This is a sponsored post on behalf of Comcast, but all of our excitement about how to navigate the Games like a pro with Comcast is all ours.
The Olympics are mere days away, and we couldn’t be more excited. The Summer Games have always held a special place in my heart, and my kids are finally old enough to care about all the excitement and fanfare that comes from the whole world coming together to cheer on our athletes. I remember watching the Games with my grandparents when I was young, and summer days spent watching them with siblings in front of our tiny living room TV. And, then when I was older, I got to enjoy watching the Summer Games overseas on our honeymoon and I loved that everyone in the bar was rooting for a different team.
Doesn’t everyone dress up their baby doll for the Olympics? Just this girl? Okay.
But, you want to know what’s different about these Summer Games? This is the first time that I won’t be at the mercy of event schedules and time zone differences. Before, we would crowd around the TV to watch live events as they were happening, which meant they sometimes fell at *really* inconvenient times. Or, more often than not, I would miss most of the events altogether because I’m rarely at a screen.
Enjoy the Summer Games on your schedule
This year, however, Comcast is saving me from being glued to the screen by helping me personalize my Olympics experience and by curating all my can’t-miss content. I bet you’re picturing drop down menus and levels of menus to navigate, so I’ll stop you right there. Comcast is providing a richer viewing experience with only a few touches of a button or simply by saying “Olympics” into the Xfinity Voice Remote. From there it will give you the option to watch live, or to playlist the content you want for whenever your schedule allows.
If you’ve ever tried to watch something in this new streaming era that’s happening live, you know that this is no easy feat. I swear I’ve wasted actual whole days of my life searching through thousands of hours of what looks like homemade footage, never to find any official live feed or anything remotely watchable from the content provided. Without Comcast’s robust Olympic coverage, that’s where I would find myself again next week. But, now I’m going to be navigating the Games like a pro with Comcast.
I got to be part of a chat with Brynn Lev {Vice President, Video and Entertainment, Comcast Cable} and Vito Forlenza {Executive Director, Video and Entertainment, Comcast Cable} this Tuesday showing all off the many ways to get the Xfinity Olympic viewing experience this year.
During the live event, we learned how the Tokyo Tonight option will take you directly into the Olympics feed, no searching endlessly to find live coverage. And, from there you can curate exactly what you want to see, when you want to see it. Best of Tokyo will give you highlights and replays, Olympic Medal Count will show which countries have taken home the coveted gold, silver, and bronze.
Personalize your viewing experience
With 7,000 hours of streaming coverage of the Tokyo Olympics that will soon be available, I’m going to need all the help I can to narrow down the coverage. And, Comcast is going to help me organize all the coverage I just can’t miss into easily watched chunks that still give me all the highlights and events.
This new unparalleled Olympic viewing experience is available to their X1 and Stream customers, and now includes Flex customers as well {its streaming device for Internet-only customers}. There are more ways than ever to watch the Summer Games and customize your Olympics experience however you want. And, for the first time ever, they will be offering live Olympics coverage in 4K HDR for an immersive Olympics experience.
Anchoring the destination will be all of Peacock’s free live and on-demand programming, including six themed channels; four live-studio shows; live coverage of gymnastics, track & field and the US Men’s Basketball Team, hundreds of short-form highlights and trending news clips; and several original docuseries and documentaries. Peacock’s programming will be seamlessly curated alongside other Olympic-related programming from streaming services such as YouTube, HBO Max, Prime Video and more.
All the many ways to navigate the games like a pro with Comcast
Xfinity Flex
Flex will offer streamers a first-of-its-kind Olympic viewing experience featuring Peacock’s live and on demand programming lineup. Comcast will offer streamers a robust X1-like Olympics destination that brings all the Olympics-related programming available to stream on the platform into one integrated experience. Flex customers wanting to experience even more of the Games can quickly and easily upgrade to Xfinity TV via the Stream app so they can access NBC’s live coverage and extra content.
X1 and Stream
X1 and Stream customers will enjoy unparalleled access to all 7,000 hours of NBCUniversal’s network and streaming coverage, with more ways to personalize and discover the Games than ever before. This is the premier way to enjoy the Games with aggregated, curated and personalized access to all NBCUniversal’s live, on demand, and streaming coverage all in one place – on the TV and across mobile devices with the Xfinity Stream app.
Saying “Olympics” into the Xfinity Voice Remote will take customers to the Olympics destination, while special voice commands for athletes, sports, teams and featured nations will allow customers to get to their favorite Olympics content quickly.
With X1’s new personalization capabilities, customers can choose their favorite sports in just a few clicks to customize their Olympics viewing, making it easier to find the live coverage they care about most. Your selections will help create a personalized Olympics home page just for you, with all the events you care most about alongside highlights of each chosen sport. Any favorited sports and selections will carry over to the Xfinity Stream app, so customers will see the same personalized experience when accessing the Games on the go.
X1 and Stream customers can also have the option to receive notifications for must-see moments. Choose notifications for your favorite sports and get live tune-in alerts for major moments, as well as quick links to trending highlights directly on your TV and/or mobile device if you choose to do so.
In addition to allowing you to create your own Olympics playlist by choosing sports, nations, or athletes that you want to follow, there will also be 100 playlists available as the Games play out. Editors will be working around the clock to create playlists and update them in real-time with trending videos and breaking news. Each playlist enables customers to lean in to choose the highlights they want to see or lean back and watch the stories of the Games unfold. The editors will create dedicated playlists for each Olympic sport, unique playlists for 30+ of the most-popular athletes, and more than a dozen themed playlists, such as “Gold Medal Moments,” “Best of Team USA,” “Record-Breakers,” “Epic Celebrations” and more.
For the first time ever, the Olympics will be shown available live in 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos immersive audio, and X1 will offer customers full access. And for the first time, X1 customers with compatible devices will be able to experience all HDR coverage in Dolby Vision HDR. Live coverage will be available in most markets and include every night of the NBC primetime show, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, along with popular sports like gymnastics, track & field, swimming, diving, beach volleyball, golf, and tennis.
Every sport, top athlete and major nation will have their own voice-enabled X1 destination, blending live, on demand and short form programming so that customers can stay up to date on the sports, personalities and teams they care about most. Each page will be refreshed and updated daily and showcase programming that’s airing now, upcoming coverage, and the best highlights and replays.
Comcast offers inclusive and accessible programming
Comcast is yet again making good on their promise to make their services available to all customers with their Olympics coverage. Remember my post about how Comcast is working with the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community to offer accessible customer service via ASL NOW? Well, now they have expanded Olympics coverage to Spanish-speaking customers and having Audio Description enabled for key Olympic moments.
There will also be Spanish-language coverage and navigations available for Spanish-speaking customers. X1 and Stream will bring NBCUniversal’s 300 hours of Spanish-language coverage to customers at home or on the go, and special in-language voice commands, such as “Olimpiadas,” “natacion” and “medallero,” will help customers navigate the Games in Spanish.
Audio description will be enabled on the Olympics primetime show and Opening and Closing ceremonies {including the 4K version} so visually impaired customers can enjoy the excitement of the Games with their friends and family. Closed captioning will also be available for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community as it normally is.
Get ready for the Games
Since Comcast has all of our Olympic coverage handled, the only thing we need to do is dig out our USA gear for rooting on our favorite athletes. Go Team USA!
