Not everyone has the time or money to get to Aspen, Colorado to watch the Winter X Games, and that can really take a toll on people who consider themselves as dedicated extreme sports fans.
In this guide, we will take a look at how you can watch the Winter X Games from anywhere, even if you don’t live in the United States.
Security Gladiators is bringing you the best ways to watch the Winter X Games in full from the comfort of your home, streaming from the internet without the need for a costly cable TV subscription, and for little to no cost to your wallet.
Let’s start by covering the bases.
Table of Contents
Winter X Games 2023 Schedule: When and Where Will the Games Start?
This year’s Winter X Games takes place on January 21-23 (dates are subject to change as the year progresses). The Winter X Games is set to be a great show since it is returning to the Buttermilk Ski Area in Aspen, Colorado.
For those interested in the star cast for the 2023 edition of Winter X Games, know that almost all the famous winter extreme sports athletes will be there. If you would like to see the complete list of athletes performing in Winter X Games go to the official website: xgames.com.
If you want to watch the Winter X Games in person, you can do so for free. The event is open to the public at no cost to attend. However, if you want to attend extra events that are held during the multi-day experience, such as live concerts, you’ll have to buy tickets for higher-level passes and individual music events.
2020 Winter X Games Events
Ski & Board | Bike & Real |
---|---|
Ski Big Air | Snowmobile Freestyle |
Men's Ski Slopestyle | Snowmobile Speed & Style |
Women's Ski Slopestyle | Snocross |
Men's Ski Superpipe | Snocross Adaptive |
Women's Ski Superpipe | Real Snow |
Snowboard Big Air | Real Snow Backcountry |
Women's Snowboard Slopestyle | Real Ski Backcountry |
Men's Snowboard Slopestyle | |
Men's Snowboard Superpipe | |
Women's Snowboard Superpipe |
Which Channels Will Cover the Winter X Games?
Currently, here are the channels that have purchased the television broadcasting rights for the 2023 Winter X Games:
- ABC
- ESPN
- ESPN2
Apart from that, services like the official ESPN app and WatchESPN will only offer streams of other X Games events with the help of ESPN3. This is great news for Winter X Games fans as channels such as ABC and ESPN support a comprehensive range of streaming platforms online.
With so much experience streaming the X Games in the years gone by, you can be assured that ESPN and ABC will deliver to put on a good show for people watching the Winter X Games from their living rooms.
Best Way to Watch the Winter X Games Live Online
If you’re a cord-cutter or simply don’t want to watch the games via cable, then you should know that streaming the Winter X Games has become a viable option for most online consumers. The Winter X Games will be covered by premium sports channels ABC and ESPN, both of which will allow users to stream every game in the Winter X Games.
That’s a full four days of extreme sports for people who like danger.
Of course, there is no guarantee that you would have the time or the money to watch the whole tournament as it is being broadcasted. For such workaholics, ABC and ESPN streaming services are offering an on-demand streaming feature that can come in handy if you don’t mind saving your watching for later after the events are over.
We have already made comprehensive guides on how to unblock and access ABC and ESPN, just click each of them to see the guide.
ESPN, ABC and ESPN2 will broadcast the final stages of the tournament to the whole world. Cord-cutters along with regular folks can make use of the following streaming services in order to watch Winter X Games live online.
Watch Winter X Games from Anywhere
How to Watch the Winter X Games in the U.S.
If you’re in the U.S. and you want to watch the Winter X Games, you have three options: ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. Skip to this portion of the guide to see how to watch online or through cable in the U.S.
A note for international readers: You’ll need to sign up with a good VPN service provider to get full coverage and watch via a streaming service or cable provider that has ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. You will first have to connect to a server in the U.S. before proceeding further.
Sling TV provides a separate process for people who want to pay by redeeming their gift cards. Just remember that you must first connect to a VPN server in the U.S. before getting the gift card on PayPal AND signing up for Sling. Otherwise, this process might not work.
