia	Tunisia TV 1	[18]
Turkey	TRT	[124]
Ukraine	NTKU	[25]
United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi Sports Channel	[125]
United Kingdom	BBC	[126]
United States	NBC Dial Global	[127][128][129]
Uruguay	Tenfield Televisión Nacional	[130][131]
Venezuela	teleSUR TVes VTV	[18][132][133]
Vietnam	VTV	[134]
Zambia	Muvi TV	[18]
Zimbabwe	ZBC	[18]

^1 – Consortium formed by Bell Media, V, Rogers Media and ATN, with the broadcasts occurring on several properties of these companies (i.e.: CTV is owned by Bell Media and it will broadcast the games on FTA English-language television.).

^2 – It is a joint venture of NHK, Fuji Television, TBS TV, TV Asahi, TV Tokyo, NTV, and JAITS. Its functions are the same as the Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.

^3 – Coverage on all smartphones across Japan, in cooperation with the Japan Consortium.

^4 – Coverage across Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay.

^5 – Internet and Aphone coverage across the Latin America.^[135]

^6 – Coverage across Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

^7 – It is a joint venture of Channel 3, TV5, Channel 7, Modernine TV and NBT.

Please note that many of these sources may be geoblocked on the internet, so you will have to access them through a proxy server.

Source 3: The internet and Streaming Devices

NBC (aka Comcast) has worked really hard to prevent people who don't already pay them the money from watching anything but the NBC local affiliate coverage. In the last Olympics, anyone from the USA could access NBCs online coverage. Not so now. If you're looking for Olympics on the internet, try the websites of some of the international networks listed above. Note that most are geoblocked and will require you to use a proxy server. If you have an Internet Streaming Device like Roku Box or WD TV Live, explore those international channels you may have access to. On my Roku player, MummyBox has the BBC channels (although they are sometimes down) and I've heard there is some programming on Caribcast  also (UPDATE- I installed Caribcast, and it's Confirmed!). And don't forget random sources like JustinTV.

Source 4: FTA (FreeTo Air) Satellite

FTA satellite is another option that may allow you to view the Olympics. FTA is a Satellite TV System system that allows you to use a small dish and inexpensive receiver to watch satellite TV for free. While I haven't set up my own FTA Satellite TV System (yet!) and therefore have not checked for Olympics on FTA Satellite, chances are you will find something on if you have FTA TV. Check the channel list for FTA here: http://www.ftalist.com/master.php you can also find help at the Satellite Guys forum: http://www.satelliteguys.us/ - I have heard that middle eastern countries are good sources for coverage.

 Summary

As you can see there are many ways to watch the Olympics without Pay TV. Some of them are easy, many require a bit of work or computer savvy, and some are just plain dead ends. But, yes, chances are you can watch the Olympics if you try these sources.

Updates!

1.  6pm MDT, July 30: BBC 1-4 on the MummyBox Roku channel (1006 - 1009) are down.