With the start of the countdown toward the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 scheduled for 2021, the Olympic Channel today announced its summer programming line-up highlighted by a “Great Olympic Moments” streaming channel, official Olympic films, Olympic Games replays and original series and films.
To begin the countdown, the Olympic Channel will present live coverage of the one year to go to Tokyo 2020 event from Japan’s National Stadium in Tokyo on Thursday, July 23, starting at 8 p.m. local time (11a.m. UTC) on olympicchannel.com.
On Friday, July 24, Great Olympic Moments will launch. The new streaming channel features select moments in the history of the Olympic Games. Available until the end of August, viewers can relive more than 90 hours of newly produced content from past Olympic Games from the International Olympic Committee’s archive. Athletes including gymnast Nadia Comaneci, tennis player Leander Paes and volleyball player Ryan Millar will also provide real-time commentary on the stories behind their great Olympic moments. The streaming service is available worldwide and subscription-free at the website and on apps for mobile, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and the Roku platform.
Also available for the first time as one collection are more than 40 official Olympic films. Covering both the summer and winter Games from Stockholm 1912 to PyeongChang 2018, the films produced by the Olympic Movement offer a compelling history of sport and the changing customs and habits from host countries through cinema, the channel said in a release.
Fans also can relive Olympic Summer Games excitement with full event replays from London 2012 and Rio 2016, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
For binge-watchers, the Olympic Channel library of original content features more than 76 series and 1,000 episodes developed with production companies from more than 25 countries. Storytelling includes new series What Moves Me and Taking Refuge and feature-length documentaries from the award-winning Five Rings Films series, including The Golden Generation, chronicling Argentina’s victory in men’s basketball at Athens 2004.
Additional programming includes digital-first and athlete-generated content. Fans can engage further with their favorite Olympic sports through live athlete chats, exclusive interviews, fitness inspiration, interactive quizzes and more on Olympic Channel social media handles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, the channel said
Mark Parkman, General Manager of the IOC’s global Olympic Channel, said: “The Olympic Channel is committed to providing audiences with the opportunity to experience the excitement of the Olympic Games all year round as our daily coverage of the stories behind Olympians and Olympic hopefuls continues to build toward next summer’s Olympic Games Tokyo 2020."
The Olympic Channel also has been providing the IOC’s rights-holding broadcast partners, National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Sports Federations (ISFs), with content in efforts to help fill programming gaps due to the absence of live sporting events during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Content distributed through these strategic distribution partnerships include archived content, Olympic Channel-produced original series and documentaries and the Olympic Channel 24/7 live streaming digital channel, the channel said.
