The host broadcast of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow is set to be handled by Actua Sport, a Swiss production firm that works closely with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), SportBusiness understands.
The agreement has been put in place by the Glasgow 2026 organising committee.
Actua Sport, an arm of Actua Films, has been a production partner of the EBU at various events. The consortium of free-to-air broadcasters formed a wider alliance with Actua Sport last year.
Next year’s Games have been stripped back to just 10 sports (from 19 at Birmingham 2022). The curtailed sports programme and moderate budget have dramatically reduced the organising committee’s host broadcast spend compared to previous Games. As such, a deal would be challenging for any of the major production firms to deliver an adequate margin on.
UK-based production company Sunset+Vine was the host broadcaster of the last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) had the option to re-appoint Sunset+Vine in 2026 and 2030 subject to the consent of the host city and the successful delivery of the services in 2022. However, having transferred the responsibility to Glasgow 2026, the organising committee has chosen to take a different direction.
In terms of its services provided to the EBU, Actua Sport has, in effect, taken over the role previously performed by Eurovision Production Coordination (EPC), a subsidiary of the EBU’s erstwhile business arm.
Largely the same production team is in place at Actua Sport as worked at EPC when delivering the host broadcast for major multi-sports events broadcast by the EBU. These include the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow and Berlin, the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships held in Glasgow and across Scotland, plus various European Athletics Championships and IBU Biathlon World Championships.
Actua Sport is also free to take on the host broadcast of events that sit outside the EBU sports rights portfolio, such as the Commonwealth Games.
Actua Films is headquartered in Geneva and also has production studios in Paris. On its corporate website, it said that in 2024 it expanded its scope “by offering innovative solutions in the sports sector, meeting the specific needs of this dynamic market”.
Sunset+Vine also formed a joint venture with Global Television, the Australia-based broadcast services company, when Glasgow played host in 2014.
The nine sports returning from the 17-sport line-up at Glasgow 2014 are: athletics (and para-athletics); swimming (and para-swimming); track cycling (and para-track cycling); netball; weightlifting (and para-powerlifting); boxing; judo; bowls (and para bowls); and artistic gymnastics. Meanwhile, 3×3 basketball and 3×3 wheelchair basketball are also part of the programme after making their debuts at Birmingham 2022.
Glasgow’s slimmed-down, four-venue concept means that staples of previous Games such as badminton, field hockey, rugby sevens and squash miss out.
Commonwealth Games Scotland estimates the Games cost at £114m (€134m/$155m), a figure dwarfed by the £472.3m figure for Glasgow 2014. The 2026 Games are being largely underwritten by the sum of over £100m provided by the CGF from the compensation pot after the Australian state of Victoria pulled out of its proposed 22-sport Games.
Glasgow’s initial talks with the CGF were exclusively reported by SportBusiness in April last year. The CGF claimed to be considering “multiple proposals” to host the 2026 Games yet only Scotland came forward publicly to discuss its vision.
Glasgow 2026 recently invited candidates to apply for the role of senior manager of broadcast integration, a position that will lead the integration of the appointed host broadcaster.
Only Australia’s Seven Network has been announced as a broadcaster of Glasgow 2026 at this stage. The BBC, the UK public-service broadcaster, is widely expected to secure the rights to the Games once again.