Brace Yourself for Olympics Overload
Already sick of the 2008 Presidential race even though the election’s more than a year away? Well, get ready for more media overkill: By the time NBC broadcasts the closing ceremony of next year’s Summer Olympics, it will have provided more coverage from Beijing in a couple of weeks than the total of all the Olympics since 1960.
According to various news reports this week, ever since 2000, NBC Universal has used its broadcast and cable platforms to provide hours of Olympics coverage day and night. The big-ticket primetime events always go to NBC, which devotes its entire schedule and then some to the games and brings along “Today” and “NBC Nightly News” as well. Other NBC Uni outlets including USA, MSNBC and even CNBC get into the act as well as its Spanish-language network, Telemundo. You won’t be able to turn on the TV or computer anywhere without bumping into athletes like swimmer Michael Phelps (shown here).
In 2008, NBC Uni will carry a record 3,600 hours of Olympic events live between the opening ceremony Aug. 8 and the closing Aug. 24. That’s more than triple the 1,210 hours NBC did in 2004 and 20 times more than the 171 hours from Atlanta in 1996.
