NBC Olympics
Genre	Olympics telecasts
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	14
Production
Production locations	Various Olympic venues (event telecasts and studio segments)
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	Varies
Production companies	NBC Olympics, LLC (NBC Sports Group)
Original release
Network	NBC NBCSN USA CNBC MSNBC E! Golf Channel Bravo Syfy Oxygen Olympic Channel NBC Sports Regional Networks NBC Sports Peacock Universo Telemundo Telemundo Deportes
Release	October 10 (1964-10-10) – October 24, 1964 (1964-10-24)
Release	February 3 (1972-2-3) – February 13, 1972 (1972-2-13)
Release	September 17, 1988 (1988-9-17) – present

NBC Olympics is the commercial name for theNBC Sports-produced broadcasts of theSummer andWinterOlympic Games as shown in the United States onNBCUniversal platforms. They include theNBC broadcast network and many of the company'scable networks; Spanish language networkTelemundo; and streaming on the NBC Sports app, NBCOlympics.com, andPeacock. The event telecasts during the Olympics have aired primarily in the evening and on weekend afternoons on NBC, and varying times on its cable networks (such as after the close of the stock market day onCNBC, the early mornings onMSNBC, overnights on theUSA Network, and formerly various hours on now defunctNBCSN). Additional live coverage is available on the aforementioned streaming platforms.

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 the2008 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 the1988 games and the rights to the Winter Olympic Games since the2002 games. In 2011, NBC agreed to a $4.38 billion contract with theInternational Olympic Committee to broadcast the Olympics through the2020 games, the most expensive television rights deal in Olympic history.^[1] NBC then agreed to a $7.75 billion contract extension on May 7, 2014, to air the Olympics through the2032 games.^[2] NBC also acquired the American television rights to theYouth Olympic Games, beginning in2014,^[3] and theParalympic Games for the2014,2016,2018, and2020 editions. NBC announced more than 1,200 hours of coverage for the 2020 games, called "unprecedented" by theInternational Paralympic Committee (IPC).^[4][5][6] In March 2025, NBC signed a $3 billion extension for both the2034 Winter and2036 Summer games.^[7] NBC is one of the major sources of revenue for theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC).^[8]

NBC's telecasts of the Olympics have been criticized for the tape delaying of events, spoiling the results of events prior to their own tape-delayed broadcast of those events, editing of its broadcasts to resemble an emotionally appealing program meant to entertain rather than a straight live sports event,^[9][10] and avoiding controversial subjects such as material critical ofRussia at the2014 Olympics.^[11] Since the2012 Summer Olympics, live events have been continually added to NBC's cable networks and streaming platforms, rivaling the edited, tape-delayed broadcasts that traditionally air on the NBC broadcast network's primetime coverage.^[1]

NBC televised its first Olympic Games in 1964, when it broadcast that year'sSummer Olympics fromTokyo. NBC originally had intended to film the events from Tokyo but theSyncom team had a 1-hour test on theSyncom 3 satellite and it was discovered that it can transmit up to two hours from the United States to Japan as with signals from theWest Coast. NBC needed approval from theFCC and it approved thus giving NBC satellite coverage of the Olympics thus avoiding flight expenses and tapes flown, NBC's telecast of the opening ceremonies that year marked the firstcolor broadcast televised live viasatellite back to the United States.^[12]

The Olympic competition itself was broadcast inblack-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 thePacific Ocean and were broadcast to American viewers the following day.^[13]

Serving as anchor wasBill Henry,^[14] thenNBC News Tokyo bureau chief, who had extensive experience in both print and broadcast news. Play-by-play commentators includedBud Palmer^[15] andJim Simpson,^[16] while former OlympiansRafer Johnson^[17][18] andMurray Rose^[19] served as analysts.

NBC first televised the Winter Olympic Games in1972.^[20] Anchored^[21] byCurt Gowdy,^[22] much of the coverage actually was broadcast live sincealpine skiing andlong track speed skating were held in the morning, which corresponded toprime time on the East Coast of the United States. Although NBC bought the television rights from the Sapporo Olympics group, they didn't know that they had to make a deal withNHK for broadcast booths at each venue. By the time NBC found out, it was too late. The booths had been built and there were none to spare. Consequently, everyone worked off monitors.

A young sportscaster making his network television debut atSapporo was a 26-year-oldAl 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'sWinter Games inLake Placid forABC Sports. Other sportscasters utilized by NBC includedJim Simpson,^[23]Jay Randolph,^[24]Billy Kidd,^[25]Peggy Fleming,^[26]Art Devlin,^[27] andTerry McDermott.^[28]

NBC had won^[29] the U.S. broadcast rights^[30] for the1980 Summer Olympics inMoscow, Russia,^[31] but when theUnited States Olympic Committee kept U.S. athletes home to honor^[32] theboycott^[33] announced byPresidentJimmy Carter in protest of theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan, the telecasts were greatly scaled back.^[34] In the end, what had been 150 hours^[35] 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^[36] was canceled^[37] before a prime time anchor had been named; it was said thatNBC Nightly News anchorJohn Chancellor (who formerly served as a Moscow bureau chief for NBC News), along with sportscastersBryant Gumbel^[38][39] andDick Enberg,^[40] were reportedly being considered for the prime time studio host role. Bryant Gumbel ultimately served as Seoul primetime host in 1988^[41] while Dick Enberg co-hosted the Ceremonies through the 1996 closing.

NBC Sports executiveDon Ohlmeyer had originally commissioned to use"1980", an instrumental theme written byHerb Alpert, for NBC's planned coverage of the Summer Olympics in Moscow. It would ultimately be used seven years later as the official theme song for NBC'stelecast of the1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.

NBC then bid for, and won, the rights to televise the1988 Summer Olympics.^{[42][43][44][45]} Due to American television companies providing most of the revenue for the organizers,^[46][47] they agreed to schedule most of the team finals in the afternoon, which corresponded to prime time of the previous night in the United States (due to both South Korea^[48] being located near the western border of theInternational Date Line, in addition to the differences^[49] in time zones^[50]).

Today co-anchor Bryant Gumbel was the prime time host that year;^[51][52]Bob Costas hosted the late-night telecasts whileJane Pauley was one of the hosts of early-morning coverage. Gumbel and Dick Enberg were co-hosts for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Michael Weisman led a team covering the 1988 Summer Olympics for the network.^{[53][54][55][56]} One of those employees was future NBC Entertainment andCNN PresidentJeff Zucker, who Weisman hired as a researcher.^[57]Weisman considered producing the Olympics a challenge, saying, "my mandate is to shatter the mystique that only ABC can do the Olympics."^[58] Weisman assembled the "Seoul Searchers," a group of specialized sports reporters tasked with following breaking news during the Games.^[59] Some criticized the journalistic focus to the games.^[60] Weisman, however, defended the tone, saying "the criticism we hear is that people want to hear positive news . . . we are not the American team. We are clearly rooting for the American team, but we're not going to whitewash anything." Other ideas Weisman introduced for the Olympics included miniature "point of view cameras" for specific events such as the pole vault and gymnastics; the "Olympic Chronicles," profiles which highlighted athletes and moments from Olympics past; and an Olympic soundtrack which included an originalWhitney Houston song, "One Moment in Time".^[61] NBC won seven Emmy Awards for their Olympic coverage.^[62]

A curious result was that, since in the United States, the1988 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 andMerle Harmon, among others.Marv Albert was callingboxing during the Olympics alongsideFerdie Pacheco. Meanwhile,Don Criqui andBob Trumpy calledswimming (alongsideCandy Costie-Burke for thesynchronized events andJohn Naber) andvolleyball (alongsideChris Marlowe) respectively.Charlie Jones calledtrack and field (alongsideFrank Shorter andDwight Stones) andJimmy Cefalo^[63] served as the daytime host.Bob Costas (as previously mentioned) andGayle Gardner were NBC's late night hosts.Dick Enberg served as host for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and calledmen's basketball (alongsideAl McGuire) andgymnastics (alongsideMary Lou Retton andBart Conner^[64]).Jay Randolph calledbaseball during the Olympics alongsideJim Kaat.

