How to watch the Winter Olympics in the UK: TV, streaming and radio guides

Four years on from Beijing, the 25th edition of the Winter Olympics arrives in Italy for over two weeks of captivating action.

Nearly 3,000 athletes will take part throughout the course of the multi-sport event, with many of the competitors harbouring ambitions of taking home a medal. 

Here, Sports Mole provides details of how to watch and follow the Winter Olympics 2026. 

Where are the Winter Olympics being held?

The two Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo won the bid to host the Winter Olympics ahead of Sweden's bid host in Stockholm and Are.

When do the Winter Olympics start?

The much-anticipated multi-sport event will officially run from February 6 to February 22. However, there will be action on February 4 and 5 before the opening ceremony takes place on Friday, February 6. 

You can find a schedule of the key events here.

How to watch the Winter Olympics in the UK

TV channels

The BBC and TNT Sports/Discovery+ both have rights to show the Winter Olympics in the UK.

However, TNT Sports and Discovery+ have the rights to show every minute of the Winter Olympics, while the BBC will only be showing major events. That means TNT Sports and Discovery+ will show over 850 hours of action, compared to the BBC's offering of more than 450 hours of live coverage. 

TNT Sports will show the majority of their coverage on the TNT Sports 2 channel, while BBC One or BBC Two will show events from 9am to 10pm. 

Streaming

Discovery+ will have comprehensive coverage of the Winter Olympics, with viewers able to access live streams of events on the Discovery+ platform and app, which is available on a variety of devices, including phones, laptops, tablets, TVs and game consoles. 

Meanwhile, you can access BBC One and Two via the BBC iPlayer, which, along with the BBC Sport website and app, will be home to the Olympics Extra live stream. 

Highlights

Highlights of major events will be shown on BBC One and Two. There should also be highlights available on the BBC Sport website and the iPlayer.

There will also be a daily highlights show on TNT Sport, while the Discovery+ platform should also have highlights of all the action. 

How to listen to the Winter Olympics

If you are unable to watch the action live, you can still listen to the major events every day of the Winter Olympics on BBC Radio 5 Live.