Olympic Channel - Launches July 15th

nicecardshark

Active Member
Messages
190
Just saw this thread. I live in the SF Bay Area, and have Comcast. Just checked. and I do get the Olympic Channel. It's 739 in my area. It does appear to have replaced Universal HD.
 

Simone411

To Boldly Explore Figure Skating Around The World
Messages
19,215
I just discovered that the Olympic Channel has added more Satellite and Cable providers to sign in with. I was able to sign in using my DirecTV account and password. So this means that The Olympic Channel can be watched on other devices like our laptops, PC's, Tablets, etc. if we're away from home. Whoop! Just another happy for today! :lol:
 

tony

Throwing the (rule)book at them
Messages
17,679
I don't know if anyone else has noted, but it's showing that the Australian JGP will be broadcast on the Olympic Channel tonight starting at 9:30EST. That's pretty cool that they are showing junior events.
 

Frau Muller

From Puerto Rico…With Love! Not LatinX!
Messages
22,097
I don't know if anyone else has noted, but it's showing that the Australian JGP will be broadcast on the Olympic Channel tonight starting at 9:30EST. That's pretty cool that they are showing junior events.

Very cool.
 

Joubabe

Active Member
Messages
87
Dish doesn't have the Olympic Channel yet. I just contacted them to let them know I will switch providers if they don't get it. Does anyone have any info on the status of negotiations with Dish? Thanks.
 

yossalu

Active Member
Messages
336
I recently did the same, but in the end did stay with Dish because I wasn't sure it would be worth the $240 difference. I used some of the savings to get Icenetwork even if it means missing other events that interest me on the Olympic Channel. Unfortunately, all the streaming services that offer it--Hulu TV, Fubo TV, DirecTV Now, and Playstation Vue--only have 7-day trials and the cost is $35/month or more.

The Dish CSRs don't know much about channel lineups and in the past told me a channel was completely unavailable when in fact it was in the most basic packages. I've spoken to a half dozen since the launch and nobody has know anything about the status.

NBCUniversal is trying to grow distribution and Dish is the biggest fish they haven't caught yet. They're also the hardest one to deal with. They are probably eyeing that and Sling. Unfortunately, whenever I see requests for the channel I see pushback from people who say they don't want it. I don't know if this has any effect on their decisions. I just hope they think it's worth it to add this channel prior to the Games.
 

Joubabe

Active Member
Messages
87
I recently did the same, but in the end did stay with Dish because I wasn't sure it would be worth the $240 difference. I used some of the savings to get Icenetwork even if it means missing other events that interest me on the Olympic Channel. Unfortunately, all the streaming services that offer it--Hulu TV, Fubo TV, DirecTV Now, and Playstation Vue--only have 7-day trials and the cost is $35/month or more.

The Dish CSRs don't know much about channel lineups and in the past told me a channel was completely unavailable when in fact it was in the most basic packages. I've spoken to a half dozen since the launch and nobody has know anything about the status.

NBCUniversal is trying to grow distribution and Dish is the biggest fish they haven't caught yet. They're also the hardest one to deal with. They are probably eyeing that and Sling. Unfortunately, whenever I see requests for the channel I see pushback from people who say they don't want it. I don't know if this has any effect on their decisions. I just hope they think it's worth it to add this channel prior to the Games.

Thank you. I'll keep trying.

Does anyone know yet which channel will have the Grand Prix events?
 

Aceon6

Wrangling the duvet into the cover
Messages
29,784
Watch the TV thread. As soon as someone snags the info, it will be there.
If you have a DVR or TiVo, you can set up a search for skating and it will show in your watch list.
 

A.H.Black

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,193
Thank you. I'll keep trying.

Does anyone know yet which channel will have the Grand Prix events?
Dish doesn't have the Olympic Channel yet. I just contacted them to let them know I will switch providers if they don't get it. Does anyone have any info on the status of negotiations with Dish? Thanks.

I also contacted DISH about the Olympic Channel. Told them I will switch in a heartbeat if the Olympics come around and the Olympic Channel has Olympic programming. I told them when choosing between DISH and the Olympics, the Olympics wins every time. I have been a DISH customer for over 20 years so I hope/hoped my opinion might be taken seriously. Here is the reply they sent -

Your business has been appreciated for such period of time and I understand that you want to add the Olympic Channel on our lineup.

DISH is continually adding new services, and we appreciate your feedback.

I can go ahead and submit a Programming Request Form for the channel you are requesting. This form will be sent to our Programming team.

For additional assistance, please visit www.mydish.com/support/contact to start a live chat with one of our Customer Service Representatives or call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-894-9131.



Thank you for your email.

I will give them till January. Of course, I'm not sure if The Olympic Channel will actually carry Olympic Competition.
 

