NBC Olympic broadcasts

NBC Olympics
GenreOlympics telecasts
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons14
Production
Production locationsVarious Olympic venues (event telecasts and studio segments)
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running timeVaries
Production companiesNBC Olympics, LLC
(NBC Sports Group)
Original release
NetworkNBC
NBCSN
USA
CNBC
MSNBC
E!
Golf Channel
Bravo
Syfy
Oxygen
Olympic Channel
NBC Sports Regional Networks
NBC Sports
Peacock
Universo
Telemundo
Telemundo Deportes
ReleaseOctober 10 (1964-10-10) –
October 24, 1964 (1964-10-24)
ReleaseFebruary 3 (1972-02-03) –
February 13, 1972 (1972-02-13)
ReleaseSeptember 17, 1988 (1988-09-17) –
present
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

NBC Olympics is the commercial name for the NBC Sports-produced broadcasts of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games as shown in the United States on NBCUniversal platforms. They include the NBC broadcast network and many of the company's cable networks; Spanish language network Telemundo; and streaming on the NBC Sports app, NBCOlympics.com, and Peacock. The event telecasts during the Olympics have aired primarily in the evening and on weekend afternoons on NBC, and varying times on its cable networks (such as after the close of the stock market day on CNBC, the early mornings on MSNBC, overnights on the USA Network, and formerly various hours on now defunct NBCSN). Additional live coverage is available on the aforementioned streaming platforms.

The on-air title of the telecasts, as typically announced at the start of each broadcast and during sponsor billboards is always the official name of the games in question – for example, The Games of the XXIX Olympiad for the 2008 Summer Games. However, promotional logos may reflect the more common location-and-year name format, such as "Beijing 2008".

NBC has held the American broadcasting rights to the Summer Olympic Games since the 1988 games and the rights to the Winter Olympic Games since the 2002 games. In 2011, NBC agreed to a $4.38 billion contract with the International Olympic Committee to broadcast the Olympics through the 2020 games, the most expensive television rights deal in Olympic history.[1] NBC then agreed to a $7.75 billion contract extension on May 7, 2014, to air the Olympics through the 2032 games.[2] NBC also acquired the American television rights to the Youth Olympic Games, beginning in 2014,[3] and the Paralympic Games for the 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 editions. NBC announced more than 1,200 hours of coverage for the 2020 games, called "unprecedented" by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).[4][5][6] NBC is one of the major sources of revenue for the International Olympic Committee (IOC).[7]

NBC's telecasts of the Olympics have been criticized for the tape delaying of events, spoiling the results of events prior to their own tape-delayed broadcast of those events, editing of its broadcasts to resemble an emotionally appealing program meant to entertain rather than a straight live sports event,[8][9] and avoiding controversial subjects such as material critical of Russia at the 2014 Olympics.[10] Since the 2012 Summer Olympics, live events have been continually added to NBC's cable networks and streaming platforms, rivaling the edited, tape-delayed broadcasts that traditionally air on the NBC broadcast network's primetime coverage.[1]

  1. ^ a b Anthony Crupi (June 7, 2011). "Update: NBC Bids $4.38 Billion for Olympic Gold". Ad Week. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  2. ^ "NBC Universal pays $7.75 billion for Olympics through 2032". USA Today. May 7, 2014.
  3. ^ "NBC Olympics, Universal Sports announce Youth Olympics coverage". NBC Sports. August 12, 2014.
  4. ^ "PyeongChang 2018: NBC announces Paralympic coverage".
  5. ^ "NBCUniversal announces unprecedented Tokyo 2020 Paralympic coverage in USA".
  6. ^ "NBC Olympics, U.S. Olympic Committee acquire media rights to Paralympics in 2014, 2016". NBC Sports. September 24, 2013.
  7. ^ "Fewer Russians Could Be a Windfall for U.S. Olympic Business". The New York Times. December 7, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference slate022014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Guardian2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Farhi, Paul (February 21, 2014). "In coverage of Olympics, NBC has largely steered clear of controversy". The New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2014.