NBC told the US press it will have a total of 3600 hours of coverage, compared to the 2,565 hours of American television coverage that the Olympic Games received from Rome 1960 through to Athens 2004.
NBC is gambling that viewers will not be drawn away from its main network’s prime-time coverage, which is still the most important for advertisers. It believes its blanket coverage will drive up interest in the event, and attract viewers to key events which it has arranged with Olympics officials to have scheduled for American prime-time. The swimmer Michael Phelps will race live in prime-time in each of the first eight nights of NBC’s prime-time broadcasts.
