NBC Sports coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics (the broadcasts being officially titled, as were the games themselves, The Games of the XXIX Olympiad) was broadcast from August 6 to August 24, 2008 (including selecting football matches prior to the opening ceremonies) on the various television networks of NBC Universal in the United States. Coverage was broadcast on NBC, Telemundo, USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, their associated HDTV simulcast channels where applicable, and Universal HD. NBC also set up two dedicated cable channels, the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel and the NBC Olympic Basketball Channel, for the express purpose of providing additional coverage of those two sports.
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Coverage
The scale of the coverage grew to the same huge proportions as the Games themselves. In 2008, NBC was scheduled to air over 3,600 hours of live coverage (1,400 on the TV networks and 2,200 more online). According to NBC, that is 1,000 more hours than the combined coverage of all Summer Games since that first telecast in 1960. NBC also is using 106 hosts, announcers, and commentators to cover the action. The main transmission center in the United States was Studio 8-H at Rockefeller Center in New York City, where Saturday Night Live is based. Some announcers and hosts were assigned to the New York studio and were not on location in Beijing.
Ratings
Through August 12, NBC was averaging 30.4 million viewers for each night of primetime coverage, up five million from the same period in 2004. The increased number was attributed to Michael Phelps's ongoing quests for the most gold medals in a single Olympics and in a career. On August 11, NBCOlympics.com had 7.8 million unique page visits and 476,062 downloads from cellular telephones. The number of average viewers had dropped to 28.7 million by August 17, but it still far outpaced shows on other networks. Most programming opposite the Olympics was in reruns, except for Big Brother 10 on CBS and High School Musical: Get in the Picture on ABC.
By the end of the Olympics, NBC estimated a total audience of 214 million people for at least some of the telecasts, an all-time record for any Olympics. In the second week of the Games, all eight primetime telecasts (there were two on August 24) finished in the top eight of the ratings. On all 17 nights, NBC had more viewers than ABC, CBS, and FOX combined. However, ratings on the final Friday and Saturday of the Games were the lowest for primetime coverage since 1988.
Even other sports events saw ratings downturns attributable to Games coverage. Declines ranged from 14 percent for the PGA Tour The Barclays to 36 percent for the Little League World Series final. (scroll to middle of page)
Hosts
Event announcers
*These announcers were to call the action from the NBC studios in New York City rather from onsite in Beijing
NBC did not plan coverage of judo, sailing, or taekwondo on any of its networks. Coverage in the U.S. was to be available only online at NBCOlympics.com.
2008 Sportsdesk reporters
Feature reporters
Studio contributors
DVDs
NBC has made three DVDs available related to the 2008 Summer Olympics. One covers the opening ceremony, another covers the highlights from the entire competition, and the final is a retrospective of Michael Phelps' record-setting Olympic career in swimming. They are produced by the Ten Mayflower production company.