(Reuters) – NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service will be the home to live streaming coverage of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games, the media division of Comcast Corp said on Thursday.
NBC said Peacock will stream every sport and event, including all 329 medal events, and will feature curated video clips and exclusive original programming, among other content.
“Paris 2024 will have more programming hours on the NBC broadcast network than any previous Olympics,” NBCUniversal said.
The announcement reflects a shift in strategy and an effort to simplify the audience experience of watching the Olympics since the broadcast of the Tokyo Games in 2021.
NBCUniversal had aired the Tokyo Games across two broadcast networks, six cable networks and multiple digital sites, leading to confusion.
While all of Peacock’s Olympics programming was available to stream for free – with some events available live – viewers needed to pay for the $4.99 premium tier to watch men’s basketball live, a strategy designed to boost subscriptions to the service.
The Tokyo Games drew the smallest audience for the Summer Games since NBC began broadcasting them in 1988.
The Paris Olympic Games, which are to be held from July 26 to Aug. 11 next year, will be the first time since 2018 fans and the families and friends of athletes will be able to attend in peron.
NBC, Peacock and Spanish-language network Telemundo will present the live coverage of the opening ceremony on July 26 next year.
The company added it will announce programming details for its cable coverage of the Games on USA Network, E!, CNBC, GOLF Channel and Universo at a later date.
(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru and Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