Just as his mentorRoone Arledge^[65] had before over atABC,Dick Ebersol,^[66] who took overNBC Sports in1989, decided to make the Olympics a staple of NBC's sports television schedule. NBC continued^[67] its Summer Games coverage into the next decade, with both the1992 Summer Olympics inBarcelona and the1996 Summer Olympics. For the 1992 games, Ebersol surprised even his own staff as well as everybody else by paying a then record $401 million for the 1992 games.^[68][69] NBC then paid $456 million^[70] to broadcast the 1996 Olympics.^[71] Previously hosting late night coverage in Seoul,Bob Costas made his debut, as primetime host,^[72] in Barcelona. It is a role^[73] that he held through the Rio2016 Summer Olympics.

Among the sportscasters that NBC utilized in 1992 wereMarv Albert,^[74]Mike Fratello,^[75] andQuinn Buckner^[76] onbasketball,Bob Trumpy,^[72]Al Bernstein,^[77] andBeasley Reece^[78] onboxing,Tom Hammond,^[79]Charlie Jones^[80]Michele Mitchell, andWendy Lian Williams^[81] ondiving,Terry Leibel^[82] andMelanie Smith Taylor^[83] onequestrian,Jim Donovan^[84] andSeamus Malin onsoccer,John Tesh,^[85] Greg Lewis,^[86]Tim Daggett,^[87]Elfi Schlegel,^[88]Wendy Hilliard,Peter Vidmar, andJulianne McNamara^[89] ongymnastics,Joel Meyers^[90] onrowing, Charlie Jones,^[91]Mary Wayte,^[72] andMike O'Brien onswimming,Al Trautwig^[92] andTracie Ruiz-Conforto^[72] onsynchronized swimming,Bud Collins,^[93]Tracy Austin,^[94]Chris Evert,^[95] andVitas Gerulaitis^[96] ontennis, Tom Hammond,Craig Masback,^[97] andDwight Stones^[98] ontrack and field,Chris Marlowe^[99] andPaul Sunderland^[100] onvolleyball, Charlie Jones and Jim Kruse^[101] onwater polo, andRuss Hellickson^[102] andJeff Blatnick^[103] onwrestling.

In order to defray costs of airing the games, the network teamed up withCablevision^[104] for theTriplecast. The service consisted of red,^[105] white, and blue channels that allowed the viewer to watch anything they wanted even before it aired in the network's primetime telecast. However, the service was a dismal failure losing $100 million and had only 200,000 subscribers. In addition, the main network's coverage was cannibalized to the extent it seemed that the main coverage was overproduced and that viewers knew some results about 10 hours before they were aired over the air on NBC. For Atlanta, NBC had no supplemental cable coverage.

For the1996 Summer Olympics inAtlanta, NBC used as commentators Marv Albert,^[106]Matt Goukas,^[107]Magic Johnson,^[108] andJim Gray on men'sbasketball,Mike Breen^[109] andCheryl Miller^[110] on women's basketball,Bob Papa,^[111] Al Bernstein,^[112] Beasley Reese^[113] onboxing, Charlie Jones^[114] and Bill Endicott oncanoeing, Al Trautwig,^[115] Phil Liggett,^[116] andPaul Sherwen^[117] oncycling,Dan Hicks andCynthia Potter^[118] ondiving,Jim Simpson^[119] and Melanie Smith Taylor onequestrian, Jim Donovan and Seamus Malin onsoccer, John Tesh,^[120] Tim Daggett,^[121] Elfi Schlegel,^[122] and Beth Ruyak^[123] ongymnastics, Charlie Jones^[124] and Bill Endicott^[125] onrowing, Dan Hicks,^[126]Summer Sanders,^[127]Rowdy Gaines,^[128] and Jim Gray^[129] onswimming, Don Criqui^[130] and Tracie Ruiz-Conforto onsynchronized swimming, Bud Collins^[131] andMary Carillo^[132] ontennis, Tom Hammond, Dwight Stones,^[133] Craig Masback,^[134] andCarol Lewis^[135] ontrack and field, Chris Marlowe,^[136] Randy Rosenbloom^[137] (beach), Paul Sunderland,^[100]Kirk Kilgour^[138] (beach), andBill Walton^[139] onvolleyball, Don Criqui and Jim Kruse^[140] onwater polo, Bob Trumpy^[141] andPhil Simms^[142] onweightlifting, and Russ Hellickson and Jeff Blatnick^[143] onwrestling.

As with Arledge inMunich, Ebersol had to deal withbreaking news during the Atlanta Games. During theCentennial Olympic Park bombing in 1996, NBC suspended its coverage of avolleyball game and broadcast the news for several hours commercial-free. Like ABC's 1972Munich coverage, the main primetime host (in 1972's case,Chris Schenkel instead ofJim McKay) did not cover the bombing. That role went to bothHannah Storm andJim Lampley for the first half-hour before turning coverage over toNBC Nightly News anchorTom Brokaw. Toward the end of the second hour of coverage, NBC had an exclusive as the network's Atlanta affiliate,WXIA-TV, was in the process of interviewingJanet Evans during the bombing.

Beginning with the2000 Summer Olympics, NBC became the sole U.S. rights holder for the Olympic Games for the entire decade. NBC made the longest and most expensive commitment ever anywhere in the world since the Olympics were first presented on television. For the 1996 Summer Olympics, and all Games from 2000 to 2008, NBC paid a total of $3.5 billion, mostly to theInternational Olympic Committee but also to theUnited States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and local organizers.

To help offset the increasing costs of broadcast rights, NBC turned tocable andsatellite services to help provide additional coverage. Following the failure of the Triplecast pay-per-view experiment, NBC leaned on its growing slate of cable channels (particularly following then-parentGeneral Electric's 2004 acquisition ofVivendi Universal to formNBC Universal) to provide supplementary coverage of Olympic events.

The rise of variousmedia platforms extended the reach and availability of Olympic Games coverage. NBC returned to supplemental cable/satellite coverage in2000, with some events airing onCNBC andMSNBC; traditionally CNBC has mainly aired coverage ofboxing events.

