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NBC Olympic broadcasts
File:Olympics on NBC logo.jpg
GenreOlympics telecasts
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons14
Production
Production locationsVarious Olympic venues (event telecasts and studio segments)
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running timeVaries
Production companiesNBC Olympics, LLC
(NBC Sports Group)
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseOctober 10, 1964 (1964-10-10) –
present

The Olympics on NBC is the de facto branding for broadcasts of Summer and Winter Olympic Games produced by NBC Sports. The sports division's coverage of the Olympic Games consists of broadcasts on the various networks of NBCUniversal in the United States, including the NBC broadcast network, Spanish language network Telemundo, and many of the company's cable networks.

The event telecasts during the Olympics air primarily in the evening and on weekend afternoons on NBC, with varying times on the other networks (after the close of the stock market day on CNBC for instance, the early mornings on MSNBC, and overnights on the USA Network). The USA Network broadcasts were later transferred to the new NBC Sports Network, beginning with the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The on-air title of the telecasts, as typically announced at the start of each broadcast and during sponsor billboards, is always the official name of the games in question – for example, The Games of the XXIX Olympiad for the 2008 Summer Games. However, promotional logos may reflect the more common location-and-year name format, such as "Beijing 2008".

NBC has held the American broadcasting rights to the Summer Olympic Games since the 1988 games and the rights to the Winter Olympic Games since the 2002 games. In 2011, NBC agreed to a $4.38 billion contract with the International Olympic Committee to broadcast the Olympics through the 2020 games, the most expensive television rights deal in Olympic history.[1] On May 7, 2014, NBC agreed to a $7.75 billion contract extension to air the Olympics through the 2032 games.[2]

NBC also acquired the American television rights to the Youth Olympic Games, beginning in 2014,[3] and the Paralympic Games for the 2014 and 2016 editions.[4]

History

Early coverage

1964 Summer Olympics

NBC televised its first Olympic Games in 1964, when it broadcast that year's Summer Olympics from Tokyo. The network did this with the aid of the Syncom 3 satellite for direct broadcasts. NBC's telecast of the opening ceremonies that year marked the first color broadcast televised live via satellite back to the United States.[5]

The Olympic competition itself was broadcast in black-and-white. Through its use of the Syncom 3 satellite, a daily highlights package could be seen a few hours after the events took place; otherwise, videotape canisters were flown across the Pacific Ocean and were broadcast to American viewers the following day.[6]

Serving as anchor was Bill Henry, then NBC News Tokyo bureau chief, who had extensive experience in both print and broadcast news. Play-by-play commentators included Bud Palmer and Jim Simpson.

1972 Winter Olympics

NBC first televised the Winter Olympic Games in 1972.[7] Anchored by Curt Gowdy, much of the coverage actually was broadcast live since alpine skiing and long track speed skating were held in the morning, which corresponded to prime time on the East Coast of the U.S.

A young sportscaster making his network television debut at Sapporo was a 26-year-old Al Michaels, who did hockey play-by-play during the games. Eight years later, he would call the famous 1980 "Miracle On Ice" at that year's Winter Games in Lake Placid for ABC Sports.

1980 Summer Olympic boycott

NBC had won the U.S. broadcast rights for the 1980 Summer Olympics, but when the United States Olympic Committee kept U.S. athletes home to honor the boycott announced by President Jimmy Carter, the telecasts were greatly scaled back. In the end, what had been 150 hours of scheduled coverage, had substantially decreased to just a few hours. Highlights were fed to local NBC stations for use on their local newscasts. Many affiliates, however, refused to show the Olympic highlights on their local news or clear airtime for the few hours of coverage NBC did present.

NBC's extensive coverage was canceled before a prime time anchor had been named; it was said that NBC Nightly News anchor John Chancellor (who formerly served as a Moscow bureau chief for NBC News), along with sportscasters Bryant Gumbel[8][9] and Dick Enberg, were reportedly being considered for the prime time studio host role.

1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul

NBC then bid for, and won, the rights to show the 1988 Summer Olympics. Network officials convinced the organizers in Seoul to stage most of its gold-medal finals in the afternoon, which corresponded to prime time of the previous night in the United States (due to both South Korea being located near the western border of the International Date Line, in addition to the differences in time zones).

Today co-anchor Bryant Gumbel was the prime time host[10] that year; Bob Costas hosted the late-night show while Jane Pauley was one of the hosts of early-morning coverage. Gumbel and Dick Enberg were co-hosts for the opening and closing ceremonies.

A curious result was that, since in the United States, the 1988 NFL season had just started, NBC would plug the holes (primarily play-by-play broadcasters) with well-known older broadcasters such as Curt Gowdy, Ray Scott and Merle Harmon, among others.

Breaking news and 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics

Just as his mentor Roone Arledge had before over at ABC, Dick Ebersol, who took over NBC Sports in 1989, decided to make the Olympics a staple of his network's sports television schedule. NBC continued its Summer Games coverage into the next decade, with both the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the 1996 Summer Games[11][12] in Atlanta. Like with Arledge (who had to deal with the Munich massacre during the 1972 Summer Games), Ebersol had to deal with breaking news coverage during the Games.

