The Winter Winter Olympic Games is always one of the biggest sporting events of the year and the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, is no exception. The opening ceremony is to be held on Friday, February 6, making way for over two weeks of snow and ice-based sports including bobsleigh, curling, skiing, and snowboarding, all before coming to a close on Sunday, February 22.
The world’s best athletes will gather to separate the good from the great. And with so many contests over the two-week period pitting country versus country, it should come as no surprise that there are hundreds of ways to watch the Olympics online. As such, we don’t recommend low quality unofficial streams which are at risk of being taken down with no warning. With plenty of legitimate ways to stream the Olympics online (some of them free), there’s no need to use shady sources.
The 2026 Winter Olympics will be shown in dozens of countries, but because of regional restrictions, you’ll usually need a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to watch on the same services you’d use back home.
How to watch the Winter Olympics online from abroad
VPNs are perhaps best known as privacy tools. However, because they change your IP address, they can also be used to bypass geographic restrictions and access country-exclusive services from anywhere. Below we explain how to watch the Winter Olympics on your usual services while traveling abroad.
Here’s how to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics online from anywhere:
- Start by signing up for a high-quality VPN. We recommend NordVPN but Surfshark and Total VPN are two excellent alternatives.
- Download and install the VPN app onto any device you want to stream. Note that most VPNs let you secure multiple devices simultaneously.
- Log in and choose a server in your home country. Now, your usual services won’t be able to tell that you’re actually abroad.
- Try watching a video on your chosen streaming service. It should start streaming immediately.
- Blocked? Clear your cookies and try again. Alternatively, contact your VPN’s support team for one-on-one assistance.
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How to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics on US TV
NBC is the official Winter Olympics broadcaster in the US. If you’ve got a US cable TV subscription that includes NBC, you can simply sign in using your cable provider details to watch at no added cost. Otherwise, you can watch the entire 2026 Winter Olympics via NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock. This requires a Premium subscription plan which costs USD $10.99 a month.
Another way to watch NBC without committing to a lengthy cable TV contract is via select TV streaming services which carry the channel:
- Hulu: $89.99/month and includes a 3-day free trial
- Sling TV: $54.99/month (Sling Blue) in select markets only
- YouTube TV: $59.99/month for first two months and $82.99/month thereafter. Includes a free trial (typically 10 days)
Both Hulu and YouTube TV include free trials, giving you the chance to sign up and watch at least some of the Winter Olympic Games for free.
As these are all US-only services, you’ll need a VPN and US IP address to use them while traveling abroad. NordVPN includes a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means you can try it risk-free and simply claim a full refund if it fails to meet your expectations.
How to stream the Winter Olympics on UK TV
If you’re in the UK, you’re in luck because you can watch the Winter Olympic Games online for free via BBC iPlayer. Indeed, the BBC will have more than 450 hours of live coverage.
You’ll need to sign up for a free BBC account if you don’t have one already and you’ll be asked to provide a UK postcode when you do so (any UK postal code will do). Note also that a UK TV license is required to watch live or on-demand although there’s no real verification system in place.
For the most comprehensive coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics however, you’ll need a TNT Sports or Discovery+ subscription. The good news is that Discovery+ is very affordable with the Winter Olympics included under its Entertainment plan for just GBP £3.99 a month.
BBC iPlayer and Discovery+ only work in the UK. That said, if you connect to one of your VPN’s British servers, you should be able to access them anywhere.
How to watch the Winter Olympics in Australia
Good news for sports fans in Australia: you’ll be able to stream every single event free of charge. Channel Nine will provide extensive coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics and all you have to do is create an account. 9Now offers both live broadcasts and on-demand replays too, so there’s no risk of missing anything.
Note that if you’re a Stan Sport subscriber, you also have the option of streaming the Winter Olympic Games on Stan. Just keep in mind that 9Now and Stan are geo-blocked when you travel abroad but you can regain access with a VPN and Australian IP address.
How to stream on Canadian TV
Winter sports fans in Canada can expect 22 hours of live Winter Olympics coverage every day. Better still, you can watch Milano-Cortina Winter Games live online for free via CBC Gem. The only requirement is that you create a free account to watch.
With CBC Gem only available in Canada, it becomes region-locked when you travel overseas. Getting a Canadian IP address via a VPN solves this problem however.
Where else can I watch the 2026 Winter Olympic Games online?
There’s huge international interest in this event, so naturally, it’ll be shown worldwide. Take a look at this list of official media rights holders for an at-a-glance guide to the 2026 Winter Olympic broadcasters in your country.
2026 Winter Olympic schedule
Milano Cortina 2026 gets underway with the opening ceremony at Stadio San Siro, Milan, on Friday, February 6. The Winter Olympic Games then run until Sunday, February 22 with the closing ceremony to take place at Verona Arena, Verona. The official schedule is packed to the brim with events including alpine skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, and ski jumping.
Of course, with many happening simultaneously, fans really have to think about which events they want to watch ahead of time so that they don’t accidentally miss something that interesting.
Winter Olympics FAQs
Which sports are in the 2026 Winter Olympics?
The 2026 Winter Olympics is made up of 116 medal events across 16 sports. That’s seven events and one sport more than its predecessor, Beijing 2022.
There are a number of new medal events which include men’s and women’s dual moguls in freestyle skiing and mixed relay team in skeleton.
Here’s what to expect:
- Alpine skiing
- Biathlon
- Bobsleigh
- Cross-country skiing
- Curling
- Figure skating
- Freestyle skiing
- Ice Hockey
- Luge
- Nordic combined
- Short-track speed skating
- Skeleton
- Ski jumping
- Ski mountaineering
- Snowboarding
- Speed skating
Can I use a free VPN to watch the Winter Olympics?
Free VPNs don’t work reliably with the streaming platforms showing the 2026 Winter Olympics. They don’t have many IP addresses to go around and with many users sharing these IPs, they’re more often than not already blacklisted by streaming services. Besides, free VPNs aren’t suitable for streaming as the majority limited your bandwidth and data, causing plenty of performance issues.
We also don’t recommend the use of free VPNs for security reasons. Many lack the required investment to keep your data secure. They may offer only weak encryption and there’s a risk they won’t properly route DNS requests via the VPN tunnel. Many free VPNs log and sell user data too, potentially putting your privacy at risk.