The2002 Winter Olympics were the first Winter Olympics under a multi-year rights agreement between NBC and the IOC.

NBC partnered with HDNet to produce an eight-hour block of daily coverage in high definition, which was carried by HDNet and on the digital signals of participating NBC affiliates. Despite being held in a time zone only one hour ahead of Pacific Time, NBC still tape delayed much of its coverage for the west coast, although Salt Lake City's local NBC affiliate KSL-TV was given permission to air the live, east coast broadcasts to ensure their availability in the Games' host city.

For the first time at the2004 Summer Olympics, major broadcasters were allowed to serve video coverage of the Olympics over the Internet, provided that they restricted this service geographically, to protect broadcasting contracts in other areas. The International Olympic Committee forbade Olympic athletes, as well as coaches, support personnel and other officials, from setting up specialized weblogs and/or other websites for covering their personal perspective of the Games. They were not allowed to post audio, video, or photos that they had taken. An exception was made if an athlete already has a personal website that was not set up specifically for the Games. NBC launched its own Olympic website, NBCOlympics.com. Focusing on the television coverage of the Games, it did provide video clips, medal standings and live results. Its main purpose, however, was to provide a schedule of what sports were on the many stations of NBC Universal. The Games were shown on television 24 hours a day, on one network or another.

High-definition coverage began in 2004.^[144]

NBC addedUSA Network,Bravo andTelemundo, all of which parent companyNBC Universal had acquired earlier in the decade.

During the2006 Winter Olympics, USA Network aired a daily studio program focusing on thefigure skating competitions,Olympic Ice, which was hosted byMary Carillo and featured appearances by analysts such asDick Button (who hosted the viewer e-mail segment "Push Dick's Button"),Jamie Sale andDavid Pelletier.^[145][146]

Universal HD was added to the list of channels carrying the Games.

Also during the 2006 games, most NBC affiliates introducedOlympic Zone, anaccess hour program leading into primetime coverage which airs Mondays through Saturdays during the games. Each edition is hosted locally and contains a mixture of network-produced and, if station resources allow, local segments (similar to thePM Magazine format). A version of the program had been piloted byKCRA Sacramento during the 2004 games.^[147]

At the2008 Summer Olympics, events werestreamed live for the first time on the Internet through the NBCOlympics.com website, and NBC began to employ part-timehigh-definition channels dedicated to thebasketball andsoccer competitions.^[148] Recent NBCU acquisitionOxygen joined NBC's coverage, carrying a two-hour block on weekdays with a focus on gymnastics (deemed by NBC executives to be an equivalent toOlympic Ice during the 2006 games).^[149][150]

In 2006, NBC paid another $2.2 billion to purchase the rights to the2010 Winter Olympics and2012 Summer Olympics^[151] but lost $223 million on the 2010 broadcasts.^[152] NBC Olympics is the International Olympic Committee's, and by extension theOlympic movement's, highest revenue stream.^[8]

The 2010 Games added then-digital multicast networkUniversal Sports, which carried analysis programs about events, while Oxygen and Bravo were completely excluded to maintain their schedules.

In 2011,Comcast acquired majority control of NBC's parent company NBC Universal fromGeneral Electric (whose remaining interest Comcast later acquired in 2013); on June 6, 2011, NBCUniversal announced that it had acquired the television rights for the 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 Olympics, beating outESPN/ABC andFox. The entire package was worth $4.38 billion, making it the most expensive television rights deal in Olympic history. NBC paid $775 million for the2014 Winter Olympics inSochi,Russia, and $1.23 billion for the2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro,Brazil. NBC also paid $963 million for the rights to the2018 Winter Olympics (inPyeongchang, South Korea) and $1.45 billion for the2020 Summer Olympics (which were to be held inTokyo,Japan but were later postponed to 2021 as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic).

In response to criticism it received during previous Olympics, NBC also announced that beginning in2012, 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, for the duration of the network's existence.^{[1][153][154]} 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 Olympics 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.

The2014 Winter Olympics again saw NBCSN as the highlighted cable network, though NBCUniversal's cable networks had additional complications due to NBC's weekend coverage of thePremier League, which usually aired 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 theWestminster Kennel Club Dog Show because of the yearly conflict with USA'sWWE Monday Night Raw. A new online-network called "Gold Zone," which features rolling coverage of events in the style ofNFL Network'sRedZone Channel andESPN Goal Line (and has been by coincidence hosted byAndrew Siciliano, who also hosts theNFL Sunday Ticket-exclusive version of RedZone forDirecTV), was also launched to provide coverage of the Games, which was retained for 2016's coverage.

For the2016 Summer Olympics, NBC began to offer4K content on a delayed basis through participating service providers (particularlyDirecTV,Dish Network, andXfinity), downconverted from8K footage filmed byNHK andOlympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), withHDR andDolby Atmos support. 86 hours of event footage was offered.^[155][156] NBC affiliateWRAL-TV inRaleigh, North Carolina also carried this content via their experimentalATSC 3.0digital signals.^[157][158]

With there-introduction of golf to the Olympics,Golf Channel was added to NBC's coverage, withGolf Channel on NBC providing production resources for the two tournaments on behalf of OBS.^[159] The primetime block of NBC's coverage in 2016 also featuredDescriptive Video Service through theSAP channel for the first time since theFederal 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).^[160]

On July 15, 2017,Universal HD was relaunched as a localized version ofOlympic Channel, airing coverage of Olympic sports outside of the Games.^[161][162]

In February 2017, Bob Costas stepped down as the main host of NBC's coverage, being replaced by former ESPN personalityMike Tirico.^[163][164]

On March 28, 2017, NBC announced that it would adopt a new format for its primetime coverage of the2018 Winter Olympics, with a focus on live coverage in all time zones to take advantage of Pyeongchang's 14-hour difference with U.S. Eastern Time, and to address criticism of its previous tape delay practices. As before, the primetime block began at 8:00 p.m ET/5:00 p.m PT, and unlike previous Olympics, was available for streaming. Event sessions infigure skating were deliberately scheduled with morning sessions so that they could air during primetime in the Americas (and in turn, NBC's coverage; due to the substantial fees NBC has paid for rights to the Olympics, the IOC has allowed NBC to have influence on event scheduling to maximize U.S. television ratings when possible; NBC agreed to a $7.75 billion contract extension on May 7, 2014, to air the Olympics through the 2032 games,^[165] is also one of the major sources of revenue for the IOC).^[8][166]

Coverage took a break in the east for late local news, after which coverage continued into "Primetime Plus", which featured additional live coverage into the Eastern late night and Western primetime hours. This was then followed by an encore of thePrimetime block. NBCSN also broadcast live primetime blocks, and revivedOlympic Ice to serve as a pre-show for figure skating coverage (hosted byLiam McHugh andTanith White from Pyeongchang), alongside a digital-exclusive post-show hosted byKrista Voda from NBC Sports' headquarters.^[167][168] On February 19, 2018, NBC began airing theFallon Five, an abbreviated version ofThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, during the primetime block for the remaining weekdays of the Games.^[169][170]

