Watch the 2026 Winter Olympics From Italy – Live Online Without Cable

I’m excitedly looking ahead to the 2026 Winter Olympics, even as we’ve closed the chapter on Beijing 2022 and anticipate Paris 2024. Let me share what I know about the upcoming Winter Games.

In a hurry? All of these services provide excellent coverage of the Olympics — and a lot more:

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You’ll have access to local platforms as if you were in the country, meaning you can watch BBC iPlayer as if you were in the UK, CBC Gem as if you were in Canada, plus hundreds more worldwide.

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IMPORTANT: Once you’ve installed your VPN and connected to a US server, you’ll still need to subscribe separately to access premium streaming services.

See All Beijing Olympics on Fubo (free trial)

What You Need to Know about Italy 2026

• Location: Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
• Number of Events: 116
• Number of Sports: 8
• Number of Disciplines: 16
• Opening Ceremony: Friday, February 6, 2026
• Closing Ceremony: Sunday, February 22, 2026
• Broadcast/Streaming: NBC, USA Network, Peacock
• Future Winter Games:
  • 2030: February 8 — 24 in TBD
  • 2034: TBD

2022 Beijing Olympics Medal Totals

At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Norway, with its population of less than 6 million people, performed above all other nations this year both in terms of total medals and gold medals.

The top countries were: Norway (37), ROC (32), Germany (27), Canada (26), USA (25), Sweden (18), Austria (18), Japan (18), The Netherlands (17), and Italy (17).

We will update this table when data is available

Top Streaming Services for the Olympics

All the major streaming services can provide full access to the upcoming Olympic games — some with their base plans and others with add-ons like Sling TV.

One feature that is very important to people who don’t want to miss a minute of the Olympics is a DVR. Normally, many events are happening at the same time so being able to record one event or show while watching another is critical.

Another good feature for people with family or roommates is the availability to stream on multiple screens at the same time. All the services provide at least 2-3 screens but you can usually pay extra to get more.

The services below provide all the channels you need to watch the Beijing Games. (Fubo and Hulu do so with their base plans, DIRECTV STREAM with their Ultimate Plan, and Sling TV with its Blue Plan.)

So which service you choose will depend upon everything else in the plans and your price point. We’ve provided links to our reviews for each of them.

2026 Winter Olympics on FuboTV

For $79.99/month, FuboTV includes more than 110 channels with every package. This includes everything you need to watch the Olympics without cable. They provide local NBC affiliates pretty much everywhere as well as USA Network with their basic (Pro) plan.

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

FuboTV gives all new subscribers a free one-week trial. Since this is a contract-free service, you’ll be able to cancel during the trial if this isn’t the right service for you. This will ensure you’re not charged for anything. If you wait to cancel until after the trial ends, you’ll be charged for at least the first month, depending on when you cancel.

Our FuboTV review can tell you more.

Winter Olympics on DIRECTV STREAM

DIRECTV STREAM (formerly AT&T TV) offers roughly 75+ channels for $86.99/month with many options for greater coverage. Their base plan includes USA with the local NBC affiliate in almost all areas.

Get DIRECTV STREAM Free Trial

To get The Olympics Channel, you will need to upgrade to their Ultimate Plan for $129.99/month, which comes with 130+ channels including 8 feeds from Starz Encore. For interesting, you also get access to the best selection of regional sports networks (RSNs) in the industry. These are the channels you need if you want to watch all the games from your local MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS teams.

Check out our DIRECTV STREAM review to learn more.

Winter Olympics on Sling TV

Sling TV is probably the best low-cost streaming services. For just $40.00/month, Sling Blue provides access to 40+ streaming channels including USA. They also offer local NCA affiliates, but their coverage is not nearly as good as for Hulu, Fubo, and DIRECTV, so make sure you are covered before signing up.

Save 50% on Sling TV Now

This alone will provide you with very good access to The Olympics. By including the Sports Extra add-on (for a total of $46/mo), you can get it all. It adds 10+ other channels including MLB Network, NBA TV, and NFL RedZone.

So for $46/mo, you will have complete Olympics coverage. For all the details on Sling TV, see our review.

