Australian media heavyweight Nine Entertainment has snagged the exclusive broadcast rights in the country for the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games, consolidating coverage as it already holds the 2026 Winter Olympics rights.
Coverage of the Paralympics next year will be disseminated across the commercial free-to-air linear Channel 9 network, entertainment channel 9Gem, and on the 9Now video-on-demand service.
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Additionally, Stan Sport, the prominent sports-focused OTT service also run by Nine, will provide coverage of the games, as will a range of Nine’s digital and social media platforms.
Concurrently, Nine’s suite of talk radio stations and print and digital publications will also provide Milano Cortina 2026 coverage.
Speaking on the deal, Nine chief executive officer Matt Stanton commented: “Using Nine’s unrivaled scale across streaming, broadcasting, and publishing, Australian audiences will be able to immerse themselves, whenever and wherever, in all the action and the incredible stories of these amazing athletes.”
Nine holds the rights to all summer and winter Olympic games through 2032 as part of a deal agreed ahead of the Paris 2024 games, later securing the rights to the Paris 2024 Paralympics also.
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By GlobalDataThe broadcaster has previously stated that its coverage of the 2024 Paralympics was watched by a record figure of over 10 million viewers.
In terms of other para sport, meanwhile, Nine also holds the rights in Australia to the 2025 Invictus Games.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics will run from March 6 through March 15, 2026.
Recently, it was revealed that the budget for Milan-Cortina had been set at around €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion), a €100 million increase from the amount previously set.
The budget, however, does not include the construction of competition venues such as the €118 million sliding center in Cortina d'Ampezzo and the new Santa Giulia ice hockey arena in Milan, which could cost almost €300 million, nor big infrastructure projects involving roads and railways.
The International Olympic Committee will also contribute around $1 billion in additional funding for the games, which will take place from February 6 to 22 next year, while the Italian government is funding more than $1 billion in infrastructure development to improve access to venues.
In 2022, it was reported that the overall cost of the winter games would be more than €2.1 billion.
The cost of the games is being divided into two sections – non-deferrable works that will need to be completed for the games to take place and other surrounding infrastructure projects.
The operating budget for the 2022 Beijing games was estimated at $4 billion.
