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How to watch the 2016 Olympics online and on TV

tanner walters
U.S. Olympian Michael Phelps is interviewed during the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Entering his fifth Olympic Games in 2016, Phelps is the center of much media attention. (Getty)
U.S. Olympian Michael Phelps is interviewed during the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Entering his fifth Olympic Games in 2016, Phelps will be the center of much media attention. (Getty)

The most-televised Olympics in history guarantees that you’ll have plenty of viewing options this year. More options, though, also means that it won’t be easy to navigate the international media extravaganza.

NBC recently rolled out its full media plan for Rio 2016 with 6,700 hours, or 279 days, of coverage. Starting Aug. 3, you’ll be able to find every moment of the Games across nearly a dozen different TV channels and online.

The first major challenge will be figuring out how to watch the Opening Ceremony.

To see the full version of the highly anticipated kickoff on NBC, you’ll have to wait until 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 5, in every U.S. time zone, creating a one-hour tape delay on the East Coast and a four-hour delay on the West Coast. The online feed will be synced with the one-hour delay.

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Here’s a full viewer’s guide to help you navigate through the Games:

Online – Every Olympic competition will be livestreamed on the NBC website, but the crucial detail is that you’ll still need to have a working cable subscription to gain unlimited access. Once you log into your content provider, streaming coverage will be on desktop, mobile, tablet and connected TVs.

Serving and retired U.S. military members will have access for free, with a partnership between Comcast NBCUniversal and the Army & Air Force Exchange Service. Over 7 million people will be eligible for the service using Exchange.

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On TV – The proximity of Rio de Janeiro gives NBC a real opportunity this year to broadcast the best of the Games live, including the evening prime-time slot from 8 p.m. to midnight. That will only be on the East Coast, though. The rest of the American time zones will be under tape delay, airing in the same slot, local time.

Other channels will provide plenty of live coverage nationwide on a daily basis, with some focusing on specific events over others.

NBC – The main station will have three key time slots on a daily basis, airing at the same hours in each U.S. time zone. Daytime programming runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., prime time from 8 p.m. to midnight and late night from 12:35 a.m. to 1:35 a.m., with Al Michaels, Bob Costas and Ryan Seacrest hosting each respective show. After the late night show, NBC will transition to replays until 4:30 a.m. to complete the day. The Closing Ceremony will air on NBC on Sunday, Aug. 21.

NBC Sports Network – Just about every sport will be able to be seen on NBCSN, with women’s soccer and men’s basketball headlining the list of featured sports. Events will air from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. PST. Soccer competitions begin Aug. 3 – two days before the Opening Ceremony.

Golf Channel – For the first time since the 1904 Games in St. Louis, golf is back on the world’s stage. The media coverage is set to be comprehensive, with 300 total hours of attention from the Golf Channel. The men compete Aug. 11-14 and the women take over Aug. 17-20.

Bravo Network – Golf is not the only sport with a channel devoted to it alone. Tennis will once again find its home on Bravo, with nearly 100 hours of live coverage over the course of nine days of competition. The first five days will be long, from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. PST. The final four days, which include all the medal events, will have coverage from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. PST.

MSNBC – Back for its ninth Olympics in a row, MSNBC will host a wide range of sports, often in the daytime slot. The channel will air coverage from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. PST most days.

CNBC – Also entering its ninth straight Games, CNBC will occupy the next time slot from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. PST on most weekdays. The channel will be one of the smallest players in the media effort, with just 42 hours of coverage.

USA Network – Another alternate TV option will be USA, which will carry programming from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. almost every weekday. There will be weekend coverage, too, according to the NBC website.

Telemundo and NBC Universo – The American Spanish-language network and its sister channel will combine to show nearly 300 hours of the Olympics, a new record for U.S. television. These stations will carry many of the same big-time events as NBC, with additional coverage that presents stories focused on Olympic athletes from Latin America and the United States.

Soccer and basketball channels – NBC Olympics announced that it is creating two specialty channels for basketball and soccer in coordination with NBCUniversal distribution partners. The additional channels will create nearly 800 hours focused intently on each sport, with daily event coverage starting Aug. 3 for soccer and Aug. 6 for basketball.

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Everything else – Of course, there’s always Twitter to supplement your Olympic consumption. NBC has also been actively expanding its mobile options in attempts to connect with more audiences. New this year is a partnership with Buzzfeed and Snapchat to populate the NBC Rio Discover channel with a look behind the scenes.

While the Olympics can be overwhelming, it’s always nice to remember that there’s usually always something to watch no matter where you look. With that said, good luck out there.