Topic summary

Olympics on NBC

Olympics on NBC

NBC Olympics is the commercial name for the NBC Sports-produced broadcasts of the Summer and WinterOlympic Games as shown in the United States on NBCUniversal and Versant platforms. They include the NBC broadcast network and as well as the cable networks operated by Versant under an agreement with NBC Universal; Spanish language network Telemundo; and streaming on the NBCSports app, NBCOlympics.com, and Peacock. 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 on CNBC, the early mornings on MSNOW, overnights on the USA Network, and various hours on NBCSN). 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 XXIXOlympiad for the 2008 Summer Games. However, promotional logos may reflect the more common location-and-year name format, such as "Beijing2008".

NBC has held the American broadcasting rights to the Summer Olympic Games since the 1988games and the rights to the Winter Olympic Games since the 2002 games. In 2011, NBC agreed to a $4.38billion contract with the International Olympic Committee to broadcast the Olympics through the 2020 games, the most expensive television rights deal in Olympic history. NBC then agreed to a $7.75billion contract extension on May7, 2014, to air the Olympics through the 2032games. NBC also acquired the American television rights to the Youth Olympic Games, beginning in 2014, and the Paralympic Games for the 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 editions. NBC announced more than 1,200hours of coverage for the 2020games, called "unprecedented" by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). In March 2025, NBC signed a $3billion extension for both the 2034Winter and 2036Summer games. NBC is one of the major sources of revenue for the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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, and avoiding controversial subjects such as material critical of Russia at the 2014 Olympics. Since the 2012 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.