Eurosport once again has the lion’s share of UK broadcast rights, with extra streams of coverage available to subscribers.
14 years after it hosted the summer games, Beijing is the host for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which officially run from 4th to 20th February 2022. However, the first event take place two days before the Opening Ceremony with the Curling Mixed Doubles Round Robin.
Eurosport will be covering the Winter Olympics live on its main two channels, the Eurosport App and through Discovery+. As was the case for the Tokyo summer games just six months ago, additional feeds will be available, offering a choice of viewing. The full selection of feeds will be available through Discovery+. Temporary HD pop-up channels offering enhanced coverage are being made available again to pay TV platform operators, including Sky.
Existing Eurosport Player subscribers will also be able to catch all the action on the streaming service. However, Eurosport Player is no longer available to new subscribers.
For viewers without access to Eurosport on pay TV, the Discovery Plus sports & entertainment plan starts from £6.99 a month. It’s not possible to order sport as a standalone subscription.
Eurosport 1 & 2 channel numbers
Sky 410 and 411
Virgin Media 521 and 522
BT TV 435 and 436
Free-to-air Winter Olympics coverage
Free-to-air coverage is provided by the BBC. The BBC’s coverage consists of one live network feed on one of the main channels, plus one red button feed. Selected live coverage, plus highlights are available online or via the iPlayer. Full details of the BBC’s coverage plans are yet to be confirmed.
Eurosport/Discovery & BBC broadcast rights explained
The 2022 Bejing Winter Olympics is the first time where Eurosport’s owner Discovery is technically the primary rights holder. In 2012, the BBC acquired UK rights running up to and including Tokyo 2020. In 2015, Discovery acquired Europe-wide rights until 2024, including the UK post-2020 rights.
As part of a deal struck in 2016, the BBC sold rights in a sub-licensing agreement to Discovery for the 2018 Winter Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Games. The BBC technically remained the primary rights holder.
In return, Discovery is sub-licensing rights to the BBC for the 2022 and 2024 Olympics now it is the primary rights holder.
Both parts of the 2016 deal restrict how many feeds of coverage the BBC can offer. Instead, it is Eurosport that now offers multi-event choice.