During the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in 1996, NBC suspended its coverage of a volleyball game taped earlier that evening to broadcast NBC News coverage for several hours commercial-free. Bob Costas, who served as late night anchor during the 1988 Seoul Olympics, made his debut as prime time host in 1992. NBC placed a then-record bid of $401 million for the television rights to the 1992 Summer Olympics.[13]

Cable and satellite services become involved

To help offset the increasing costs of broadcast rights, NBC turned to cable and satellite services to help provide additional coverage. In 1992, NBC teamed up with Cablevision to launch the Triplecast, which provided three pay-per-view channels that each offered separate event telecasts that supplemented NBC's regular coverage. However, the package was deemed a major failure and NBC lost over $100 million on the venture; there was no supplemental coverage from Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics.

2000s

Olympic coverage in the 2000s revolved around two major storylines:

  • NBC became the sole U.S. rights holder for the Olympic Games for the entire decade. The network could rightly boast of being "America's Olympic Network" as it made the longest and most expensive commitment ever since the Olympics were first presented on television. For the 1996 Summer Games, and all Games from 2000 to 2008, NBC paid a total of $3.5 billion, mostly to the International Olympic Committee but also to the United States Olympic Committee and local organizers. In 2006, NBC paid another $2.2 billion to purchase the rights to the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics[14] but lost $223 million on the 2010 broadcasts.[15]
  • The rise of various media platforms extended the reach and availability of Olympic Games coverage. NBC returned to supplemental cable/satellite coverage in 2000, with some events airing on CNBC and MSNBC; traditionally CNBC has mainly aired coverage of boxing events. In 2004, it added USA Network, Bravo and Telemundo, all of which parent company NBC Universal had acquired earlier in the decade. In 2006, Universal HD was added to the list of channels carrying the Games. Finally, in 2008, events were streamed live for the first time on the Internet through the NBCOlympics.com website (also in 2008, Oxygen replaced Bravo as a supplemental network, and NBC launched high-definition channels dedicated to the basketball and soccer competitions). The 2010 Games added then-digital multicast network Universal Sports, which carried analysis programs about events, while Oxygen and Bravo were completely excluded to maintain their schedules.

Comcast acquisition of NBC (2011–present)

In 2011, Comcast acquired majority control of NBC's parent company NBC Universal from General Electric (whose remaining interest Comcast later acquired in 2012); on June 6, 2011, NBCUniversal announced that it had acquired the television rights for the 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 Olympics, beating out ESPN/ABC and Fox. The entire package was worth $4.38 billion, making it the most expensive television rights deal in Olympic history. NBC paid $775 million for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and $1.23 billion for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. NBC also paid $963 million for the rights to the 2018 Winter Olympics (to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea) and $1.45 billion for the 2020 Summer Olympics (in Tokyo, Japan).

In response to criticism it received during previous Olympics, NBC also announced that beginning in 2012, it planned to broadcast all events live through either television or digital platforms. Additionally, the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN; formerly Versus, which became a part of NBC Sports following the acquisition) also added coverage of the Olympics beginning with the 2012 London Games, with an emphasis on team sports.[1][16][17] NBCSN became the highlighted cable network for coverage, replacing both USA Network, which would maintain their regular entertainment schedule during the games. The 2012 Summer Games also saw Universal HD removed from the company's cable/satellite coverage. Bravo aired supplemental coverage (mainly the tennis tournament) in place of Oxygen, with Universal Sports again solely providing analysis and pay television providers again carrying dedicated HD basketball and soccer networks.

The 2014 Winter Games again saw NBCSN as the highlighted cable network, though NBCUniversal's cable networks had additional complications due to NBC's weekend coverage of the Premier League, which usually airs on NBCSN but was instead moved to USA Network due to the Olympics, and some coverage of the games usually seen on CNBC replaced with the first night of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show because of the yearly conflict with USA's WWE Monday Night Raw. A new online-network called "Gold Zone," which features rolling coverage of events in the style of NFL Network's RedZone Channel and ESPN Goal Line, was also launched to provide coverage of the Games.

With the addition of golf to the 2016 Rio Olympics for the first time since the turn of the 20th century, NBC's Golf Channel will join the coverage fold for the first time to cover up to 300 hours of the tourney, with 130 of those hours live.[18] NBC Universo also joined the list of broadcasters as a second Spanish-language network for the Games and NBC Universal added connected-TV devices streaming for the first time.[19]

The primetime block of NBC's coverage in 2016 also features Descriptive Video Service through the SAP channel for the first time since the Federal Communications Commission was allowed to require broadcasters to expand their production and access to described programming for the blind and visually impaired (though live sporting events were not required under the guidelines, so NBC's effort is entirely voluntary).[20] Other channels will feature Spanish language audio through the SAP channel.