NBCUniversal integrated itsPeacock streaming service into coverage beginning with the2020 Summer Olympics. It carried a special "Tokyo Now" channel during the Games, featuring the studio programsTokyo Live (event coverage and medal ceremonies),Tokyo Gold (an hour-long highlight show recapping the previous day's events),On Her Turf at the Olympics (a daily program focusing on news and highlights involving women at the Games),Tokyo Tonight (which featured whiparound coverage in primetime hosted by formerESPN personalitiesKenny Mayne andCari Champion), andOlympic Highlights withSnoop Dogg andKevin Hart (a half-hour highlight show with an unconventional and comedic tone).^{[171][172][173]} Peacock also carried coverage of selected basketball, gymnastics, and track and field events.^[174] For the first time, Olympic Channel was incorporated into live event coverage, with a particular focus on thetennis andwrestling competitions.^[175]

Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic (which had already prompted the Games to be postponed by one year to 2021) and biosecurity protocols, NBC sent a significantly smaller number of employees to Tokyo than it usually did for previous Summer Olympics. While commentators were present in Tokyo for flagship events such as athletics, the majority of commentators called events remotely from NBC Sports' headquarters inStamford, Connecticut. Due tosocial distancing and remote production, NBC's staff was largely divided among the headquarters, other NBC facilities (such as30 Rockefeller Plaza, and those of CNBC, Telemundo, and in some cases,Sky Sports in Great Britain), and a nearby hotel in Stamford, while makeshift commentary booths had to be constructed in storage areas of the Stamford building.^[176] Meanwhile in Tokyo, NBC used the Hilton Tokyo Odaiba hotel as a broadcast location, with Mike Tirico anchoring from an outdoor set on a balcony overlookingTokyo Bay. Telemundo employed avirtual set at its headquarters in Miami, which was modeled after NBC's main indoor set in Tokyo.^[177]

The scheduling of the2022 Winter Olympics impacted the U.S. broadcast rights to theSuper Bowl, the championship game of theNational Football League (NFL) and historically themost-watched television broadcast in the United States annually. The rights to the game rotate betweenCBS,Fox, and long-time Olympic broadcasterNBC; to prevent the Games fromcompeting for viewership and advertising sales withSuper Bowl LVI—which was scheduled for February 13, 2022, at Los Angeles'SoFi Stadium—CBS and NBC announced in March 2019 that they would swap the rights for Super Bowl LVI andLV (2021), so that both the 2022 Winter Olympics and Super Bowl LVI would be broadcast by NBC.^[178][179] In a break from the established practice of airingpremieres or special episodes of television series after the Super Bowl to take advantage of its large audience, NBC aired itsprime time coverage for Day 10 of the Games immediately following the game.^[180] Furthermore, the NFL's new media rights beginning in 2023 (which extends the Super Bowl rotation to four networks) codifies this scenario, with all of NBC's future Super Bowl games being in Winter Olympic years (2026, 2030, and 2034).^[181][182]

Due to COVID-19 protocol (including China's strictzero-COVID policy), NBC once again sent a smaller contingent of staff to Beijing, and all events were called remotely from its various facilities.^[183] Mike Tirico anchored the opening weekend of the Games (including the opening ceremony) from Beijing, but traveled back to the United States on February 8 for logistical reasons, with the remainder of the Games (with exceptions) being anchored from Stamford. After that night's coverage was guest hosted byCraig Melvin andMaria Taylor, Tirico returned the following night.^{[184][185][186]} He then traveled to Los Angeles to host NBC's coverage of Super Bowl LVI, and over Super Bowl weekend Tirico anchored the primetime block from an outdoor studio outsideSoFi Stadium, before returning to Stamford for the remainder of the Games.^[184][187] All events were streamed live on Peacock.^[174]

For the2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, NBC maintained most of the format changes used in the three Asia-hosted Olympics, including live coverage on NBC during the U.S. daytime hours across the main network and NBCUniversal cable networks (including two part-time "Paris Extra" channels), and all events streaming on Peacock. Due to the Games being hosted in Europe, the primetime block—branded asPrimetime in Paris—returned to a tape-delayed,news magazine-like format with a focus on highlights from the past day's events, and feature segments highlighting athletes and storylines throughout the Games.^[188] In addition to its facilities in Stamford (which largely maintained aspects of the remote production setups used for Tokyo and Beijing),^[189] NBC set up studios in theMusée de l'Homme for the primetime block andToday, and a set for theNBC Nightly News overlooking theArc de Triomphe.^[190] USA Network would offer a temporary4K feed throughout the Games through participating television providers, carrying 400 hours of coverage in1080p withHDR (upconverted to 4K).^[191] NBC stations in 67 markets also carried the network's coverage in 1080p HDR via their ATSC 3.0 signals.^[192]

The "Gold Zone" channel on Peacock returned in a revamped form, hosted byScott Hanson (of NFL RedZone), Andrew Siciliano,Matt Iseman,Akbar Gbajabiamila (both ofAmerican Ninja Warrior), andJac Collinsworth; notably, Hanson and Siciliano —who had hosted rival "red zone" channels fromNFL Network andNFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV respectively— would co-host a block of "Gold Zone" together.^[193][194] NBC offered several digital features usinggenerative artificial intelligence, including "OLI"—achatbot providing information on the Games' broadcast schedule,^[195] and "Your Daily Olympic Recap" on Peacock—a personalized recap of events narrated by an AI-synthesized likeness ofAl Michaels.^[196]

Snoop Dogg would return as a celebrity correspondent for the primetime block,^[197] along withSaturday Night Live cast memberColin Jost—who was stationed inTahiti as a special correspondent forsurfing. However, after suffering multiple injuries and ailments (including astaph infection,ear infection, and cutting his foot on a coral reef), he dropped out part-way through the Games during a break in the schedule, and was replaced by Luke Bradnam—a weatherman from theNine Network in Australia.^[198][199] During the final day of coverage, Tirico was joined for a segment by Bob Costas (marking his first appearance on NBC's coverage since 2016) and Al Michaels, who discussed notable moments from previous Olympics hosted by the United States as a prelude to the2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.^[200]

For the2024 Summer Paralympics, 140 hours of linear coverage was carried by NBC, USA Network, and CNBC, while Peacock streamed all events. NBC had hosts on-site for the first time, withAndrea Joyce and Lacey Henderson serving as hosts from Paris.Sophie Morgan (who hosted the 2020 Paralympics forChannel 4 in the UK), Carolyn Manno, andChris Waddell hosted from Stamford. Peacock features such as multi-view and Gold Zone (hosted by Manno) were also used during the Paralympics for the first time.^{[201][202][203]}

On March 13, 2025, NBCUniversal announced that it had reached a four-year extension of its rights to the Olympic Games, valued at $3 billion, to extend them through the2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and the 2036 Summer Olympics. The agreement also includes commitments for NBCUniversal and parent companyComcast to collaborate with the IOC and OBS to leverage its "expertise in technology infrastructure, connectivity and media to support the delivery of the Olympic Games".^[204][205]

Traditionally, NBC has primarily televised marquee sports in its Olympic coverage. When the network added coverage on its cable partners in 2000, it opened space to televise other sports. The 2004 Summer Games marked the first year that the network televised all 28 sports.^[223] Since 2008, aided with online streaming, NBC has aired many of the events held at the Summer Games live.

