Watching Giro d'Italia 2018

[karlos]

This year, the best way to watch the Giro is with a Fubo TV Premiere subscription, but you have to add the additional cycling option at $10 / month, bringing a monthly subscription to over $50. If you've never subscribed to Fubo, one of the introductory offers may make it worth your while.

But WAIT, if you have Kodi installed on a computer or device, you can stream the Italian feed from Rai Sport for free through a VPN and an Italian server. I'm running Kodi Krypton 17.6 on Windows 10 (Kodi is an evolution of discontinued Media Center, but I installed from the Microsoft store). I also pay for an annual ExpressVPN subscription (never, ever use Wifi over an unsecure network - Starbucks, some hotels, etc. - without a VPN to encrypt your sessions through a secure tunnel). So the Rai channels are free if you live in Italy - they are geoblocked outside Italy. However, if your VPN service has an Italian server, you just tunnel your session through that server and voila! You can watch the Giro free and brush up on your Italian.  I use the Milan, Italy ExpressVPN server. Note that you must install the Rai On Demand video add-on for your Kodi configuration and that addon is not illegal. That gives you several channels, which can be confusing, especially if your Italian is poor. As I write this I am watching Stage 6 to Mt Etna live on Rai 2. I happen to be in Minneapolis, so the extra 2 hrs means I don't have to get up in the wee hours to watch a full stage. So, this is "free" if you have a good VPN [there are also free VPNs, but I tried one a few years ago and can't imagine it would be good for live streaming - ymmv].

[Nigel Rodgers]

Nice Karl
This is my latest approach at the streaming game.
I'm using CyberGhost for my VPN. 1 year subscription is 33.00. Then I am able to Stream Eurosport (English with lots of supplemental content on the Giro plus just about every UCI event ) for about 10.00 per month. Could have gone cheaper on the CyberGhost but I figured I would play around with the Anonymous thing and see how it affects my surfing.   
By the way Stage 6 was awesome

[karlos]

Thanks for the Eurosport tip. My poor search capabilities missed that when looking how to get the Giro this year. I certainly would be willing to ante up $10/mo. I may do that in the future. For the time being, Rai has pretty good coverage and I like $0/mo, but the rust on my Italian is pretty thick - still fun, though  Btw, ExpressVPN is $6.67/mo if you buy 15 mo. chunks, so a bit more pricey. I started using it before my Alps trip in 2016. It remains at the top of the ratings for speed and features, especially for streaming, and we have it on all our mobile devices, laptops,etc., so I just continue to stick with it. Glad to know that less expensive VPNs, like CyberGhost, do the job! Maybe I'll shop around again when my current subscription expires. Yates was a gentleman at the end of Stage 6. Chavez was an animal.

[Nigel Rodgers]

O by the way Eurosport has a 7 day free offer. Sign up for the last week then cancel . 

[karlos]

I followed Nigel's tip and got the free 7-day Eurosport trial at https://gb.eurosportplayer.com. Excellent commentary and it looks like the Rai Italian TV feed. If you've missed out on the Giro, check out Stage 14 (Zoncolan) and Stage 15, On Demand replays. Also, this is not available in the USA unless you use a VPN through a UK server. That's why Nigel uses CyberGhost and I use ExpressVPN. If you don't have a good VPN account with somebody I highly recommend "don't leave home without one" - without one, Starbucks or any unsecure wifi is worse than unprotected sex. Not only does it really protect you from identity theft via a fully secure internet tunnel, but if the VPN offers worldwide server connections then you legally can stream geo-blocked channels such as Eurosport and Rai. Of course, it completely hides your home IP address from nefarious hackers and allows you to be semi-anonymous when surfing the internet. Enjoy...