This year’s Winter Olympics will showcase some of the world’s best athletes across 116 different events in eight sports, attempting to ski, skate, snowboard, curl and sleigh their way to a gold medal. But you may be disappointed by the lack of options to catch all of the Olympic action this winter if you don’t have access to the right services.
This winter, the Olympics are being held in Milan and Cortina, Italy, from Wednesday to Feb. 22, with the opening ceremony on Friday. In the US, you can find TV broadcasts of the Winter Olympic Games on your local NBC affiliate, the USA Network and on CNBC. Peacock is the primary streaming option for viewers in the US, with streaming also available through the NBC Sports app, nbc.com and nbcolympics.com. While your local NBC station is available for free if you have an OTA TV antenna or DVR, you may not be able to catch all of what you want to watch on NBC alone. And because the cable and streaming options require a paid subscription, you’d need to pay to get the most out of your Olympics viewing experience in the US.
However, with a virtual private network, you can access free online streams from other countries — potentially letting you watch all of the events you want without having to pay a cent. A VPN is an app that you can download to your computer, mobile device or streaming device that allows you to spoof your virtual location, making it appear as though you’re connecting to the internet from a different country and enabling you to access geographically restricted streaming content. So even if you’re in the US, you may still be able to expand your Winter Olympic streaming options and catch all the action you want for free. Because with a VPN, you can unblock free region-restricted Olympics streams.
What countries have free streaming options for the Winter Olympics?
Many countries across the globe offer options to stream the Olympics for free. Bear in mind that the majority of these international streams are broadcast in a foreign language, so some sites may be difficult to navigate and the commentary could be indecipherable to you if you don’t understand the language. Also, some of these sites might require you to create an account and/or enter a valid postal code in the country to access the content. If that’s the case for the site you want to stream on, simply do a quick internet search for postal codes in the applicable country to plug in and get started.
For English-speaking Olympic broadcasts from other countries, you can turn to:
Other international streaming options presented in other languages include:
These are just a few examples of the many international streaming sites you can try accessing with a VPN to broaden your Olympic viewing experience. Keep in mind that not all VPNs or server locations are guaranteed to work perfectly to stream the Olympics from other regions, so you may need to hop around and try different servers or streaming sites to access the content you want. Also, be sure to check each site’s terms of service to ensure that you’re not violating its terms by using a VPN. Using a VPN is perfectly legal in the vast majority of the world, but some sites and services may attempt to restrict VPN usage.
How to access geo-restricted Olympics streams with a VPN
A VPN encrypts your internet traffic while routing it through a secure server in a different location, which hides your online activity from your internet provider, network administrator and other online snoops. At the same time, a VPN changes your IP address to the IP address of the VPN server you’re connecting through, making your connection appear to be originating from another location. A VPN is a crucial tool for boosting your privacy online, but it’s the IP address switching functionality that lets you access geo-restricted content from other regions.
Because your IP address includes information about your general location, most sites and services that restrict content to certain regions rely on visitors’ IP addresses to determine their location and, therefore, deny or allow access to content. But when you visit a site while connected to a VPN server, the site registers the IP address of the VPN server rather than your own.
For example, if you’re in the US and connected to a VPN server in Australia, the 9Now streaming site will register your connection as being in Australia, and grant you access to its content, including its Olympic coverage. Similarly, connect to a VPN server in the UK if you want to access BBC iPlayer, a server in Ireland to access RTE Player or to a server in Canada to access CBC Gem. Wherever you want to stream content from, just connect to a server located in that country.
You can easily stream BBC iPlayer content by connecting to a VPN server in the UK.
If you want to access US-based Olympic broadcasts outside of the country, you can stream NBC coverage through its apps and websites by signing in through your TV provider if you’re subscribed to one. Or you can access NBC, USA and CNBC coverage through a live TV streaming service like YouTube TV, Hulu Plus Live TV, DirecTV or Sling TV if you’re subscribed. Just make sure you’re connected to a VPN server located in the US before attempting to access the content on any of those platforms.
