NBC Will Showcase Olympics In Different Way For Late-Night, Daytime
NBC will offer Olympics fans a different view of its coverage than in the recent past.
Bob Costas will hold forth during the company’s primetime coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics, and, as usual, from the company’s main broadcast center. During daytime and late-night coverage, however, on-air personnel – including Ryan Seacrest – will broadcast from a studio located on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
The beach studio will feature an indoor and an outdoor set, along with an interview area, and a news update desk. All the facility elements are set up to capture views of the beach, Sugarloaf Mountain, and the Rio coast line. High-definition video monitors will help showcase highlights from the Games.
“With the beach-volleyball venue just steps away, and thousands of athletes and fans visiting Copacabana and Ipanema every day, we will be able to perfectly capture the excitement and celebration taking place in Rio during the Olympics,” said Michael Sheehan, coordinating director of NBC Olympics, in a prepared statement.
NBC and its parent, NBCUniversal, have reason to differentiate its coverage outside primetime. The company has said it will present 325.5 hours of coverage of the Olympic Games from Rio in August across cable networks USA, Bravo, CNBC and MSNBC alone, with additional broadcasts on NBCSN and Golf Channel. Including live-streaming, the company expects to transmit more than 6,000 hours of coverage.
NBC said Seacrest will serve as host for NBC’s late night coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Hosts for NBC Olympics’ daytime coverage will be announced soon. Costas will serve, again, as NBC’s primetime anchor, marking his 11th time in the role.
Set up of the separate facility for coverage outside primetime marks the first time in 24 years, since the 1992 Barcelona Games, that NBC Olympics has had a major studio outside of its usual broadcast center. NBC Olympics’ morning show for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics originated from an athletes’ residential area. NBC in 1988 featured daytime and late night coverage from pagodas located outside its broadcast center for its coverage of the Seoul Games.
Coverage kicks off August 5 with a telecast of the event’s opening ceremonies.
Related stories
NBCUniversal and OSN Set to Launch Syfy in Middle East
Savannah Guthrie to Skip Olympics Coverage Due to New Pregnancy
Apple TV Adds Apps for NBCU's Bravo, Syfy and E!
Get more from Variety and Variety411: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
