With control of an all-sports cable channel for the first time, NBC Sports is planning to offer more coverage of the U.S. Olympic Trials than ever before. NBC and NBC Sports Network will be the only networks carrying 47 hours of live Trials coverage and 20.5 hours of tape-delayed coverage. The biggest beneficiary will be swimming, which will see every night of its trials broadcast live in primetime on NBC. The 67.5 total hours of coverage is the most ever for NBC and its networks, and marks a 38% increase from the 49 hours of Trials offered before the '08 Beijing Games across NBC’s family of networks such as USA Network and MSNBC. Trials coverage will begin Sunday, April 22, on NBC Sports Network with wrestling and end July 8 with the U.S. Women’s Water Polo team against the Chinese team. During the three months of coverage, NBC will offer 15 hours of live coverage in primetime. Swimming will be shown every night live during the week of June 25 and track & field, swimming and gymnastics will receive four hours of live primetime coverage on Sunday, July 1 (Mickle & Ourand, SportsBusiness Journal).
DIFFERENT THIS TIME AROUND: NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel said of this year’s Games, “The host city and host country are often very important parts of what makes up the fabric of our coverage. … London and the UK obviously hold a very special place in the lives of Americans.” He added, “And then there’s a great Olympic history in London, and a great Olympic history to the British athlete. All of that will be brought to light and given great context to bring to life what will happen today, as we tell the stories that we love to tell.” He spoke about the network broadcasting the Games for the first time without former NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebersol. Zenkel: “We’re all still here and we respect the way in which we have presented the Olympics, that generally will not change. What I will say, is that our coverage has always changed. Technology has given us the opportunity to present more coverage to make it available on more platforms at more times of the day. We have acquired cable networks and now we have been acquired by Comcast that has more cable networks and more technology and so our coverage will continue to evolve as it always has. As media evolves as technology evolves as NBC University evolves but the fundamental way in which we produce and present the Olympics will not change.” He added that new NBC Sports Chair Mark Lazarus “is fully supportive of our Olympic efforts.” Zenkel: “He moved us ahead by quickly declaring that every event will be live on at least one platform from London until 2020. But the core production values that we have always employed in our presentation of the Games, such as storytelling, will never change” (AROUNDTHERINGS.com, 4/3).
SEACREST, IN: TV and radio host Ryan Seacrest today said that he "would be joining the NBC family as part of its primetime coverage" of the London Games. He said, "It's been something that I've been very much looking forward to and I'll be doing a lot of fun things at NBC and this is the first of it, the Olympics." He said that he will "continue to have a role at E!, where he currently hosts 'E! News,'" though he did not "specify what that role would be" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 4/4).
