The Milano Cortina 2026 Opening Ceremony centers on Milan’s historic San Siro (Stadio Giuseppe Meazza) with live elements across northern Italy, streaming on Peacock. The multi-site, cinematic kickoff pairs stadium spectacle with mountain-town pageantry. For the first time, two cauldrons will be lit, underscoring the Games’ split city identity: one in Milan (Arco della Pace) and a second in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The parade will involve athletes marching from multiple locations (Milan, Livigno, Predazzo, and Cortina), with live elements tied together across regions and big-name performances. International headliners include Mariah Carey and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, plus performances from actress Sabrina Impacciatore and pianist Lang Lang.
Within the U.S, NBC Sports is providing a daytime live build-up and primetime network broadcast for cross-site storytelling and major celebrity moments. Live Olympic coverage begins at noon, with the Opening Ceremony beginning at 2:00 PM ET. Rapper-turned-correspondent Snoop Dogg, and reporters Britney Eurton, Lewis Johnson, Tina Dixon, and Nicole Auerbach will be stationed at various sites during the broadcast.
Here’s how you can watch the 2026 Winter Games Opening Ceremony.
When to Watch the 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony
- Time: 2:00 PM ET (Live Coverage) | 8:00 PM ET (Primetime Coverage)
- Where to Watch: NBC | Peacock
- Where to Stream: Peacock | DIRECTV | Sling TV | YouTube TV | Hulu + Live TV.
2026 Winter Olympics: How to Watch + What to Know
- Competition runs Feb. 5–22, 2026, with the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 6. The Games begin a day before the ceremony with select events on Feb. 5.
- Peacock will be the U.S. streaming home and will stream every sport and event — including all 116 medal events across 16 sports — while NBC remains the primary broadcast partner. That means live streams, full-event replays, original features, and clips will be centralized on Peacock and the NBC platform
- NBC will broadcast more programming hours than any previous Winter Olympics, including at least five hours of daytime coverage daily — featuring major events like skiing, figure skating, snowboarding, hockey, and speed skating — and extended Primetime in Milan nightly.
- USA Network and CNBC will carry supplemental daily coverage throughout the Games. CNBC typically begins its Olympic broadcasts after its business-day programming ends, while USA Network carries additional event coverage and stories that might not be in primetime on NBC. This helps expand the total amount of U.S. linear coverage beyond what NBC and Peacock alone provide.
- Other NBCU digital platforms, including NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, and NBC Sports app, will stream 2,500 hours of Winter Games coverage, which is available via authentication.
- NBC and Peacock will go “4K All Day” on Feb. 8, combining extensive Olympics coverage with Super Bowl LX (an unprecedented production day).
- Where to Stream: Peacock | DIRECTV | Sling TV | YouTube TV | Hulu + Live TV
- Watch for Free: With an antenna, you can watch NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics for free. Using a site like Antennas Direct can help you find which NBC affiliate is in your area and the best antenna to watch. New subscribers can also begin their trial of DIRECTV, YouTube TV, and Hulu + Live TV to see if they’re the right fit.