As of today, it is finally easily available cheaply via streaming.
- Peacock TV streaming service which is $5 a month (I got a $20 annual plan deal a few weeks before TdF)
- GCN+ Streaming service which is $8 a month (or $50 a year)
The GCN stream is available globally. I think it is also available on France24 and Sky Sports' streaming app.
If this feels like bad distribution to those reading this, you have no idea how far we have come. TdF used to be on very obscure cable channels only, like Outdoor Network that required very premium satellite plans as it was only included as a specialty channel and not available via many cable or satellite providers, making it entirely inaccessible to most people.
NBC eventually moved it to NBC Sports, which made it better. It was available through almost all providers now and available on more basic packages.
We finally got our first streaming options (meaning you didn't need to have a cable/sattelite subscription) about 6 or so years ago, but it was on a terrible app that had terrible infrastructure and it cost $80-120 per TdF season!
So with mainstream streaming, it is finally pretty accessible, just not discoverable. If you are looking to watch it, you can get it. It's also finally cheap enough for more people to justify it without needing to be a mega-fan. Again, on peacock it is only $5 a month. If you sign up and cancel immediately starting and following the TdF you can watch it all in one billing cycle. So that's pretty fair.
Also, to NBC's credit, they are trying to make it more accessible. The first stage was actually on the main NBC channel, which I think is a first. Stages 2-7 have been on USA Network, which is on all basic cable packages. Stages 8+ now require Peacock. It's obviously not perfect, but progress deserves to be recognized!