What events will EBU Members be covering over the winter sports season?
Andreas Aristodemou: Over the forthcoming winter sports season, our EBU Members will bring audiences closer to some of the world’s most exciting international competitions—with three of the most significant being the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, the International Biathlon Union’s World Cups and the FIS World Cups in Austria.
The EBU and Warner Bros Discovery jointly acquired all media rights across more than 50 European territories for Milano Cortina 2026. Additionally, we were delighted to announce recently that the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 confirmed exclusive media rights across continental Europe (excluding Italy and the United Kingdom) for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games have been awarded to the EBU.
Coverage of both events will be delivered free-to-air by our members, ensuring that millions of viewers across Europe can experience the Games together, wherever they are. This commitment to accessibility is at the heart of public service media, enabling the widest possible reach and engagement.
For the Winter Olympic Games, in addition to live broadcasts, audiences will be able to follow the Games via simulcast streams, on-demand services, and non-exclusive radio coverage, offering more ways than ever to stay connected.
When it comes to the Paralympic Winter Games, complementing our member coverage, Eurovision Sport, our free digital platform, will stream all six Paralympic winter sports, marking the most comprehensive digital coverage of the Paralympic Winter Games in EBU history.
Robert Portman: Our members and broadcast partners also hold rights to all major International Biathlon Union (IBU) competitions, including the IBU World Cup, which begins on 29th November 2025 in Östersund, Sweden. Further to that, the members and partners have been able to acquire through the EBU rights to the FIS World Cup events taking place in Austria, including some of the most iconic Winter events. Through these partnerships, the EBU continues to ensure that winter sport coverage remains freely available to everyone, inspiring audiences and reaching new generations of fans.
What are the major challenges to overcome in covering winter sports?
RP: The EBU and its rights holders will provide extensive coverage on TV, digital and radio. The IBU and the EBU will cooperate in the field of digital media, extending biathlon worldwide coverage to the new Eurovision Sport digital platform based on the increased promotion ahead of the biathlon season 2025/26.
As the winter sports take place outdoors, the weather elements sometimes cause challenges for the productions. Over the last years we’ve seen everything from blizzards to torrential rain, but so far, the IBU has managed to stage the events and cover the races. Good preparation, including announcing the calendars well in advance, helps us to have the time to prepare adequately.
Are there any specific challenges presented by the Biathlon?
RP: Biathlon is a very complex sport to produce and cover well. Depending on the competition format, there are many things happening simultaneously and it can be difficult to catch all the action live. We have in recent years focused on educating our production crews, sharing knowledge and supporting each other to make even better decisions in the live environment.
Host broadcasters from the previous IBU World Cup seasons (EBU members and Actua Sport) have played a crucial role in identifying best practices based on the latest technology to showcase the sport at its highest standard. It has also allowed us to focus on sustainability by shaping a framework to measure and reduce the carbon footprint, as well as setting a new benchmark for the future. In this field, the IBU World Championships Biathlon 2025 were a huge success, in particular thanks to the implementation of impactful sustainability measures. These included a 100 per cent renewable energy-powered, uninterruptible power supply for technical operations with backup generators to be activated only in case of emergencies.
Another focus has been to improve the storytelling of the coverage, making sure that the viewer at home knows who are the favourites, and who are the underdogs who could surprise the field.
In what ways have producing and providing coverage of winter sports changed in recent years due to the expansion of, for example, remote production and changing audience demands?
RP: Sport production experiences constant development and strives for excellence, not unlike sport itself. In recent years, we have especially focused on sustainability in our production standards, and this has been a significant change. Of course, there are always the new “toys” to give the audience a fresh perspective or that “wow-factor”, but there has been no major change in Winter outdoor broadcasting operations. One area that does need increasing attention is the evolving formats in which end users consume content, whether through additional material or modified graphics packages adapted to different screens.
Given the difficulties in producing coverage from possibly remote locations in challenging conditions, how do you ensure reliability?
RP: The production crews that we work with, be it members of the EBU or other partners, are all very experienced. These are host broadcasters that know the venues and the challenges that come with such productions. They come prepared and are agile and adaptive when the elements change. We are, for example, able to evaluate the weather conditions very precisely and, if needed, try to adapt the starting times to ensure everyone’s safety and well-being. In terms of more “normal” challenges, we still battle with rising costs and limited accommodation availability, but we have good support from the IBU and the local organisers, and usually find a solution.
What technologies/solutions will you be deploying?
RP: We are continuing a very exciting project in collaboration with the IBU and New Century Innovation, creating a system to cover all 30 lanes on the shooting range. It is a mix of new camera technology and AI that ensures we “do not miss a single shot”. This service has been extremely well received by the rightsholders and provides content of athletes that rarely appear in international broadcasts. It is also a great tool for clips of athletes that can be shared on social media and online. We see the possibility to extend it and offer even more content for rightsholders, especially those that might not be onsite at all biathlon World Cups.
Are you trialling any new innovations this season?
RP: In terms of development, EBU and IBU have innovated and developed a state-of-the-art digital content-sharing platform (the Biathlon content hub) where all biathlon stakeholders have direct and centralised access to all IBU event footage, including clips for biathletes and organisers. The innovation has been trendsetting and we will continue to develop it to serve the rightsholders.
Where do you see AI playing a part in your coverage?
RP: Automatic clipping is the most obvious one for the time being, this is something that would have required an unrealistic amount of manpower previously. AI can support the productions in many ways that we cannot even imagine yet.
What plans do you have in place to ensure content is secure from piracy?
RP: This has not yet been a massive concern in our Winter Sports contracts. We naturally monitor it closely with the IBU and prepare for what might be coming, but so far, we have not had major issues to deal with. The 25+ years partnership between the EBU, its members and the IBU have transformed the biathlon TV coverage into record-breaking events of the winter sports season. The enormous exposure provided to biathlon by free-to-air and the unparalleled treatment by biathlon rights holders’ editorial teams has established biathlon as the number one winter sport across the main European markets.
Can you tell us how planning for the Milano Cortina Games is going?
AA: More than 50 EBU members will be broadcasting the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Over 40 of those members will have close to 2,000 colleagues presenting, commenting, reporting and covering the Games. Preparations are at full pace as is the collaboration with IOC, OBS and the OCOG for all the operational, logistical and technical matters.
When it comes to the coverage of the Games on members’ platforms, Milano Cortina 2026 promises to be the most widely covered Olympic Winter Games in Europe.
- This article originally appeared in Inside Edge, TVBEurope’s winter sports ebook