Simone411

To Boldly Explore Figure Skating Around The World
Messages
19,215
@A.H.Black, my brother has Dish and he's been considering changing to DirecTV. He's been amazed with all the promotions that I've received over the years. I've been a customer since 2005. About three months ago, DirecTV gave me a 45 dollar credit each month for a year if I changed to the Ultimate Pack where I could have the Olympic Channel. I already received a 10 dollar credit each month for bundling and 6 dollar credit each month for my HD receiver. When it's all added together, I receive 61 dollars in credit that's really helped me out. It gives me 61 dollars extra that I can use on paying other bills or using at the grocery store.

The Olympic Channel is also included with the Extra Package which is cheaper than the Ultimate Package. I forgot to mention that DirecTV also gave me 4 free months of Showtime and 3 free months of the HD Extra Pack.

Good luck with Dish. My brother has had Dish about as long as I've had DirecTV. He told me recently that he's never been offered anything through the years like I have. He said that finally two months ago Dish contacted him and told him they would give him a 10 dollar credit each month for a year if he wanted to get HBO. That's when he told Dish what all I've received from DirecTV, and that he didn't want HBO ... instead, he was considering switching to DirecTV.
 

BaileyCatts

Well-Known Member
Messages
9,333
I was scanning ahead as far as the onscreen guide would let me just to see what kind of stuff is on The Olympic Channel. You should do that if you have the channel because there are some really interesting shows and broadcasts on. I just got a DVR for the first time and have so many things programmed it will take me a month to watch them. :lol:

They are also replaying the Opening Ceremonies from almost every Summer Olympics since 1992. I will definitely be watching 2008 again. As soon as it was over I thought to myself, 'damn. we'll never see another Opening Ceremonies like that again! not unless China gets the Games again and that probably won't happen the rest of my life span'. 2022 ..... who knew! :lol: And I also see replays of 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 Women's gymnastics Team and All-Around Finals! :wideeyes: Dare we dream that come winter time they will be replaying past Olympics skating events as well??!!! :eek:
 
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momnatur

Active Member
Messages
156
Well, I "sort of" "have" the Olympic Channel. Sort of, because it is a listed channel in my on screen guide from my "cable company"......

Le'me 'splain...I live in central North Carolina and I used to have Time Warner cable. Life changed for me when the sale of time warner to Charter (I think that's who bought them) and ""created" a new company called "Spectrum." And "you can keep your same services" so, no problem, so I thought. I remember when the olympic channel went on the air and that was great, so I thought. But I was wrong, and now I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop ....

I also follow cycling, so, since the Olympic channel was going to be covering it, I was all excited. Until I changed the channel to what was supposed to be the Olympic Channel and found a message saying that "to get this channel, call customer service"... huh????? So I did.... it was supposed to be a very quick call to have someone turn on whatever switch had been turned off so that I could watch the race. If you aren't a cycling fan, you only need to know that when NBC (which is what the Olympic channel is) covers cycling, it is usually only the last two hours of the race and coverage ran from 10a - Noon.

When I got a human on the phone, I asked about the Olympic channel and why I had to call customer service... that was right around 10a.... and it was after noon when I hung up the phone. Here is a summary of what I learned:

The vendor who was providing the Olynpic channel to Time Warner customers, stopped carrying it.
If I want to get the Olympic channel I would have to become a Spectrum customer
Time Warner's equipment is not compatable with Spectrum: cable box, modem and god knows what else
Because I get a special price on Earthlink internet, I would have to use Spectrum's service or pay more for Earthlink
I would able to get the Olympic channel, but I would lose many others
Spectrum's lineup is not as "rich" (my word) as TWC.

At that point I said I'll think about it and hung up the phone.

Then I went looking for the Olympic channel. You can watch the Olympic channel online, BUT you have to be able to sign in using one of their "affiliates" logins. For most people, I think that Facebook anc Twitter are enough, but don't quote me on that. When I saw the list, I used Hulu because, I have Hulu... but when I followed the link, I was told that I had to have "hulu with Live TV", but once I signed up, I have had no problems watching whatever was live. And I can watch on my phone or ipad. So I went out and bought a Roku stick before learning that hulu live tv was not yet on Roku YET. But the computer works so I'm relatively happy right now.

But, I think this will end up with no vendors for TWC's customers and all will be forced to get Spectrum's stuff. Till that happens, I'm sticking with what I currently have.

Just thought you folks might want to know your options.....
 

BaileyCatts

Well-Known Member
Messages
9,333
Yep, I am a Time Warner, bought out by Charter, now called Spectrum person too. I also got the screen about call them to get the channel and when I did, the guy couldn't find it, but he was excellent phone rep, told me he was going to check with supervisor (plus I had called a few days after the channel went live so I figured they might not be up to speed yet). But it sure didn't take him 2 hours! I think after about 15 minutes they figured out that in order to get it I need to turn in all my Time Warner equipment and get Spectrum equipment, because you can't get the signal on old Time Warner boxes. I figured at some point in the future they will eventually make all TW customers move to Spectrum equipment anyway, and I wanted that channel, so switched out.

But I did not have any problem getting all my channels, and I had some specific channels I wanted. In fact, the channel lineup is better. What channels could you not get? I still have all the same channels I always did with TW, plus now I even get channels like CMT, Ovation, C&I Channel, ESPN Classic, and a bunch of others that I didn't get before with TW.

