The 2018 Winter Olympics is about to kick off in PyeongChang, South Korea today, and this year you’ll be able to watch a total of 30 events in VR, shared across live and on-demand 360/180 recordings.

NBC has partnered with Intel to provide more than 50 hours of live virtual reality coverage through the NBC Sports VR app. On-demand video will be open to the public, while live streaming video will require you to authenticate your subscription with your pay TV provider, i.e. cable, satellite or digital operator.

Remarkably, neither Oculus Rift nor HTC Vive are on the list below, as only Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard, Google Daydream, and Windows ‘MR’ VR headsets have access.

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image courtesy NBC
image courtesy NBC
image courtesy NBC

VR Headsets Required

It appears that the apps listed above are also locked to the United States region – likely due to licensing issues. We’ll be investigating work-arounds for non-US viewers, and update should we find any (outside VPN).

Check out the full schedule below (all times in EST):

image courtesy Intel
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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • johngrimoldy

    Slightly disappointing, yet not a surprise. I’ll go out on a limb and assume the PSVR won’t be supported either. South Korea, the home of Samsung. If they’re largely sponsoring this initiative, there’s little incentive to attempt to be all-inclusive.

    Still though, this is encouraging in that it will allow VR to get more attention (even though 360 video is NOT VR. It’s stereoscopic 360 video.)

    Further internal conflict: With the innovations in flat video with cable-cams and drones, the flat-video coverage has gotten pretty damned good in the last decade. What, exactly, does stationary 360 video bring to the table? The ability to be bored and look at other crap?

  • Nathan Williams

    GearVR exclusives are disappointing. One would think that Oculus being the core platform and attached to a more powerful device would end up having access to a superset of available content, but it ends up feeling like a second class citizen. The Gear may indeed have the market penetration to justify the focus, but I wonder if it has more to do with content providers not wanting to leave the mobile platform. After two years it’s surprising to still see this kind of fragmentation.

  • Jonathan Tate

    I tried it on my Odyssey and so far the only videos posted are relatively low res 360 monoscopic videos. Not even worth my time watching unless they start posting some 3D ones.

    • gothicvillas

      I totally agree. Most of the VR 360 videos out there are not in 3D. Its beyond me tbh, why would they post monoscopic VR videos. Waste of time.

  • Martyn Bull

    In Europe, the Eurosport VR app give VR access. So far the opening ceremony is available with multiple cameras.

  • NooYawker

    So Facebook excludes their own customers who bought their premium product?

    • Michele

      Google is giving to people of all ages $99 per-hr to complete few services with a computer .. Do work only for just few time and fun greater time with your friends … You can also catch this simple work!!!on Monday I got a gorgeous Citroën DS after just earnin $14523 this month .it’s certainly high-quality process however you can now not forgive yourself if you do not have a peek at it.!sf69g:↭↭↭ http://GoogleRealWorkFromHomePartTime/getcash/$98/eachhour… ♥x♥d♥♥♥o♥♥♥j♥♥g♥♥j♥s♥♥♥o♥♥z♥♥s♥♥g♥♥♥r♥♥t♥x♥♥a♥♥♥e♥♥♥r♥♥t♥♥♥j♥o♥♥♥n♥♥z♥d♥♥♥d♥r:::::!hh892h:wkyu

  • Thanks for this info

  • PeelOfShame

    Definitely neat watching some of the shots from the curling semi-finals – will the live events possibly be available later, or are they only going to be viewable during the actual event?

  • John Blau

    Is there a way to configure the video quality of the 360 vod?