Local coverage

Since the 2006 Winter Olympics, local affiliates have often aired a half-hour program preceding prime time coverage called The Olympic Zone, which features a mix of locally produced Olympian profiles and content mixed with promotional materials and stories from the NBC News Channel affiliate news service. The program is modeled on a similar program, O-Zone, that aired on NBC affiliate KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California, during the 2004 Summer Olympics.[21][22]

Hours of coverage

Year Host Hours of Coverage Main article
1964 Summer Tokyo, Japan 15 hours overall.[23]
1972 Winter Sapporo, Japan 37[23]
1980 Summer Moscow, Soviet Union primarily highlights (6 hours of highlights)[23]
1988 Summer Seoul, South Korea 179.5[24]
1992 Summer Barcelona, Spain 161[25] + 1080 on Triplecast[26]
1996 Summer Atlanta, United States 171[27]
2000 Summer Sydney, Australia 441.5[27]
2002 Winter Salt Lake City, United States 375.5[28][29]
2004 Summer Athens, Greece 1210[27][30]
2006 Winter Torino, Italy 416[28][31]
2008 Summer Beijing, China 3600[24] 2008 Summer Olympics on NBC
2010 Winter Vancouver, Canada 835[32]
2012 Summer London, United Kingdom 5535[33]
2014 Winter Sochi, Russia 1539[34]
2016 Summer Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 6755

Traditionally, NBC has primarily televised marquee sports in its Olympic coverage. When the network added coverage on its cable partners in 2000, it allowed them to televise other sports. 2004 marked the first year that they televised all 28 sports in the Summer Games.[35] In 2008, aided with online streaming, NBC aired many of the events held at the summer games live.

Commentators

Main article: Olympics on NBC commentators

Music

The main theme of the Olympic coverage is "Bugler's Dream," composed by Leo Arnaud. It debuted on ABC in 1964 for that year's Winter Games in Innsbruck, was used for all ten Olympics carried by that network, and was first used by NBC in 1992, when NBC bought the performance rights and commissioned its own version. Other songs used on NBC include compositions from John Williams (including "Olympic Fanfare and Theme,"[36] "The Olympic Spirit",[37] "Summon the Heroes,"[38] and "Call of the Champions"), David Arkenstone and John Tesh (whose "Roundball Rock", best remembered as the theme for NBC's NBA coverage during the 1990s and early 2000s, was added to the basketball coverage in 2008). During the announcements of upcoming events, NBC has used the Randy Edelman-composed theme song from the short-lived Fox series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr..[39] The theme was also used for NBC's Major League Baseball coverage from the start of the 1996 postseason through the 1998 All-Star Game.

On July 14, 2016, NBC announced that it will use singer Katy Perry's song "Rise" as an anthem for its coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics.[40][41]

Criticism

Tape delay

NBC has been regularly criticized for its tape delayed Olympics coverage. In 1992, Terry O'Neil, then-executive producer of NBC Sports, coined the phrase "plausibly live" to describe their practice of making the taped broadcasts appear as if they were being aired live.[42] However, because of the way it has edited and broadcast its tape delayed coverage, as opposed to airing most events live and largely unedited, NBC has been accused of treating the Olympics more as reality television than a news or sports event.[43][44]

During the 2000 Summer Olympics, every event shown on NBC and its cable channels was shown on a tape delay due to the time difference between the United States and Sydney, Australia, with the exception of the Men's Gold Medal basketball game.[45][46]

2010 Winter Olympics

Although the 2010 Winter Olympics were being held in Vancouver, three hours behind New York City, as previously done with their Olympic coverage, NBC delayed the broadcast of high-profile events held during the day to air in prime time. As a result, almost none of the popular alpine events were shown live.[47] NBC executives explained that this was done because of the higher viewership with coverage in the evening hours. Nevertheless, the 2010 Winter Olympics were assumed to be a financial disaster for NBC, as the network was expected to lose about $200 million after overpaying for the broadcasting rights.[48]

This tape delay practice, even for major events, became increasingly frustrating with viewers, especially with the increased usage of social networking and websites (including the official Vancouver 2010 site and NBC's Olympic website) posting results in real time.[49] This especially held true for viewers in the Pacific, Mountain, Hawaii and Alaska Time Zones, where events were delayed even further by three to six hours or more.[50] The usage of tape delays were particularly frustrating for those in the Pacific Time Zone, as Vancouver not only lies in that time zone, but is in extremely close proximity to the United States – just north of the United States border (with Vancouver being an approximately 2½-hour drive from Seattle).

