BBC viewers are once again being forced to settle for scaled-down coverage of the Olympics in Paris this summer.
For both London 2012 and Rio 2016, the BBC was able to provide wall-to-wall action of the Olympics, giving viewers their choice of every event to watch throughout the competition.
However, the BBC lost control of the rights to the Olympics after they were sold to US broadcasting giant Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) for £920 million in 2015.
The BBC subsequently agreed a deal with Discovery to sub-license the rights but that only allows two live events to be shown simultaneously, and viewers immediately noticed a difference in the coverage of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Addressing the backlash at the time, BBC presenter Dan Walker posted on Twitter, which has since been rebranded as X: ‘I know we’ve got used to being able to see every sport – on various streams – at the Olympics but, this time, the BBC is only allowed to show two sports at the same time. It is an issue about TV rights and not an editorial choice.’
The BBC have shown certain events on BBC One after they have already finished, with some users on social media finding out about the result before it has aired on the main TV channel.
What is the BBC’s Olympics restricted TV coverage?
The BBC have two channels dedicated to showing the Olympics.
Coverage on BBC One begins at 8am and finishes at 10pm, switching to BBC Two during the news.
On BBC iPlayer, Olympics Extra provides a live stream of selected events running from 8am until approximately 11pm.
Where to watch the Olympics on TV in the UK
Viewers wanting full Olympics coverage will have to sign up for Discovery+, which currently has an offer where subscribers can sign up for £3.99 per month until the end of 2024. The price will then rise to £6.99 per month from January 2025 until the subscription is cancelled.
Discovery+ is also included with many packages from BT, EE, Sky, and Vodafone. Subscribers can check here to see if they already have access.
Discovery is broadcasting live coverage on its two main sport channels – Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2 – and will also show live, on-demand coverage of the Olympics through its streaming platform.
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