ORF, the public service broadcaster for Austria, is in Italy for Milano Cortina 2026, ready to bring the country’s most popular winter sports direct to viewers at home.

ORF’s viewers are particularly focused on Alpine downhill skiing and Nordic events. To make sure it is in the heart of those sports, ORF has created two base camps: one at Cortina d’Ampezzo and the other in Bormio, with the main studio for the production being back home in Vienna.

The women’s downhill will take place at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, while the men’s downhill will be held at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio, separating the two by a distance of around 200 miles (300 kilometres).

In addition, reporters will be posted at all sites where German medals are expected, says ORF chief director, Michael Kögler [pictured], speaking from Frankfurt airport on his way to Milan.

He adds: “We will also be in Predazzo for the ski jumping and Nordic combined, and at the biathlon venue in Rasen-Antholz [Anterselva]. But the core base is going to be Cortina.”

Austria Haus

The Cortina studio is in Austria House 2026, which is hosted at the historic Jägerhaus. Just a few minutes’ walk from the Olympic sliding centre, the curling venue and Cortina’s town centre, Austria House will feature two exclusive VIP lounges, a VIP sun terrace with panoramic views of the Dolomites, a public area for around 300 fans and guests, and a Gala Hall in a traditional hay barn.

Being in the thick of the action at Austria House enables the broadcaster to pull athletes in for interviews quickly and easily, explains Kögler: “At Austria House we have a sub-studio, as you want to call it, for interviews of all the athletes being based in the Cortina area. These Olympics are so far spread out that it doesn’t make sense at all to have a studio somewhere in Milano or wherever, because nobody’s going to go there. So most of the [areas we cover a lot] will be with separate hosts in the separate venues.”

Italy to Vienna

Back in Austria, the studio linking all the action in Italy together will be in ORF’s headquarters in Vienna. The large sports studio in Vienna uses a hefty LED panoramic wall. “We’ve got a lot to play with and have a great setup there using augmented reality elements. So this is nice setup.”

ORF is taking all available feeds from Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) direct to Vienna, and the content from its numerous teams in Italy will be transmitted directly to Austria as well.

Comments Kögler on how all the content from those multiple teams on the ground will be coming back to base: “We have all these outside studios based on LiveU connections. They’re all coming in on LiveU from all the mixed zones; from everywhere. Even the studio set up in Cortina is based on LiveU’s as well, with two cameras in the studio just for interviews.”

Olympic spirit

With this Winter Olympics the first one in a long time that has been played out in a European timezone, Kögler says that good viewing figures are expected. However, as a director he is hoping that the Olympic spirit – generated by fans on site – is also there.

He says that while is it exciting to have fans on site for the first time at a Winter Games since Pyeongchang 2018, the distances between locations might make it harder for them to pop to different sports.

“We hoping for excellent marketshare for sure,” he notes on viewing figures. Yet he goes on: “For the viewers at home, they don’t see the distances between those event locations because for them it doesn’t matter. But what I’ve seen [and am concerned about] is for the Olympic feeling itself for the athletes. This is kind of missing from the atmosphere side. They have great sites known from FIS World Cup events, so everything is fine [on that side], but they’re all spread over long distances. So I’m wondering if this typical Olympic feeling will finally come to life, or if it’s still more or less a World Cup event for each of the locations.

“I think for those events in Cortina it’s easiest, because there are more different kinds of sports together [in one location]. But Rasen-Antholz is only biathlon, Predazzo is only the Nordic, Bormio is only men’s downhill, like in a World Cup.”

The Winter Olympic Games begins on Friday 6 February and finishes on Sunday 22 February.