After that, it is just a matter of selecting the right channel and streaming all the action.
How to Watch the Winter X Games in Canada
Basically, you’re looking for cable services that offer ESPN as a part of their package. Or you can sign up for one of the premium streaming services we mentioned in a later section of this guide and “test” their free trial option to stream the whole event.
Short of that, you can check out CTV, which may also broadcast some Winter X Games. Keep in mind that you’ll need an approved TV provider to stream the Winter X Games. Look for Bell or Rogers.
Note:
After you have a TV provider or VPN, you should go to www.tsn.ca/live as TSN may also stream some TSN games in Canada. You may have to sign up for an account with TSN Direct, for which you will need a credit card that works in Canada.Lastly, checking out RDS is also not a bad idea if you don’t mind coverage in French. Go to www.rds.ca and create an account with TSN direct.
How to Watch the Winter X Games in the U.K.
If you live in the U.K., you need to look towards cable services such as Sky, BT Vision and Virgin Media to access ESPN so you can watch Winter X Games 2023. You could also use lesser-known options like TalkTalkTV.
Again, if you cannot access these services, then there is always the option of checking out the free trial versions of the premium services we’ve mentioned below using a VPN.
How to Watch the Winter X Games in Australia
Your best bet to get ESPN (and thus Winter X games) in Australia is via Foxtel. So get that. If you can’t, then there’s always the option of using a VPN service and signing up for one of the streaming services we’ll cover below.
How to Watch the Winter X Games from Anywhere Else
As stated, the best services to watch Winter X Games 2023 are ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. Use a VPN service to change your location to the U.S. to get the maximum amount of coverage, sign up for an account and start streaming.
Watch Winter X Games Via Cable
Yes, cable is still an option, but probably not in the way you think of it now. It doesn’t really matter if you have access to either ABC or ESPN in the U.S. The regulations put into effect in the U.S. specify that these national broadcasters will be able to show the whole of the Winter X Games in 2023.
For more information on the races and the events in this year’s Winter X Games, you need to go to ABC.com or ESPN.com. They’ll provide tips on how online consumers can stream entire sporting events easily.
For those who haven’t gone through the trouble of signing up for a cable service, they should know that ABC and/or ESPN are not the only options to stream Winter X Games from. Before we start listing out the possible streaming services you can try out, you should know that the biggest advantage of streaming content from streaming sites instead of cable service providers is the variety of supported platforms.
Most of the services we will mention in this guide will allow you to watch the Winter X Games on a range of devices including:
- PlayStation
- iPhone
- iPad
- Android devices
- Tablets
- Laptops
- Desktop computers
- Other mobile devices
With that said though, you are better off trying to stream Winter X Games 2023 through ESPN for the simple reason that it is the official streaming platform. And even though everyone who wants to stream Winter X Games via ESPN must have a subscription package from the appropriate cable service provider, we still think that if you can manage it, then do so.
The other useful factor is that if you know how to use a VPN service, then you can use ESPN as your primary streaming service for sporting events such as Winter X Games and watch content from any country in the world.
We will talk more about that in a later section.
However, if you want to know right now which VPN service providers are the best for streaming content online, click here.
Watch X Games Live on ABC
Just like ESPN, ABC will stream everything related to Winter X Games as it is also an official broadcaster.
ABC Networks have enough resources to stream all the action from the Winter X Games 2023. In fact, we think that it would be far better for you to check out Winter X Games via ABC than your cable service provider. It’s easy: Just to just go to ABC’s website (ABC.com) and download the ABC app, sign up, then start streaming any content that the network has purchased the rights for.
With that said though, we should remind you perhaps that the actual catalog of content that you will have access to via the ABC Network app will depend on your location. So, use a VPN service to change your location so that you can access more content that isn’t available in your country/region. You can do this if you’re located outside of the U.S. too.
