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Olympics a Challenge for Cord-Cutters; Is Netflix the Answer?

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With the Summer Olympics set to begin on August 5th, cord-cutters find themselves in a familiar dilemma: While they can watch over-the-air content on NBC, they're locked out of the network's online streams which require pay TV authentication. One study suggests that Olympics video should find a home on subscription video services.

According to data collected by Snell Advanced Media, a broadcast services company, cord-cutters want more options for viewing Olympics video: 31 percent would like to watch the Games on Netflix, 17 percent want to watch on Amazon, and 15 percent would like a dedicated streaming channel on their set-top box (presumably one that doesn't require pay TV authentication). For a variety of reasons, it's unlikely any of these viewers will get their wish.

Snelll found that 19 percent of viewers in the U.S. plan to watch more than 10 hours of Olympics video. Respondents said that sports video is important to watch live: 45 percent were likely to watch a championship or final sports match live, while only 25 percent were likely to watch an awards show live.

The Olympic moments viewers most want to watch live are the opening ceremony (46 percent), gymnastics events (38 percent), closing ceremony (38 percent), swimming events (33 percent), and track and field events (23 percent).

Snell's data was collected by YouGov, which used an online survey to question over 1,100 adults in early June. 

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