NBCUniversal To Present Most Hours of Winter Olympics Coverage Ever From Sochi
NBCUniversal will up the ante on its Winter Olympics coverage in 2014, presenting a mind-bending 1,539-pluse hours of coverage from Sochi, Russia in February. The coverage slate – across marks the most hours ever for a Winter Olympics U.S. rights-holder and is more than the coverage of the previous two Winter Olympics from Vancouver (835 hours) and Torino (419) combined (1,254).
By the Numbers
NBC (185 hours), NBCSN (230), CNBC (36), MSNBC (45) and USA Network (43) will combine to televise 539 hours, while NBCOlympics.com and NBC Sports Live Extra will supply more than 1,000 hours of live streaming coverage. Over the 18 days of the Sochi Games (Feb. 6 – 23), NBCUniversal’s coverage will average over 85 hours per day.
Now in its 14th Olympic Games and eighth consecutive (by far the most ever by a U.S. rights holder), NBCUniversal will deliver 539 hours of television coverage, the most ever for a Winter Olympics, eclipsing Vancouver (436) in 2010.
NBC Leads the Charge in Daytime, Primetime
NBC Begins its 185 Hours of Coverage with in primetime on Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. ET – one night before the network’s traditional coverage of the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 7 – and continues until the Closing Ceremony on Feb. 23. Sochi marks the first time NBC will air Olympic primetime coverage before the Opening Ceremony.
NBC’s schedule is divided into three day parts – daytime, primetime and late night – for a total of 185 hours over 18 days.
NBC’s Primetime coverage will include figure skating, short track, speed skating, alpine skiing, snowboarding/freestyle, and more. Daytime coverage will include gold medal finals in 11 of the 15 Winter Olympic sports, including speed skating, short track, snowboarding and hockey. NBC will present coverage of the men’s and women’s ice hockey gold medal games live across all time zones (women’s gold medal game airs on Thursday, Feb. 20 at Noon ET/9 am PT and men’s gold medal game airs on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 6:30 a.m. ET/3:30 a.m. PT).
NBCSN To Present Most Hours of Any Network
NBCSN will present more than 230 hours of coverage the most Winter Olympic coverage ever on a cable network – including live figure skating for the first time, and serve as the home for Team USA. In addition to its extensive figure skating coverage, the network will feature live coverage of 10 more sports, including speed skating, bobsled, ski jumping, Nordic combined, and more.
NBCSN will air at least one gold medal final live each day through its 16 days of coverage. Most days, live coverage on NBCSN will begin at 3 a.m. ET and continue for 12 hours.
NBCSN’s complete live figure skating coverage begins February 8 at 9:30 a.m. ET with the team event, which makes its Olympic debut in Sochi. Following coverage of the team event, NBCSN will show every performance and every skater of the pairs, men’s, ice dancing and ladies competitions.
NBCSN will present 16 men’s live hockey games through the bronze medal game, including qualifying, playoff, quarterfinal and semifinal games. The network will air three Team USA qualifying-round games, including Team USA vs. Russia in men’s hockey on Feb. 15.
NBCSN’s women’s hockey coverage features seven live games through the semifinal round and the bronze medal game. Qualifying-round coverage is highlighted by three Team USA games, including Team USA vs. Canada on February 12 at 7:30 a.m. ET.
NBCSN will also present live coverage of 11 Olympic sports throughout the Games, including live gold medal coverage of events in bobsled, Nordic combined, cross-country skiing, speed skating, and ski jumping, including women’s ski jumping, which debuts as an event in Sochi.
The Best of the NBCU’s Rest
NBC Olympics will again utilize fully-distributed NBCUniversal cable channels CNBC, MSNBC, and USA Network to serve as Olympic platforms when they combine to televise 124 hours of live coverage from Sochi. CNBC will serve 36 hours of curling coverage through a daily weekday show. MSNBC will host 45 hours of live hockey and curling coverage over 12 days. USA Network will air live curling and hockey, including three Team Canada men’s hockey games, as part of its 43 hours of live programming.
NBCOlympics.com Bigger Than Ever in Sochi
NBCOlympics.com will provide more than 1,000 hours of live event competition from Sochi, including for the first time, live streaming coverage of all Winter Games competition, plus event rewinds and extensive video highlights. In addition, the site will offer more than 1,000 hours of on-demand access to full-event replays from broadcast and host-feed coverage of all 15 sports on the Winter Games program, as well as extensive highlights such as event recaps, best-of montages, commentator analysis and athlete-specific clips.
CLICK HERE for SVG’s further coverage of NBC’s streaming plans.
During the Sochi Olympics, and for the first time in the history of the Winter Games, all competition across all 15 sports, including each medal-winning performance in all 98 events, will be live streamed on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app. The vast majority of live streaming will only be available to authenticated cable, satellite or telco customers. NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app are the exclusive places to consume Olympic live streaming. The site will also feature exclusive content, real-time results, medal standings, event highlights and analysis, athlete interviews and profiles, and rewinds of all event coverage.