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1972 Winter Olympics[]

NBC first televised the Winter Olympic Games in 1972.[1] Anchored[2] by Curt Gowdy,[3] much of the coverage actually was broadcast live since alpine skiing and long track speed skating were held in the morning, which corresponded to prime time on the East Coast of the U.S. Although NBC bought the TV rights from the Sapporo Olympics group, they didn't know that they had to make a deal with NHK for broadcast booths at each venue. By the time NBC found out, it was too late. The booths had been built and there were none to spare. Consequently, everyone worked off monitors.

A young sportscaster making his network television debut at Sapporo was a 26-year-old Al Michaels, who did hockey play-by-play during the games. Eight years later, he would call the famous 1980 "Miracle On Ice" at that year's Winter Games in Lake Placid for ABC Sports. Other sportscasters utilized by NBC included Jim Simpson,[4] Jay Randolph,[5] Billy Kidd,[6] Peggy Fleming,[7] Art Devlin,[8] and Terry McDermott.[9]

2000s[]

Olympic coverage in the 2000s changed in several ways:

  • NBC became the sole U.S. rights holder for the Olympic Games for the entire decade. The network could rightly boast of being "America's Olympic Network" as it made the longest and most expensive commitment ever since the Olympics were first presented on television. For the 1996 Summer Olympics, and all Games from 2000 to 2008, NBC paid a total of $3.5 billion, mostly to the International Olympic Committee but also to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and local organizers. In 2006, NBC paid another $2.2 billion to purchase the rights to the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics[10] but lost $223 million on the 2010 broadcasts.[11] NBC Olympics is the International Olympic Committee's, and by extension the Olympic movement's, highest revenue stream.[12]
  • High-definition coverage began in 2004.[13]
  • The rise of various media platforms extended the reach and availability of Olympic Games coverage. NBC returned to supplemental cable/satellite coverage in 2000, with some events airing on CNBC and MSNBC; traditionally CNBC has mainly aired coverage of boxing events. In 2004, it added USA Network, Bravo and Telemundo, all of which parent company NBC Universal had acquired earlier in the decade. In 2006, Universal HD was added to the list of channels carrying the Games. Finally, in 2008, events were streamed live for the first time on the Internet through the NBCOlympics.com website (also in 2008, Oxygen replaced Bravo as a supplemental network, and NBC launched high-definition channels dedicated to the basketball and soccer competitions). The 2010 Games added then-digital multicast network Universal Sports, which carried analysis programs about events, while Oxygen and Bravo were completely excluded to maintain their schedules.

During the 2006 Winter Olympics, USA Network aired a daily studio program focusing on the figure skating competitions, Olympic Ice, which was hosted by Mary Carillo and featured appearances by analysts and skaters such as Dick Button (who hosted the viewer e-mail segment "Push Dick's Button"), Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.[14][15]

Also during the 2006 games, most NBC affiliates introduced Olympic Zone, an access hour program leading into primetime coverage which airs Mondays through Saturdays during the games. Each edition is hosted locally and contains a mixture of network-produced and, if station resources allow, local segments (similar to the PM Magazine format). A version of the program had been piloted by KCRA Sacramento during the 2004 games.[16]

Comcast acquisition of NBC (2011–2018)[]

In 2011, Comcast acquired majority control of NBC's parent company NBC Universal from General Electric (whose remaining interest Comcast later acquired in 2013); on June 6, 2011, NBCUniversal announced that it had acquired the television rights for the 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 Olympics, beating out ESPN/ABC and Fox. The entire package was worth $4.38 billion, making it the most expensive television rights deal in Olympic history. NBC paid $775 million for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and $1.23 billion for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. NBC also paid $963 million for the rights to the 2018 Winter Olympics (in Pyeongchang, South Korea) and $1.45 billion for the 2020 Summer Olympics (which were to be held in Tokyo, Japan but were later postponed to 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic).

In response to criticism it received during previous Olympics, NBC also announced that beginning in 2012, it planned to broadcast all events live through either television or digital platforms. Additionally, the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN; formerly Versus, which became a part of NBC Sports following the acquisition) also added coverage of the Olympics beginning with the 2012 London Games, with an emphasis on team sports, for the duration of the network's existence.[17][18][19] NBCSN became the highlighted cable network for coverage, replacing both USA Network, which would maintain their regular entertainment schedule during the games. The 2012 Summer Olympics also saw Universal HD removed from the company's cable/satellite coverage. Bravo aired supplemental coverage (mainly the tennis tournament) in place of Oxygen, with Universal Sports again solely providing analysis and pay television providers again carrying dedicated HD basketball and soccer networks.