Since 1992, the main theme of NBC's Olympics coverage has been "Bugler's Dream", a composition byLeo Arnaud that was previously used byABC as the main theme of its Olympics coverage since 1964. Since the1996 Summer Olympics, this theme has been played in amedley withJohn Williams' "Olympic Fanfare and Theme", which was originally composed for the1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Williams has composed other secondary themes for the Olympics and NBC's telecasts, including "The Olympic Spirit" (which was used as the main theme in1988, NBC's first year as rightsholder, before "Bugler's Dream" was reinstated the following Olympiad), "Summon the Heroes" (a piece written for theopening ceremony in1996),^[227] and "Call of the Champions" (which was written for the2002 Winter Olympics).^{[228][229][230][231]}

Since 1996, NBC has used theRandy Edelman-composed theme song from the short-livedFox seriesThe Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. during its coverage. NBC had commissioned Edelman to compose theme music for itsNational Football League coverage (stemming from its prior use of a portion of his score for the filmGettysburg for its coverage of theBreeder's Cup), and the theme was included in a portfolio of work Edelman had sent the network. Edelman felt that the track "seemed to have the right spirit. It's got a very flowing melody, it's triumphant, and it has a certain warmth. And it has at the end of it, what all television things like this have, a 'button,' an ending flourish that works really well if they need to chop it down into a 15-second thing." Senior creative producer Mark Levy felt that the works that Edelman had scored, as with John Williams, shared the "proportion and emotion" of the Olympics.^[232]

Since 2002, NBC had used music from the soundtrack of the sports filmRemember the Titans as part of its closing credits sequence for the Olympics^[233]

Yanni's "In Celebration of Man", a piece that CBS had declined an offer to use at the1992 Winter Olympics, was used during a preview special for the 1992 Summer Olympics; NBC's Olympics producer at the time was friends with the musician. Although NBC did not use it during the Games, the song later became NBC's theme music forUSGAgolf championships, andThe Open Championship from 2016 to 2019.^[234][235] During the2008 Summer Olympics, NBC briefly revived "Roundball Rock", theJohn Tesh-composed theme music of the formerNBA on NBC, as theme music during coverage of thebasketball tournaments.^[236]

NBC has utilized otherpopular music during its Olympics coverage as well. "Home", the debut single ofAmerican Idolseason 11 winnerPhillip Phillips, was used for a segment introducing women's gymnastics at the2012 Summer Olympics. The segment rejuvenated interest in the song, causing it to re-enter theBillboard Hot 100, and eventually peak at #9. It marked the first time a song had ever made two separate top 10 runs on the Hot 100 in a single calendar year.^{[237][238][239][240]} Prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics, NBC released a promotional video with Olympics highlights set toKaty Perry's recently released single "Rise".^[241][242] "This Is Me" from the soundtrack ofThe Greatest Showman was also used during NBC's coverage of the2018 Winter Olympics.^[243]

For the 1992 Barcelona Games, NBC also commissioned John Tesh to compose a separate theme for its late night show;^[244][245] variants of this theme were used during the weeks leading up to the Games as the network's theme for coverage of theUnited States Olympic Trials.^[246]

This article's"criticism" or "controversy" sectionmay compromise the article'sneutrality. Please help rewrite or integrate negative information to other sectionsthrough discussion on thetalk page.(July 2021)

This sectionappears to beslanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective andadd more content related to non-recent events.(July 2021)

While every respective country's broadcast is biased towards the home athletes to a certain extent, NBC has faced scrutiny for allegedly focusing more on American athletes and less on other athletes from other countries, especially during the network's tape delayed primetime coverage. This has proven to be unfounded and indeed NBC has been considered more inclusive of other countries' athletes than other countries' Olympic broadcasters. NBC's focus on U.S. athletes has been the subject of a series of studies which have shown NBC places a heavier emphasis on U.S. athletes during the Summer Games than during the Winter Games.^{[247][248][249]} When the NBC 2014 primetime Olympic broadcast was compared to those broadcast in Canada by theCBC, it was determined that CBC placed more emphasis, by a statistically significant margin, on Canadian athletes than NBC placed on U.S. athletes.^[250] Furthermore, such countries as Russia (broadcastersChannel One andMatch TV), focus solely on its own athletes, ignoring events where they do not participate.^[251] By contrast, NBC often devotes considerable coverage to favorite foreigners such asUsain Bolt.^[252] Similarly, United Kingdom's state broadcasterBBC was criticized during the2020 Summer Olympics for "parochial nationalism" and "[remaigining] the greatest sporting pageant on Earth as Team GB vs Everyone Else."^[253]

NBC's tape delayed primetime coverage has faced major criticism for many years. Unlike live coverage where viewers can see the events uninterrupted in real time, NBC's tape delaying practices allow for cutting away to commercials and inserting segments profiling American athletes participating in the respective event being shown, which adds even further delay. 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.^[254]

During the2000 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 andSydney,Australia, with the exception of theMen's Gold Medal basketball game.^[255][256] The massive tape delay led to heavy criticism, as some events aired some 16 hours after they were completed, which gave would-be viewers more than enough time to learn the results themselves from competing outlets, including NBC's morning showToday. Indeed, early numbers showed Sydney to be one of the lowest-rated Olympics in the United States sinceMexico City in 1968, and 21% lower than1988—the next most recent games to have been held in late-September rather than July and August. Due to the scheduling, the Games also had to compete with a busy period for domestic sports, including the start of theNFL andcollege football seasons (aMonday Night Football game was only barely beaten by Olympics coverage one night), and the final weeks of theMajor League Baseball regular season.^[257][258]

Because of these tape delay and editing practices, and NBC Sports executives' responses to these criticisms, they have been accused of treating the Olympics more likereality television, as opposed to a conventional telecast of sports.^{[9][259][260]} For example, during the2012 Summer Olympics, NBC Sports chairman Mark Lazarus stated that the reason why they cut from their primetime coverage of Russia'sKsenia Afanasyeva's fall during thewomen's gymnastics artistic team all-around was "in the interest of time". However,The New York Times noted that Afanasyeva's entire routine was only 1 minute and 38 seconds long, and critics claimed that the real reason for the edit was to create drama and uncertainty over whether the U.S. team would defeat the Russian team in the final round.^[259] And during the2014 Winter Olympics, NBC continued to promote for its primetime coverage Russian figure skaterEvgeni Plushenko at themen's singles event even though he withdrew hours earlier due to injury.^[261]

During a press event held before the2016 Summer Olympics, chief marketing officer John Miller addressed the formatting of its primetime coverage, stating that the Olympics were "not about the result, [but] about the journey. The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans. 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 ultimatereality show andmini-series wrapped into one."^[262] Miller's remarks were ridiculed by the media: Linda Stasi of theNew York Daily News considered Miller's statement to be "sexist nonsense" and representative of a "pandering, condescending view of the millions of women viewers".^[263]Sally Jenkins of theWashington Post said that NBC had often been successful with its "packaging" of the Olympics, and that it was "not inherently sexist for them to say that women have some different viewing habits and interests than men". At the same time, she argued that it was "insulting" for NBC to cater its tape-delayed broadcasts towards a "Ladies' Home Journal crowd", as it alienates conventional sports fans, and harmed the ability to grow a year-round audience for both women's sports and Olympic sports.^[264]

