The Commonwealth Games returns home this summer, with Glasgow 2026 running from 23 July to 2 August — up to 3,000 athletes from 74 nations, and British names like Adam Peaty, Josh Kerr, Amy Hunt and Dina Asher-Smith in the mix.
If you're abroad and planning to follow it, there's something you need to know before you reach for BBC iPlayer out of habit: this year, the Games aren't on the BBC at all.
For the first time in over 70 years, the BBC holds no rights to the Commonwealth Games — neither live coverage nor highlights. So if you go looking for Glasgow 2026 on iPlayer, you won't find it.
Here's where it actually is in 2026:
So whether you want every live session or just the evening highlights, the Games are spread across TNT Sports, HBO Max and Channel 5 — and all three are UK services.
That last point is the catch. TNT Sports, HBO Max and Channel 5 are all geo-restricted to the UK. The moment you're abroad, they detect your location and the coverage stops — even on the free Channel 5 highlights, and even if you're a paying TNT Sports or HBO Max subscriber.
The usual workaround is a VPN, but the big-name VPN apps are routinely blocked by UK streaming services, because they run on shared data-centre IP addresses that broadcasters recognise and shut out. You can read more in our guide on why ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark stop working on UK streaming.
The setup that holds up is a VPN router with a UK residential IP address — an ordinary home-broadband address, the same kind millions of UK households use. To TNT Sports, HBO Max and Channel 5, your connection simply looks like a viewer at home in the UK, so you're far less likely to be blocked.
Because it works at router level, every device connected to it is covered — smart TV, Apple TV, Firestick or streaming box. You watch the Games through the same apps you'd use at home, on the big screen, in full quality.
This works for following Glasgow 2026 from across Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and beyond.
If you're setting up to watch UK TV abroad anyway, you may not need a separate device for the Games. The Freely TV boxes we supply — the Netgem Pleio and the Manhattan Aero — both run the HBO Max app, which is the UK streaming home of TNT Sports. So the same box that gives you your everyday Freely channels can also carry the live Commonwealth Games coverage, with a TNT Sports plan added to your HBO Max account.
Prefer to stick to the free highlights? Channel 5 is part of Freely too, so the daily highlights show sits right alongside your other channels — no extra app or subscription needed.
Either way, it all runs through the one box behind your UK residential IP router: live action through HBO Max, free highlights through Channel 5.
At Stream UK TV Abroad, we supply pre-configured VPN routers — and Freely boxes — that work straight out of the box, shipped worldwide. Plug the router into your internet abroad, connect your Freely box or streaming device, and open TNT Sports, HBO Max or Channel 5 as you would at home.
It's the same setup our customers use for the rest of their UK viewing, so a single router covers the Commonwealth Games alongside everything else.
Glasgow 2026 opens on 23 July, in the middle of a packed summer of sport. If you're abroad for it, get your setup sorted in advance — order the router, plug it in, and confirm everything plays cleanly before the action starts, rather than troubleshooting on the day.
Already following the cycling? The same TNT Sports and HBO Max setup covers the Tour de France earlier in July — see our guide to watching the Tour de France abroad. You can also follow the British Grand Prix abroad the same month.
Glasgow 2026 is a home Commonwealth Games, but the way to watch it has changed: with the BBC out of the picture, coverage now sits with TNT Sports and HBO Max for live action and Channel 5 for highlights — all UK-only abroad.
A VPN router with a UK residential IP is the most reliable way to reach all three from anywhere in the world, especially paired with a Freely box or a proper TV-based setup. Get it in place ahead of time and you spend the Games watching, not wrestling with a stream.
At Stream UK TV Abroad, we supply pre-configured routers and Freely boxes designed to make exactly that simple.