The 2014 Winter Olympics again saw NBCSN as the highlighted cable network, though NBCUniversal's cable networks had additional complications due to NBC's weekend coverage of the Premier League, which usually aired on NBCSN but was instead moved to USA Network due to the Olympics, and some coverage of the games usually seen on CNBC replaced with the first night of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show because of the yearly conflict with USA's WWE Monday Night Raw. A new online-network called "Gold Zone," which features rolling coverage of events in the style of NFL Network's RedZone Channel and ESPN Goal Line (and has been by coincidence hosted by Andrew Siciliano, who also hosts the NFL Sunday Ticket-exclusive version of RedZone for DirecTV), was also launched to provide coverage of the Games, which was retained for 2016's coverage.

In 2016, NBC began to offer 4K content on a delayed basis through participating service providers (particularly DirecTV, Dish Network, and Xfinity), downconverted from 8K footage filmed by NHK and OBS, with HDR and Dolby Atmos support. 86 hours of event footage was offered.[20][21] NBC affiliate WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina also carried this content via their experimental ATSC 3.0 digital signals.[22][23]

With the re-introduction of golf to the Olympics, Golf Channel was added to NBC's coverage, with Golf Channel on NBC providing production resources for the two tournaments on behalf of OBS.[24] The primetime block of NBC's coverage in 2016 also featured Descriptive Video Service through the SAP channel for the first time since the Federal Communications Commission was allowed to require broadcasters to expand their production and access to described programming for the blind and visually impaired (though live sporting events were not required under the guidelines, so NBC's effort is entirely voluntary).[25]

On July 15, 2017, Universal HD was relaunched as a localized version of Olympic Channel, airing coverage of Olympic sports outside of the Games.[26][27]

Mike Tirico era, emphasis on live coverage (2018–present)[]

In February 2017, Bob Costas stepped down as the main host of NBC's coverage, being replaced by former ESPN personality Mike Tirico.[28][29] On March 28, 2017, NBC announced that it would adopt a new format for its primetime coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics, with a focus on live coverage in all time zones to take advantage of Pyeongchang's 14-hour difference with U.S. Eastern Time, and to address criticism of its previous tape delay practices. As before, the primetime block began at 8:00 p.m ET/5:00 p.m PT, and unlike previous Olympics, was available for streaming. Event sessions in figure skating were deliberately scheduled with morning sessions so that they could air during primetime in the Americas (and in turn, NBC's coverage; due to the substantial fees NBC has paid for rights to the Olympics, the IOC has allowed NBC to have influence on event scheduling to maximize U.S. television ratings when possible; NBC agreed to a $7.75 billion contract extension on May 7, 2014, to air the Olympics through the 2032 games,[30] is also one of the major sources of revenue for the IOC).[12][31]

Coverage took a break in the east for late local news, after which coverage continued into "Primetime Plus", which featured additional live coverage into the Eastern late night and Western primetime hours. This was then followed by an encore of the Primetime block. NBCSN also broadcast live primetime blocks, and revived Olympic Ice to serve as a pre-show for figure skating coverage (hosted by Liam McHugh and Tanith White from Pyeongchang), alongside a digital-exclusive post-show hosted by Krista Voda from NBC Sports' headquarters.[32][33] On February 19, 2018, NBC began airing the Fallon Five, an abbreviated version of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, during the primetime block for the remaining weekdays of the Games.[34][35]

2022 Winter Olympics[]

The scheduling of the Games impacted the U.S. broadcast rights to the Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) and historically the most-watched television broadcast in the United States annually. The rights to the game rotate between CBS, Fox, and long-time Olympic broadcaster NBC; to prevent the Games from competing for viewership and advertising sales with Super Bowl LVI—which was scheduled for 13 February 2022 at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium—CBS and NBC announced in March 2019 that they would swap the rights for Super Bowl LVI and LV (2021), so that both the 2022 Winter Olympics and Super Bowl LVI would be broadcast by NBC.[36][37] In a break from the established practice of airing premieres or special episodes of television series after the Super Bowl to take advantage of its large audience, NBC aired its prime time coverage for Day 10 of the Games immediately following the game.[38] Furthermore, the NFL's new media rights beginning in 2023 (which extends the Super Bowl rotation to four networks) codifies this scenario, with all of NBC's future Super Bowl games being in Winter Olympic years (2026, 2030, and 2034).[39][40]

