As you might have heard, the Summer Olympics start one week from today. Oh, and they're going to be on NBC.
Not to mention CNBC. And MSNBC. And USA, Telemundo, Universal HD and even Oxygen, which will interrupt its regular weeknight programming – mainly Tori Spelling's reality show and chick, er, female-oriented movies – to show a couple of hours of gymnastics features, tennis, synchronized swimming and equestrian.
Hope Tori doesn't take it personally. But if NBC Universal is going to spend in the neighborhood of $1 billion in rights fees and production costs to show the Beijing Games, it's going to utilize every bit of its empire.
For the first time, that includes the Internet, which for many people could be the most fascinating part of these Games – especially those not interested in the six major sports. Or at least what NBC considers the six major sports – swimming, diving, gymnastics, volleyball, beach volleyball and track and field.
Those sports will not be streamed live on NBCOlympics.com; if you want to see them, you'll have to watch TV (or have an AT&T Mobile phone capable of receiving the new NBC Olympics 2Go channel). But if you're a fan of the other 25 sports, including basketball, baseball, soccer and tennis, every event will be available on one of the web site's 20 different channels. (The six “major” sports will be offered on demand after they air on TV.)
“Our strategy is to be on every platform where media is consumed because there is a clear behavior shift in the way media is being consumed,” said Gary Zenkel, NBC Olympics president. “Olympics fans and the fans of all Olympic sports will receive the most complete coverage of their favorite sports event in history.”
All the coverage will be in high definition, and the good news is that Cox Communications already carries USA HD and Universal HD (which will simulcast MSNBC and CNBC). Time Warner Cable also offers Universal HD, and it has an agreement to carry USA HD and CNBC HD on a temporary basis during the Olympics. Both cable operators also agreed to carry the NBC Olympic Basketball and NBC Olympic Soccer channels, which will carry every game in their respective sport in HD (and only HD).
In fact, the Soccer Channel begins at 2 a.m. Wednesday, with MSNBC (and Universal HD) coming on at 4:30 a.m. that day. There will be additional coverage at 2 a.m. Thursday on those channels, and at 5 a.m. on Telemundo.
NBC is bragging that it will be producing nearly 2,900 hours of live coverage, although that's only partially true. If you live in the Pacific time zone, for instance, any portions of NBC's (and Telemundo's) coverage that might be live elsewhere – all the swimming finals, for instance – will be seen on a three-hour delay.
And, while NBC also is noting that fans will be able to watch one TV network or another for Olympics coverage 23½ hours a day, that also doesn't apply to the West Coast. It's actually 23 hours daily on weekdays, and a little less than that on weekends. Again, that's because NBC's prime-time coverage will be delayed until 7, 7:30 or 8 p.m. in order to attract the largest possible audience.
In all, NBC has scheduled 3,600 hours of Olympics programming on TV, and 2,200 on the Internet. You have less than a week to get ready.
Flipping channels
Not a lot of people are watching Padres telecasts these days, and even fewer are tuning in for the postgame shows on Channel 4 San Diego. But those who do stick around continue to be rewarded with excellent analysis from
Bob Scanlan. On Monday, Scanlan spotted
Greg Maddux working from a different part of the pitching rubber, helping his pitch movement and location, and he also noted
Conor Jackson had not been the same hitter against the Padres since getting drilled by a pitch in a late April game. Really good stuff you don't get anywhere else.
Interesting one-year experiment coming this fall when NBC's “Sunday Night Football” telecasts are streamed live on NBCSports.com and NFL.com – for no charge. The first game will be the Sept. 4 Thursday night opener between the Giants and Redskins; it does not include this Sunday's 5 p.m. Hall of Fame game between the Redskins and Colts.
More football: ESPN made a no-brainer switch, announcing Emmitt Smith would be replaced on “Sunday NFL Countdown” by Cris Carter. For some reason, Smith will remain on “Monday Night Countdown” and contribute to the Sunday morning “SportsCenter” . . . Tomorrow's Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony (including ex-Charger Fred Dean) will be live at 3 p.m. on ESPN and NFL Network.
Coverage of the PGA Championship starts at 10 a.m. Thursday on TNT . . . A replay of last week's Antonio Margarito-Miguel Cotto fight will be on HBO at 6:30 tomorrow night . . . The Haskell Invitational, Big Brown's first race since the Belmont Stakes, will air from 3 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN Classic, with the race itself being simulcast on ESPNews and TVG.
Remember, today's the day Fox moves to Channel 5/69 and the CW goes to Channel 6. Angels-Yankees will be the first network sports event on the new Fox at 12:55 p.m. tomorrow.
Beginning tonight, Matt Vasgersian works his final weekend of Padres games on Channel 4 until Aug. 25. He leaves next week for New York, where he will host the second half of USA's Olympics coverage each day, generally starting before most of you will be awake (5 a.m. or earlier). Talk about a win-win: He gets to work the Olympics . . . and miss 18 Padres games.
Jay Posner: (619) 293-1834; jay.posner@uniontrib.com
