
NBC's Olympic Channel Ready To Go for Gold Carriage in 35 million homes is only the beginning By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Friday, July 14, 2017 - 2:53 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Tomorrow at 6 a.m. ET, the Olympic Channel will become the latest sports network to hit the nation's cable and satellite boxes. The new channel - the result of a partnership between NBCUniversal, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) - promises to give Olympic sports a more consistent presence among sports fans who typically tune in only every two years.
To put it simply, the Olympic Games will now have a home between the Games being played, says Mike Tirico, primetime host, NBC Olympics. Those sports and those athletes will have a home where we can not only appreciate their talents but watch the best in the world continue to compete. The next generation come along.
NBC Sports Group's Gary Zenkel: These platforms form a powerful content-distribution system. This is an exciting day for us.
According to Gary Zenkel, president, NBC Olympics and Business, NBC Sports Group, the network will launch in more than 35 million homes.
These platforms form a really powerful content-distribution system where we will bring, again, the great content of the three parties together and make it accessible to this broad U.S. audience as we lead into and lead out of each of the next seven-plus Olympic Games, says Zenkel. This is an exciting day for us.
The programming strategy will be wide-ranging with an emphasis on live Summer and Winter Olympic Sports events and will also feature Olympic-themed original content produced by all three parties. Content will comprise original programs commissioned by the global Olympic Channel and produced by filmmakers from around the world, rich archival footage from the IOC and NBCU libraries of Olympic features and documentaries, and original Team USA programming produced by the USOC.
The opening weekend will be highlighted by coverage of the IAAF Diamond League this Sunday from Rabat, Morocco.
The IOC launched the Olympic Channel on the day of the Closing Ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Its technical operations are based at the OBS technical facility in Madrid, where control rooms and editing suites are used to produce a wealth of content from sports federations around the globe. The goal for the original channel is to give sports that may not have TV coverage a greater visibility around the globe and more relevance in the digital age.
But the launch of the Olympic Channel in the U.S. signals an important step forward for the service and its role in giving U.S. athletes greater visibility.
The Olympic Channel's Mark Parkman: This is the first step, and it speaks volumes of the commitment that NBC and the USOC have in the Olympic movement.
When we launched the global digital Olympic Channel at the close of the Rio Games, we said that it was going to be an evolutionary product, says Mark Parkman, GM of the IOC's global Olympic Channel. And Saturday is one of the major milestones of our evolution, when we come with a linear-channel launch in the USA in partnership with our wonderful partners, the NBC and Team USA, USOC organizations. This is the first step, which we think will continue to grow the Olympic Channel, its brand throughout the world, and it speaks volumes of the commitment that NBC and the USOC have in the Olympic movement.
The Technical Side of Things
Much of the content will be produced by the Olympic Channel and NBCUniversal will leverage technical and production assets in Stamford, CT; Denver; and Englewood Cliffs, NJ, bringing content in from the Olympic Channel and preparing it for U.S. distribution. Tim Canary, VP, engineering, NBC Sports Group and NBC Olympics, says that the technical and production efforts have been coming together during the past six months and one of the anticipated changes will be a large increase in the amount of content that will originate in Denver.
The Olympic Channel control rooms in Madrid
We were able to leverage our connectivity between Denver and Englewood Cliffs and use Evertz MPEG-4 encoders to get that content back and forth, We added two outbound lines from Denver and two return lines so they can see the master control return back in Denver, he explains. We can also get those outbound lines and see them in Stamford. If Denver wants to send us some content, we can see what they're doing as well, which is very helpful.
The ramp-up in Denver did not require much in the way of additional equipment with only a couple of updated ChyronHego Mosaic systems and an additional EVS XT3 server required. One key enhancement is that personnel in Denver can access Stamford's asset-management system and transfer content using Aspera or FileCatalyst.
It a lot of file movement of content for both live and archival content, adds Canary.
