Networking Opportunity: NBC Lays Out Coverage Of Turin Games

NBC, USA Network, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC HD and Universal HD will provide a Winter Games record of 416 hours of coverage of the Turin Games and telecast the most high-def coverage in Olympic history. The following details each network’s coverage:

NETWORK	TOTAL HOURS
NBC	182.5
USA	101.5
MSNBC	71
CNBC	61

NOTES: NBC will air 121.5 hours of original coverage. USA, MSNBC and CNBC will offer 233.5 total hours of coverage, of which over 75% will be live, up from 207 total hours on CNBC and MSNBC for the ’02 Salt Lake Games. USA will predominantly televise live coverage of U.S. teams competing in ice hockey and curling. MSNBC will show 24 hockey games including the men’s quarterfinals, semifinals and medal round. CNBC will feature curling during the week and hockey on weekends. NBC HD will telecast figure skating, hockey, speed skating, ski jumping, freestyle skiing and the Opening and Closing Ceremony. Universal HD will carry a live simulcast of some events shown on USA, MSNBC and CNBC. For the first time, NBC will provide free VOD highlights of its Olympic coverage. VOD offerings will feature over 12 hours of daily content including a ten-minute highlight clip and ten one-hour figure skating programs (NBC Universal).

ZONE DEFENSE: In L.A., Larry Stewart notes that despite the six-hour time difference between EST and Italy, “much of the coverage on NBC will be shown live in the East” while NBC’s primetime coverage “will be shown on a three-hour delay in the West.” NBC Universal Sports & Olympics Chair Dick Ebersol said that all 54 games of both men’s and women’s hockey will air live, marking the “first time in U.S. television history that the entire Olympic women’s tournament will be televised.” All U.S. Olympic hockey games “will be shown commercial-free and in their entirety” (L.A. TIMES, 1/11). The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s Paul Gough notes NBC networks televised 1,200 hours of coverage for the ’04 Athens Games, which “marked the first time [NBC] used such a wide range of its channels to provide 24-hour-a-day coverage.” NBC Olympics Exec VP David Neal: “That worked so well for us that we’re taking the same road map with the winter games.” But Gough adds there “won’t be 24-hour coverage for this Olympics because there aren’t that many live events” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 1/11).