Due to COVID-19 protocol (including China's strict zero-COVID policy), NBC once again sent a smaller contingent of staff to Beijing, and all events were called remotely from its various facilities.[41] Mike Tirico anchored the opening weekend of the Games (including the opening ceremony) from Beijing, but traveled back to the United States on February 8 for logistical reasons, with the remainder of the Games (with exceptions) being anchored from Stamford. After that night's coverage was guest hosted by Craig Melvin and Maria Taylor, Tirico returned the following night.[42][43][44] He then traveled to Los Angeles to host NBC's coverage of Super Bowl LVI, and over Super Bowl weekend Tirico anchored the primetime block from an outdoor studio outside SoFi Stadium, before returning to Stamford for the remainder of the Games.[42][45] All events were streamed live on online platform Peacock.[46]

Coverage[]

Hours of Coverage[]

Winter Olympic Games[]

Year Host Hours of Coverage Rights Fee
1972 Sapporo, Japan 37[47] $6,500,000
2002 Salt Lake City, United States 375.5[48][49] $545,000,000
2006 Torino, Italy 416[48][50] $613,000,000
2010 Vancouver, Canada 835[51] $820,000,000
2014 Sochi, Russia 1539[52] $775,000,000
2018 Pyeongchang, South Korea 2400 $963,000,000
2022 Beijing, China 2800

Networks[]

Winter Olympic Games[]

Year Host Network(s)
1972 Sapporo, Japan NBC
2002 Salt Lake City, United States NBC (KSL-TV 5), CNBC, MSNBC[53]
2006 Torino, Italy NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, Universal HD, Telemundo
2010 Vancouver, Canada NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, Universal HD, Telemundo
2014 Sochi, Russia NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, NBCSN, USA Network, Telemundo, NBCOlympics.com
2018 Pyeongchang, South Korea NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, NBCSN, USA Network, Olympic Channel, Telemundo, NBCOlympics.com
2022 Beijing, China NBC, Peacock, USA Network, CNBC, NBCOlympics.com, NBC Sports app

Traditionally, NBC has primarily televised marquee sports in its Olympic coverage. When the network added coverage on its cable partners in 2000, it opened space to televise other sports. 2004 marked the first year that they televised all 28 sports in the Summer Games.[54] In 2008, aided with online streaming, NBC aired many of the events held at the Summer Games live.

Hosts[]

Winter Olympic Games[]