Additional work in Denver included adding three AWS Elemental streaming encoders to complement three Ateme encoders. NBCUniversal also changed the network configuration to allow the encoders to transit existing connectivity to iStream Planet and have content sent over to the Olympic Channel in Madrid.
This arrangement gives us more flexibility with our digital offering for the channel, says Canary.
He adds that the team in Denver, largely the former Universal Sports team, is phenomenal at doing events and those skills have been an asset. Live event coverage will rely on everything from world feeds that can be voiced-over in the U.S. (primarily in Denver) to more-important events, where trucks or flypacks could be used to add unilateral enhancements to a world feed.
There are some events coming up this month where we will deploy the NEWBERT remote-controlled flypack that is then con
Most recent headlines
27/04/2018
Thursday 26th April 2018 Cherry Healey is to front brand-new documentary series, Sex, Knives and Liposuction (3x60) for W, UKTVs premium entertainment channel. ...
27/04/2018
Baby Cow and Black Dog's Zapped to return, Dancing Ledge's Porters greenlit to full series
Thursday 26th April 2018 Award-winning network UKTV has com...
27/04/2018
Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. Reports Results for the First Quarter En...
27/04/2018
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has been selected by Italian operator Wind Tre to virtualize its core network as part of the evolution of its network to 5G Core.
The t...
27/04/2018
Chelmsford, Mass. - March 15, 2018 - ioGates, a Broadcast Pix company, today an...
27/04/2018
Chelmsford, Mass. - April 3, 2018 - Broadcast Pix today announced BPfusion, a ne...
27/04/2018
Take Control of Your Media with ioGates. Now featuring integration for new EditShare QScan AQC....
27/04/2018
Highlights:
Delivered more than 1,600 infrastructure components for each aircra...
27/04/2018
NAB Statement on House Passage of Music Modernization Act WASHINGTON, DC -- In response to todays passage of the Music Modernization Act by the House of Repres...
27/04/2018
April 26, 2018
-- Forge Audio adds Soundcraft Vi3000 Series audio consoles...
26/04/2018
comScore Announces Date for First Quarter 2018 Financial ResultsRESTON, VA, April 26, 2018 - comScore, Inc. (OTC: SCOR) today announced that it plans to hold a ...
26/04/2018
Yahsat signs an agreement to purchase a majority stake in Thuraya to create a global powerhouse in fixed and mobile satellite services
The acquisition will fu...
26/04/2018
Hollywood, CA - April 26, 2018 -- Gabriel Fluffy Iglesias is giving viewers three times the laughs in three new, upcoming Netflix projects, including a multi-...
26/04/2018
Time Warner Inc. Reports First-Quarter 2018 Results April 26, 2018
NEW YORK - Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) today reported financial results for its first quart...
26/04/2018
Time Warner Inc. Reaffirms 2018 Full-Year Business Outlook April 26, 2018
NEW YORK - Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) today reaffirmed its 2018 full-year business ...
26/04/2018
By Debra Kaufman
HPA Creative Tech UK convenes in London on June 27 with a program focused on navigating the frontier of media and technology. Finishing the da...
26/04/2018
Pixelogic the innovative and fully integrated provider of localization and distribution services, has unveiled plans to deliver global digital cinema services t...
26/04/2018
Testronic, the leader in quality assurance (QA), localization services and compl...
26/04/2018
HIT CHINESE ANIMATED SERIES SUPER BOOMI TO TRAVEL THE GLOBE WITH NELVANA Nelvana has scored international distribution and merchandising rights to the successfu...
26/04/2018
When Mike Riggins, an ex-US Special Forces jailed in Eastern Europe, is offered his freedom to retrieve a woman named Ana from a warlord, he readily accepts. On...
26/04/2018
Super-spy Ethan Hunt has retired from active duty and lives a slower-paced life training new IMF agents.
Publication date: May 31, 2018...
26/04/2018
SGL Group supplies gas diffusion layers for NEXO fuel-cell vehicle
Production capacity increased at the Meitingen site
Wiesbaden, April 26, 2018. In the conte...
