NBCU Announces Plans For Online, Mobile Coverage Of Olympics
NBC Universal will stream live a total of 2,200 hours of Beijing Games coverage on 20 concurrent streams in 25 sports on NBCOlympics.com, in addition to more than 3,000 hours of on-demand offerings on the site. Beginning August 6, fans who log on to the MSN homepage will have exclusive access to the online coverage. In addition, the NBC Olympics Mobile Web site's coverage will include live medal counts, results and schedules, TV listings, news and video (NBCU). The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Gough & Landreth report NBC's plan will "encompass many of the digital platforms in use today." The net also will "include fantasy and casual gaming, VOD and interactive TV, and major partners including Microsoft, Amazon Unbox and Schematic among others." NBCOlympics.com's player was "built by Schematic on the foundation of Microsoft's Silverlight 2 platform, an alternative to Adobe Flash." The player will be used for "viewers who want to choose from coverage of four live events." Schematic Founder & CEO Trevor Kaufman: "Every minute of every event is available through the player." Gough & Landreth note the player also offers a "continuous closed-caption stream of live commentary that viewers can read and navigate if they have the sound down." Meanwhile, for the first time, mobile "will play a big part," as the net's plans include a mobile Web site, text and e-mail alerts, mobile video and NBCOlympics 2Go, a "mobile channel with event coverage that runs" on NBC's family of stations. The ad-supported video downloads, which will have "major sponsors," will be available for fans running Microsoft Vista Media Center through TVTonic.com, a media service from Wavexpress. Using TVTonic requires Windows Media Center. TVTonic users can "select from among the most popular sports ... all of which they'll be able to organize, pause, rewind, fast forward and rewatch" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 7/29).
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Williams (l) And Lauer To Be Part Of
NBC's Contigent On Location In Beijing |
SPANNING THE GLOBE: The AP's David Bauder reported NBC News is sending several on-air personalities to Beijing, including Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Ann Curry, Lester Holt, Richard Engels and Kevin Tibbles. NBC Sports & Olympics Chair Dick Ebersol said that the net is "ready to cover stories as they come up, but 'we're not going to cavalierly ... blow out sporting events to show news.'" NBC's biggest news presence will be on the "Today" show, which "will bring its full team" of Lauer, Vieira, Curry and Al Roker. NBC News President Steve Capus, who also will travel to Beijing, said that the show "will broadcast from the Olympic Green, which gives easy access to athletes." Williams will anchor some "Nightly News" telecasts from Beijing, while Brokaw will "contribute historical vignettes." Due to the time difference, "Nightly News" will be shot at dawn, and "Today" will film at sundown. Meanwhile, CBS considered sending "Early Show" anchor Harry Smith to Beijing, but instead is sending reporter Barry Petersen. ABC "World News" weekend anchor David Muir is the net's "biggest name heading to Asia," and Fox News' Dana Lewis will be the net's only rep in Beijing. CNN is "largely handling the story through its Beijing bureau, keeping [host] Anderson Cooper at home" (AP, 7/28).
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