Over 120 hours of broadcasting on TV, up to 700 hours of live stream: You can see the Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina from February 6, 2026 live on ARD – and Bayerischer Rundfunk, together with MDR, is the ARD leader of the Winter Games.
On February 6th the time has come: the Olympic flame will be lit in Milan in the venerable San Siro Stadium – and Bayerischer Rundfunk, as the ARD leader, will be there with a large contingent together with MDR. From February 6th to 22nd, ARD will provide extensive cross-media coverage of the XXV on all broadcast channels. Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina. The start is the big opening ceremony in San Siro, which will then be broadcast live on Erste and in the ARD media library from 8 p.m., commented on by Tom Bartels and Italy expert and journalist Giovanni di Lorenzo.
In total, Das Erste has around 120 hours of Olympics in its program on nine broadcast days. Esther Sedlaczek and Stephanie Müller-Spirra take turns presenting the Milan/Cortina 2026 games from the joint ARD/ZDF Olympic studio in Mainz. Tagesschau journalist and social media expert Amelie Marie Weber is at your side. She presents trends from the internet and is the contact person for the community.
For the first time, joint leadership: BR and MDR
For the first time at the Olympic Games there is a joint ARD leadership: BR and MDR are combining their great winter sports expertise and creating synergies in line with the ongoing ARD change process. Athletes and fans are looking forward to great emotions, a tingling atmosphere, in short: real Olympic flair.
“Live, informative, emotionally profound and entertaining – sports fans are guaranteed not to miss anything in the ARD program at the Olympics. We offer our audience and users an exciting, comprehensive overall package across all broadcast channels,” says BR sports director Christoph Netzel, who is the ARD team boss at the Winter Games.
On site at traditional winter sports resorts
With Cortina, Antholz, Val di’ Fiemme, Bormio and Livigno, the Olympics are once again taking place in traditional winter sports resorts – a contrast to Sochi, Pyeongchang and Beijing! The ARD team is already looking forward to February 6th: Then the Olympic flame will be lit at the opening ceremony in the legendary Milanese football temple of San Siro – live on Erste.
Michael Antwerpes, Claus Lufen, Markus Othmer and Lea Wagner will report directly from the competition venues with classifications and interviews. There is also expert support from the ARD winter sports experts.
Felix Neureuther on the ski slope, Arnd Peiffer and Erik Lesser at the biathlon
Arnd Peiffer and Erik Lesser at the biathlon, Sven Hannawald at the ski jump, Felix Neureuther accompanies the alpine ski competitions and Mariama Jamanka with her expertise at the ice channel. Other prominent guests include figure skating double Olympic champion Katarina Witt, former ice hockey professional Rick Goldmann and Gela Allmann for the new Olympic sport of ski mountaineering.
Background is also very important at ARD: ARD doping expert Hajo Seppelt and IOC expert Robert Kempe regularly research and report because the Olympic Games are more than just gold, silver and bronze. ARD Italian correspondent Tilmann Kleinjung and his team will be traveling to the host country to shed light on political and social issues.
Sportschau.de and ARD Mediathek as digital Olympic anchors
ARD is launching a real offensive in the ARD media library and on sportschau.de. The overall digital package is more extensive than ever before at the Winter Olympics: all competitions can be accessed live on both platforms every day on the web and in the app. In total, the live stream offering covers up to 700 hours, over 150 hours more than at the Winter Games in Beijing four years ago.
Even if you missed an exciting competition, the ARD media library is the right place for you: Under the motto “Re-Live”, all competitions are available there as video-on-demand with original commentary. Jump marks within the clips allow quick access to the Olympic highlights. A diverse range of new documentaries rounds off the Olympics theme in the ARD media library.
Radio offering and more daily Olympic Podcast
The motto on ARD radio is: Live, emotional, exciting – and with strong journalistic expertise. The focus is on live reports of the sporting events. There are also exclusive conversations and interviews directly from Italy and much more.
Special audio offerings also include the Olympic radio, which broadcasts daily in the ARD audio library and on the information waves between 8:15 p.m. and 11 p.m., and from February 4th the daily Olympic podcast with Alex Schlüter and Stephanie Müller-Spirra. The “Sportfreunde Stiller” wrote the ARD Olympic song specifically for the Winter Olympics in Milan/Cortina: “Ti amo italiano”.
Source: BR24Sport December 17, 2025 – 12:00 p.m
