The BBC has been replaced by TNT Sports as live broadcaster of the Commonwealth Games

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

The subscription channel takes over from the BBC which has been the main partner since 1954 and has provided free coverage of 18 successive matches.

TNT Sports is part of Warner Bros Discovery and is known for showing UEFA Champions League matches as well as selected matches from the English Premier League.

The Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow from 23 July to 2 August and feature 10 sports and six para-sports.

TNT Sports said it will provide more than 600 hours of live coverage in a “reimagining” of the games.

Every sport and event will be broadcast on HBO Max, which is set to launch in the UK and Ireland in March, the broadcaster said.

Its coverage will be “comprehensive, immersive and accessible,” said Scott Young, executive vice president of Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe.

“We are confident that our approach will celebrate the history of the Commonwealth Games while telling new stories about its competitors with unparalleled energy and excitement,” he added.

Phil Batty, chief executive of Glasgow 2026, said the deal would provide more hours of sporting coverage of 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 the Scottish Government backed the deal.

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 organize the multi-sport event but withdrew as host due to high costs.

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

The 23rd edition of the Games will welcome 3,000 athletes from 74 countries and regions from July 23 to August 2.

They will compete for 215 gold medals over 10 days and 133 sports sessions.

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

But the bigger issue is not the fact that BBC Television will not have live coverage.

It has to do with the fact that the games will not be shown live in their entirety on any major free-to-air TV channel

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

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

The BBC has offered comprehensive live coverage of every Commonwealth Games hosted by the United Kingdom since 1970.

But it has also helped make recent matches 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 organized a wide range of cultural events outside BBC Scotland’s headquarters in Glasgow during the Games.

Many of the network’s programs were broadcast from Glasgow, not just coverage of the games.

These are the mini Commonwealth Games. Glasgow will be hosting them on short notice without public funding and organizers will want to raise as much revenue as possible.

Despite organizers’ attempts to generate excitement, the event looks very different this time.

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

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

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