Events at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics are already underway, but formally start tomorrow night, when the opening ceremony takes place. TNT Sports is going to be leading the coverage in the UK, clocking up 850 hours on the snow and ice. The broadcaster is turning TNT Sports 2 into a 24/7 Olympic channel. Everything will be on Discovery+, which will offer some enhanced features. This includes Gold Medal alerts, similar to what we saw with Peacock in Summer 2024. If a gold medal is about to be won, the streamer will flag it so viewrers can jump over.
The BBC coverage tends to be wonderful, but it now has limited rights. The national broadcaster can show a maximum of 400 hours, and run just 2 concurrent streams at any time.
There are a couple of significant things to note about TNT Sports’ coverage. Virgin Media is giving viewers full access to TNT Sports 2. Furthermore, the entertainment tier of Discovery+ is going to offer Olympic coverage too, meaning you can watch for just £3.99. Never mind giving Warner Bros. Discovery more money, this is genuinely a good way to increase access to the winter games, beyond what the BBC can show.
TNT Sports Hosts Winter Olympics for First Time
2026 is the first Winter Games without the Eurosport brand, and it’s undoubtedly another big test for TNT Sports. Viewers have criticised TNT Sports’ coverage of key events, not least the Ashes. It will provide full production, including deploying a host of former athletes as part of its coverage. This includes Amy Williams MBE. She won skeleton gold at the Vancouver games in 2010 skeleton and will be on duty for all the sliding events.
Hosts include Orla Chennaoui and Reshmin Chowdhury, who will be based in a UK studio. It will be a mix of in Italy and on home soil for the commentators. It is a shame not to have everybody, and certainly not all the commentators, on site. We will have to see how that effects the coverage. Eve Muirhead MBE, the Beijing 2022 curling Olympic champion, and current Team GB Chef de Mission, will though be broadcasting from inside the team.
Without a doubt, it’s harder to grab British attention for a Winter Olympics, compared to a Summer Olympics. Quite simply, with a few exceptions, we’re not that good at the winter sports! I’m excited to become a curling and skeleton superfan once again, though. Warner Bros. Discovery will be hoping that TNT Sports can have a gold medal run too.