After a couple days testing things out. My suggestions for Olympic coverage on Android TV.

by whyarewenotoutside

Credit where credit is due, I got a lot of help from people over at the Addons4Kodi sub here .

Given:

  • You want this working with an AndroidTV UI
  • You do not want the PIA of casting from a phone/tablet
  • You want an English broadcast
  • You are regionally not in US/CA/UK
  • You do not have any provider logins
  • You do not have a US/CA/UK credit card
  • You have decently fast Internet

I am on Shield TVs and these are the options I found works the best:

Hulu is my best paid option. I finally got this working and this is what I am going with. I found a smart DNS service that works with Hulu (but not CBC, sadly, though they claim it does). PM me for the provider as I do not want to advertise or spam for them.

Pros

  • 50 hours of cloud DVR and all US coverage
  • High bitrate HD
  • Reliable service (no buffering or skips for me)

Cons

  • $40 with only a 7 day trial
  • That price and still no 4k
  • Requires a VPN/SmartDNS service that works (tried 3 VPNs before finding a working SmartDNS)
  • Only US coverage
  • Requires US payment but accepts Paypal (so I could safely use a bank account as I have no US credit card)

Made In Canada IPTV addon for Kodi . This is the best free option I found and I am also using this for Canadian broadcasts.

Pros

  • Free
  • US/UK/Canadain coverage (awesome!)
  • Kodi Addon

Cons

  • Many of the "channels" have poor reliability
  • Some channels require Canada or US IP (which can be mitigated by VPN/SmartDNS)

IPTV - VaderStreams tested. 2nd best paid option.

Pros

  • Mostly complete US/Canadian/UK coverage
  • Mostly HD
  • Some on demand Olympic content.

Cons

  • Trial is short and I spent most of my trial trying to figure out how to get it to work.
  • Requires you setup an IPTV client (easy with Kodi though)
  • Unreliable where I am, buffering, streams switching to low bitrate, disconnections.
  • No DVR though there do seem to be instructions on setting up DVRs with PIs and other "needs work" kind of thing.
  • Prices vary but seems to be around $20.
  • Only thanks to people over in the addons4kodi I could find a reliable seller, otherwise there are a lot of scams and fly by night operations.

Puffin Web browser with cbc.ca/olympics and nbcolympics.com. This is the 2nd best free option but Puffin browser has a terrible reputation. If you can find a better browser that has an AndroidTV UI and can playback media, please let me know!

Pros

  • Free
  • HD
  • Reliable at least for me
  • US and Canadian coverage but needs VPN juggling.

Cons

  • UI depending on your web browser
  • Puffin Web browser is awful for privacy and decency
  • Constantly having to switch VPNs to flip between US and Canadian coverage is a pain.
vizNNN

You suggested Hulu, but Hulu still hasn’t released any Android TV version of their Live TV feature yet. Do you just use the casting from a phone then?

vgnftw

Nice. I will definitely check some of these out as local coverage is already driving me nuts.

LiquidPoint

With a SmartDNS you should also be able to watch the BBC channels using PuppetMaster TV.

Zattoo also has a TV compatible app, but you'll need to pay if you want watch more than half an hour a day. Then you also get HD. It is, however, rather limited how much English channels you gain, using their Swiss offer, but there's eurosport 1 in German.

Edit: my SmartDNS provider doesn't do a great job with CBC either, have to use the VPN part of my subscription for that to work.

chazwhiz

So I’m in the US, but hate NBCs coverage. So on my Shield TV I side loaded the CBC Sports app and am running a VPN to Canada. It’s not great since I have to use a mouse (or touch pad in Harmony app) to navigate the app, but the coverage and stream quality is fantastic.

enigmaunbound

I found Fubo TV is the simplest. Seven day free demo. First month $20. Cancel after the Olympics are over.

TrapZero

On my shield I have an USB OTA tuner, so I can record NBC using the Live Channels app. Just another option.