A year and a day before the games are scheduled to begin, NBC Universal unveiled its coverage plans for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The coverage will total more than 3,600 hours, more than all prior U.S. television coverage of the Olympics combined.
With the addition of properties such as USA Network and Telemundo and the explosive growth of broadband video, NBC’s Olympic coverage has grown exponentially with each Olympics. In 1996, the network carried 171 hours of programming. In 2000, it carried 441 hours. In 2004, utilizing all of its digital and network assets, it carried 1,210 hours of coverage. This year’s coverage will triple the number of hours NBC produced from the Athens games.
The programming will span all of the NBC networks and platforms, with the bulk of the live coverage, approximately 2,200 hours, coming online from NBCOlympics.com.
On the network front, NBC, USA, CNBC, MSNBC and Telemundo will all provide extensive Olympics coverage, as will all of NBC Universal’s HD networks.
The centerpiece of the Olympics coverage will be NBC’s primetime show, which will feature live coverage of swimming, gymnastics and beach volleyball, despite the 12-hour time difference.
In addition to the live coverage, more than 3,000 hours of on-demand programming will be made available on the Web, featuring highlights, rewinds and encores of the Games’ major events.
NBC will announce plans for mobile Olympics content in the coming months.
