TNT Sports will employ a variety of methods to deliver “enhanced storytelling” when it broadcasts more than 600 hours of exclusive English-language live coverage of the Commonwealth Games, which take place in Glasgow from July 23 to August 2.
Many members of the TNT Sports’ teams who worked at the 2024 Summer and 2026 Winter Olympics will reprise their roles in Glasgow. With every event live on HBO Max, the new streaming home of TNT Sports, the production plans also include a first-ever Commonwealth Games 360 channel, available on TV and HBO Max.
“It’s the ultimate support companion to having a streaming platform and the power of HBO Max,” says Scott Young, EVP of TNT Sports’ parent Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe. “One is a lean-in experience, and one is lean-back – which is the case with 360, where we will bring you the best moments of the game, and not just on the field of play, but all the stories that happen around the Games, the behind-the-scenes action, and interviews with the athletes and coaches. It’s not solely a field-of-play channel—it’s about being fully immersed in the Commonwealth Games as they unfold each day.”
Unlike some broadcasters, who have opted for a remote studio approach during coverage of this year’s numerous sporting events, TNT resolved to be on-site from an early stage. “I think that’s a real commitment to making sure that no matter whether you’re part of our on-camera broadcast team or the commentary team, you’re actually going to be in and around the Games. We also want to be able to have the people doing the commentary and sometimes reporting in the venues to be able to drop by the studio.”
There’s no doubting the pedigree of the experts engaged by TNT, which collectively have 165 gold medals in major competitions to their credit, and include Sir Chris Hoy, Jonnie Peacock, Eilidh Doyle and Dame Sarah Storey. Equally critical is an on-air production that wields several innovative tools, including AR graphics, to help construct a narrative around the Commonwealth Games and its participants.
The challenge, notes Young, was “how do we use graphics storytelling as another part of the ‘get to know the Games and get to know the athletes you might not be familiar with’ process. [Our graphics technology partner] is part of the editorial strategic input so they’re not waiting for us to tell them what to do. In all the storytelling components that we have as a broadcaster, you want everybody—whether you’re doing vision, graphics or audio—to be in the ‘round and think about how we tell the story of the Commonwealth Games together.”
AR graphics will be an integral part of the on-air presentation, and build on the broadcaster’s evolution of its look and style across many events. “We’ve used our graphics for a long time across both Eurosport and TNT Sports, back to the [Eurosport Cube] where we would ‘teleport’ athletes into the studio. The graphics fit inside the look and feel of the TNT Sports brand, so they’re already very aligned to the look of our channel; the issue then is how it all aligns to the look of Glasgow 2026 and the sports themselves.”
There is no UHD/4K component to the production, as determined by the LOC (local organising committee] for Glasgow 2026. “The host broadcaster is delivering these Games in HD. We have a capacity—a technology skill set built internally—for HDR, so it will be HD/HDR.”
Alongside every athlete
Above all, implies Young, the focus is on being able to tell the story of each discipline as comprehensively as possible. “I would say that from a technology standpoint, being everywhere alongside every athlete is our commitment. So more than trying to find gimmicks that [might be a distraction from] storytelling, our mantra was to take the expertise of being a multi-sport broadcaster to the Commonwealth Games and then be everywhere. Early on we had a meeting with the LOC where they saw that we wanted to be near where every story is told, and we’re delighted that we have a primary position so will be telling every story of every home nation athlete, which is very important to our market, and will be fully immersed in the Commonwealth Games throughout.”
Whilst it’s not clear whether the 600 hours of live coverage referenced in WBD’s announcement is the most ever produced for an edition of the Commonwealth Games, Young notes: “What we have committed to is that every moment of every athlete competing in the Games will be broadcast across HBO Max as well as supported by TNT Sports. So if you’re a fan of any discipline across these Games, you’ll be able to watch that live across our streaming platform. It’s a commitment we’ve made at previous events, including the Olympic Games, where we want fans of the sport to be able to curate their own experience.”
He also indicates that the preparatory period has been extremely fruitful. “The detailed planning that has taken place with our teams, the LOC and Commonwealth Sport has been fantastic—very collaborative— with everyone working towards building out the greatest coverage of the Commonwealth Games that has been seen.”
As to Young’s own anticipated sporting highlights, he responds: “As an Australian, I’ve grown up on swimming and Australia has always done well in swimming. Of course, now that I run a sports business in the UK as well as across Europe, it’s clear how immensely popular athletics is, especially when you have international athletic events. And one of the things I love is how often you get sucked into these great stories that are unexpected. The personal stories attached to these fantastic achievements can be very special.”
