The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics are almost here! Coverage kicks off tomorrow, Feb. 8—and this time around, there will be most LIVE coverage ever for a Winter Olympics. With the benefit of a 17-hour difference, live competition will be held in primetime on every night of the PyeongChang Olympics.
All 15 sports, including figure skating, alpine skiing, and snowboarding will be featured on NBC from Thursday, Feb. 8, to Saturday, Feb. 25, (excluding Feb. 9, which will feature the Opening Ceremony). Viewers across the country will watch the likes of Mikaela Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn, Ted Ligety, Nathan Chen, Shaun White, and Chloe Kim pursue Olympic gold.
On most nights of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, NBC’s primetime broadcast will begin at 7 p.m. CST. It will be followed by local news, and then Primetime Plus, consisting of live continuing coverage from PyeongChang, which will air until 11-11:30 p.m. on many nights. A replay of the primetime program—they’re calling it Primetime Encore—will then follow.
For the first time, NBC Olympics will live stream the pageantry of the Opening Ceremony. The live digital coverage from PyeongChang will also begin Friday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. CT on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app, and will feature the colorful Parade of Nations, with the sounds of the parade, no commentators. NBC’s fully-produced presentation of the Opening Ceremony will be hosted by Mike Tirico and Katie Couric, and will feature interviews and profiles.
Broadcast schedules for the always-popular Figure Skating, Alpine Skiing, Snowboarding and Hockey are listed below. For schedules for all the sports check out the livestream schedule and the TV schedule.
Figure Skating
This event kicks off Thursday, Feb. 8 with the Men’s Short Program at 7 p.m. (CST) and then Pair’s Short Program at 8:45 p.m. (CST) The Ladies’ Short Program will be held on Saturday, Feb. 10, 8:45 p.m. (CST) Click here for a complete figure skating schedule and feature stories about the athletes.
Alpine Skiing
Men’s Downhill gets into gear on Saturday, Feb. 10 at 8 p.m CST The Women’s Giant Slalom starts on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 7:15 p.m. CST Click here for a complete alpine skiing schedule and feature stories about the athletes.
Snowboarding
The Men’s Slopestyle qualification competition begins Friday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. CST. The Women’s Slopestyle qualification starts Sunday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. CST Click here for a complete snowboarding schedule and feature stories about the athletes.
Hockey
Team USA for the Women’s Hockey Tournament kicks off Sunday, Feb. 11 at 1:40 a.m. CST, with the first game of the Women’s Quarterfinals on Friday, Feb. 16 at 9:10 p.m. CST. Team USA for the Men’s Hockey Tournament plays its first game on Friday, Feb. 16 at 9:10 p.m. CST. Men’s qualifier games start on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 6:10 a.m. CST while the quarterfinals kick off on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 9:10 a.m. CST. Click here for a complete hockey schedule and feature stories about the athletes.
Every Olympic event will be available to stream live and on-demand on NBCOlympics.com. TDS TV will carry the games on NBC, NBCSN and across the networks of NBC Universal, including The Olympic Channel.
New this Olympics
Four new sports will be kicked off at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics this year.
The new sports are: Mixed Doubles Curling, Big Air Snowboarding, Mass Start Speed Skating and Team Skiing. The events are for both men and women.
In Big Air Snowboarding, boarders fly off a highly pitched ramp similar to those on the slopestyle course, and perform jumps with multiple flips and spins. They do as many jumps as possible in an allotted amount of time. Dropped from the Olympics this year, to make room for Big Air Snowboarding, is the snowboard parallel slalom event.
Mass Start Speed Skating races will add intrigue, team tactics and a direct confrontation of skating styles in a long-distance event. It could also bring some of the push and shove elements of short track to the Olympic big oval—something likely to displease purists.
While traditional curling involves teams of four players, Mixed Doubles Curling will include teams of two players—one male and one female. Teams will have six stones each, instead of eight.
The new alpine Team Skiing event involves teams of two men and two women competing in parallel slalom races. The team event has been part of the world championships and the World Cup finals.
The Olympics Channel
Also new this year is The Olympic Channel, which started broadcasting in September. Their tag line is “Where the Games Never End” and there’s a good reason for that. Live sports, compelling stories about the games, shows about Team USA athletes—you’ll find it all on the Olympic Channel.
The Olympic Channel is on Channel 617 SD/1617 HD as part of the Expanded Plus TDS TV lineup. It’s a joint effort between the International Olympic Committee, the United States Olympic Committee and NBCUniversal, which means you’ll get the great production values you’re used to from the Olympics.
Customers with this programming included in their package can also access the Olympic Channel’s TV Everywhere content. To start watching, use the TDS.net portal, or head on over to nbcsports.com/olympic-channel and the Olympic Channel’s website.
