The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have arrived – here's how to watch

In 2021, the Olympics looked a lot different. The Tokyo Games were postponed a year due to COVID, with many events held in empty stadiums. As such, the whole event was scaled back compared to the usual affair.  

However, the Paris Games will be a return to form. The French capital will host a spectacular opening ceremony along the River Seine and introduce breakdancing to the line-up of sports.  

If you’d like to catch all the action of the XXXIII Olympiad, we have everything you need to know, including the start date and time of the opening ceremony, the channels and streaming services the games will be on, the broad schedule of events and more.  

You can also check out 10 events you shouldn’t miss from the Paris 2024 Olympics.

When is the Paris 2024 Olympics? 

There’s not long to wait, as the Paris Olympics ‘officially’ kick off tonight, Friday 26 July 2024 with the opening ceremony.

However, there are a few select events such as football, handball, archery and rugby that kicked off on Wednesday 24 July.

The closing ceremony will take place on Sunday 11 August 2024. A few weeks after that, the Paralympics will begin.  

Paris 2024 / Damien Le Gallo / Viparis

Paris 2024 / Damien Le Gallo / Viparis

Paris 2024 / Damien Le Gallo / Viparis

When does the Paris 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony start? 

Here’s what time the opening ceremony for this year’s Olympics takes place across the world tonight, Friday 26 July 2024: 

• UK – 6:30pm BST 
• East Coast US – 1:30pm ET
• West Coast US – 10:30am PT 
• France – 7:30pm CET 

The organisers have dubbed this as the “largest-ever” opening ceremony, drawing on the natural sunset in the city as the spectacle progresses.  

There will be a 6KM crossing along the Seine, with artistic performances near the iconic monuments that Paris is known for, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame and the Louvre. 

The athletes will be on the water in boats, marking a change from the usual parade through the stadium. If previous games are anything to go by, we may get appearances from French artists, bands and troupes, and perhaps a few famous faces making a cameo or two – Celine Dion is heavily rumoured. 

This will all culminate in the lighting of the Olympic Torch, the long-standing signifier that the Games have officially begun.  

How to watch the Olympics in the UK 

There are several ways to catch the action of the Olympics in the UK. The most popular events will be available on the BBC. However, if you want completely unfiltered access, you’ll want access to Eurosport.  

Here’s more information on how to watch them on traditional TV, and for streaming. 

Broadcast TV 

For standard access, coverage will be split between BBC One and BBC Two in the UK, with over 250 hours of live coverage airing. Clare Balding and Gabby Logan will be joined by plenty more sports personalities for commentary. 

You can watch both these channels for free if you have a TV licence, with access via Freeview, Virgin, Sky and EE TV/BT.  

If you’d prefer to watch every sport available (including the more obscure ones), then your best option is Eurosport. Coverage will be split across Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2, starting from 7am until 10:30pm every day that the competition is on. These channels are available as premium add-ons for Sky, Virgin Media and EE TV/BT. 

Eurosport is the only way to watch the Olympic Games in 4K in the UK.

Both the BBC and Eurosport will be airing highlights throughout the Games, should you miss anything.  

Online 

If you prefer to stream your content, then both the BBC and Eurosport have options available.  

BBC iPlayer not only includes live coverage from BBC One and Two, but a dedicated livestream called Olympics Extra with additional events. This website is free to access, providing you have a TV licence.  

Meanwhile, Eurosport content can be watched via a Discovery+ Standard subscription. From 17 July until the end of the Olympics, this will cost just £3.99 per month, and the platform will honour this price until December 2024. After that, the price will increase to the standard amount of £6.99 per month.  

Subscribing to Discovery+ grants access to both Eurosport 1 and 2, seven pop-up Olympic channels, gold medal alerts in the app and curated playlists for various sports.  

Olympics on Discovery+

Olympics on Discovery+

Olympics on Discovery+

How to watch the Olympics in the US 

In the US, the rights to the Olympics fall to NBC, rather than multiple holders. Here are all the ways to tune in.  

Broadcast TV 

You’ll be able to watch the opening ceremony and sporting events from Team USA over on NBC, which will air over nine hours of events every day, along with profiles and highlights. Some events will also air on USA Network, E!, CNBC and Golf Channel. 

Xfinity Reward members also have access to the Olympics hub and Passport to Paris, where they can collate stamps of events watched to claim rewards.

These channels will be available if you have a cable TV package with them included. If you don’t then there is another way. 

Online 

If you don’t have access to the NBC TV channels, then your best bet is to sign up for Peacock. This will include an Olympics hub with playlists to not only different events but specific athletes such as Simone Biles.  

There will also be celebrity hosts for certain segments, including renowned rapper Snoop Dogg and host of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Alex Cooper. The app will include multiview for different sports, and AI-generated roundups of the events of the day.