The Winter Olympics 2026 is now officially underway – but viewers in the UK may be disappointed to find out that the BBC will not be broadcasting full live coverage of the Games.
Long since considered the home of the Olympics in the UK, the BBC is restricted to just select coverage of Milano Cortina 2026, which is taking place in Italy until February 22.
This means that a repeat of previous Olympics where fans were able to watch wall-to-wall coverage of every event – such as the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games – is now a thing of the past.
But this doesn’t mean that free-to-air viewers will miss out entirely, with the BBC still boasting over 450 hours of content across their various channels.
Why the BBC can’t show the Winter Olympics in full
The BBC’s predicament is due to a broadcast deal between the International Olympic Committee and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) – who own TNT Sport – which gives the US broadcasting giant exclusive rights to show the four Olympic Games between 2026 and 2032 in full in the UK.
Instead, the only place in the UK to watch every minute of the Winter Olympics 2026 is on TNT Sports with Discovery+.
However, due to an arrangement between WBD and the European Broadcasting Union, the BBC is able to sub-licence the coverage from WBD, allowing it to show some free-to-air content across its TV channels and various other platforms.
How to watch the Winter Olympics on TV with Discovery+
Discovery+, through TNT Sports, is showing over 850 hours of coverage across the 16 different disciplines.
Programming will begin each morning at 8am UK time with TNT’s daily Buongiorno Milano show, hosted by Orla Chennaoui.
The live action will then be shown daily from 9am to 10pm on TNT Sports’ TV channels, with TNT Sports 2 serving as the main Olympic hub.
Viewers will also be able to live stream the action on the Discovery+ app.
TNT’s daily offering will culminate with a highlights show each evening, presented by Reshmin Chowdhury.
UK fans who wish to watch the Winter Olympics in full but are not currently a Discovery+ subscriber can do so by signing up here.
What coverage does the BBC have?
Despite its scaled-back offering, the BBC is bringing viewers more than 450 hours of live coverage from across the 17 days of action.
Broadcasting will take place on BBC One or BBC Two from 9am to 10pm each day, with Clare Balding, Hazel Irvine and Jeanette Kwakye on presenting duties from their studio in Cortina.
Additional live coverage will run parallel on Olympics Extra, which will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app from 8am to 11pm daily.
Unlike with previous Olympic Games, the BBC will not be showing a daily TV highlights show in the evening.
Radio coverage, meanwhile, will be available daily on BBC Radio 5 Live.