I only had to turn in my cable boxes/remotes and modem. The price is about $15 more than my TW bill but that's only because I got DVR service now, which I never had before, and had to switch my bedroom TV from a digital adaptor to full cable box. I don't know what Earthlink is so I can't speak to that, once dial-up died off I've always had my Internet thru cable company. But I've noticed no differences in my internet service.
 
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tony

Throwing the (rule)book at them
Messages
17,679
Nice surprise today. Miami and Atlantic Broadband added the Olympic Channel to their lineup.

@olympic not sure if you’re also on Atlantic.
 

olympic

Well-Known Member
Messages
10,892
Nice surprise today. Miami and Atlantic Broadband added the Olympic Channel to their lineup.

@olympic not sure if you’re also on Atlantic.

You're on the Beach, right? I think Miami Beach gets Atlantic but I'm off the Beach and have the choice of Comcast and AT & T Uverse, so I get U-Verse
 

Spareoom

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,431
I'm annoyed; we have Xfinity and Universal was part of our lineup but now the Olympic channel isn't.
 

Simone411

To Boldly Explore Figure Skating Around The World
Messages
19,215
I'm annoyed; we have Xfinity and Universal was part of our lineup but now the Olympic channel isn't.
That's weird. I went to the Olympic Channel website where you sign in with your provider and it listed Xfinity. Sorry it's no longer part of your lineup. :(
 

Spareoom

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,431
It's part of the extra pay package, I think. We just have the basic one so I can't access the channel.
 

BaileyCatts

Well-Known Member
Messages
9,333
It might be worth it to just call and ask how much more it would cost to get the package The Olympic Channel is in if you really did want it. When I didn't have Universal Sports, I kept putting off getting it because I thought it would be like $20 or more to get the package. I finally called and it was only $5.95 more to get the package, plus I ended up with other channels that I watch stuff on. But I do not have Xfinity so don't know what their pay structures are like.
 

love skating

Clueless American
Messages
2,997
^I just saw it on Dish too and was so happy - hoping they won't change the package and I get to keep it... just in time for the Grand Prix!
 

Joubabe

Active Member
Messages
87
Yeah! I just called Dish yesterday and they didn't have it. I was nearing panic mode. We have the sports package that gave us Universal HD and today we have the Olymmpic Channel.
 

A.H.Black

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,193
The Olympic channel is now active on Dish channel 389! I don't know which packages it's in because it must be a very recent change but at the very least it's in America's Top 200 HD. You will need to add it to your guide if you use a custom one.
^I just saw it on Dish too and was so happy - hoping they won't change the package and I get to keep it... just in time for the Grand Prix!

Thanks for the update. There is one more requirement. You also have to be connected to broadband - which I am not. I will be buying an ethernet cable asap. They must be broadcasting directly from the stream? I don't know how all that works. I just hope I can do it myself because my computer genius nephew is currently in India.

Update - I tried it today and the channel came right up! I guess that broadband requirement was a quirk when I upgraded.
 
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mtnskater

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,196
So glad you posted @yossalu! I immediately turned on my Dish to channel 389 and there it is !! Just in time for the Grand Prix. I have Americas top 200. The Guide is not showing the schedule yet this week. I'm out of town most of the week for a business trip, but when I'm back on Thursday hopefully the guide schedule will be up.
 

A.H.Black

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,193
So glad you posted @yossalu! I immediately turned on my Dish to channel 389 and there it is !! Just in time for the Grand Prix. I have Americas top 200. The Guide is not showing the schedule yet this week. I'm out of town most of the week for a business trip, but when I'm back on Thursday hopefully the guide schedule will be up.
As of this evening, the schedule now appears on my on screen guide. I think they must just be rolling it out. I can't even find any online announcements yet and the Olympics Channel site doesn't list DISH as a provider yet.

http://www.nbcsports.com/olympic-channel

Another thank you to yassalu.

Update 10/16/17 - As of today, DISH has the Olympic Channel listed on their "New Channels" page. https://www.mydish.com/perks/new-channels
 
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AngieNikodinovLove

Frangi & Piazza & Paul & Hektor & Theo. Oh My! 😝
Messages
12,674
Can someone come to my house and tell me if I have this Olympic Channel?

Ill provide lunch and a whiskey.
 

topaz

Well-Known Member
Messages
15,236
The Olympic Channel schedule for Rostelcom looks like the coverage will be live.

@AngieNikodinovLove - What provider(cable or satellite) do you have?

I have Direct TV and the channel is 624
 

AngieNikodinovLove

Frangi & Piazza & Paul & Hektor & Theo. Oh My! 😝
Messages
12,674
^^^^ I just found it, channel 316, Spectrum

Wow..I finally get to see the PAIRS SPs???? NICE!!!!!!!!!
 

topaz

Well-Known Member
Messages
15,236
They are replaying the Sochi figure skating competitions this week too.
 

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