As a result, these practices spurred outrage from viewers and media analysts voicing their opinions on the internet and even raising concerns from politicians.[51] This controversy came mere days following the controversial resolution of the 2010 Tonight Show host and timeslot conflict, which further damaged NBC's already broken image.[52]

In the past, American viewers who lived close to the Canadian border were able to get around waiting for NBC to air an event by watching Olympic coverage on CBC Television. However, rights to the 2010 games in Canada moved over to CTV, which was not available on many cable systems in the northern U.S. due to programming redundancies during primetime between CTV and the American broadcast networks.[53]

2012 Summer Olympics

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, NBC offered live streaming coverage on its Olympics website through a partnership with YouTube, which provided the opportunity to see all events live.[54] NBC also used a mixture of live and tape delayed coverage for its television broadcast due to London being five hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone. Events contested earlier in the day were able to be shown live on one of the NBCUniversal-owned cable networks. However, events that traditionally draw better ratings, such as swimming, artistic gymnastics, and track and field, were still tape delayed and aired during prime time on NBC. Those events drew their traditionally high ratings, but arguments were lodged about not having the option to watch these events live on television.

Furthermore, members of the U.S. Military were forced to watch the delayed NBC feed despite being within a few hours of the time zones of the event. American Forces Network was contractually hindered by Department of Defense regulations only allowing American feeds of broadcasts to ensure a feel of the broadcast that could be had in the U.S. Additionally, AFN had an agreement with the International Olympic Committee and NBC to only use NBC feeds of the event. Many soldiers in Europe felt slighted by the delays, given comparable local country stations aired the Olympics live on public television feeds as some events aired late at night or early in the morning on AFN.[55]

In a Gallup Poll held during the 2012 Olympics, many indicated that they did not mind the tape delaying for the nighttime window. However, the complaint lodged by the subjects in the poll was that NBC should show the events live on one of their networks, as well as show it in prime time on NBC.[56]

2014 Winter Olympics

For its coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics, NBC streamed every competition live. However, only existing cable and satellite customers, specifically subscribing to packages that include NBC's sister cable networks (under the TV Everywhere initiative, which is marketed by NBC-owned cable networks as of January 2015 under the "TV Without the TV" banner), could access the service.[57][58] The Canadian Press reported that frustrated viewers were purchasing VPN services to access Canadian IP addresses so they could stream CBC Sports' live coverage instead (which is normally free for those in Canada).[59]

This time, some events that traditionally draw higher ratings were first aired live on one of NBC's sister cable networks (such as NBCSN), and then a tape-delayed version was broadcast on NBC in primetime. For coverage of the popular figure skating events, there were two sets of commentators: Terry Gannon, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir announced NBCSN's live broadcast; and Tom Hammond, Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic anchored the tape-delayed coverage on NBC. Invariably, comparisons were made between the two announcing teams.[60]

NBC was criticized over the way its tape-delayed primetime coverage handled the news of Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko's withdrawal from competition due to injury. Hours after he announced his withdrawal, NBC continued to air promotions for its primetime show still stating that he would skate in the event.[61][62]

NBC also used the 2014 Winter Olympics to premiere Jimmy Fallon's version of The Tonight Show; during the second week of the games, late-night coverage did not begin until after Fallon ended (whereas during the first week, late-night coverage immediately followed late-night local newscasts).

2016 Summer Olympics

For the 2016 Summer Olympics, NBC aired all of the competition live, however, like the 2014 Winter Olympics, Cable and Satellite customers can only access the games live, forcing Cord Cutters to invest in SlingTV, PlayStation Vue, or use VPN Services to see the games.[63] Although the location is just one hour ahead of Eastern Time, NBC continued to tape delay some events.

Opening and closing ceremonies

2010 Closing Ceremony

During the closing ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics, NBC went into an intermission of coverage at the end of the cultural section at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time, to broadcast the premiere episode of The Marriage Ref, and broadcast the remaining portion of the ceremonies of Closing Party on tape delay at 11:35 p.m. Eastern Time after late-evening local newscasts.[64] This spawned outbursts from upset viewers, especially on Twitter.[65]

During the remaining portion after the "intermission," several performances including Francophone Quebec singer, Garou, were not shown at all even though several other countries broadcast the performance in its entirety. In the U.S., three minutes of commercials were shown in place of his performance.[66] He sang "Un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin" (A Little Higher, A Little Further),[67] written by Jean-Pierre Ferland.

2012 Opening Ceremony

NBC faced a barrage of criticism following its broadcast of the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony.

British news media lambasted NBC's decision to cut a tribute to the victims of the July 7, 2005 London bombings, calling it an "outrage."[68] In response to the criticism, NBC spokesman Greg Hughes said, "Our programming is tailored for the U.S. audience. It's a tribute to (opening ceremony producer) Danny Boyle that it required so little editing."[69]

The commentary – particularly that of Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer – was also criticized as "ignorant" and "banal". They admitted to not knowing who World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee was, and described Madagascar as "a country associated with a few animated movies". Australia was introduced as a former penal colony, and a joke about the former despotic dictator, Idi Amin, was used to describe Uganda by Bob Costas. Kazakhstan was introduced with comments about the March 2012 incident at the H.H. The Amir of Kuwait International Shooting Grand Prix in Kuwait, in which the mock Kazakhstan anthem from the film Borat was mistakenly played for gold medallist Maria Dmitrenko, and another eastern European country introduced as having no chance of winning medals in that year's Olympics.[70][71][72][73][74]

