NBCUniversal yesterday unveiled its plans for an unprecedented 6,755 hours of programming for the Rio Games. NBC will broadcast 260.5 hours of coverage, including Opening and Closing Ceremonies, swimming, gymnastics, and track and field. NBCU will present 2,084 hours of Olympic linear programming across 11 networks: NBC, Telemundo, Bravo, CNBC, Golf Channel, MSNBC, NBCSN, NBC Universo and USA Network; plus two specialty channels provided to distribution partners, one each for basketball and soccer. NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app will live stream 4,500 total hours -- including all Olympic competition for the third consecutive Olympics. NBC will produce 1,220 hours more for Rio than it did for London in '12 (5,535). Bob Costas will once again anchor NBC's primetime coverage, while Ryan Seacrest will host late-night programming. Al Michaels will serve as the NBC daytime host while Dan Patrick and Rebecca Lowe will work daytime across both NBC and NBCSN. Daytime and late-night programming will originate from a studio at Rio's Copacabana Beach. NBCSN will showcase USA women's soccer, as well as USA men's and women's basketball. Golf Channel will present 115 hours of tournament golf programming. Bravo will once again be home to tennis (NBCUniversal). VARIETY's Brian Steinberg noted for "most days, NBC primetime programming will air" from 8:00pm ET to midnight; daytime will run from 10:00am-5:00pm; and late night will air from 12:35am-1:35am. Replays of coverage "will fill slots" between 1:35am-4:30am. Essentially, aside from "Today," "NBC Nightly News" and some hours from local stations, NBC "will feature Olympics events and features nearly around the clock." NBCU can take advantage with the Olympics "taking place in a time zone closer" to the U.S. (VARIETY.com, 6/28).
ANCHOR MAN: Asked about the biggest changes that he has seen over the years in Olympic coverage, Costas said, "The scope. ... In Barcelona, we had some 90 hours and people marveled at that ... And it's not just because of the multiple platforms and the additional hours of the day in prime time, but also because of the internet and NBCOlympics.com and all the ways you can tap into it, and then people sharing and commenting on it on social media. It's all pervasive." Most of the primetime coverage during Rio will be live instead of pre-taped, and on the difference that makes for broadcasting, Costas said, "You can either have in mind what you're going to ad-lib, or in some cases you can have it written. But, in other cases it's just kind of on the fly. The traffic copping, reacting or shaping stories, or something comes out of left field -- you've got to be able to do it. It's a little bit more of a high-wire act." When asked how many more Olympics he wants to be part of, Costas said, "I'm just taking it on a case-by-case basis. We'll see what happens after this one. NBC has been nice enough to let me and the public know that it's up to me. I can stay as long as I like, as long as I can still do the job" (ADWEEK, 6/27 issue).
HOOP DREAMS: VARIETY's Andrew Wallenstein wrote the roster for the U.S. men's basketball team may come as a disappointment to some, but no one "should feel more let down than NBCUniversal." There could be a "reduced interest in a sport that is typically one of the marquee attractions for the Summer Games." The absence of too many superstars "will take a bit of the shine off of what will undoubtedly be a sport that will figure heavily in primetime coverage, particularly on broadcast network NBC." NBCU was "hoping for the kind of 'Dream Team' that drove huge hype" in '92 (VARIETY.com, 6/27).
CABLE CAPABILITY: THE ATLANTIC's Matt Thompson noted Comcast Chair & CEO Brian Roberts in a panel on Monday at the Aspen Ideas Festival "touted how a plurality of Comcast's Xfinity customers will be able to experience the Olympics on their TVs." Roberts "painted a vision of how NBC and Comcast are taking advantage of the biggest live event of the year." Comcast is viewing the Rio Games as an "opportunity to demonstrate to cable subscribers the features of its new X1 set-up boxes, which will offer access to a searchable database of real-time, high-definition Olympics streams." Roberts said, "The Olympics to me are a bit of a laboratory for where the future of television could very well be going." Roberts said that the Olympic experience on X1 will "showcase the power of massive, integrated, media-and-technology empire to deliver comprehensive coverage of what he expects will be 'the largest event in television history.'" The Rio Games will be in part a "test of how well Comcast and NBC have refashioned themselves to compete with this era's upstarts" (THEATLANTIC.com, 6/28).
