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Olympic Channel (American TV channel)

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Olympic Channel
Olympic Channel logo.png
CountryUnited States
Broadcast areaNationwide
HeadquartersNew York City, New York
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format1080i HDTV[1]
Ownership
Owner
Sister channelsNBC
Universo
NBC Sports Regional Networks
Golf Channel
USA Network
Syfy
CNBC
History
LaunchedJuly 31, 2003 (2003-07-31)
ClosedSeptember 30, 2022 (2022-09-30)
(19 years, 61 days)
Former names
  • Bravo HD+ (2003–2004)
  • Universal HD (2004–2017)
Links
WebsiteOfficial website

Olympic Channel (branded as Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA) was an American pay television sports channel owned by the NBC Olympics, a joint venture between NBC Sports and the United States Olympic Committee. It was dedicated to Olympic sports, and was a franchise of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Olympic Channel operation.

The network was founded in 2003 as Bravo HD+, which aired programs from the fellow NBC Universal network Bravo that had been produced in high definition. In 2004, the network was re-branded as Universal HD, serving as an outlet for HD broadcasts of programming from NBC Universal channels, as well as acquired films and television series. This format became increasingly redundant by the 2010s, as most mainstream cable networks were now being broadcast in the format. As such, in 2015, NBC Sports began to use the channel and sister NBCSN as an outlet for the programming of the defunct Universal Sports, consisting mainly of coverage of events in Olympic sports held outside of the Olympic Games.

In 2017, the channel relaunched as Olympic Channel, which continued this focus as a companion to NBCUniversal's broadcast rights to the Olympics; alongside Olympic and Paralympic sport coverage, it also carried documentaries and other programming chronicling the Olympic Games and its history, shoulder programming during the Olympics proper, and coverage of the Paralympic Games since 2018 (alongside NBCSN). In 2021, the channel aired live event coverage during the Olympics for the first (and ultimately, only) time.

On July 1, 2022, NBCUniversal announced that Olympic Channel would be shut down on September 30, 2022, with plans to move its programming to other outlets to be determined.

Discover more about Olympic Channel (American TV channel) related topics

Pay television

Pay television

Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial, and streaming television. In the United States, subscription television began in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the form of encrypted analog over-the-air broadcast television which could be decrypted with special equipment. The concept rapidly expanded through the multi-channel transition and into the post-network era. Other parts of the world beyond the United States, such as France and Latin America have also offered encrypted analog terrestrial signals available for subscription.

Joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to access a new market, particularly Emerging market; to gain scale efficiencies by combining assets and operations; to share risk for major investments or projects; or to access skills and capabilities.

NBC Sports

NBC Sports

NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its dedicated national sports cable channels. Formerly operating as "a service of NBC News", it broadcasts a diverse array of sports events, including Major League Baseball, the French Open, the Premier League, the IndyCar Series, NASCAR, the National Football League (NFL), Notre Dame Fighting Irish college football, the Olympic Games, professional golf,the Tour de France and Thoroughbred racing, among others. Other programming from outside producers – such as coverage of the Ironman Triathlon – is also presented on the network through NBC Sports. With Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011, its own cable sports networks were aligned with NBC Sports into a part of the division known as the NBC Sports Group.

Olympic sports

Olympic sports

Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing body, namely an International Federation (IF).

International Olympic Committee

International Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss Civil Code. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is the authority responsible for organising the modern Olympic Games.

Olympic Channel

Olympic Channel

Olympic Channel is an over-the-top Internet television service operated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was launched on August 21, 2016, alongside the closing of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The service aims to maintain year-round interest in the Olympic movement, carrying documentaries and other programming chronicling the Olympic Games, as well as coverage of events in Olympic sport outside of the Games.

NBCSN

NBCSN

NBCSN was an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming primarily involving fishing, hunting, outdoor adventure programs, and outdoor sports. By the turn of the 21st century, OLN became better known for its extensive coverage of the Tour de France but eventually began covering more "mainstream" sporting events, resulting in its relaunch as Versus in September 2006.

Universal Sports

Universal Sports

Universal Sports was an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network. It was owned as a joint venture between InterMedia Partners and NBCUniversal.

Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The modern Olympic Games or Olympics are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition with more than 200 teams, representing sovereign states and territories, participating. The Olympic Games are normally held every four years, and since 1994, have alternated between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years during the four-year period.