NBC also found itself on the defensive over its tape-delayed broadcast of the Opening Ceremony. American viewers took to Twitter to express their dismay at having to wait 3½ hours (6½ hours in the Pacific Time Zone) to see the opening event of the London Olympics.[75] Most of the Twitter posts centered around NBC not offering online streaming of the Opening Ceremonies for U.S. viewers who wanted to watch the event live.[76] Americans were forced to watch online streams of the ceremonies provided by either BBC or CTV if they elected to watch it live. These failings were picked up during the NBC broadcast by Twitter users with the hashtag #nbcfail.[77]

NBC spokesman Christopher McCloskey said, in a statement, "It was never our intent to live stream the Opening Ceremony or Closing Ceremony. They are complex entertainment spectacles that do not translate well online because they require context, which our award-winning production team will provide for the large prime-time audiences that gather together to watch them."[78] McCloskey's statement was roundly ridiculed by media observers and Olympics enthusiasts.[79]

Despite these issues, the Nielsen ratings for the coverage set a record for an Olympics held outside of the United States. The ceremonies drew a 23.0 rating, which was a 7% increase over the 2008 Opening Ceremony in Beijing.[80]

2012 Closing Ceremony

Due in part to lingering criticism from social media outlets like Twitter, NBC made a last-minute decision to reverse course and stream the Closing Ceremony live on NBCOlympics.com.[81] However, when it aired on television, the Closing Ceremonies were heavily edited for time. The ceremony in London lasted three hours, eight minutes and ten seconds; NBC's broadcast of the closing ceremony, by comparison, featured more than 51 minutes and 23 seconds of cuts – 27% of the entire closing ceremony – including delaying the broadcast of the final hour in order to insert a preview episode of a new fall series and local newscasts.[82]

The medal ceremony for the men's marathon, a tribute thanking the Olympic volunteers, and musical performances by Muse, Kate Bush and Ray Davies were not shown.[83] NBC interrupted the closing ceremony before The Who took stage to air a sneak preview of the sitcom Animal Practice and late local newscasts. Again, American viewers expressed their dismay using social media.[84] Bob Costas himself criticized the decision when appearing on TBS' Conan in September 2012: "So here is the balance NBC has to consider: The Who, 'Animal Practice.' Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend -- monkey in a lab coat. I'm sure you'd be the first to attest, Conan, that when it comes to the tough calls, NBC usually gets 'em right," Costas said, alluding at the end to show host Conan O'Brien's involvement in the 2010 Tonight Show conflict.[85]

2014 Opening Ceremony

Ignoring past criticisms, NBC again tape-delayed the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics, and refused to broadcast it live on any platform. NBC Sports chairman Mark Lazarus explained that the delay was so they could "put context to it, with the full pageantry it deserves".[86]

NBC again made cuts during its telecast, including the removal of a segment featuring animatronic versions of the Games' mascots, and a video segment documenting the torch relay. NBC's most significant edits included the removal of the taking of the Olympic oaths, and an entire passage discussing discrimination and equality was removed from IOC President Thomas Bach's speech.[87][88]

2014 closing ceremony

Like in 2012, NBC streamed the closing ceremony in Sochi live on NBCOlympics.com,[89] but also cut several portions during its tape-delayed primetime telecast. This time, NBC decided against interrupting its coverage midway through the ceremony like it did in 2010 and 2012, and instead aired its scheduled sneak preview episode of the sitcom Growing Up Fisher after the broadcast at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time.[90] However, that meant that NBC only scheduled a two-hour window for their tape-delayed coverage of the ceremony, between a 90-minute documentary on Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan that aired from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern, and the Growing Up Fisher preview.[91]

2016 opening ceremony

Despite occurring in a location that is only one hour ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, NBC has confirmed that it would continue its practice of tape delaying the opening ceremony broadcast for the United States audience. NBC Sports head Mark Lazarus stated that the delay was in order to allow "context" to be added to the broadcast for a U.S. audience. The ceremony began at 7:00 p.m. ET, but was delayed to 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. Although it is the first time that NBC has offered a live stream of the Opening Ceremonies, all online streams offered by NBC were also delayed.[92][93] NBC was also widely criticized for frequent advertising breaks during their coverage, with six breaks amounting to 14 minutes of commercials in the first 40 minutes of the ceremony. The frequent ads were also said to disrupt the pace of the ceremony.[94]

John Miller, NBC Chief Marketing Officer, also added that NBC would tape delay the Olympics because the people who watch the Olympics are "not particularly sports fans". He added, "More women watch the Games than men, and for the women, they're less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It's sort of like the ultimate reality show and mini-series wrapped into one." Miller's comments were deemed sexist and received heavy criticism on social media.[95]

Unlike in 2012, viewership for the Opening Ceremonies via NBC went down to an average of 19.5 million viewers between 8 to 11 PM, a 32% decrease.[96]

