Video: ‘Nightly’ gets snowy open for Olympics

“NBC Nightly News” began using an updated open as part of its on-the-ground coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy Feb. 9, 2026.

The open omits the announcer’s reference to anchor Tom Llamas‘ name immediately after the title card, but retains it on-screen. Llamas’ name is then mentioned after the animation runs and the broadcast cuts to a beauty shot along with the name audio “Reporting tonight from Milan, here is Tom Llamas.”

The animation also remains the same for the first part, before a rotating circular wipe reveals a wintery mountainscape scene — a common motif in Winter Olympics graphics — as a flurry of white help form the stylized snowflake emblem and accompanying “Milano Cortina” wordmark that NBC uses to brand its coverage of this year’s games.

The design also incorporates a series of concentric rings. 

The open uses the normal “Nightly” theme before transitioning to NBC’s iconic Olympics theme, both of which were originally composed by the famed John Williams. 

“Nightly” has a long history of broadcasting from the site of whatever Olympics NBC happens to be covering and typically uses a custom open that incorporates regional imagery.