In an interview withSlate, former NBC personalityDwight Stones stated that he had left the network due to a history of conflicts with producers over the direction of its track and field coverage. In particular, Stones stated that NBC's producers had downplayed field events because track events were easier to "package" due to being more consistent in their structure. He went on to argue that "Field is 50 percent of the name and 43 percent of the events. And for it to be ignored and belittled the way it has been at the network of the Olympics for the United States through 2032 is a disgrace and a disservice. And I don't see it changing anytime soon with the people that are running that place and the people that are producing the sport."^[265][266]

Reeves Wiedman ofThe New Yorker argued that NBC's style of coverage focuses too much on the athletes as characters, rather than on the technical aspects of sports that are not typically prominent on U.S. television outside of the Olympics. In particular, he explained that coverage of gymnastics was "hindered by an outdated image of gymnasts as teen-age pixies bouncing around the screen" and "encourages us to look at swimmers as some of the world's premier athletes, and the gymnasts as the world's most coordinated beauty-pageant contestants". Wiedman added that "the idea that viewers staying up late into the night to watch a sport they barely understand have little interest in learning more about it seems wrong-headed", and that "only a very small number of Americans can tell the difference between aProdunova and anAmânar" or know that coaches "pore over the [IFG] Code with the same zeal thatBill Belichick, theNew England Patriots' head coach, scours theNFL rule book for trick formations that push up against the boundary of the sport's regulation".^[267]

Geoff Baker ofThe Seattle Times described NBC's coverage this way:

NBC's approach would be like waiting until 8 p.m. to broadcast a [Seattle] Seahawks game against the New England Patriots that happened at 1 p.m. Then, showing only select snippets from each quarter, interspersed with soft features of [Seahawks quarterback]Russell Wilson and [his wife] Ciara, and [Patriots quarterback] Tom Brady and [his wife] Gisele walking hand-in-hand down a beach with Mozart playing in the background.^[268]

On the other hand, under NBC's influence as the major revenue stream, some marquee events have been deliberately scheduled to allow live broadcasts in U.S. primetime.^[269] This phenomenon has been apparent in Olympics held in Asia-Pacific countries, where marquee events such as swimming (in 2008 and 2020) and figure skating (in 2018 and 2022) were held in the morning rather than the evening. Athletes were required to adjust to these changes, especially if they practiced in the morning, while the scheduling of swimming in 2008 drew the ire of theBBC—as they fell in the early-morning hours in the United Kingdom.^[270][10] Some events at the2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro were scheduled as late as 11:00 p.m. or midnightBrasília Time (which is an hour ahead of Eastern time), to accommodate both NBC andRede Globo—the main Brazilian rightsholder. Globo had deliberately chosen not to preempt its primetimetelenovela lineup during the Olympics, as they are the highest-rated programs on Brazilian television.^{[271][272][273][274]}

Although the2010 Winter Olympics were being held inVancouver—located in thePacific Time Zone, which is three hours behind theEastern Time Zone, 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.^[275] NBC executives explained that this was done because of the higherviewership 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.^[276]

This tape delay practice, even for major events, became increasingly frustrating with viewers, especially with the increased usage ofsocial networking and websites (including the official Vancouver 2010 site and NBC's Olympic website) posting results in real time.^[277] This especially held true for viewers in thePacific,Mountain,Hawaii andAlaska Time Zones, where events were delayed even further by three to six hours or more.^[278] 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 fromSeattle). As a result, NBC was just beginning its coverage of the games at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time in Seattle (over NBC affiliateKING-TV), while the actual ceremony was deep into the artistic portion of the event.

As a result, these practices spurred outrage from viewers and media analysts voicing their opinions on the internet and even raising concerns from politicians.^[279] This controversy came mere days following the controversial resolution of the2010Tonight Show host and timeslot conflict, which further damaged NBC's already broken image.^[280]

In the past, American viewers who lived close to the Canada–US border were able to get around waiting for NBC to air an event by watching Olympic coverage onCBC Television. However, rights to the 2010 games in Canada moved over toCTV, 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.^[281]

At the2012 Summer Olympics, NBC offered live streaming coverage on its Olympics website through a partnership withYouTube, which provided the opportunity to see all events live.^[282] NBC also used a mixture of live and tape delayed coverage for its television broadcast due to London being five hours ahead of theEastern 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 theU.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 byDepartment 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 inEurope 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.^[283]

In aGallup 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.^[284]

For its coverage of the2014 Winter Olympics, NBC streamed every competition live. However,only existing cable and satellite customers, subscribing to packages that include NBC's sister cable networks could access the service.^[285][286] TheCanadian Press reported that frustrated viewers were purchasingVPN services to access CanadianIP addresses so they could streamCBC Sports' live coverage instead (which is normally free for those in Canada).^[287]

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 andJohnny Weir announced NBCSN's live broadcast; andTom Hammond,Scott Hamilton andSandra Bezic anchored the tape delayed coverage on NBC. Invariably, comparisons were made between the two announcing teams; the NBCSN team of Weir and Lipinski received critical acclaim, and were ultimately named NBC's lead commentary team for figure skating later that year.^[288][289]

NBC was criticized over the way its tape delayed primetime coverage handled the news of Russian star figure skaterEvgeni Plushenko's withdrawal from competition due to injury. Hours after he announced his withdrawal, NBC continued to air promotions for its primetime show still implying he would skate in the event.^[290][291]

Variety specifically criticized NBC for its tape delay practices in regards to theWomen's artistic team all-round competition in its primetime broadcast, having effectively relegated most of the competition to air past 11:00 p.m. ET/PT, barring a short portion focusing on the vault and uneven bars events at the top of the primetime broadcast, in favor of the swimming competitions of the night. It was noted that "in the midst of a highly anticipated story that had already been ruined for many viewers via the Internet, it felt egregious to push the biggest story of the night to past 11 p.m.", and that NBC was trying to "juice the numbers" by doing so.^[292]

On March 28, 2017, NBC announced that it would air live coverage in primetime for the 2018 Winter Olympics across all time zones, citing the "communal experience" and the ubiquity of social media as justification for this change.^[167]

TheAsian American Journalists Association, among other groups, has criticized NBC for having its announcers deliberately use an incorrect pronunciation of the host cityPyeongchang (by pronouncing the "-chang" like "bang" instead of correctly saying it like "chong") because, according to Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Broadcasting and Sports, this pronunciation is cleaner to an average viewer.^[293][294]

The top anchors ofNBC News were also sent to cover the Olympics, which meant that they were unable to cover theStoneman Douglas High School shooting inParkland, Florida which occurred on February 14. Therefore, while rivalsABC News,CBS News,CNN andFox News were able to send their top anchors and reporters on-site to cover this domestic breaking news story, NBC News had to send relatively unknown reporters to cover the shooting.^[295][296]