Year Prime-Time Host Daytime Host(s) Late-Night Host(s)
1972 Curt Gowdy
2002 Bob Costas
2006 Bob Costas
2010 Bob Costas
2014 Bob Costas
2018 Mike Tirico
2022 Mike Tirico
  1. Olympics and Television. Museum of Broadcast Communications.
  2. Imber, Gil. "London 2012: Power Ranking NBC's Best Olympics Broadcasters", Bleacher Report, June 26, 2012. 
  3. Kidd, Billy (February 1972). Ski Feb 1972. 
  4. "NBCUNIVERSAL'S OLYMPIC TRADITION", Sports Media News, February 8, 2018. 
  5. Mohler, Andy. "5 On Your Side and its place in St. Louis history", KSDK. 
  6. "2012 ISHA AWARDS", Skiing History, April 27, 2013. 
  7. "NBCUNIVERSAL'S OLYMPIC TRADITION", NBC Sports Group Press Box, August 1, 2016. 
  8. "Somerset Daily American Newspaper Archives January 29, 1972 Page 9", Somerset Daily American, January 29, 1972. 
  9. Prime time TV listings from Tuesday February 1, 1972.
  10. (2008) "Television Rights". ESPN Sports Almanac. 
  11. "NBC posts $223 million 1Q loss on Winter Olympics", April 17, 2010. 
  12. 12.0 12.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named mobile.nytimes.com
  13. 2004 Summer Olympics disappoints in HD and on the Web (23 August 2004).
  14. "Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski return to NBC in primetime for Winter Olympics figure skating coverage", Awful Announcing, 2017-11-16. (en-US) 
  15. 'Olympic Ice' relishes fun of Games.
  16. NBC to help affiliates localize Torino Olympics coverage. TVTechnology (December 9, 2005).
  17. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named adweek
  18. "Report: NBC Wins Latest Olympics TV Rights Bid", TV by the Numbers, June 7, 2011. 
  19. Ben Koo (February 27, 2013). LOOKING BACK AT NBC SPORTS NETWORK'S LACK OF GROWTH. AwfulAnnouncing.com.
  20. Spangler, Todd. "DirecTV, Dish, Comcast to Deliver NBC Rio Olympics Programming in 4K Ultra HD", Variety, 2016-07-27. (en-US) 
  21. Rio Olympics: NBC Plans 4K and High Dynamic Range for Opening Ceremony Coverage (26 May 2016).
  22. Cain, Brooke. "WRAL: ATSC 3.0 Next Generation TV delivers 4K ultra high-def", The News & Observer, 21 February 2018. 
  23. Greeley, Paul. "WRAL Shows Olympics In Next Gen TV Format", TVNewsCheck, 21 February 2018. 
  24. Olympic Broadcasting: Inside the Chief Executive's Office (11 July 2016).
  25. Comcast and NBC to Make the 2016 Summer Olympic Games Accessible to People with Vision Loss through Live Description. American Foundation for the Blind.
  26. Holloway, Daniel (January 25, 2017). Could End of NBCU's Esquire Network Foretell More Cable Culling?. Variety.
  27. Littleton, Cynthia (August 18, 2016). Participant's Pivot: Demise Reflects Niche Cable's Diminished Fortunes. Variety.
  28. Bob Costas steps down as NBC host of Olympics; Mike Tirico to replace him.
  29. Brennan: Bob Costas has been the face of the Olympics for Americans.
  30. "Olympics on NBC through 2032", May 7, 2014. 
  31. Longman, Jeré. "For Olympic Figure Skaters, a New Meaning to Morning Routine", The New York Times, 12 February 2018. (en-US) 
  32. NBC to Broadcast Winter Olympics Live Across All Time Zones (2017-03-28).
  33. "PyeongChang 2018: NBC To Air Live, Nightly Primetime Coverage Across All Time Zones; Will Live-Stream Opening Ceremony", Sports Video Group. (en) 
  34. NBC to Air Tonight-Lite in 2nd Week of Olympics (en) (8 February 2018).
  35. de Moraes, Lisa. "Paul Rudd Game For 'Tonight Show Fallon 5' Debut During PyeongChang Olympics", 2018-02-20. (en-US) 
  36. CBS, NBC in 'Freaky Friday' Super Bowl swap (en) (13 March 2019).
  37. Steinberg, Brian (13 March 2019). CBS, NBC to Swap Super Bowl Broadcasts (en).
  38. White, Peter (12 November 2021). NBC To Air Olympics Coverage After Super Bowl LVI (en-US).
  39. The NFL's new broadcast rights deals (23 March 2021).
  40. Reedy, Joe. "Super Bowl/Olympics Sunday about to become routine for NBC", 6 February 2022. “When the NFL's 11-year television contract starts in 2023, NBC's spot in the Super Bowl rotation lines up the same year as the Winter Olympics.” 
  41. Brennan, Christine. NBC won't send sports announcing teams to 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to COVID-19 (en-US).
  42. 42.0 42.1 Johnson, Ted (2022-02-07). NBC Sports' Mike Tirico Returning To U.S. From Beijing Earlier Than Planned; Will Cover Super Bowl From L.A. And Remainder Of Olympics From Stamford (en-US).
  43. Gardner, Steve. NBC's Mike Tirico to anchor network's Olympic, Super Bowl coverage simultaneously. USA Today.
  44. Mike Tirico will host Olympics from Beijing, then fly to LA for remote hosting and Super Bowl. Awful Announcing (2022-01-14).
  45. Hernández, Kristian (February 11, 2022). Live From Super Bowl LVI: Telemundo Deportes Brings Latin Flavor to Its First Over-the-Air Broadcast of the Big Game. Sports Video Group.
  46. Weprin, Alex (2022-01-05). NBCUniversal's Peacock to Stream All Winter Olympics Coverage Live (en-US).
  47. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Gallant
  48. 48.0 48.1 NBC ANNOUNCES UNPRECEDENTED COVERAGE OF THE 2006 TORINO OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES. US Olympic Team.
  49. Includes 207 hours on CNBC and MSNBC
  50. Includes 182.5 hours on NBC and 233.5 hours on CNBC, MSNBC and USA
  51. NBC Universal Announces Coverage Plans for 2010 Winter Olympics. Fang's Bites (January 14, 2010).
  52. Chad, Norman. "Sochi Olympics: Couch Slouch guide to NBC's 1,539 hours of Winter Games programming", January 19, 2014. 
  53. Sandomir, Richard. "SALT LAKE CITY 2002: THE 19TH OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES; Live (Mostly), Prime Time And Shorter", The New York Times, 2002-02-05. (en-US) 
  54. Volleyball Well Represented by NBC's Around-the-Clock Olympic TV Coverage. Olympic-USA.org.
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