How to Watch Winter X 2023 with No Cable
In the good old days, the only way you could watch your favorite sports on time was if you had made all the arrangements in terms of signing up for the right cable service provider and checking the exact schedule for your game and ordering food ahead of time. If you had missed a single minute of your favorite game, that usually meant that you missed it for the rest of your life.
Now in 2023, the act of streaming and binging has changed the way we interact with TV. You have a myriad of streaming services that are all just waiting for you to come to them so that they can indulge you with your favorite sports at your chosen time and place.
Most of these streaming services have advanced features such as on-demand video and DVR which allow you to watch any game you like at any time without having to worry about missing anything.
That is power.
Let’s take a look at your choices:
fuboTV
As one of the first high-quality sports streaming services on the market, fuboTV is a good choice for any sports fan.
The service costs$69.99 per month for the Pro plan (there is no basic plan). There are more advanced bundles available in different languages.
You can sign up for a free trial to test it out before buying. The Winter X Games 2023 only lasts four days (if everything goes to plan), and fuboTV offers any new customer a free trial that lasts seven days. So if you sign up for the fuboTV free trial hours before the first event of the Winter X Games, and then cancel your subscription package before the seven-day trial is over, you can effectively watch the entire Winter X Games 2023 for free.
ESPN+
This is not the same service as vanilla ESPN. The service first launched in April 2018 and has only moved upwards from there, racking up millions of customers.
It’s based on the original ESPN app but then takes the whole experience to another level, offering extra content on almost every important sport that you could wish to see. To use the service you can either pay $69.99 per year or $6.99 per month.
PlayStation Vue (Now discontinued)
This is another fairly reputable streaming service that will never take your money and run. The platform provides users with multiple bundles that each offer premium channels, including ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.
The best option is the Ultra package, which costs $84.99 per month. Then there is the Elite package which costs $64.99 per month, followed by the Core package at $54.99 per month. The least expensive level as the Access package, which costs $49.99 per month.
This service has a five-day free trial that you can use to potentially watch Winter X Games 2023 for free.
YouTube TV
For just $64.99 per month, you can access over 85 channels including ABC, CBS, NBC and others. There are a total of four different ESPN channels on YouTube TV. This streaming service also comes with a seven-day free trial.
Again, if you have not used up your free trial with YouTube TV you can potentially watch the entire Winter X Games 2023 program for free.
Hulu Live TV
With just $69.99 per month, you can have access to over 50 channels including the likes of HBO, Cinemax and Showtime for an extra fee. Hulu TV also offers a seven-day free trial option to new users. Hence, you have another option to watch Winter X Games 2023 for free.
Just remember that if you don’t cancel your subscription before the seven-day trial expires, you will get billed for the whole month. Our advice is to set an alarm or reminder as you’re inputting your financial information on Hulu TV so that you won’t forget to cancel your subscription before the time runs out.
Sling TV
Pay Sling TV $50 per month for Orange + Blue or $35 per month for just Blue or $35 per month for just Orange and get access to a ton of channels immediately. Or, sign up for the seven-day free trial and watch Winter X Games 2023 for free.
And the fact that the winter X Games is only 4 days long means that the free trial will cover the whole games. For complete coverage of more events, users can add the Sports Extra add-on for $11 per month.
AT&T TV NOW (formerly DirecTV Now and now DirecTV Stream)
Media giant AT&T re-branded DirecTV Now to AT&T TV NOW and has now rebranded again to DirecTV Stream and DirecTV Satellite in August of 2021.
The service offers a five-day free trial and 4 different bundles: Entertainment at $69.99 per month, Choice at $89.99 per month, Ultimate at $104.99 per month, and Premier at $149.99 per month. Entertainment offers over 65 channels, including HBO, Choice includes more than 90 channels and more sports coverage, Ultimate offers over 130 channels and Premier offers over 140 channels.
Conclusion
Now you know all the streaming services you can use to watch the Winter X Games for free (potentially).
If you live outside of the U.S., you can use a VPN to stream content on these services. It’s also a great tool to protect your online privacy.