Channel 4 is set to broadcast more than 60 hours of sport live from the Milano Cortina Paralympic Winter Games across Channel 4 and Channel 4 Streaming, with every minute of action on Channel 4 Sport’s YouTube channel. The broadcaster will showcase up to 665 elite athletes from around 50 nations competing for 79 medals across six sports: Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country skiing, Para ice hockey, Para snowboarding and wheelchair curling.
Coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games is produced for Channel 4 by Whisper, with the Cortina studio housed in a mountain-top restaurant 1,778 metres high in the Dolomites. The remote galleries and back-of-house production team will be based in Cardiff at Cymru Broadcast Centre, the state-of-the-art facility built for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The behind-the-scenes team is made up of at least 25% who identify as disabled, with the majority having previously worked for and been supported in their career by Whisper and Channel 4. The team will also include a higher proportion of disabled talent in senior off-screen roles than ever before.
Channel 4 is also continuing to build on its pioneering achievements of bringing audiences accessible Paralympics coverage. All content will be subtitled, live broadcast coverage will have live audio description available from 10:30am each day, and the daily highlights programme will feature live British Sign Language translation. Plus, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies are to be simulcast on 4seven and Channel 4 Streaming with BSL and an open descriptive commentary.
The ceremonies will also feature 100% closed caption subtitling in every ad break for the first time. This represents a significant milestone in Channel 4’s ongoing accessibility journey as it follows the recent announcement that all ads delivered to Channel 4 must have closed captions from March 2026.
Rak Patel, chief commercial officer at Channel 4, said: “It is the eighth Games covered by Channel 4 and moving to 100% closed caption subtitling of the Opening and Closing Ceremony ad breaks reaffirms our commitment to continually improving accessibility. We hope that alongside elevating amazing Paralympic sport, we are demonstrating the power of inclusive broadcasting and highlighting how together we can drive progress for audiences everywhere.”
Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympic Winter Games begins today at 18:30 with the Opening Ceremony presented by Ade Adepitan, Billy Monger and Ed Jackson with Sarah Storey, Alice Tai and Sean Rose.
Registration is now open for the Winter Sports Forum in Oslo on 26 March, featuring sessions on the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. To find out more and to register, click here.