In its handling ofSimone Biles' withdrawal from theWomen's artistic team all-around final, NBC's morning showToday discussed the event but was not allowed to show video footage, and the event was shown as-live during NBC's primetime broadcast.^[297][298]Slate argued that since the network had intensely emphasized Biles during its promotion of the Games, it was "a bit rich for NBC to report on the psychological pressures faced by Biles without also reflecting on the ways in which its choice to make Tokyo the Simone Games surely intensified those pressures", and that "by rejecting the network’s laurels and proceeding on her own terms, Biles is finally writing her own story."^[299] Biles's actions were praised and compared to that of other nations' athletes who are "over-determined" to win at any cost. Biles, on the other hand, showcased that the new U.S. approach to the Olympics is focused on athletes' well-being rather than only winning.^[300]

NBC has repeatedly received criticism for how it broadcasts the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics, including its frequent refusals to broadcast them live in any form (including online stream) until Tokyo 2020, citing the requirement to add "context" to the telecasts,^{[262][301][302]} the removal of ceremony content from these tape delayed broadcasts,^{[303][304][305]} as well as the quality of their on-air commentary.^[306]

During theclosing 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. ET to broadcast the premiere episode ofThe Marriage Ref, and broadcast the remaining portion of the ceremonies on tape delay at 11:35 p.m. after late local newscasts.^[307] This spawned outbursts from upset viewers, especially onTwitter.^[303]

During the remaining portion after the intermission, several performances were also cut, includingFrench Canadian singerGarou's performance ofJean-Pierre Ferland's "Un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin"; three minutes of commercials were shown in place of his performance.^[308]

The commentary – particularly that ofMeredith Vieira andMatt Lauer – during theopening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics was criticized as "ignorant" and "banal". They admitted to not knowing whoWorld Wide Web inventor SirTim Berners-Lee was, mistakenly claimed that the actualQueen of the United Kingdom had parachuted into the stadium withJames Bond (as opposed to abody double), and describedMadagascar as "a country associated witha few animated movies".Australia was introduced as a formerpenal colony, and a joke about the former despotic dictator,Idi Amin, was used to describeUganda by Bob Costas.Kazakhstan was introduced with comments about theMarch 2012 incident at the H.H. The Amir of Kuwait International Shooting Grand Prix inKuwait, in which the mock Kazakhstan anthem from the filmBorat was mistakenly played for gold medallist Maria Dmitrenko, and another Central European country was introduced as having no chance of winning medals in that year's Olympics. The NBC defended the comments and style, explaining that it was always intended to be a comedic relief.^{[306][309][310][311][312]}

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.^[313] 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.^[314] Some Americans elected to watch online streams of the ceremonies provided by either theBBC orCTV if they wanted to watch it live. These failings were picked up during the NBC broadcast by Twitter users with thehashtag #nbcfail.^[315]

NBC spokesman Christopher McCloskey said:

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.^[302]

Despite these issues or maybe because of them, 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.^[316]

Due in part to lingering criticism fromsocial media outlets like Twitter, NBC made a last-minute decision to reverse course and stream the closing ceremony live on NBCOlympics.com.^[317] However, when it aired on television, the ceremony was 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 the medal ceremony for the men's marathon, a tribute thanking the Olympic volunteers, a ballet sequence featuringDarcey Bussell that accompanied the extinguishing of the Olympic flame, and musical performances byMuse,Kate Bush andRay Davies.^[305][318]

In addition, the ceremony was preempted beforeThe Who's performance, in order to air a sneak preview of the sitcomAnimal Practice and late local newscasts. Again, American viewers expressed their dismay using social media.^[304] Bob Costas himself criticized the decision when appearing onTBS'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.".^[319]

Ignoring past criticisms, NBC again tape delayed theopening 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".^[301][320]

Like in 2012, NBC streamed the closing ceremony in Sochi live on NBCOlympics.com in full,^[321] 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 sitcomGrowing Up Fisher after the broadcast at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time.^[322] However, that meant that NBC only scheduled a two-hour window for their tape delayed coverage of the ceremony, between a 90-minute documentary onTonya Harding andNancy Kerrigan that aired from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern, and theGrowing Up Fisher preview.^[323]

Although NBC promoted that the2016 Summer Olympics would feature more live coverage than previous years due to the fact that it occurred in a location that is only one hour ahead of theEastern Time Zone, the company continued with its previous practice of tape delaying theopening ceremony. It began at 7:00 p.m. ET, but was delayed to 8:00 p.m. ET/PT for the U.S. audience, resulting in the ceremony airing on an hour delay on the east coast, and a four-hour delay on the west. NBC cited a need to provide context for the ceremony's contents, as the network viewed the opening ceremony to be an entertainment event rather than sports content.^{[262][324][325][326][327]}

NBC was ultimately criticized for this tape delay, as well as the large amount of advertising it aired (which theLos Angeles Times argued was the actual reason for the delay);Mediaite calculated that it had aired six breaks amounting to 14 minutes of commercials in the first 40 minutes of the ceremony alone.^[328][329]

Unlike in 2012, viewership for the opening ceremonies via NBC went down to an average of 19.5 million viewers between 8 and 11 PM, a 32% decrease, although the live streaming numbers went up, indicating that audiences gradually switch to the digital medium where they can stream events on demand.^[330][331]

Theclosing ceremony in Rio was also tape delayed to 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, preceded by an hour-long recap show (Rio Gold).^[332] Similarly to Sochi, the closing ceremony's lead-out—a preview of theeleventh season ofThe Voice, aired at 10:30 p.m.^[333]

At least 38% of the ceremony was cut from the NBC primetime broadcast, including portions of the entry of athletes (althoughDeadspin noted that this portion took "a really, really long time"), a three-minute long montage of highlights from the Games, the medal presentation for the Men's marathon (despite American athleteGalen Rupp having won a bronze medal in the event), the inauguration of new IOC members, and a speech by organizing committee presidentCarlos Arthur Nuzman^[334][335]

The live stream of the closing ceremony in full was available on NBC's digital platforms and enjoyed great popularity. Overall, live streaming figures topped 1 billion minutes, per NBC post-Olympic press release.^[331]

For the first time, NBC announced that it planned to offer a live stream of the opening ceremony. Mark Lazarus cited the ongoing criticism of NBC's decisions to tape delay the ceremonies, as well as changing "consumer behavior", as justification for the decision; Pyeongchang is 14 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. The NBC network also carried its traditional tape delayed broadcast in primetime, without any additional tape delays to other time zones west of Eastern Time.^[336][337]

During the parade of nations, NBC commentatorJoshua Cooper Ramo described Japan as "a country whichoccupied Korea from 1910 to 1945", but "acultural and technological and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation." The statement received immediate backlash in South Korea for being insensitive and ignorant to thehost nation's ongoing disputes with Japan and Japan's history of brutalcolonization of Korea.^[338] NBC issued an apology and Cooper Ramo resigned.^[339]

Like its previous coverage, NBC had a live stream of the closing ceremony without any commentary, and then its traditional tape delayed coverage in primetime, without additional tape delays to the other time zones west of Eastern Time.^[340][341]

