Discovery and Eurosport will air 1,200 live hours of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, which will be available to stream in the UK on Discovery+, the company’s streaming service.
The coverage is going to include 107 winter sports experts and presenters, all from within a virtual “Cube” studio. The Cube has been re-imagined as a full cinematic world that transports viewers to an expansive Beijing 2022 mountain resort.
Unfortunately, the streaming broadcasts on Discovery+ are NOT going to be in 4K / UltraHD.
Discovery+ is currently available either as a standalone subscription or as an addon on Amazon Prime Channels.
Subscribers do NOT need the more expensive Sports tier, though, and can get full access to the 2022 Olympics coverage with the regular discovery+ Entertainment Pass (see full details below).
Traditional pay-TV subscribers with Sky, BT and Virgin Media will be able to watch the coverage via Eurosport’s linear channels.
In this case, those with the appropriate subscription tier and equipment CAN get a 4K Eurosport channel.
The opening ceremony is set to air on February 4, 2022, with the games taking place until February 20.
Due to the time differences with the UK, most of the major events will take place late at night or in our early morning hours.
The BBC is also planning to provide extensive Winter Olympics coverage, with 300 live hours – also, regrettably, not in 4K.
How To Watch The Winter Olympics In The UK
The main bulk of the Olympics coverage will air on Discovery+ and Eurosport.
Streaming The Olympics On Discovery+
As we reported last month, the standalone subscription-based version of Eurosport Player, the streaming (and on-demand) version of Eurosport, is no longer available on its own and is now part of Discovery+ (Though existing subscribers can keep it for now as long they don’t cancel).
Discovery+ is a streaming service that launched in 2020, replacing Discovery’s Dplay service (which was totally free), with a combined offering of both free and “premium” channels.
The free tier on Discovery+ includes several Freeview channels, such as Quest, Really, HGTV and others, while the paid tier adds several additional live premium channels, along with their on-demand content – Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC and more.
Furthermore, the paid tier has TWO separate plans: Entertainment (£4.99/month) and Entertainment + Sports (£6.99/month) – which now also includes the content that used to reside on Eurosport Player.
As mentioned above, ALL 1,200 hours of the 2022 Winter Olympics coverage will be available on the lower cost discovery+ Entertainment Pass.
However, customers who subscribe to the discovery+ Entertainment + Sport Pass will also have access to all the other sports offerings, including the Australian Open, Grand Tour Cycling, snooker and motorsports – but won’t need it specifically for the Olympic Games.
Customers can subscribe to Discovery+ either directly, or via Amazon’s Prime Video Channels, which also come in those two flavours (along with a 7-day free trial) –
If you sign up directly (not through Amazon), Discovery+ is currently running a limited-time promotion, offering a year of the Entertainment + Sports plan for £29.99, instead of the usual £59.99.
The content is the same, whether you sign up via Amazon’s Prime Video Channels or directly – but you can’t mix and match logins, so you will have to watch either on the Prime Video app or the Discovery+ app – depending on which one you signed up on.
How Can I Watch Discovery+?
Discovery+ is a streaming-only app, therefore it relies on your broadband connection. It’s available on most streaming devices sold in the UK, including:
- Amazon Fire TV
- Roku
- Google Chromecast
- Android / iPhone
- Apple TV
- Samsung Smart TVs
- Sky Q (Subscribers can get a free one-year Discovery+ membership)
- Sky Glass
- Major web browsers
If you sign up via Amazon, you will need to use their Prime Video app to watch – which is also available on almost every streaming device and Smart TV.
Watching The Winter Olympics On Pay-TV/Eurosport
Customers of Sky TV, BT and Virgin Media can watch the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on Eurosport’s linear channels (if they have the appropriate sports subscriptions).
The coverage will air on Eurosport 1, 2 as well as three dedicated pop-up channels.
Pay-TV subscribers will also have access to the Eurosport 4K channel, with Ultra HD content from the Winter Olympics.
(Featured Image: Deposit Photos / Kuzmire)
Eurosport 1&2 are included in the basic Sky TV package