26/04/2018
Girls in ICT Day is celebrated on April 26 25.04.2018
In April 2011, the International Telecommunication Union announced the establishment of the Internatio...
26/04/2018
Direct phone line with Director General of RUE Beltelecom will be organized on A...
26/04/2018
Beltelecom was awarded the honorary title Patron of Culture of Belarus 26.04.2018
On April 24, solemn ceremony of awarding the finalists of the republican...
26/04/2018
For the eighth straight year, Brightcove's video platform enables Festival a...
26/04/2018
Screen Producers Australia today released the inaugural Screen Production in Australia Industry Survey.
SPA has engaged Deloitte Access Economics to conduct a ...
26/04/2018
METLIFE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES SPONSORSHIP OF MULTIPLIERS OF PROSPERITY FOR A FO...
26/04/2018
Senegalese national public broadcaster modernizes its newsrooms with a new infrastructure based on the MediaCentral platform for faster, more efficient and stre...
26/04/2018
ESPN Aired the First Live 4K Sports Event in Latin America on Tuesday Tthe Champions League Final will be delivered to Latin America in 4K May 26 By Brandon Co...
26/04/2018
NBA Announces Multiyear Deal With Perform To Manage International Websites 15 international markets fall under the new partnership By Brandon Costa, Director o...
26/04/2018
MLB Goes Deep With Home Run Derby VR Fans can take virtual swings in virtual batting cages at real-life ballparks By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Thu...
26/04/2018
SVG College Summit: CBS Sports' Craig Silver, Pete Radovich To Present Keyno...
26/04/2018
SVG On Demand: Canon Hosts Talk on Large Format Production in the College Sports...
26/04/2018
How Austin Hansen - Loyola Chicago's One-Man Video Band - Stepped Up During ...
26/04/2018
Live From NFL Draft: AT&T Stadium Provides Open Canvas' for Largest NFL Med...
26/04/2018
Nokia Corporation
Interim Report
April 26, 2018 at 08:00 (CET 1)
Nokia Corporation Interim Report for Q1 2018
Solid full year results expected in Networks...
26/04/2018
DPA Microphones Keeps its Cool Under Harsh Filming Conditions for a Variety of P...
26/04/2018
Photo: Ralf Sch rmann, Managing Director Arvato Systems S4M GmbH
Arvato Systems organizes innovative recruiting event for cloud specialists
Information exchan...
26/04/2018
We All Speak Football - SBS reveals on-air presenters and commentary team
Thursday 26 April
News Release
As football fans prepare to see legends of the game...
26/04/2018
RT s latest radio figures
RT s weekly radio reach stays strong with over two million listeners
RT radio stations continue to reach over two million listen...
26/04/2018
New Fujifilm FDR nano at Sheffield Children's Hospital
26.04.2018
Photo credits L to R: Isabel Brice - Radiographer Elzene Kruger - Lead Forensic Radiog...
26/04/2018
Onset X3 to further improve quality and productivity at Showcard Print UK POS printer invests in Inca Digital Onset X3 with new robotic arm system supplied by F...
26/04/2018
Tags Anti-Piracy
Watermarking
Our related products Anti-piracy services
Security Services Platform
Watermarking...
26/04/2018
Net Insight AB: Net Insight Interim Report January - March 2018 Quote from CEO Fredrik Tumeg rd:
Launch of new generation Nimbra in the first quarter.
First ...
26/04/2018
UK Shipping and Port Industry needs to think smart to curb air pollution
Prov...
26/04/2018
Press release | May 19, 2016 FMC Technologies and Technip to Combine FMC Technologies and Technip to Combine: Driving Change by Redefining the Production and ...
26/04/2018
Press release | June 16, 2016 Execution of Business Combination Agreement PARIS and HOUSTON, June 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Technip (Euronext: TEC) and FMC Tec...
26/04/2018
Press release | June 27, 2016 FMC Technologies and Technip Announce Successful ...
26/04/2018
Press release | October 25, 2016 Technip and FMC Technologies Combination: FMC ...