NBC says Paris Olympics will be easier for viewers to navigate after messy Tokyo Games

NBC executives know darn well that their vast coverage of the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021 led to vast confusion.

Though the 13-hour time difference was beyond its control, NBC didn’t help itself with a confusing interface on its nascent streaming service, Peacock. It further angered viewers by putting men’s basketball games behind the streamer’s paywall.

For the Paris Summer Games, which begin July 26, the network said it learned its lesson.

“In Tokyo, frankly, we didn’t do a very good job for our customers,” Mark Lazarus, NBCUniversal Media Group chairman, said at a preview event Wednesday in New York. “We didn’t exactly deliver what we said we were going to deliver.”

This time, executives said, not only will Peacock be easier to navigate, but NBCU will air more live daytime hours of Olympics coverage on broadcast and linear TV than ever. On cable, USA will have 24/7 coverage, including U.S. men's and women's basketball, and CNBC, E! and GOLF also will air programming.

Peacock, though, will make all 5,000-plus hours of coverage available to subscribers. It also took a page out of the NFL’s playbook, applying the concept behind “NFL RedZone” to the Olympics with “Gold Zone,” a live whiparound show that will stream from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day of competition.

And NBC swears it all will be easy to find.

“One of the key principles as we were developing our Olympics interface was effortless discovery,” Peacock president Kelly Campbell said. “We’ll have a comprehensive Olympics hub on the home page that will spotlight what’s happening now and what’s coming up. Peacock also will have dedicated hubs for each sport.”

Such hubs will appear on almost every other streaming platform, too. NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel said 95% of pay-TV homes will have some version of an Olympics hub. NBC also plans to deliver short-form content to platforms that carry it, such as TikTok and YouTube.

“We want our coverage at the fingertips of every viewer,” Zenkel said. “[NBCU owner] Comcast was the first to show us the benefit of Olympic content navigation in 2012, and now others in the industry have followed suit. We will have the American audience surrounded for 17 days in Paris.”

The city will make for a beautiful backdrop for the Games, and the seven-hour time difference will allow NBC to be creative with its prime-time programming. Molly Solomon, president and executive producer of NBC Olympics Production, said NBC will carry competition live in the afternoon (when it’s nighttime in Paris) and repackage it for prime time.

“For the first time, we’re putting the most popular sports – swimming, gymnastics, track and field – live in the afternoon on NBC and Peacock,” Solomon said. “I’m looking forward to prime time because it’s our opportunity to cover the Games where we can focus on the narrative and the moments that surround the events, two important arteries that we’re not able to cover when we’re live.”

That means double duty for Mike Tirico, who will host live coverage and the curated, three-hour “Prime Time in Paris” show. He’ll be among the 1,100 staffers in Paris. Another 2,000 will work out of the network’s studios in Stamford, Connecticut, where NBC Sports is headquartered, and Miami, where Spanish-language Telemundo is based.

“COVID accelerated our capability and confidence in production from our headquarters,” Zenkel said. “Stamford will remain our production hub, allowing us to take advantage of the efficiencies of at-home production. But our Paris team will have 75 commentators and reporters and 90 film crews.”

One commentator who will appear virtually – if not spookily – is Al Michaels. His voice, generated by an artificial-intelligence engine trained by his appearances on NBC, will narrate a customized playlist of video clips from the previous day that will be delivered each morning on Peacock. “Your Daily Olympic Recap,” which NBC calls a first-of-its-kind experience, will be available to subscribers July 27.

As eerie as that might seem, it falls in line with the network’s goal of streamlining its coverage. After failing to achieve that during the Tokyo Games, NBC appears ready to deliver this time. 

Remote patrol

• The Big East announced a new media-rights deal Thursday, incorporating NBC and TNT with Fox, which will continue as the league’s lead network. Though the six-year deal will begin with the 2025-26 season, NBC’s Peacock will carry 25 regular-season and five Big East Tournament games in 2024-25.
  
• Marquee Sports Network will employ the first all-female booth in Cubs history for the game July 7 against the Angels, with Beth Mowins, analyst Elise Menaker and reporter Taylor McGregor on the call.
  
• TBS picked up the Phillies-Cubs game Tuesday night and will show it in the Chicago market. Brian Anderson and former UIC baseball star Curtis Granderson will call it. Marquee also will air the game.
  
• Ricky Cobb, a Chicago resident who runs the popular Super 70s Sports digital platforms (@Super70sSports on X), will host a daily show for Outkick beginning later this summer.