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How to Watch the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics

By Rebekah Markovitz, 08/23/21, 7:00PM CDT

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The National Wheelchair Basketball Association knows that our membership and fans are eager to watch the Men's and Women's Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball teams compete in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. With today's technology and an increasing number of people opting out of cable, it can be tricky to figure out how to watch the games. Below are some recommendations according to what you might have available (cable or not). 

If You Have Cable

You just need to turn on the TV.  From August 24 to September 5, there will be 200 hours of events on NBC, NBCSN, and the Olympic Channel. NBCSN will show Paralympics coverage entirely from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. ET everyday and will have live coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies. NBC will show pre-recorded footage during primetime evening hours. 

You can also stream the Paralympics from the NBC Olympics website. You will get 30 minutes of free streaming before it prompts you to login to your cable provider. 

Click here to view the full NBC Paralympic broadcast schedule. 

Below is the tentative TV schedule for just wheelchair basketball. 

All games will be on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) and all times are in EASTERN TIME. 

1. Wednesday, Aug 25 (2:00am - 4:00am) 

  • Women's Preliminaries - USA vs Netherlands (TAPE DELAY) 

2. Wednesday,  Aug 25 (8:00pm - 9:45pm)

  • Men's Preliminaries - USA vs Germany (LIVE) 

3. Thursday,  Aug 26 (4:00am - 5:45am) 

  • Women's Preliminaries- USA vs Spain (LIVE)

4. Friday, Aug 27 (7:00am - 8:45am) 

  • Men's Preliminaries - USA vs Iran (Tape Delay) 

5. Saturday, August 28 (12:00am - 1:30am)

  • Women's Preliminaries - USA vs China (Tape Delay)

6. Saturday, August 28 (4:15am - 5:30am)

  • Men's Preliminaries - USA vs Great Britain (LIVE)

7. Sunday, Aug 29 (10:30pm - 12:00am)

  • Men's Preliminaries - USA vs Australia (Tape Delay)

9. Monday, Aug 30 (1:00am - 2:30am) 

  • Women's Preliminaries - USA vs Algeria (Tape Delay)

10. Monday, Aug 30 (7:30am - 9:00am)

  • Men's Preliminaries - USA vs Algeria (LIVE) 

If You Have Cable & A Smart TV

All you need to do is download the NBC Sports app on your smart TV. Then navigate to the "Tokyo 2020" tab in the top left corner. It will have the whole Paralympic schedule for you, and you can navigate to find the wheelchair basketball games. Note: it will prompt you to login to your cable subscriber to watch.

Click here to view the Paralympic schedule for the NBCSN APP. The wheelchair basketball specific schedule is below. 

NBCSN App Wheelchair Basketball Schedule

All times are tentative and in MOUNTAIN TIME. 

1. Tuesday, Aug 24 (8:00pm) 

  • Women's Preliminaries - USA vs Netherlands (LIVE)

2. Wednesday, Aug 25 (6:00pm)

  • Men's Preliminaries - USA vs Germany (LIVE)

3. Thursday, Aug 26 (1:45am) 

  • Women's Preliminaries- USA vs Spain (LIVE)

4. Thursday, Aug 26 (1:45am) 

  • Men's Preliminaries - USA vs Iran (LIVE) 

5. Friday, August 27 (6:00pm)

  • Women's Preliminaries - USA vs China (LIVE) 

6. Saturday, August 28 (1:45am)

  • Men's Preliminaries - USA vs Great Britain (LIVE)

7. Saturday, Aug 28 (11:45pm)

  • Men's Preliminaries - USA vs Australia (LIVE)

9. Sunday, Aug 29 (1:45am)  

  • Women's Preliminaries - USA vs Algeria (LIVE)

10. Monday, Aug 30 (5:30am)

  • Men's Preliminaries - USA vs Algeria (LIVE) 

11. Monday ,Aug 30 (9:30pm)

  • First game of women's quarterfinal (LIVE) 

12. Tuesday, Aug 31 (3:15am) 

  • Second game of women's quarterfinal (LIVE) 

13. Tuesday, Aug 31 (9:30pm)

  • First game of men's quarterfinal (LIVE)

14. Wednesday, Sept 1 (3:15am)

  • Second game of men's quarterfinal (LIVE)

15. Thursday, Sept 2 (3:15am)

  • Women's semifinal (LIVE) 

16. Friday, Sept 3 (3:15am) 

  • Men's semifinal (LIVE) 

17. Saturday, Sept 4 (2:45am)

  • Women's bronze and gold medal game (LIVE) 

18. Saturday, Sept 4 (7:00pm)

  • Men's bronze and gold medal game (LIVE)

If you have internet-based TV services

If you have internet-based TV services, like any of these below, you can also watch NBC and other channels with Paralympics coverage. You could consider subscribing just for a month or signing up for a trial period to catch the Paralympics and then cancel.


If you don't have cable or Internet Based TV Services

Your main option is to download NBC's streaming app, Peacock. To watch live coverage of  the Tokyo Paralympics, sign up for Peacock Premium ($4.99/month). You can cancel your subscription at any time (so you can cancel it right after the Paralympics if you want). 

Once you pay for premium, navigate to the "channels" tab on the top of the screen. Then scroll to find the "NBC Sports" channel. This acts as your live TV. There is no "guide" or way to view a games schedule, and it will only show what is currently airing live. However, you can click here to view the peacock Paralympic schedule. Unfortunately, peacock will only be streaming "top moments and final competitions" so the gold medal matches for wheelchair basketball are the only wheelchair basketball games that are available. 

You can also consider mooching off of someone's cable account that you know. If friends or family are willing to share their cable username and password with you and their internet provider services your area.

Or you can have a watch party! Have the person who has a cable provider start the stream on nbcolympics.com and have them screen share on zoom. Zoom is free for 30 hours with one on one meetings and up to 40 minutes for unlimited participants. Hint: you can just end the meeting and restart it after the 40 minutes. 


Men's and Women's Game Schedules (NOT BROADCAST SCHEDULE)