Channel 4 Sales today announces it is teaming up with NatWest on a new deal that sees the UK bank sponsor it’s Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games coverage.
NatWest will sponsor approximately 50 hours of live and on-demand coverage across Channel 4 and its streaming platform, with Royal Bank of Scotland idents running in Scotland. Beginning with the Opening Ceremony on 06 March 2026 and continuing through to the Closing Ceremony on 15 March, the idents will be present on coverage from morning and afternoon sessions to daily highlights. As well as additional accreditation on bespoke Channel 4 social media content, including tailored clips, event highlights, and pivotal medal moments.
The sponsorship, featuring ParalympicsGB Para Nordic skier Scott Meenagh and former ParalympicsGB Para alpine skiing sensation Jade Etherington, offers a glimpse into the realities of training for their sports with a suspense-filled voice over. These dynamic clips are designed to capture the anticipation, perseverance, and the realities of training required as well as build a buzz as audiences gear up to witness the exhilarating winter Paralympic sports.
The deal was brokered by media agency, Initiative, with the idents produced by creative agency, Pitch Marketing Group.
Produced by Whisper, Channel 4’s coverage will showcase up to 665 elite athletes from around 50 nations competing for 79 medals across six sports: Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country skiing, Para ice hockey, Para snowboarding and wheelchair curling. All content will be subtitled, live broadcast coverage will have live audio description available from 10:30am each day, and the daily highlights programme will feature live British Sign Language translation. Plus, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies are to be simulcast on 4seven and Channel 4 Streaming with BSL and an open descriptive commentary.
The Opening and Closing Ceremonies will feature 100% closed caption subtitling in every ad break for the first time. This is an important milestone in Channel 4’s accessibility journey. This represents a significant milestone in Channel 4’s ongoing accessibility journey as it follows Channel 4 Sales’ recent announcement that it requires all ads delivered to Channel 4 to have closed captions from March 2026.
Margaret Jobling, Group Chief Marketing Officer, NatWest commented: “Our partnership with ParalympicsGB is rooted in a shared ambition to show what can be achieved when people are given the opportunity and support to take action and Channel 4’s Paralympic Games coverage has long championed this same belief. Supporting the Paralympic Winter Games allows us to play a meaningful role in celebrating Paralympic athletes and broadening understanding of inclusion, while building on our commitment to put accessibility at the heart of our business to create opportunities that help more people progress.”
Rak Patel, Chief Commercial Officer at Channel 4 said: “Today officially marks one month until the Paralympic Winter Games and this partnership places NatWest at the heart of its coverage. We are excited to partner with them and support their ambitions to turn intention into action. It is the eighth Games covered by Channel 4 and moving to 100% closed caption subtitling of the Opening and Closing Ceremony ad breaks reaffirms our commitment to continually improving accessibility. We hope that alongside elevating amazing Paralympic sport, we are demonstrating the power of inclusive broadcasting and highlighting how together we can drive progress for audiences everywhere.”
Channel 4 Sales continues to drive industry change by striving to ensure sponsorship idents are inclusive by design and it will endeavour for all creative partnerships to have subtitles as the standard. Meanwhile all creative brand deals will adhere to a set of accessibility standards and inclusive principles, including those set out by Channel 4’s Disability Codes of Portrayal and in November last year Channel 4 Sales launched The Disability Comms Guide and Playbook with Bupa, Purple Goat and Initiative which shares best practice tips and links to further learning for brands and marketeers.
This deal complements NatWest’s long-term partnership with Team GB and ParalympicsGB that was unveiled last year. Together they have created ‘The Winter Team Talk’, a new motivational film designed to empower people across the UK to turn intention into action at the start of the year.
The sponsorship deal with NatWest is the latest from Channel 4’s Partner Lab, a new in-house creative partnerships team built to help brands stand out, offering solutions across partnerships, sponsorship, creative strategy and production.