Olympics
NBC and Peacock to Lead NBCUniversal's Coverage of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
Olympics
NBC and Peacock to Lead NBCUniversal's Coverage of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
Feb 12, 2025
With just under one year until the XXV Olympic Winter Games begin, NBCUniversal today announced that the NBC broadcast network and streaming service Peacock will be the company’s primary platforms for its coverage of Milan Cortina 2026 scheduled for Feb. 6-22, 2026.
With Milan and Cortina, Italy, in the same time zone as Paris, France, the programming plan for the 2026 Winter Games will be similar to NBCUniversal’s massively consumed and critically acclaimed coverage of last year’s Summer Games, including:
- the best events live during the day on NBC
- the entire Olympics streaming live on Peacock
- an enhanced Olympics primetime show, Primetime in Milan, featuring top events, stars, and stories
- comprehensive coverage across numerous cable and digital platforms
- return of Gold Zone and Multiview on Peacock
Coverage begins with the Opening Ceremony from San Siro Stadium in Milan live on NBC and Peacock on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026.
Paris proved that the Olympics are back and remain an unrivaled media property, with the unique ability to captivate the nation and generate huge audiences across all demographics for 17 days and nights. We expect Milan Cortina to carry on that legacy.
"Paris proved that the Olympics are back and remain an unrivaled media property, with the unique ability to captivate the nation and generate huge audiences across all demographics for 17 days and nights. We expect Milan Cortina to carry on that legacy. The time zone allows us to mimic our Paris programming and coverage strategy on NBC and Peacock, which was widely praised and highly consumed. Team USA is poised to have one of its strongest Winter Olympic teams in years, and America has always been fascinated with Italy, its culture, food, and scenery. Milan Cortina has all the ingredients to produce yet another unforgettable Olympics one year from now,” said Rick Cordella, President, NBC Sports
Milan Cortina 2026 on NBC
Milan Cortina 2026 will have more programming hours on the NBC broadcast network than any previous Winter Olympics. NBC will provide Olympic fans with at least five hours of daytime coverage every day featuring the most exciting events, including live coverage of figure skating, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, speed skating, and more. With Italy six hours ahead of the United States’ Eastern Time Zone – which is identical to Paris – daytime coverage will feature the most popular events live on NBC on weekend mornings and every afternoon.
Given the time difference and following live coverage throughout the day, NBC will deliver Primetime in Milan, an enhanced Olympics primetime show providing three hours of exhilarating entertainment each night with the same style and substance that made Primetime in Paris so successful. The program will take the American audience inside the Olympic day from Italy, filled with the day’s great competitions, moments, stories, raw emotion, winter scenery, and the culture of the host nation for the primetime audience to share.
Milan Cortina 2026 on Peacock
Peacock will be the streaming home of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, providing fans with the most comprehensive Winter Olympic destination in U.S. media history. The service will once again stream every sport and event live (including early morning alpine skiing) – all 116 medal events – and will feature full-event replays; all linear programming, including the NBC broadcast network; curated video clips; virtual channels; exclusive original programming; cutting-edge technology; and more.
The uber-popular Gold Zone whip-around program and Multiview feature from the Paris Olympics will return for Milan Cortina with more details to come.
Peacock streamed all events during the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, and Milan Cortina will feature even more programs and technological innovations, with details to be shared closer to the start of the Games.
Milan Cortina 2026 on Cable Channels and More
Consistent with previous Olympic Winter Games, comprehensive cable coverage will be on USA Network and CNBC. USA Network will once again be the 24/7 home of Team USA while CNBC will provide coverage on the weekends and weekdays once its business day programming concludes. Additional information about NBCUniversal’s Milan Cortina programming will be announced at a later date.
2026 Milan Cortina Paralympics
NBCU’s coverage of the Milan Cortina Paralympics will take place March 6–15, 2026, with details to be released at a later date.
With unique and unforgettable backdrops throughout northern Italy, the 2026 Winter Olympics will span from Milan to Cortina with events taking place across multiple venues and regions. This will be the second time the Olympics are held in Cortina (1956 Winter Olympics) and the fourth time overall that Italy has hosted an Olympic Games (1960 Rome Olympics and 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, which is the last time there was a Winter Games in Central Europe).
With less than one year until the start of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, Team USA is shaping up to be a Winter Games powerhouse and is sure to capture the attention of American viewers. The team is led by a group of generational talents who are gold medal favorites across numerous disciplines:
- Jordan Stolz – The 20-year-old speedskating phenom is the reigning two-time world champion in the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m after making his Olympic debut in Beijing at the age of 17. He is expected to qualify for Milan Cortina and has the chance to join fellow Wisconsin-born speed skater Eric Heiden as the only American in any sport to win three or more gold medals at a single Winter Olympics.
- Mikaela Shiffrin - The winningest alpine skier of all time and two-time Olympic gold medalist, aims to qualify for her fourth Olympic team in Milan Cortina. Since those Games, Shiffrin has dominated the alpine skiing world, breaking Ingemar Stenmark’s record for all-time World Cup wins and winning three world championship medals. Overall, Shiffrin has a record 14 world championship medals and five Crystal Globes.
- Ilia Malinin – Nicknamed the “Quad God,” the 20-year-old has quickly ascended the ranks of the figure skating world since missing a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in 2022, winning three national titles and becoming the first athlete to land the quadruple Axel (four-and-a-half revolutions) in competition. Malinin has a chance to win the U.S.’s second consecutive gold medal in men’s singles following Nathan Chen’s win in Beijing.
- Chloe Kim - The two-time defending Olympic halfpipe gold medalist has a chance to become the first snowboarder to win three consecutive gold medals when she enters the halfpipe in Milan Cortina – a milestone not even snowboarding legend Shaun White reached. After taking off two years from competition following Beijing, the 24-year-old won her eighth X Games title in January 2025 as she ramps up for what could be a historic Olympic campaign.
In addition to Stolz, Shiffrin, Malinin, and Kim, Olympic gold medalist cross-country skier Jessie Diggins and five-time Olympic medalist bobsledder Elana Meyers-Taylor are expected to return and possibly add to their impressive medal counts.
On the ice, the ice dance pair of Madison Chock and Evan Bates look to repeat their 2022 Olympic gold medal performance. 2024 U.S. figure skating champion Amber Glenn and 2024 world silver medalist Isabeau Levito are hopeful to make their Olympic debuts in Milan Cortina.
Three-time Olympic alpine medalist Lindsey Vonn is amidst an unprecedented comeback season after initially retiring in 2019 and is looking to make Team USA and compete in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Vonn, an eight-time world medalist, holds the record for most downhill World Cup wins (43) and would become the oldest U.S. Olympic alpine skier – breaking Bode Miller’s record by nearly five years – if she qualifies for the 2026 team. Vonn made her Olympic debut at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games at the age of 17.
Milan Cortina also marks the return of NHL players to Olympic hockey competition for the first time since 2014 in Sochi, Russia, as well as the renewal of the heated USA-Canada women’s hockey rivalry.
Ski mountaineering, a skiing discipline in which competitors ski uphill and downhill and use mountaineering abilities to race through snow-covered mountains, will make its Olympic debut in 2026.
NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032, which are scheduled for Milan Cortina (2026), Los Angeles (2028), French Alps (2030), and Brisbane (2032).
