A hundred years after the last Olympic Games held in Paris, France is preparing for fifteen days dedicated to sports and celebration. Television networks have, of course, planned special coverage to broadcast this historic event. Here is everything you need to know to follow the Paris 2024 Olympics on television.
A few days before the kickoff of the Paris 2024 Games, you might be wondering on which channels you can watch the Olympics on TV, starting of course with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games!
This opening ceremony promises to be historic, as it will be held outside a stadium for the first time in the history of the modern Olympic Games. The Seine in Paris will host a nearly 4-hour long river parade.
You can follow this spectacle, whose details are kept secret, live on France 2. While the opening ceremony is scheduled to start at 7:30 PM, the public channel has planned to broadcast a special Paris 2024 Olympic day from 6:30 AM! This special day will be broadcast live from the Trocadéro in Paris.
Once the Paris 2024 Olympics are officially opened, you will have several options to follow the approximately 329 events on television. You can start by checking the event schedule on the official Olympic Games website https://olympics.com/fr/paris-2024/calendrier/
For all the French who have not purchased tickets for these Games, television will be the best way to enjoy the event. As with every Olympiad, many viewers will be in front of their screens, especially since the organizing committee has announced a grand spectacle, with urban sports at Place de la Concorde, fencing under the glass roof of the Grand Palais, and beach volleyball at the foot of the Eiffel Tower!
In France, the channels France 2, France 3, and Eurosport will broadcast the world's largest sporting competition. The main difference between these three options is, of course, the price. While the France Télévisions channels are free, the nine channels of the Eurosport group are paid.
For the occasion, Eurosport channels will offer 100% Olympic Games programming, and subscribed viewers will only need to switch channels to follow the various events, organized by theme.
Internet users who wish to follow the event comprehensively can also subscribe to the Max streaming offer. On the occasion of the Olympic Games, Max has set up a platform that allows real-time access to all the events, with or without commentary.
If you do not intend to subscribe to a paid service to watch the Olympic Games on television, rest assured! The France Télévisions group, which is the official broadcaster of the event, has set up an extraordinary arrangement to allow you to watch the Olympics on TV for free.
It is even an unprecedented arrangement in the history of French television! For 15 days, the channels France 2 and France 3 will be almost exclusively dedicated to the Paris 2024 Games, except for news segments and Sunday religious programs.
The two channels will offer a total of 50 hours of live coverage each day. And if you are wondering who broadcasts what, note that the channel France 3 will be dedicated to tournaments and team sports such as football, basketball, rugby sevens, handball, volleyball, beach volleyball, and field hockey. The only exception to this rule: France 3 will also broadcast the surfing events taking place in Tahiti!
Meanwhile, France 2 will broadcast the key moments of the Paris 2024 Olympics, which means:
• the opening and closing ceremonies.
• the most iconic events of the summer Olympic Games, such as swimming and athletics.
• the French medal hopes in various disciplines, including equestrian sports, fencing, judo, and BMX, for example.
Note: During the few moments of the day when France 2 and France 3 take a break to broadcast the midday and evening news, it is the channel France 5 that will take over. In total, the France Télévisions group is mobilizing around a hundred journalists and commentators.
To ensure viewers do not get too lost, Cécile Grès, Cédric Beaudou, Matthieu Lartot, and Laurent Luyat will be broadcasting live from a set built on the roof of the Musée de l'Homme and will provide continuity between the different events.
To delight sports enthusiasts, the France Télévisions channels have even planned to broadcast the events of the Paris 2024 Olympics in ultra-high definition (UHD), meaning with 4 times more pixels than usual! Nationally, 74% of the population will be able to receive the channels France 2 and France 3 in UHD during the Olympic Games.
If you want to enjoy a better picture and more immersive sound, you just need to launch a new channel search on your TV. If it is compatible, it will automatically find TNT channels 52 and 53.
If you have a box from the main internet service providers, you simply need to choose the right channel:
• 902 and 903 at Orange
• 78 and 79 at SFR
• 37 and 28 at Bouygues
• 102, 103, 104, and 105 at Free.
At Free, some channels broadcast the Olympic events in UHD and others in UHD HDR (provided, of course, that you have a compatible TV).
No fewer than 32 disciplines in total are represented at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Therefore, it is impossible to broadcast all the events of the competition on just two television channels.
If you don't see the events you are interested in on air, don't panic! You can find the rest of the competition live or on replay on France TV, the online platform of the France Télévisions group (see the link below).
You will be able to follow events such as climbing and urban sports like skateboarding and BMX freestyle. The teams at France Télévisions have promised: sports lovers won't miss a thing from this historic event!
Author Audrey on 08 September 2022
News and Media : Television
Author Audrey on 23 January 2023
News and Media : Television