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The 2026 Winter Olympics officially kick off this week with an opening ceremony designed to showcase Italy’s deep ties to art, music and cinematic spectacle.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Opening Ceremony, which starts on Friday, Feb. 6 at 11 a.m. PT (8 p.m local time in Italy), will stream live on Peacock, alongside its broadcast on NBC. An encore presentation will air at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Cable-cutters can tune into the global event through a variety of Live TV streamers with access to NBC such as DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV and Sling TV (in select markets).
Mariah Carey will be singing in Italian at the opening ceremony, while Andrea Bocelli will belt out arias in Italian, English, French and Spanish, duetting with Chris Stapleton and Colombia’s Karol G. Other performers include one of Italian cinema’s leading men, Pierfrancesco Favino; actor Sabrina Impacciatore, known for her breakout role in “The White Lotus”; Italian popstar Laura Pausini; Chinese pianist Lang Lang, accompanied by opera singer Cecilia Bartoli; and rapper Ghali.
Sports veteran Mary Carillo will take up co-hosting duties for NBC’s coverage of the ceremony, replacing Savannah Guthrie, who is focused on the abduction of her mother, Nancy. Carillo, who will be working her 17th Olympic Games, will join Terry Gannon, who had previously been announced as a co-host.
The Milan Cortina Games will also be the most spread-out Olympics ever. Besides airing from Milan, the curtain-raiser will beam from three Alpine venues — Cortina d’Ampezzo, Livigno and Predazzo — to a global audience estimated at more than 2 billion viewers. In the U.S., the Games will get full-court-press treatment from NBC and Peacock. In Europe, HBO Max will stream the competition alongside local broadcasters.
Stream the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony live online here.
English (US) ·