NBC Olympic broadcasts

NBC Olympic broadcasts

The broadcasts of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games produced by NBC Sports are shown on the various platforms of NBCUniversal in the United States, including the NBC broadcast network, NBC Sports app, NBCOlympics.com, Peacock, Spanish language network Telemundo, and many of the company's cable networks. The event telecasts during the Olympics air primarily in the evening and on weekend afternoons on NBC with additional live coverage on the NBC Sports app and NBCOlympics.com, with varying times on its cable networks. The commercial name of the broadcasting services is NBC Olympics.

Paralympic Games

Paralympic Games

The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

2018 Winter Paralympics

2018 Winter Paralympics

The 2018 Winter Paralympics, the 12th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), that was held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from 9 to 18 March 2018. They were the second Paralympics to be held in South Korea, following the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul.

History

As Bravo HD+/Universal HD

The channel was launched on July 31, 2003, as Bravo HD+, serving as a high-definition companion service to Bravo, though not a simulcast of its programming. On December 1, 2004, the network was rebranded as Universal HD, shifting its focus towards library content, either filmed in high-definition or remastered into HD, particularly from Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures Television under a syndication agreement, and other NBC Universal channels.[2]

Most of the programs broadcast by Universal HD were first aired by one of NBC Universal's cable networks including Bravo, USA Network, Syfy and Chiller before their HD simulcast networks were launched. In its early years, it carried sports coverage from USA in the HD format, including its rights to the Masters Tournament, tennis's US Open, and the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.[3]

The network's original purpose came amid bandwidth constraints that existed at the time, which limited the number of HD channels that television providers could offer to their subscribers. By 2007, however, technological improvements that improved capacity, and the growing amount of HD content, prompted more mainstream cable networks (including NBC Universal's channels) to begin launching their own HD feeds.[4]

To fill its schedule, Universal HD acquired rights to network series that had been produced in the format, such as UPN's Sex, Love & Secrets and South Beach (with the former including the premieres of episodes that had been left unaired after its cancellation by UPN).[5] From August 1 to December 26, 2007, the channel carried a weekly block of programming from then-sister network Sundance Channel, which was sponsored by Microsoft.[6] It also, as part of a consortium of other NBC Universal networks and Sundance Channel, broadcast the entirety of the 2007 Live Earth concerts in high definition.[7]

As Olympic Channel

In November 2015, Universal Sports, a sports channel owned by InterMedia Partners with a minority stake held by NBC, ceased operations. NBC Sports acquired the rights to the content that was previously held by the channel, which consisted primarily of competitions in Olympic sports, and dispersed across Universal HD, NBCSN, and NBC Sports Live Extra.[8][9] In June 2017, NBCUniversal announced that Universal HD would be replaced by Olympic Channel on July 15, 2017. The move came in response to changing market conditions in the U.S. television industry, including the growth of "skinny" over-the-top linear television services delivered over the internet, and an overall decline in "niche" channels that originate little to no original programming.[10][11]

The U.S. version of Olympic Channel was a franchise of the IOC's Olympic Channel network operated in conjunction with NBC Sports and the United States Olympic Committee. The channel carried coverage of competitions in Olympic sports that take place outside of the Olympic Games (such as world championships), and other programming focusing on Olympic athletes. It drew from programming commissioned for the international version of Olympic Channel, original programming produced by the USOC, and the archives of NBC.[12][13]

The USOC had announced preliminary plans in July 2009 to launch an Olympic sports-oriented channel with Comcast, who would go onto announce its intent to acquire NBC Universal later that year. The joint venture was folded in April 2010, with the planned acquisition of NBC (who ran its own Olympic sport-focused channel with InterMedia Partners, Universal Sports) having been cited as a potential distraction from the proposed channel (which was originally intended to launch following the 2010 Winter Olympics).[14][15]

The rebranding occurred on the morning of July 15, 2017; its launch weekend programming included coverage of events in the World Aquatics Championships, the Volleyball World Grand Prix, the World Para Athletics Championships and the IAAF Diamond League. Besides Xfinity, providers who carried the channel at launch included Altice, AT&T U-verse, DirecTV, Dish Network, Spectrum, and Verizon Fios, along with Hulu's live TV service; NBC stated that it would be available in 35 million households when the rebranding occurs.[16]