Peacock remains the only option for accessing all of the Olympic events from a US-based broadcast perspective. So if you’re in the US and are already a Peacock subscriber, then you don’t need a VPN to catch all of the action. However, if you’re traveling abroad and want to stream the Olympics on Peacock, you’ll need to connect to a VPN server in the US to access the content.
You can access Peacock from abroad by connecting to a VPN server in the US.
Using a VPN is easy
VPNs are generally pretty easy to download and use, especially if you choose a quality, vetted provider from ’s list of the best VPNs. For watching the Olympics, you’ll want a VPN that’s fast, delivers reliable streaming performance and offers servers located in the countries you want to stream from. Most of our recommended VPNs have servers in 100-plus countries, so you should be pretty well covered with your streaming options — but it’s still a good idea to check the VPN’s list of server locations on its website prior to committing.
In addition to those considerations, you may want to think about your budget and how much you’re willing to spend on a VPN. Currently, the fastest VPN based on our latest testing is NordVPN, and the best VPN for streaming is ExpressVPN — two of the most expensive services in the industry. NordVPN costs $13 per month, $60 for the first year or $83 total for the first two years, with the annual and two-year plans renewing at $140 per year. ExpressVPN costs $13 per month, $75 for the first year or $98 total for the first two years, with the annual and two-year plans renewing at $100 per year.
If you want something cheaper, consider Proton VPN or Surfshark, which are both excellent for streaming while remaining much easier on the wallet. Proton VPN costs $10 per month, $48 for the first year or $72 total for the first two years, with the annual and two-year plans renewing at $84 per year. Surfshark costs $15.45 per month, $48 for the first year or $60 total for the first two years, with the annual and two-year plans renewing at $79 per year.
Once you’ve signed up, purchased and downloaded your VPN to your devices, all you need to do is sign in to the app and select from the list of available servers displayed in the app. VPN user interfaces vary from one provider to another, but navigating the server selection functionality is typically very straightforward. You can usually scroll to your preferred server location from the list of servers or search for specific locations by typing in the search field. Once you’ve located the server you want to connect to, simply tap or click on that server, and you should be automatically connected and ready to stream from your preferred location within a few seconds.
A word of caution if you’re thinking about a free VPN
You may be tempted to just go with one of the hundreds of free VPNs available to save some cash, but I only recommend paid VPNs for streaming — whether it’s the Olympics or otherwise — for a number of reasons. While Proton VPN’s free tier is the only free VPN we recommend at , it’s not suitable for streaming the Olympics because its free servers don’t support streaming and could deliver sluggish speed performance at peak times due to congestion. Also, you only get access to servers in 10 different countries, and you can’t manually select a server, so connecting to a desired location can be tricky. Proton VPN’s free tier is otherwise excellent for protecting your privacy while browsing the web.
Besides being unfit for streaming purposes, free VPNs can often be downright dangerous to use. Many free VPNs make money by logging user activity and selling data to third parties. At that point, you’re better off using no VPN at all. Some free VPNs have also been found to spy on their users and take screenshots of their online activities, while others may even be riddled with malware. To stay safe, keep an eye out for certain red flags when signing up for a VPN.
But if you really don’t want to make any monetary commitment at all, you can always ask for a refund from your VPN provider and still watch the entire Winter Olympics essentially for free. The Olympic Games last less than a month, and many VPNs offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. Sure, you have to pay up front, but you can use the VPN for a month, stream the entire Olympics and get your money back from the VPN if you request a refund within its guarantee window. However, I’d recommend hanging on to your VPN for the long term because you can use it to unlock all kinds of other streaming content throughout the year, in addition to it being a crucial tool to protect your privacy online. On top of using a VPN, I also recommend rounding out your cybersecurity toolkit with a password manager and antivirus software.
