In Russia
⛷ Okko to Broadcast the 2026 Winter Olympics
A major bombshell in Russian sports media: the Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo (6–22 February) will officially be shown in Russia, but with a historic twist – for the first time, the broadcasts will not air on federal TV channels, but on the paid streaming service Okko.
Negotiations with the IOC wrapped up just three weeks before the Games. While Match TV haggled over the price, Okko secured the rights.
The biggest winter sporting event of the four-year cycle is leaving the “free” broadcast buttons. It is seen as an ideal compromise: fans get high-quality coverage without VPNs for the price of a subscription, while opponents of showing the Olympics in Russia will not see them on free-to-air TV.
Okko continues to snap up top-tier sports rights: from the Champions League and biathlon to figure skating and now the Olympics.
For VK communities that grew on illegal streams, this is a heavy blow, and for the market it puts a bold full stop in the debate over whether the 2026 Games should be shown in Russia.