2012 Paralympics

Despite the 2012 Summer Paralympics being a breakthrough games for international media coverage, helping significantly boost overall audience shares for British broadcaster Channel 4 and Australia's ABC,[97][98] no Paralympics events were shown live on television in the United States. International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven criticized North American broadcasters, and NBC specifically, for having fallen behind the times[99] and said that the International Paralympic Committee would scrutinize its broadcast partners more carefully in the future. "If the values fit, we've got a chance. If they don't we'll go somewhere else," he said.[100]

In September 2013, NBC subsequently acquired the rights to the 2014 and 2016 Paralympics, and announced plans to air a combined 116 hours of coverage from both Games. Craven praised NBC's decision to devote a relatively larger amount of airtime to future Paralympics, sharing his hope that U.S. audiences would be "as captivated and emotionally enthralled as the billions around the world who tuned in to London 2012 last summer."[101]

2014 Bode Miller Interview

On February 16, while covering the Winter Olympics in Sochi as a reporter on alpine skiing, former women's silver medalist Christin Cooper received criticism for her interview with Bode Miller after his bronze medal win in the men's super G event. During the post-event interview, as Miller became increasingly emotional, Cooper repeatedly questioned him about his late brother Chelone, who had died the previous April at the age of 29, until Miller broke down in tears and was unable to continue the interview. For her pressing of the issue, Cooper was described as having badgered Miller. NBC also received criticism for keeping the cameras on Miller, who sagged on the railing and cried without speaking, for more than a full minute, despite having had several hours in which to edit the footage before airing it.[102][103] Later that evening, Miller tweeted his fans should "be gentle" with Cooper, as it was "not at all her fault," and "she asked the questions every interviewer would have." The following morning on Today, Miller reiterated his support for Cooper, saying, "I have known Christin a long time, and she's a sweetheart of a person. I know she didn't mean to push. I don't think she really anticipated what my reaction was going to be, and I think by the time she realized it, it was too late. I don't blame her at all."[104]