Winter Olympics on Hulu + Live TV

Hulu + Live TV starts you off with over 85 channels for $82.99/month. This collection includes the channels where the Olympics will be airing: USA Network and your local NBC affiliate (in virtually all areas).

Get Hulu + Live TV Free

On top of that, Hulu + Live TV offers complete access to all Hulu on-demand content including Hulu Originals. And if that isn’t enough, you get Disney+ and ESPN+.

It is a contract-free service, which means you don’t have any commitments. You can cancel whenever you want. You can try Hulu + Live TV.

Our Hulu + Live TV review has full details.

More Ways to Watch the 2026 Winter Olympics Without Cable

Olympics coverage airs on multiple channels. The streaming services above make this easy to do. There are more options than what we’ve already discussed. It may take a bit of planning to see your favorite events, but you can do it.

Watch the 2026 Winter Olympics Over the Air

The most important events of the Winter Games will air on your local NBC affiliate. You can watch this free if you have a digital antenna — assuming you live relatively close to a local station.

Having a digital antenna is a good thing for cord-cutters. They provide you with greater options for your viewing experience. Check out these articles for more information on getting set up:

• HDTV Without Cable
• Indoor or Outdoor TV Antenna?
• Connecting Multiple TVs to an Antenna.

If you are going to use an antenna, you should check out Sling TV. It offers a special deal. Pay for three months upfront and they will give you an HD antenna and AirTV 2 unit for just $44 (it would normally be $150 or more).

This will allow you to watch all your antenna channels along with your streaming channels in Sling’s excellent app. Even if you don’t subscribe to Sling, its app is a good choice to access your OTA channels.

Integrate Your Antenna With Sling TV.

Streaming the Olympics

There are a couple of other ways to stream the Winter Games.

Peacock TV

NBCUniversal has promised to stream all their Olympic coverage via Peacock TV. This will only be available via their paid plans but the cost is relatively low: $7.99/month for ads-based content and $13.99/month for ad-free streaming.

Sign Up for Peacock Now!

We assume they will also offer free Olympic content. During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, they aired four live shows each day: Tokyo LIVE, Tokyo Gold, On Her Turf at the Olympics, and Tokyo Tonight.

They will probably offer similar shows for the Beijing Games. We will let you know when they are announced.

YouTube TV

For $82.99/month, YouTube TV offers a plan similar to Hulu + Live TV but without ESPN+ and Disney+. It provides access to NBC in most areas and USA Network.

See our YouTube TV review for more information.

How to Watch 2026 Italian Winter Olympic Games on Major Streaming Devices

To fully enjoy the coming Olympic games, you want to view them in high definition. So it’s critical that the service you pick supports your devices. There’s good news about this.

These days, the major streaming services provide excellent support for streaming devices. If it was purchased over the past couple of years from Amazon or a big box store, it’s almost certainly supported.

All the services we discussed above provide support for the following devices:

• Amazon Fire TV
• Apple TV
• Chromecast
• Mobile Devices (Android, iOS)
• Roku
• Samsung smart TVs.

There are some notable additions. All the providers except DIRECTV STREAM provide support for Android TV (Google TV), LG smart TVs, and Xbox gaming systems. Hulu and Fubo support VIZIO smart TVs. Fubo supports Hisense smart TVs. Hulu supports the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch gaming systems. Sling TV supports the Oculus VR device. And DIRECTV STREAM provides its own set-top boxes.

2026 Winter Olympics in 4K

FuboTV streams over 130 events each year in 4K. They support most of the 4K versions of the devices listed above.

They streamed many events at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

When Is the Start Date for the 2026 Winter Olympics?

Although it is far in the future, the 2026 Winter Olympic Games are set:

• Winter Olympics 2026
  • Location: Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
  • Opening ceremony: Feby 6, 2026
  • Closing ceremony: Feb 22, 2026
  • Events: 116

The Winter games feature less than a third as many events than the Summer games but they are very popular. That’s especially true of figure skating, ice hockey, and alpine (downhill) skiing. Other events worth checking out include snowboarding, freestyle skiing, and bobsleighing. But the oft-maligned curling is usually a lot of fun to watch.

