Commonwealth Sport has signed a series of last minute broadcast partnerships that significantly increase access to the Commonwealth Games globally, with enhanced presence in Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Caribbean and other international markets.
The agreements, which have just ended, allow the Games to be broadcast free-to-air via television, pay television, streaming and radio to the people of 74 Commonwealth territories and to other international viewers.
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) will once again be providing free-to-air coverage to give millions of viewers across the Asia-Pacific region access to the Games alongside public broadcasters RTM (Malaysia), RTB (Brunei) and MediaCorp (Singapore).
In Africa, they have obtained the rights to broadcast via France-based media rights company, TVMS, in association with SuperSport, covering the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. The Games will also be available to South African viewers on the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), further enhancing access to one of the Commonwealth’s most prestigious sporting competitions.
The comprehensive coverage will be made available to Caribbean viewers via pay-television network Caribbean Premier Sports Limited’s RushSports.
The new deals follow a string of foreign TV deals announced in the past month. BeIN Sports will provide coverage to the U.S. and Canada, while Sony Pictures Networks will have the Indian rights. In the UK, TNT Sports continues to be the main live TV provider, with Channel 5 broadcasting daily highlights under a sublicensing deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. Live rights have also been picked up for the first time with Welsh-language broadcaster S4C.
The increase in the range of broadcast and digital partners is driven by shifting audience viewing patterns and Commonwealth Sport’s desire to make the Games more accessible for people to watch on a number of platforms, according to the organisation.
Commonwealth Sport’s Chief Executive Officer Katie Sadleir said the Games were always about people coming together through sport and that this was made possible thanks to the efforts of our broadcast partners, who reach millions of people around the world.
Glasgow 2026 celebrates the way contemporary viewers are watching sport on TV, on stream or on radio, making more people than ever able to enjoy the action, she added.
Phil Batty, the Chief Executive Officer of the Games of the Future’s host city, Glasgow 2026, called the group of international broadcast partners “an important step towards delivering a modern sporting event that can be watched anywhere”.
There will be 10 sports and 6 para sports, with 47 events in total, at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games from 23 July to 2 August. The second Commonwealth Games will be held in the Scottish city after it hosted the Games in 2014 for the first time.
Glasgow 2026 will be one of the most accessible editions of the Commonwealth Games, with an increased global broadcast presence and focus on multi-platform distribution as sports broadcasting and audience engagement continue to evolve globally.