See also

Notes

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  2. ^ "Olympics on NBC through 2032". USA Today. Gannett Company. May 7, 2014.
  3. ^ "Youth Olympics on NBC through 2032". NBC Sports. August 12, 2014.
  4. ^ "Paralympics on NBC in 2014 and 2016". NBC Sports. September 24, 2013.
  5. ^ "Television Sports Milestones: A Chronology of an Industry". MyWire.com.
  6. ^ "Tokyo 1964: A tough job, but..." Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2009. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  7. ^ "Olympics and Television". Museum of Broadcast Communications.
  8. ^ Richard Sandomir (July 21, 2005). "Remembering Games That Were Barely There". The New York Times. The New York Times Company.
  9. ^ Rick Reilly (September 26, 1988). "The Mourning Anchor". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc.
  10. ^ "Bryant Gumbel, NBC's Olympic host, is alone at the top—all alone with the memory of his father". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc. Archived from the original on February 28, 2010. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ William Oscar Johnson; William Taaffe (December 26, 1988). "A Whole New Game". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc.
  12. ^ William Oscar Johnson (December 12, 1988). "A Golden Opportunity". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc.
  13. ^ William Oscar Johnson (December 12, 1988). "A Golden Opportunity". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. NBC surprised everyone, including its own staff, by winning the TV rights to the '92 Games for a record $401 million {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "Television Rights". ESPN Sports Almanac: 609. 2008.
  15. ^ "NBC posts $223 million 1Q loss on Winter Olympics". Google News. Associated Press. April 17, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
  16. ^ "Report: NBC Wins Latest Olympics TV Rights Bid". TV by the Numbers. June 7, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  17. ^ Ben Koo (February 27, 2013). "LOOKING BACK AT NBC SPORTS NETWORK'S LACK OF GROWTH". AwfulAnnouncing.com. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  18. ^ Baker, Liana (3 May 2016). "Golf Channel unveils Olympics plans; NBC says 'no shows' to have regrets". Reuters. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  19. ^ http://www.newsday.com/sports/olympics/rio-olympics-tv-schedule-on-nbc-nbcsn-usa-bravo-msnbc-cnbc-telemundo-1.12078114
  20. ^ "Comcast and NBC to Make the 2016 Summer Olympic Games Accessible to People with Vision Loss through Live Description". American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  21. ^ "NBC To Create "Olympic Zone" Lead-In Show For Turin Games". SportsBusiness Daily. December 6, 2005. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  22. ^ Ben Grossman (December 2, 2006). "Affiliates Plan Local Olympics Show". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  23. ^ a b c "The World Comes Together in Your Living Room: The Olympics on TV".
  24. ^ a b Gerald Eskenazi (September 18, 1988). "THE SEOUL OLYMPICS: TV Sports; NBC's Coverage Captures the Color, but Not the Fun". The New York Times. The New York Times Company.
  25. ^ Michael Hiestand; Rudy Martzke (April 22, 2003). "Bidding for the Olympics on TV". USA Today. Gannett Company.
  26. ^ "Nbc's Olympian Gamble". Newsweek. January 13, 1992.
  27. ^ a b c "NBC's Olympic Coverage from Athens". USOC PressBox.
  28. ^ a b "NBC ANNOUNCES UNPRECEDENTED COVERAGE OF THE 2006 TORINO OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES". US Olympic Team.
  29. ^ Includes 207 hours on CNBC and MSNBC
  30. ^ Includes 226 hours on NBC, 133.5 hours on MSNBC, 111 hours on CNBC, 122 hours on Bravo, 49 hours on USA and 169.5 hours on Telemundo
  31. ^ Includes 182.5 hours on NBC and 233.5 hours on CNBC, MSNBC and USA
  32. ^ "NBC Universal Announces Coverage Plans for 2010 Winter Olympics". Fang's Bites. January 14, 2010.
  33. ^ "The Olympic Television Guide". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc. July 26, 2012. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  34. ^ Chad, Norman (January 19, 2014). "Sochi Olympics: Couch Slouch guide to NBC's 1,539 hours of Winter Games programming". The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  35. ^ "Volleyball Well Represented by NBC's Around-the-Clock Olympic TV Coverage". Olympic-USA.org.
  36. ^ John Williams: "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" on YouTube
  37. ^ John Williams - The Olympic Spirit on YouTube
  38. ^ John Williams: Summon The Heroes on YouTube
  39. ^ Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. Theme on YouTube
  40. ^ Kreps, Daniel (July 15, 2016). "Hear Katy Perry's Victorious Olympics Anthem 'Rise'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 16, 2016. Katy Perry unveiled her first new song in three years with "Rise," the singer's theme for NBC's broadcast of the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
  41. ^ "NBC Olympics features New Katy Perry Anthem 'Rise'". NBC Sports. July 14, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  42. ^ Richard Sandomir (July 2, 2012). "NBC Goes Digital for Olympics, but Tape Will Still Roll in Prime Time". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  43. ^ "Why You Hate NBC's Olympics Coverage: It's reality TV masquerading as a sporting event". Slate.com. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  44. ^ "Reality or "Reality"?: Should NBC's Olympics Coverage Be More Straightforward?". TIME.com. August 8, 2012. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  45. ^ Alan Abrahamson (May 10, 2000). "Olympics Will Be Shown Without Live TV, NBC Says". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Publishing.
  46. ^ "NBC airs men's basketball final live". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc. September 30, 2000. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012 – via CNN. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  47. ^ "NBC's coverage of Olympics misses the thrill". Salt Lake Tribune. February 20, 2010.
  48. ^ "Vancouver Olympics Coverage Requires Fewer Tape Delays, Except for West Coast Viewers". The Wall Street Journal. February 11, 2010. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) [dead link‍]
  49. ^ "Tape Delay an Olympic Dilemma". Newser.com. February 11, 2010.
  50. ^ Ron Judd (January 16, 2010). "NBC's 'live' Olympic coverage is anything but for West Coast viewers". Seattle Times.
  51. ^ "Even Senators Hated NBC Universal's Olympic Coverage". TechDirt. March 1, 2010.
  52. ^ Spencer Hall (February 16, 2010). "NBC Olympics Coverage, Making Sports Fans Hate The Network More Than Ever". SB Nation.
  53. ^ Joanne T. Gerstner (February 20, 2010). "Canadian TV Switch Displeases Americans". The New York Times. The New York Times Company.