Get Fubo for All the 2022 Beijing Games

Winter Olympic Events

The Winter Olympics does not feature as many events as the Summer Games. However, they are just as varied and perhaps even more confusing for the casual viewer. Here’s an overview of what you will be seeing at this year’s games.

Alpine Skiing

Alpine skiing is a popular participatory sport with tens of millions taking part in this activity at ski resorts and elsewhere. Despite its popularity and iconic status, it was not in the first few Olympics, appearing only since 1936. However, it does not simply consist of one event for men and one for women as numerous alpine skiing disciplines are scheduled every Olympics.

There are five kinds of events:

• Downhill: The first speed event it features wide turns with gates far apart.
• Super-G: Similar to Downhill but it is shorter and has more turns.
• Giant Slalom: A technical event, which features many more turns and is
• Slalom: The second technical event, it is the shortest with extremely tight turns featuring less than a second in time between gates
• Super Combined: The first half is a short speed race followed by a slalom.

For the 2022 Games, there are men’s and women’s events for each of these. There is also a coed team event wrapping up the slate. As a result, 11 sets of medals are awarded in this sport.

Biathlon

Biathlon features a combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It got its start as a military patrol competition at the inaugural Winter Games in 1924. That initial format also involved ski mountaineering, which will be added to the Olympics in 2026 as a separate sport.

Bobsleigh

Bobsleigh is a sport that features two or four men or one or two women pushing and riding in a bobsled down a track specially designed for doing so. In 2022, the length of the track used has been set at 1,615 meters or 5,300 feet.

Cross-Country

Cross-country skiing is what many view as the sport at the Winter Olympics that most measures athletes’ endurance. It is also, along with biathlon, one of the two most popular sports in Norway. That country has by far the most Olympic medals in this sport. The longest event for men is 50 kilometers (30 miles) while the longest for women is 30 kilometers (20 miles).

Curling

Curling is a cerebral, strategic sport in which teams get as many stones to as close to the middle of the house as possible through 10 ends of play in men’s and women’s matchups and eight ends in mixed doubles contests. The sport has a long history, having been invented, many historians believe, in Scotland in the 1500s. The British curling team has historically consisted solely of Scottish players.

Three curling events are scheduled: men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles. Each of those competitions consists of a round-robin schedule being completed before four sides apiece move on to the semifinals and the gold and bronze medal games.

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Figure Skating

Figure skating is, for many, the premier event at the Winter Olympics. Those who win gold medals in this event often become amongst the most known Olympians in history. Examples include Katarina Witt, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Scott Hamilton.

This is also one of two sports that entered the Olympics prior to the inaugural Winter Games, initially being contested in London in 1908. (Men’s ice hockey is the other.)

The four figure-skating disciplines at the Olympics are men’s, women’s, pairs, and ice dance. A team event, incorporating eight elements (short and free portions of the four events), is also held.

The team event opens the figure skating competition. Additionally, a non-competitive exhibition gala closes the schedule.

Freestyle Skiing

Freestyle skiing is generally an artistic competition in that judges fully or partially determine the results in most of the disciplines. Men and women take part in the following events:

• Aerial: What most people think of when they hear “freestyle skiing” where skiers are propelled nearly straight into their air where perform various twists and flips.
• Big Air: Similar to Aerial but with a less-sloped ramp. Beijing is the first time this has been an Olympic sports.
• Halfpipe: Competitors ski back and forth down a half-pipe. This should be familiar to competitive skateboarding fans.
• Moguls: Race down a moguled (bumpy) course.
• Ski Cross: A timed race on challenging terrain including Big Air elements. It is the only freestyle skiing event that does not involve judges.
• Slopestyle: Effectively a skiing obstacle course but one where competitors try to artistic merit rather than speed.

Ice Hockey

A popular Winter Olympics sport is ice hockey. This is particularly true when NHL players participate. But the event garners significant interest regardless.

In fact, this sport was a part of the Olympics prior to the first Winter Olympics being held as it was contested at the 1920 Games. Canada took the gold that year in Antwerp, Belgium.

