An Olympic Games occurs only once every two years, so how do ardent fans of Team USA and the Games in general fill that downtime? NBCUniversal wanted to know.
So in July, the broadcast giant launched the Olympic Channel across more than 35 million homes in the United States. The new channel, born of a partnership between NBCUniversal, the International Olympic Committee, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, will feature year-round content surrounding Team USA. The Olympic Channel in the U.S. effectively mirrors the IOC’s own Olympic Channel, which is broadcast on a global scale.
A major facet of the recently launched channel is its live-streaming compatibility. The Olympic Channel is made available on streaming services including DirecTV Now, fuboTV, Hulu, PlayStation Vue, Sling TV and YouTube TV. The channel will also be streamed on OlympicChannel.com and its accompanying app; NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app; and some highlights and replays will be available on those platforms as well as on TeamUSA.org, NBCUniversal announced.
Such content includes coverage of the world championships in a number of sports, where many of Team USA’s athletes are discovered. The channel will provide fans a glimpse into how USA’s most elite athletes train and advance towards perhaps the largest international stage in sports. NBC already broadcasts many of the major world championships in Olympic sports. And the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, are less than three months away.
“The launch of our first national television channel is an exciting new chapter in the evolution of our global platform,” Mark Parkman, who manages the IOC’s Olympic Channel, said in a statement. “Through our partnership with the USOC and NBCUniversal, the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will ensure that U.S. audiences are able to further discover, engage and share in the power of sport and the excitement of the Olympic Games all year round.”
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The channel will also feature original filmed content and archived footage from the IOC and NBCU. The USOC will also produce content that focuses specifically on Team USA as it stands today.
“The fact that the channel has been embraced by the most widely-distributed cable, satellite, and telco providers demonstrates the strength of the Olympic brand in the United States, and will allow fans to connect more closely than ever with the stories and successes of America’s favorite Olympic Sports athletes,” NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel said in a statement.
The channel will be included as part of the cable plans of most subscribers to Altice, Comcast, DirecTV, Spectrum, Verizon, and the aforementioned streaming providers.
The timing likely could not be better for NBCUniversal, which has the exclusive Olympics broadcast rights through 2032.