Viewers of the Olympics on NBC who would rather not listen to the network’s commentary ― perhaps because they want to skip certain announcers’ drivel ― have the option to do so online.
It’s not just a mute button, either. You still get audio that includes the sounds of the athletes and audience.
NBC is streaming live coverage of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics on its website to anyone with a paid cable subscription. (Viewers must log in with their cable company username and password either immediately or after 30 minutes of complementary streaming time.) The network has snuck in an extra benefit of watching online: Clicking the headphones on the bottom-left corner of live video feeds gives you the option of silencing commentary.
Here’s how:
1. On a live video from NBC Olympics, select the headphones icon.
2. Select “no commentary.”
It’s not perfect. Watching without commentary appears to be available only for events with English-speaking announcers, and isn’t an option on certain live events, such as Tuesday’s women’s gymnastics. (It seems like NBC might really want us to listen to Al Trautwig.) However, most other live events we tested, including women’s synchronized diving, men’s and women’s archery, women’s beach volleyball and men’s fencing, offered the feature. NBC didn’t immediately respond to The Huffington Post’s inquiry about the function.
Patience is also key. It took the site several seconds to actually silence the commentary, at least when we tested it.
Luckily, there’s plenty more Olympics to watch in peace. The games continue through Aug. 21.
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