In January 2020, NBC announced that it planned to stream the ceremonies of the 2020 Summer Olympics live onPeacock.^[342] On February 10, 2021, NBC introduced its regular and full simultaneous live broadcasts of the Olympic ceremonies across all U.S. territories with mandated primetime encores for U.S. non-East Coast time zones. NBC stated that "following the unprecedented challenges presented by the global [COVID-19]pandemic, the world will come together in Tokyo for what could be the most meaningful and anticipated Opening Ceremony ever. Given the magnitude of this event, we want to provide viewers with as many ways to connect to it as possible, live or in primetime."^[343]

In late 2021, NBC announced that like the Tokyo Summer Games, it would air the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics live on NBC on the morning of February 4, 2022, with a replay of the ceremony in primetime as well.^[344] NBC's broadcast of the opening ceremony was criticized by someconservatives as taking a "both-sides approach" [equally blaming the U.S.] to the issue ofhuman rights abuses in China.^[345]

The NBC telecast of the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics in Paris featured hosts such asSnoop Dogg,Peyton Manning andKelly Clarkson, whoseeponymous talk show is syndicated bythe network's distribution arm. Critic Chris Bumbaca wrote inUSA Today that "Manning and Clarkson were distracting at best and brutal to listen to at worst. Olympics fans watching at home aren't tuning in to hear a talk-show host (Clarkson) and football analyst (Manning) discuss things outside of their spheres of influence. They want substantive information about the countries and athletes' stories." He did, however, say that "NBC's saving grace may have been Snoop Dogg. The rapper will be featured heavily in the coverage over the next two weeks, and his timing was effective. On Friday, the comedy he provided was desperately needed."^[346] Manning and Clarkson were criticized by users on social media.^[347] Although the ceremony itself was noted for containing a number of segments thathave received criticism from conservative and right-wing movements and governments worldwide, NBC largely avoided involvement in the surrounding controversy.^{[348][349][350][351][352][353]}

A total of 28.6 million viewers watched the opening ceremony on NBC and Peacock, more than 60% up from the Tokyo Olympics and also an 8% increase over the 2016 Rio opening ceremony.^[354]

Despite the2012 Summer Paralympics being a breakthrough games for international media coverage, helping significantly boost overall audience shares for British broadcasterChannel 4 and Australia'sABC,^[355][356] no Paralympics events were shown live on television in the United States.International Paralympic Committee PresidentPhilip Craven criticized North American broadcasters, and NBC specifically, for having fallen behind the times^[357] and said that theInternational 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.^[358]

In September 2013, NBC subsequently acquired the rights to the2014 and2016 Paralympics, and announced plans to air a combined 116 hours of coverage from both Games. Craven praised NBC's decision to devote a 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."^[359] NBC further acquired rights to broadcast the2018 and2020 editions. The company announced more than 1200 hours of coverage for the 2020 Summer Paralympics, called "unprecedented" by the International Paralympic Committee.^{[360][361][362]}

On February 16, 2014, reporter and former women's alpine skiing silver medalistChristin Cooper received criticism for her interview with AmericanBode Miller after his bronze medal win in themen'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.^[363][364] Later that evening, Millertweeted 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 onToday, 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."^[365]

Matt Lauer, who had been filling in for Bob Costas while the latter was ill, had engaged in inappropriate and unwanted sexual behavior with subordinates during the Games. This was one of the factors that led to his termination from NBC on November 29, 2017.^[366]

On August 16, 2016, boxing analystTeddy Atlas accused NBC of deliberately "hiding" corruptboxing competitions in Rio in an effort to hide suspected corruption byAIBA—the international governing body of boxing at the Olympics. He cited limited coverage as part of NBC's televised broadcasts, as well as the network's refusal to invite him back, after having called out questionable officiating during a controversial bout betweenMagomed Abdulhamidov andSatoshi Shimizu in 2012.^{[367][368][369]} The next day, it was reported that AIBA would remove several referees and judges from the competition under suspicion that they were not making decisions "at the levels expected".^[370]

As Hungarian swimmerKatinka Hosszú won a gold medal and broke a world record during the 400-meter individual medley,Dan Hicks credited a man responsible for helping her break the world record and win the gold medal. There was no reference to who the "man" was, although some on social media angrily speculated that Hicks was alluding toKatinka Hosszú's then-husband, Shane Tusup (who was also the coach of the Hungarian Swimming Team). The comment from Hicks was criticized as sexist.^[371] Hicks later said "It is impossible to tell Katinka's story accurately without giving appropriate credit to Shane, and that's what I was trying to do." He also added that "with live TV, there are often times you look back and wished you had said things differently."^[372] The next day,Al Trautwig was criticized for stating incorrect information about the parents of American gymnastSimone Biles. On air, Trautwig stated that Ron Biles and Nellie Biles are Simone's grandparents that adopted her and her sister in 2001. Later on, Trautwig tweeted that Ron and Nellie were actually her parents, to which fans on Twitter started the hashtag, #FireTrautwig.^[373][374] Trautwig later apologized, stating "I regret that I wasn't more clear in my wording on the air. I compounded the error on Twitter, which I quickly corrected. To set the record straight, Ron and Nellie are Simone's parents."^[375]

On August 9, some viewers became upset on Twitter after commentator Cynthia Potter failed to mention that British diverTom Daley was a well known gay athlete, as Potter was focused on the replays. NBC later made a statement toThe Advocate that "with more than 11,000 athletes at the Games, it is not always possible to identify every competitor's significant other, regardless of their sexual orientation."^[376][377] Later, the partner of Brazilian volleyball playerLarissa França, Liliane Maestrini, was referred to by commentator Chris Marlowe as her "husband". It led to confusion and dismay for some viewers as Larissa and Liliane are both female and are a same-sex couple. NBC later apologized stating that "Liliane is Larissa's wife."^[378][379]

Bode Miller was criticized for on-air remarks about Austrian skierAnna Veith, suggesting that her marriage to Manuel Veith was affecting her performance.^[380]

During theWomen's super-G competition, NBC prematurely cut away from the competition to return to figure skating, while commentators acknowledged on-air multiple times that Anna Veith had won the gold medal. However, snowboarderEster Ledecká would overtake Veith in an upset victory, beating her by one hundredth of a second. Ledecká had recently begun a career in alpine, and had been considered an underdog in the competition, having been ranked 49th in the world and have never medaled in any major international skiing meet. NBC eventually returned to the event to report on the final result, with commentator Dan Hicks remarking "Well, these are the Olympics, and anything can happen."^[381][382]

In the lead up to the2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Americanright-wing politicians and media personalities heavily criticized NBC for continuing to promote their broadcast of the Games despite both the diplomatic boycott announced by PresidentBiden and the controversy surrounding what they described as agenocide of Uyghurs perpetrated by China. SomeRepublican senators includingJosh Hawley endorsed the anti-NBC campaign.^[383]

On December 6, 2021, President Biden announced the United States would diplomatically boycott the 2022 Winter Games. The diplomatic boycott had no effect on the American athletes' participation or on NBC's broadcast of the Olympics, both of which would have been affected had a full boycott had been put in place.^[384]

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