The network carried news and highlights during the 2018 Winter Olympics (with full event coverage delegated to other NBCUniversal networks), including the Jimmy Roberts-hosted studio program Winter Olympics Daily, the daily medals ceremony, and the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) production Olympic Channel News.[17] The network participated in NBCSN's event coverage of the 2018 Winter Paralympics.[18][19] Olympic Channel was incorporated into NBC's event coverage of the Olympics for the first time at the 2020 Summer Olympics, airing coverage of the tennis and wrestling competitions, along with a repeating Olympic news feed during non-event hours.[20] It also aired coverage of the 2020 Summer Paralympics alongside NBCSN.[21]

On July 1, 2022, NBCUniversal announced that Olympic Channel would close on September 30, 2022, with a representative stating that the company was "reevaluating our programming distribution strategy regarding the content that currently airs on Olympic Channel". The closing comes as NBCUniversal prioritizes its streaming service Peacock, along with the earlier shutdown of NBCSN at the end of 2021 and move of its cable sports properties to USA and CNBC.[22][23]

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Sony Pictures Television

Sony Pictures Television

Sony Pictures Television Inc. is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainment and a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation.

USA Network

USA Network

USA Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports cable television channels, before being relaunched under its current name on April 9, 1980. Since then, USA steadily gained popularity through its original programming, a long-established partnership with WWF/WWE and, for many years, limited sports programming that increased significantly in 2022 after the shutdown of NBCSN.

Syfy

Syfy

Syfy is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. Launched on September 24, 1992, the channel broadcasts programming relating to the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres.

Masters Tournament

Masters Tournament

The Masters Tournament is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first major of the year, and unlike the others, it is always held at the same location, Augusta National Golf Club, a private course in the city of Augusta, Georgia, in the southeastern United States.

Bandwidth (signal processing)

Bandwidth (signal processing)

Bandwidth is the difference between the upper and lower frequencies in a continuous band of frequencies. It is typically measured in hertz, and depending on context, may specifically refer to passband bandwidth or baseband bandwidth. Passband bandwidth is the difference between the upper and lower cutoff frequencies of, for example, a band-pass filter, a communication channel, or a signal spectrum. Baseband bandwidth applies to a low-pass filter or baseband signal; the bandwidth is equal to its upper cutoff frequency.

UPN

UPN

The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' subsidiary, United Television. Viacom turned it into a joint venture in 1996 after acquiring a 50% stake in the network, and subsequently purchased Chris-Craft's remaining stake in 2000. On December 31, 2005, UPN was kept by CBS Corporation, which was the new name for Viacom when it split into two separate companies. CBS Corporation and Time Warner jointly announced on January 24, 2006, that the companies would shut down UPN and competitor The WB to launch a new joint venture network later that year. UPN ceased broadcasting on September 15, 2006, with The WB following two days later. Select programs from both networks moved to the new network, The CW when it launched on September 18, 2006.

Sex, Love & Secrets

Sex, Love & Secrets

Sex, Love & Secrets is an American soap opera, created by Michael Gans and Richard Register, which originally aired on United Paramount Network (UPN) from September 27, 2005, to October 18, 2005. With an ensemble cast led by Denise Richards, James Stevenson, Lauren German, Eric Balfour, Tamara Taylor, Lucas Bryant, and Omar Benson Miller, the series focuses on rich young adults living in Silver Lake, Los Angeles and their secrets involving sex and love. With the prominent use of voice-over narrations, the show took a documentary approach to framing the characters and their storylines. The series was developed as a vehicle and television debut for Richards, and had the working titles Wildlife and Sex, Lies, and Secrets. The episodes were filmed in Los Angeles.

South Beach (2006 TV series)

South Beach (2006 TV series)

South Beach is an American drama television series that aired on UPN from January 11 to February 22, 2006. Created by Matt Cirulnick, one of its executive producers was singer/actress Jennifer Lopez. The program was panned by critics and shunned by viewers, ranking 152nd in the Nielsen TV ratings rankings for the 2005–06 season. It was canceled after eight first-run episodes due to low viewership. South Beach was produced by Paramount Television.

Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Microsoft's best-known software products are the Windows line of operating systems, the Microsoft Office suite, and the Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface lineup of touchscreen personal computers. Microsoft ranked No. 14 in the 2022 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue; it was the world's largest software maker by revenue as of 2022. It is considered as one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Meta.

