With the debut of The Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA less than five months away, NBC Olympics is ramping up production and operations efforts at its Stamford, CT, broadcast center.
The IOC launched The Olympic Channel as a worldwide digital platform following Rio 2016 and already offers live and original content to partners throughout the world. However, this summer, NBC, the USOC, and the IOC will launch a year-round linear cable channel focused on Olympic-sport programming with an emphasis on U.S. athletes. The dramatic move, announced in December, becomes all that more intriguing because many in the industry predict the imminent the death of niche cable networks.
NBC Sports' Gary Zenkel: We expect sponsors to be a bit more engaged knowing there is a television distribution platform for all of this content.
Who launches a cable channel in this environment? The answer is, we are going to, Gary Zenkel, president, NBC Olympics and Business, NBC Sports Group, said at SVG's IP Production Forum in Stamford on Wednesday. Strategically for us, in this highly fragmented world, breaking through the fragmentation and individually personalized viewing today and getting people excited about the Olympic Games is harder. So having a vehicle we could utilize to continue to talk about the athletes and the stories that really resonated and then begin to introduce those who are going to be introduced on the Olympic stage, we thought this was an opportunity we should take advantage of.
During his opening keynote conversation, Zenkel revealed that NBC had entered its last cycle of negotiations with large MVPDs with The Olympic Channel as part of the NBC bundle. Although Zenkel declined to reveal the specific number of homes NBC Sports expects to have at the launch of The Olympic Channel this summer (the specific date yet to be announced), he is confident that it will have a sizable subscriber base.
Leaning into a pretty stiff headwind, we went into distribution cycle for NBC and came out the other side at the end of last year with very good results, he said. When we launch this channel [this summer], we will have a very credible tens of millions of homes.
Why Launch a Cable Channel Now?
Although much of the hot-stove conversation around the media industry has centered on the death of cable over the past two years, Zenkel believes a linear cable network is key to the success of The Olympic Channel platform in the U.S.
This is a way to get clearly in front of an audience, said Zenkel. When you are living in the densely populated digital forest, it's not simple to get attention of the audience. When you are a cable channel working with MVPDs and using our promotion muscle, we think we can direct people there. We expect sponsors to be a bit more engaged knowing there is a television distribution platform for all of this content.
NBC Sports' Gary Zenkel (right) in conversation with SVG Co-Executive Director, Editorial Services, Ken Kerschbaumer
However, Zenkel stressed that The Olympic Channel effort is about much more than just a single cable network. Besides the channel, additional coverage of Olympic sports programs will appear exclusively on other NBCU platforms, including NBC, NBCSN, and NBC Sports Digital outlets.
Thinking of this as a single channel is really a misrepresentation, said Zenkel. It's not single channel; it's really a distribution system across NBC networks: the dedicated linear channel, the digital channel - web and app - and then promotional extensions to push out the content being created.
Original Content Is Key
The U.S.-facing cable channel will lean heavily on the stable of original content already being produced by the IOC and OBS (Olympics Broadcasting Services) for the global Olympic Channel. Currently, that channel has more than 25 series produced or currently in production, according to Zenkel, and that is just the first wave of content. This content, along with NBC Olympics' archive and consistent flow of fresh content, will support the live event programming on the U.S. version.
What the IOC is doing in their investment in this endeavor is commissioning the production of a tremendous amount of original content produced by great producers around the world, Zenkel explained. We, through the partnership, will be given access to all that content and take advantage of a lot of the content we have produced. We can intermingle that with a lot of the event coverage.
Looking Ahead to PyeongChang
Following soon after The Olympic Channel debuts, NBCU's coverage of The 2018 PyeongChang Olympics of the Winter Games, which begin Feb. 9, will have no shortage of outlets, given the Peacock's bevy of cable networks and digital outlets. As a result, The Olympic Channel will have little or no live event programming. Instead, Zenkel, noting that NBC is still working out the network's role for PyeongChang, sees The Olympic Channel potentially as a prime destination for viewers looking for deeper analysis of the games.
The live competition programming is more or less accounted for [on other NBCU networks], so the direction we are talking a lot about now is, The Olympic Channel becomes a place where we can talk to athletes, experts, coaches, our on-air talent through the course of the day, he said. It's a place to catch up and get a little more analysis. The afternoon in the U.S. will also be dark, so that's a place where people may drop in to The Olympic Channel, get caught up, and get excited about what's coming up that evening. That's the direction we're headed, but we are not locked into that.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
With the debut of The Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA less than five months away, NBC Olympics is ramping up production and operations efforts at its Stamford, CT, broadcast center.
