The Winter Olympics 2018 is now underway, with the figure skating competition already taking centre stage.
Featuring a number of individual and pairs tournaments, the figure skating is a traditional high point for many viewers, with a mixture of grace, strength and skill.
Overall, five events are taking place, including the men’s and ladies’ singles, ice dance, and pairs where men and ladies compete together, and team event.
Team GB is represented by Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland in the ice dancing, which takes place over Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th February, and will be hoping to be challenging for a medal.
So whether you want to stream the Winter Olympics Figure Skating 2018 online, watch it live on your television via cable or watch it, mostly without having to put up with any commercial breaks - we've got you covered.
Here is TechRadar's quick and easy guide for how to watch all the Figure Skating at the Winter Olympics 2018 online from anywhere in the world - just remember to bear in mind that there's a nine hours time difference between PyeongChang and London and 17 hours with Los Angeles.
If you are in the UK and have a TV Licence, you can watch the Figure Skating action on BBC One or online NOW. See details below for the UK, the US and other territories.
1. How to watch the 2018 Winter Olympics Figure Skating online
This is the best way to watch the Winter Olympics 2018 Figure Skating online - from absolutely anywhere in the world - without any commercial breaks:
1. Download and install a VPN If you don't have easy access (and you don't live in the UK or the US) to watch the Winter Olympics online in your country, the best way to watch it for free is to download and install a VPN. We've tested all of the major VPN services and we rate ExpressVPN as the absolute best. It's compatible with all of your devices, supports most streaming services and ranks amongst the fastest. You can even install it on devices like an Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation. Check out ExpressVPN here
2. Connect to the appropriate server location Simply open the VPN app, hit 'choose location' and select the appropriate location - it doesn't matter which one and it's super easy to do.
Choose UK if you want to watch it on TVPlayer (use the link below)
Choose US if you want to watch the Winter Olympics 2018 via Youtube TV (use link below)
3a. Go to TVPlayer.com TVPlayer is a free, legal, online streaming service based in the UK which offers hundreds of channels - and you don't even need to sign in to get some Olympics coverage without commercial break. You will need to do a fair bit of channel hopping though and a lot of the events won't be available on free channels. Continue scrolling if you want to experience a fuller and richer version of the Winter Olympics.
3b. Go to TV.youtube.com Many online US-based TV streaming services offer NBC Sports as part of their bundles and a few of them offer trials and the best one is YoutubeTV, an official Google product. You can trial it for 30 days; the ability to record to the cloud and hold up to six accounts per household (and 3 simultaneous streams per membership) are its most alluring selling points. You can watch it on most devices and there are no fees for cancelling.
However, you will need a US IP address in order to access all of the above and if you are outside the US, you will need to get an IP address located there by using a VPN.
Where can I watch the Winter Olympics 2018 Figure Skating using a VPN?
A VPN will enable you to watch the Winter Oympics from literally anywhere. So that obviously includes: US, UK, Israel, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Denmark, India, Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, Belgium, Romania, Mexico, France, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland, Kenya, Hungary, South Africa, Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Japan, Egypt and more!
Google has also confirmed that it will be playing video highlights from official Olympic broadcasters on Youtube in more than 80 countries worldwide including NBCUniversal (USA), BBC (UK), NHK (Japan), France TV (France), and Eurosport (Rest of Europe).
In the U.S., YouTube TV will also show NBCUniversal’s live coverage of the Olympic Winter Games and in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal, the Winter Olympic games will be for the first time live and free on the Olympic Channel on YouTube.
2. How to watch the Winter Olympics 2018 Figure Skating in the US in its entirety:
If you are in the US, that’s a straightforward process, as NBC will broadcast the whole of the XXIII Winter Olympics, including all the Figure Skating action, on its website and through its NBC Sports app for free (Android, iOS, Windows, Roku, Chromecast, Xbox, Samsung, Amazon Fire TV).
It is not known whether NBC will allow anyone to view the 2018 Winter Olympics without registration or existing subscription as it was the case previously.
NBC Sports is available on Youtube TV.
3. How to watch the Winter Olympics 2018 Figure Skating action in the UK in its entirety:
If you’re in the UK and if you have a TV licence, then BBC iPlayer is where you should go for Winter Olympics 2018 as the official broadcaster for the games; you may be asked to register for free in order to watch it though but it is a doddle and once you do it, you can enjoy it almost anywhere.: on your mobile, your media player, tablet, your web browser, streaming device, gaming console, TV, cable and satellite operators etc.
Just note that the BBC will not cover ALL the events - just a selection of them - and while you can record locally on your PVR, you won't be able to record to the cloud.
However, if you want to get the full Olympian experience, you will need to get a specialist channel like Eurosport, which is the global official broadcaster for the Olympics. You will be able to get all the live action on Eurosport for as little as £3 with 7-day catchup and the ability to record live programs to the cloud to watch whenever you want.
You will need to use the code OLYMPICS50 when signing up and you can cancel after the first month. Otherwise you will be auto-enrolled on a subscription.
Stay safe during the Winter Olympics 2018
Photos courtesy of Organising Committee for PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