Live Earth (2007 concert)

Live Earth (2007 concert)

Live Earth was a one-off event developed to combat climate change. The first series of benefit concerts were held on July 7, 2007. The concerts brought together more than 150 musical acts in twelve locations around the world which were broadcast to a mass global audience through televisions, radio, and streamed via the Internet. It was "unclear" where ticket proceeds from ticket sales went towards.

InterMedia Partners

InterMedia Partners

InterMedia Advisors, LLC, is a private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in the media sector.

NBC Sports

NBC Sports

NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its dedicated national sports cable channels. Formerly operating as "a service of NBC News", it broadcasts a diverse array of sports events, including Major League Baseball, the French Open, the Premier League, the IndyCar Series, NASCAR, the National Football League (NFL), Notre Dame Fighting Irish college football, the Olympic Games, professional golf,the Tour de France and Thoroughbred racing, among others. Other programming from outside producers – such as coverage of the Ironman Triathlon – is also presented on the network through NBC Sports. With Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011, its own cable sports networks were aligned with NBC Sports into a part of the division known as the NBC Sports Group.

Source: "Olympic Channel (American TV channel)", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 23rd), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Channel_(American_TV_channel).

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Further Reading

NBC

USA Network

United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee

Bravo (American TV network)

NBC Sports Regional Networks

NBC Sports

College Football on NBC Sports

NBC Sports Chicago

NBC Olympic broadcasts

Universal Sports

NBC Sports Group

Olympic Channel
See also
References
  1. ^ "Technical Info - Olympic Channel". NBCUniversal Affiliate Site. June 24, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  2. ^ "Bravo HD+ to Become Universal HD". Multichannel News. November 9, 2004. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  3. ^ Sturgeon, Shane. "INTERVIEW - Jean-Briac Parrette". HDTV Magazine. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  4. ^ Silver, Sara (October 11, 2007). "Now Playing on Cable: HDTV Catch-Up". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  5. ^ "Uni Hd Is Bringing Sexy Back in June to Kick Off Summer". The Futon Critic. May 23, 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  6. ^ Glen Dickson (July 10, 2007). "Microsoft Sponsors Sundance Hi-Def Content". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  7. ^ "NBC Universal Gets Live Earth Exclusive". Broadcasting & Cable. June 2007. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  8. ^ Lieberman, David (November 16, 2015). "NBC Sports Group Picks Up Events That Aired On Universal Sports Network". Deadline. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  9. ^ Hipes, Patrick (October 22, 2015). "Universal Sports Network Being Shuttered By NBCU". Deadline. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  10. ^ Holloway, Daniel (January 25, 2017). "Could End of NBCU's Esquire Network Foretell More Cable Culling?". Variety. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  11. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (August 18, 2016). "Participant's Pivot: Demise Reflects Niche Cable's Diminished Fortunes". Variety. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  12. ^ Petski, Denise (June 15, 2017). "Olympic Channel Gets July Launch Date". Deadline. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  13. ^ "NBCUniversal Sets Olympic Channel Launch Date". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  14. ^ Sandomir, Richard (April 21, 2010). "U.S.O.C. Ends Plans for Its Own Olympic Channel". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  15. ^ "USOC, Comcast end effort to launch Olympics network". Los Angeles Times. April 21, 2010. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  16. ^ Zaccardi, Nick (July 10, 2017). "Olympic Channel Launch Broadcast Schedule". NBC Sports. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  17. ^ "Olympic Channel To Focus On Shoulder Programming For PyeongChang". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  18. ^ "How to Watch—And What to Expect From—the Winter Paralympics 2018 on NBC". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  19. ^ "Why do Americans ignore the Paralympics?". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  20. ^ Young, Jabari (June 7, 2021). "NBCUniversal will air more than 7,000 hours of Olympics coverage on TV and streaming video". CNBC. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  21. ^ "NBC will present a record 1,200 hours of Paralympics coverage". Awful Announcing. August 17, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  22. ^ Ourand, John (July 1, 2022). "NBC to shut down Olympic Channel in September". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  23. ^ Hayes, Dade (July 1, 2022). "NBCUniversal Will Unplug The Olympic Channel After Five-Year Linear TV Run". Deadline. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
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