broadcaster

TNT Sports has been confirmed as live UK broadcast partner for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.

The subscription channel takes over from the BBC which had been the main partner since 1954 and provided free-to-air coverage for 18 games in a row.

TNT Sports is part of Warner Bros Discovery and is best known for screening Uefa Champions League matches as well as selected English Premier League fixtures.

The Glasgow Commonwealth Games will take place from 23 July to 2 August and feature 10 sports and six para sports.

TNT Sports said it would provide more than 600 hours of live coverage in a “re-imagining” of the games.

The broadcaster said every sport and event would be streamed on HBO Max, which is due to launch in the UK and Ireland in March.

Scott Young, executive vice president at Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe, said its coverage would be “comprehensive, immersive and accessible”.

He added: “We are confident our approach will celebrate the history of the Commonwealth Games while telling new stories of its competitors with unmatched energy and excitement.”

Phil Batty, chief executive of Glasgow 2026 said the deal would bring more hours of sports coverage for the games “than ever before”.

He added: “This broadcast partnership, secured by Commonwealth Sport, reflects our shared ambition to take coverage of the Games to new and growing audiences.”

Glasgow was confirmed as host in September last year after a deal was backed by the Scottish government.

A scaled-down version of the event, featuring fewer sports and athletes, will return to the city 12 years after it last hosted the Games in 2014.

The Australian state of Victoria was originally chosen to stage the multi-sport event but withdrew as host due to rising costs.

Australian authorities promised “a multi-million pound investment” to help finalise the deal.

The 23rd edition of the Games will welcome 3,000 athletes from 74 nations and territories between 23 July and 2 August.

They will compete for 215 gold medals up for grabs over 10 days and 133 sessions of sport.

The BBC will be disappointed that it will not be showing full live TV coverage of the Commonwealth Games.

But the bigger issue is not about the fact BBC Television won’t have live coverage.

It is about the fact the games will not be shown live in full on any major free-to-air TV channel

A major sporting event on a free tv channel – such as the BBC, ITV or Channel 4 – can bring huge numbers of viewers from disparate backgrounds together.

Next year’s World Cup games involving Scotland and England are bound to attract large ratings, even late at night.

The BBC has shown wall-to-wall live coverage of every Commonwealth Games hosted in the UK since 1970.

But it has also helped to make recent games in the UK – Manchester in 2002, Glasgow in 2014 and Birmingham in 2022 – feel like special times for the host cities.

In 2014, the BBC organised a wide range of cultural events outside BBC Scotland’s Glasgow headquarters during the games.

Several network programmes were broadcast from Glasgow, not just the coverage of the Games.

These are scaled-down Commonwealth Games. Glasgow is hosting them at short notice with no public funding and the organisers will want to raise as much revenue as possible.

Despite the organisers’ attempts to drum up excitement, the event feels very different this time.

There is no talk of a lasting legacy to the city – from new buildings or major sports facilities to public health benefits.

There will still be highlights on a major free TV channel and some live coverage on a major channel may still be possible.

But without the full live coverage on a channel which everyone can watch for free, will there be the same sense of wider public engagement or feeling that the Games are a special time for Glasgow and Scotland?