After months of anticipation, the Paris Olympics are set to begin tonight, with the opening ceremony at 6:30pm. But with the BBC showing less live coverage than in previous years, viewers may be wondering where to get their full Olympics fix.
There’s plenty of excitement to come, including Team GB favourite Helen Glover in the rowing on July 28 for her Olympic comeback. Tom Daley will also be taking to the diving board on Monday 29, and tennis star Andy Murray will begin his last hurrah on the legendary Roland Garros courts in the men’s doubles.
Thankfully, viewers will still be able to watch the action from the Games unfold for free on BBC One from 8am to 10pm on Saturday, with coverage switching to BBC Two during the news. BBC iPlayer will also be showing Olympics Extra coverage of events from 8am to 11pm. But the corporation will not be able to provide the level of coverage it did at the 2018 Winter Olympics and during previous games, where it offered live red button coverage of every sport.
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This is due to a new TV deal secured by Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) in 2015, when the company paid 1.3 billion euros for European TV rights for the Olympic Games. This means that Discovery+ will be providing browseable live coverage of every sport.
However, WBD has struck a deal with the BBC to allow it to show the games on one linear channel and one digital channel. UK law classes the Olympics as a protected event, which means it has to be available on free-to-air television. This law came into effect during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, when the BBC received a large number of complaints about the lack of live coverage.
Discovery+ will have more than 50 live channels covering the games, with an offer for the Olympics allowing viewers to sign up for £3.99 per month between Wednesday, July 17 and Sunday, August 11. You can sign up for their coverage via Amazon Prime here. Eurosport channels will be showing live coverage from 7am to 10.30pm daily, with seven pop-up channels being created to provide extra coverage. There will also be highlights and replays of events shown throughout the night.
Elsewhere, Sky TV customers get Eurosport 1 and 2, and can activate a Discovery+ Standard Plan at no extra cost. BBC Radio 5 Live will also be providing live coverage, while the BBC Sport website will have clips of the action and interviews.
Olympics coverage can also be found using a VPN. Try ExpressVPN or NordVPN. Just remember – watching BBC coverage via a VPN still requires you to have a TV licence.
The BBC coverage will begin at 5.45pm today, July 26, with the opening ceremony beginning at 6.30pm on BBC One. Presenting the BBC’s TV coverage will be Clare Balding, Gabby Logan, Hazel Irvine, Isa Guha, Jeanette Kwakye, JJ Chalmers, and Mark Chapman.
First Dates star Fred Sirieix will also be joining the presenters, as his daughter is a diver for Team GB. The UK’s most decorated female Olympian Laura Kenny will make an appearance too, as well as British long jumper Jazmin Sawyers, Olympic gold medallist Moe Sbihi, and Olympic bronze medallist Vicky Holland.
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