Twelve men’s and 10 women’s squads take part in 2022 with nine countries sponsoring teams in both of those genders: Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. All men’s teams and eight of the women’s sides advance to the playoffs.

Luge

Luge features one or two men or women taking a sled down a track that has been designed for this activity. In most cases, the same track is used for bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton competitions. This is the case at the 2022 Games. The Yanqing National Sliding Centre in Beijing will host those three sports.

Nordic Combined

The Winter Olympics has a few competitions that combine events. As its name suggests, Nordic Combined is one. It features ski jumping with cross-country skiing.

This is also a men’s-only discipline. Its two individual events involve a 10-kilometer (6-mile) race; one adds on a normal hill while the other incorporates a large hill. A team event on a large hill with a relay race is also held.

Short Track Speed Skating

Short Track Speed Skating is one of the more exciting Olympic sports due to its speed and drama, which sometimes involves last-moment craziness. One example was Australian Steven Bradbury claiming the 1,000-meter event at the 2002 Games when the four ahead of him crashed into each other at the end and fell.

Men and women take part in 500-, 1,000-, and 1,500-meter races while men compete in a 5,000-meter relay, women in a 3,000-meter relay, and men and women combine for a 2,000-meter mixed relay.

Skeleton

The skeleton competitions involve men and women competing individually on a small sled, somewhat smaller than a luge sled and significantly smaller than a bobsled. It was held sporadically at the Olympics, in 1928 and 1948, before enjoying a permanent stay on the program from 2002 on.

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Ski Jumping

Ski jumping is one of the more fascinating sports at the Winter Olympics for many as skiers attempt to be skyward for as long as possible before finally landing on the slope.

However, that is not the only measurement taken into account as judges there analyze the jumpers’ style and technique. There are men’s, women’s, and mixed normal hill competitions and men’s large hill events.

Ski Mountaineering

Ski mountaineering combines skiing and mountain climbing. It was originally part of the event of Military Patrol in the first Winter Olympic Games. But the 2026 Winter Games are the first that will feature the event on its own.

Snowboard

Snowboarding was added to the Winter Olympics in 1998 with giant slalom and halfpipe events for both men and women. In 2022, snowboarders have been slated to participate in big air, halfpipe, slopestyle, parallel giant slalom, and snowboard cross, the same as was on the program in 2018.

Speed Skating

Speed skating is similar to track competitions at the Summer Olympics. Events range from relatively short distances (eg, 500 meters) to ones that take more than 12 minutes to complete (eg, 10,000 meters).

Men and women compete in 500-, 1,000-, 1,500-, and 5,000-meter races while men are the ones who race 10,000-meter distances. Conversely, women are the only ones to go 3,000 meters.

Men’s and women’s mass start and team pursuit competitions are held as well.

Wrapping Up

You won’t have any problems watching the Olympics online without cable. You’ll be able to stream on most devices. You can even use a digital antenna for the events airing on NBC.

It should be easy enough to find a service that offers all of the channels you need to watch the Olympics without cable, so you can watch everything all in one spot.

Make sure to let us know if you have any questions about how to watch the Olympics online without cable.

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FAQs

The Olympics and how to watch is a vast subject. Below, we’ve provided answers to additional frequently asked questions about Olympic history, events, broadcasting, and other matters.

Which channels broadcast the Winter Olympics?

In the old days of network TV, viewers were limited to watching only parts of the most popular events. Cable changed all that. And now, you don’t even need cable. In fact, Peacock TV plans to run complete coverage. The main coverage will also appear on NBC and USA Network.

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Frank Moraes

I am a Senior Content Editor at Hotdog.com, specializing in sports streaming and regional programming issues. With a PhD in Atmospheric Physics from the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and extensive experience in remote sensing technology, including early video streaming, I bring a unique technical perspective to the streaming industry.

My expertise in sports coverage, particularly for out-of-market games and regional sports networks, stems from years of hands-on experience as an early adopter of streaming services and my work addressing fans' viewing challenges. As a longtime cord-cutter and subscriber to multiple streaming platforms, I combine my technical knowledge with practical user experience, making me a leading expert in the field of sports streaming and entertainment technology.

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