At a press conference in Paris, French PSB group France Télévisions has announced it will launch a new sport channel on its digital platform to coincide with the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina. The new channel will feature an interactive dimension inspired by the Twitch platform and aims to offer around 2,000 hours of live sports coverage in 2026.

Launching on February 4th, the online service will allow online viewers to interact live with commentators and analysts through a live chat.

“We’re taking inspiration from Twitch, the difference is that we have the video,” explained Nicolas Vinoy, director of the digital offering at France Télévisions.

Initially dedicated to the Winter Olympics, the channel will continue operating after the Games, broadcasting major sport events already covered on the public broadcaster’s traditional channels such as Roland-Garros and the Tour de France. It will also offer more comprehensive coverage of other events including the World Figure Skating Championships and the European Swimming Championships.

On France Télévisions’ linear channels, The Winter Olympics will have “virtually 24-hour coverage” on France 2 and France 3. The coverage plan will feature 50 journalists on location and in Paris as well as 25 consultants.

More largely on sport strategy, the PSB group is entering the year in a precarious financial position, targeting €150 million savings, out of a €3 billion budget, and has already been led to sell the rights to nine out fifteen matches of the 2026 Six Nations rugby tournament to TF1.

However, the director of channels and programming, Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez, clarified that there was no other sale planned over this year.

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Tags: france, France Télévisions, sports, Twitch, winter olympics