--- title: How to Watch the Winter Olympics description: The 2026 Olympic Games are set to kick off in Italy with an opening ceremony on Feb. 6. canonical: https://time.com/7346932/winter-olympics-watch-2026-schedule-milano-cortina/ author: Solcyré Burga article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-01-20T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:47:52.060Z article:section: Sports og:title: How to Watch the Winter Olympics og:description: The 2026 Olympic Games are set to kick off in Italy with an opening ceremony on Feb. 6. og:url: https://time.com/7346932/winter-olympics-watch-2026-schedule-milano-cortina/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc088f66811d8f3d3/6998ccedd32e9340a8cd7abd/how-to-watch-olympics-milan-2026.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: how-to-watch-olympics-milan-2026 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Watch the Winter Olympics twitter:description: The 2026 Olympic Games are set to kick off in Italy with an opening ceremony on Feb. 6. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc088f66811d8f3d3/6998ccedd32e9340a8cd7abd/how-to-watch-olympics-milan-2026.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Watch the Winter Olympics  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Jan 20, 2026 11:00 AM UTC  Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source Images: Francesco Carta fotografo/Getty Images; Mattia Ozbot—Getty Images  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Jan 20, 2026 11:00 AM UTC Fans all around the world are gearing up for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, where thousands of athletes from more than 90 countries will compete on skates, skis, snowboards, and various types of sleds. An estimated 5 billion people, or more than half of the world’s population, followed the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, marking a record high. The Winter Olympics tend to draw smaller audiences, though the 2022 Games in Beijing still reached more than [2 billion](https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/olympic-winter-games-beijing-2022-watched-by-more-than-2-billion-people) people. This year’s Games will begin in just a couple weeks. Here’s what to know about how to watch. ## When do the Olympics start? The 2026 Winter Olympics are set to kick off in Italy with an opening ceremony on Feb. 6\. The international sporting event, which will debut eight new races in sports including ski mountaineering and skeleton—a sled-sliding sport—will go on for more than two weeks before concluding on the 22nd. Though that day’s closing ceremony will mark the end of the Games until the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, sports enthusiasts will also be able to watch the Paralympic Winter Games throughout the month of March. ## How can I watch and stream the Olympics live? Americans can tune into NBC, the [exclusive broadcaster](https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-and-comcast-nbcuniversal-agree-on-groundbreaking-partnership-for-the-new-digital-era-including-an-extension-of-their-olympic-media-rights-agreement-until-2036) of the Games in the United States, to watch the Olympics. A livestream will also be available to watch on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service. In [Europe](https://www.wbd.com/ioc-awards-exclusive-2026-2032-olympic-games-media-rights-in-europe-to-european-broadcasting-union-and-warner-bros-discovery), meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery will “‘present’ every moment’ of the Games on its streaming and digital platforms.” That means that viewers across the pond can tune in to the Olympics on streaming service Discovery+. The European Broadcasting Union also has media rights, meaning the event will be aired on the BBC and other major European public service broadcasters. Other regions [should](https://support.olympics.com/hc/en-gb/articles/43002628669203-Where-to-watch-the-Olympic-Winter-Games-Milano-Cortina-2026) check with their own local broadcasters to tune into the Games. ## How do I watch the Olympics on Peacock? Viewers can visit [Peacock.com](http://peacock.com) to watch the Olympics. A sporting events schedule and event highlights will be available on the NBC Olympics [website](https://www.nbcolympics.com/). ## Will the Olympics be replayed at night? The official streaming schedule of the Olympics has not yet been released, though NBC has in the past shown Olympic highlights in the evening. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7346932/winter-olympics-watch-2026-schedule-milano-cortina/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7346932/winter-olympics-watch-2026-schedule-milano-cortina/"},"headline":"How to Watch the Winter Olympics","datePublished":"2026-01-20T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:47:52.060Z","description":"The 2026 Olympic Games are set to kick off in Italy with an opening ceremony on Feb. 6.","url":"https://time.com/7346932/winter-olympics-watch-2026-schedule-milano-cortina/","keywords":["2026 Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo Olympics","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc088f66811d8f3d3/6998ccedd32e9340a8cd7abd/how-to-watch-olympics-milan-2026.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Solcyré Burga","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc088f66811d8f3d3/6998ccedd32e9340a8cd7abd/how-to-watch-olympics-milan-2026.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"how-to-watch-olympics-milan-2026","caption":"","creditText":"Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source Images: Francesco Carta fotografo/Getty Images; Mattia Ozbot—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2026-milan-and-cortina-dampezzo-olympics/","name":"2026 Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo Olympics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7346932/winter-olympics-watch-2026-schedule-milano-cortina/","name":"How to Watch the Winter Olympics"}}]}] ```