Winter Olympics 2018: Apple Partners With NBC For Apple News

iPhone users can keep track of the 2018 Winter Olympics without watching the television broadcasts of the major international sporting event. Apple has partnered with NBC, the network that is covering the Pyeongchang, South Korea Olympics, to bring real-time news updates about the event through its Apple News app.

TechCrunch learned Thursday that Apple has struck a deal with NBC Olympics, so it could bring live updates about the 2018 Winter Olympics to users of its iOS-powered products. The deal enables Apple to add a new section in Apple News that’s dedicated to the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics.

The Olympics coverage section is found within the “For You” tab of Apple News. This section will mainly feature articles, videos and other entries that cover the games that are taking place over the next two weeks. The section will also provide link to live streams and replays found in the NBC Sports app. However, Apple did say that certain clips from the different events will be available for direct viewing within the Apple News app.

MacRumors reports that aside from the usual news updates, the new section also features a planner that people can use to figure the specific schedule of events. Users can even add events they want to follow or watch to their planner. Moreover, Apple News will also display a medal tracker and daily roundups for users who are in areas with timezones different from South Korea’s. This obviously includes the U.S. which has a 14-hour time difference with Korea.

Apple’s deal with NBC is just one of the partnerships that the Cupertino giant is securing at present, so it could become a reliable hub for sports coverage. Apple’s partnership with NBC only benefits U.S. consumers, so it’s very likely that Apple also struck deals with other partners in other countries.

The news that Apple partnered with NBC for its 2018 Winter Olympics coverage comes a day after Google launched its own series of Olympics coverage and features. Clearly, the two tech giants are eager to get a good share of audience monitoring the Pyeongchang Olympics to use their services. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since the Olympics is the most-watched sporting event in the world.