  54. ^ Ryan Helse (March 8, 2012). "NBC to use YouTube streaming technology for 2012 Olympics". TheVerge. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  55. ^ Jennifer Svan (August 8, 2012). "Delayed Olympic coverage irks AFN viewers". Stars and Stripes.
  56. ^ Michael Hiestand (August 6, 2012). "London Olympics TV poll". USA Today. Gannett Company.
  57. ^ "Stream the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics". CNET. CBS Corporation. February 4, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  58. ^ "Road Map to NBC Olympics' Digital Coverage of 2014 Olympic Winter Games". NBC Sports Group Press Box (Press release). February 7, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  59. ^ Cassandra Szklarski (February 10, 2014). "Some U.S. viewers turn to CBC amid complaints about NBC's Olympic coverage". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Canadian Press. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  60. ^ Sandomir, Richard (February 19, 2012). "In Figure Skating, the Second Team Shines". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  61. ^ "NBC Criticized For Acting Like Evgeni Plushenko Is Still In Olympics Hours After He Withdraws". The Huffington Post. AOL. February 14, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  62. ^ "The Olympics Rage-o-Meter: The Peacock pretends to be shocked by Evgeni Plushenko's abrupt figure skating departure". Slate.com. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
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  64. ^ "Live Updates From Closing Ceremony". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. February 28, 2010.
  65. ^ "US viewers tweet up a storm after NBC cuts Olympic closing ceremonies show". Winnipeg Free Press. Canadian Press. February 28, 2010.
  66. ^ "Garou boudé par les États-Unis". TVA. February 18, 2010.
  67. ^ Yahoo! Babel Fish translation
  68. ^ Daily Mail Reporter (July 28, 2012). "Outrage as U.S. broadcaster NBC edits out Olympics Opening Ceremony tribute to victims of 7/7 terrorist attacks". The Daily Mail. London.
  69. ^ Michael Hiestand (July 28, 2012). "NBC elects to skip tribute to victims at opening ceremony". USA Today. Gannett Company.
  70. ^ Adams, Guy (July 30, 2012). "As America succeeds at the games back home, all the talk is about NBC fail". The Independent. London.
  71. ^ Emma G Keller (July 28, 2012). "NBC (TV channel),Olympic Games 2012 olympics olys,Media,US television (TV and radio),US news,World news,US sports". The Guardian. London.
  72. ^ Josh Levin (July 28, 2012). "NBC Olympics coverage: Meredith Vieira at the Opening Ceremony: It's Cool To Be Ignorant". Slate.
  73. ^ "The Opening Ceremonies in London: From the Industrial Revolution to Voldemort". NPR. July 28, 2012.
  74. ^ "NBC's broadcast of the Olympics Opening Ceremony was the worst". The Observer. July 2012.
  75. ^ Scott Collins (July 27, 2012). "NBC ripped for not livestreaming opening ceremony of Olympics". Los Angeles Times (Show Tracker). Tribune Publishing.
  76. ^ Chenda Ngak (July 27, 2012). "Twitter to NBC: Livestream the Olympics opening ceremony". CBS News.
  77. ^ Heidi Moore (July 30, 2012). "NBC fail shows network's commitment to 'the last great buggy-whip Olympics'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  78. ^ David Bauder (July 27, 2012). "NBC opens Olympics coverage by upsetting fans who wanted to see ceremony live". Newser.com. Associated Press.
  79. ^ Brian Floyd (July 28, 2012). "Thanks For The Opening Ceremony Context, NBC". SB Nation.
  80. ^ "Tape-delayed Opening Ceremony turns out to be ratings gold". Globe Gazette. [dead link‍]
  81. ^ "NBCOlympics.com to livestream Olympic Closing Ceremony". NBCOlympics.com.
  82. ^ "NBC cut nearly an hour from its Closing Ceremony telecast: Here's everything they didn't show you, including The Kinks' Ray Davies". Deadspin.
  83. ^ "NBC cuts The Who, Ray Davies, Muse from Olympics". Billboard.
  84. ^ "Viewers outraged after NBC cuts away from Olympics closing ceremony". CNN. August 13, 2012.
  85. ^ Rick Porter (September 13, 2012). "'Conan': Bob Costas not a fan of NBC's Olympic closing ceremony coverage". Zap2it. Tribune Company. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  86. ^ Will Oremus (February 5, 2014). "How to Watch the Winter Olympics Online". Slate. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  87. ^ "A giant bear, a Daft Punk cover and other things you missed in the Opening Ceremony". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  88. ^ "NBC Edits Out IOC Anti-Discrimination Statement From Opening Ceremony". Deadspin. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  89. ^ "NBC to offer live streaming for Olympics Closing Ceremony". Albany Times Union. February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  90. ^ Sara Bibel (January 10, 2014). "NBC Sets Premiere Dates for 'About a Boy', 'Growing Up Fisher', 'Believe', 'Crisis' & More". TV by the Numbers. Zap2It (Tribune Company). Retrieved February 23, 2014.
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  92. ^ "NBC to air opening ceremony of Rio Olympics on one-hour delay". USA Today. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  93. ^ "NBC Expects 15 Percent Increase in Ad Sales for Rio Olympics". Bloomberg. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
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  98. ^ "Paralympics a ratings winner for ABC". The Australian. September 12, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  99. ^ "NBC criticised Paralympics after opening ceremony blackout". The Daily Telegraph. London. August 30, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
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  101. ^ Davies, Gareth A (September 24, 2013). "Paralympic Movement given huge boost as American channels NBC and NBCSN will cover next two Games". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  102. ^ Mike Dyce (February 17, 2014). "NBC reporter badgers Bode Miller about dead brother till he cries". Fansided. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
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References

Preceded by U.S. Winter Olympics Broadcaster
NBC Sports
Olympics on NBC (1972) 		Succeeded by
ABC (1976-1988)
Preceded by
CBS/TNT (1992-1998)
 U.S. Winter Olympics Broadcaster
NBC Sports
Olympics on NBC (2002-) 		Succeeded by
Present
Preceded by U.S. Summer Olympics Broadcaster
NBC Sports
Olympics on NBC (1964) 		Succeeded by
ABC (1968-1976)
Preceded by
ABC (1968-1976)
 U.S. Summer Olympics Broadcaster
NBC Sports
Olympics on NBC (1980) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by U.S. Summer Olympics Broadcaster
NBC Sports
Olympics on NBC (1988-) 		Succeeded by
Present

Template:Olympics on NBC

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