FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 15th, 2017
“OLYMPIC CHANNEL: HOME OF TEAM USA” TO LAUNCH ON JULY 15 IN MORE THAN 35 MILLION HOMES
New Channel Will Be Available To Most Customers of Altice, AT&T DirecTV, Comcast, Spectrum, Verizon, and Streaming Partners At Launch
Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA Allows Fans to Connect to Olympic Sports, Athletes, and Stories All Year Round
Initial Month of Programming Highlighted by World Championships in Swimming and Diving, Track and Field, and Beach Volleyball
Olympic Channel Programming Complements 400 Hours of Olympic Sports Content on NBC & NBCSN
STAMFORD, Conn. – June 15, 2017 – The International Olympic Committee, the United States Olympic Committee, and NBCUniversal announced today that the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will launch in one month — on Saturday, July 15 — in more than 35 million homes, allowing Olympic fans to connect to Olympic Sports, athletes, and stories all year round. The new linear cable channel will be available to most subscribers of Altice, AT&T DirecTV, Comcast, Spectrum, and Verizon at launch. The linear channel will also be also be available at launch on streaming services, including DirecTV Now, Fubo, Hulu, Sony PlayStation Vue, and YouTube TV.
“The launch of our first national television channel is an exciting new chapter in the evolution of our global platform,” said Mark Parkman, General Manager of the IOC’s global Olympic Channel. “Through our partnership with the USOC and NBCUniversal, the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will ensure that U.S. audiences are able to further discover, engage and share in the power of sport and the excitement of the Olympic Games all year round.”
“The Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will celebrate the commitment of America’s elite athletes year round, as they work toward a place on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams,” said USOC CEO Scott Blackmun. “Through original programming that captures the athlete journey all the way to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, this platform will give fans of Olympic and Paralympic Sports more access than ever before.”
“We are thrilled to partner with the IOC and USOC in launching the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA this summer, with high-quality, world championship programming featuring U.S. stars such as Katie Ledecky right out of the starting blocks,” said NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel. “The fact that the channel has been embraced by the most widely-distributed cable, satellite, and telco providers demonstrates the strength of the Olympic brand in the United States, and will allow fans to connect more closely than ever with the stories and successes of America’s favorite Olympic Sports athletes.”
The Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will offer fans year-round programming of Olympic Sports from around the world, highlighting their favorite American athletes and teams. Programming will emphasize live events from a broad portfolio of summer and winter Olympic Sports.
It will also include Olympic-themed original content produced by all three parties, such as original programs produced by filmmakers from around the world commissioned by the global Olympic Channel; rich archival footage from the IOC and NBCU’s libraries of Olympic features and documentaries; and original Team USA programming produced by the USOC that provides authentic, wide-ranging and athlete-focused coverage of the Olympic Movement in the United States.
The first month of programming on the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will be highlighted by extensive coverage of the 2017 FINA World Swimming and Diving Championships from Budapest, Hungary, in July; the IAAF Track and Field World Championships from London, England, in August; and the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships from Vienna, Austria, in August.
In swimming, Olympic stars Katie Ledecky, a five-time Olympic gold medalist, Nathan Adrian, an eight-time Olympic medalist, Simone Manuel, a four-time Olympic medalist, and Ryan Murphy, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, are expected to lead Team USA, while the 2016 Olympic silver medalists in synchronized springboard, Michael Hixon and Sam Dorman, are expected to headline the U.S. diving team. Hixon and Dorman are also expected to compete in the U.S. National Diving Championships in August as part of the Team USA Summer Champions Series presented by Comcast.
Allyson Felix, a nine-time Olympic medalist and the most decorated female athlete in U.S. track and field history, will lead Team USA, while Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, an eight-time Olympic gold medalist, will compete in one of the final meets of his illustrious career. Three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings, who will compete with 2008 Olympian Nicole Branagh, 2008 Olympic gold medalist Phil Dalhausser and 2016 Olympian Nick Lucena will headline Team USA in beach volleyball.
Additional programming announcements will be released in the coming weeks.
The Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will be live streamed on OlympicChannel.com, the Olympic Channel app, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports app. Select replays and highlights will be available on these digital platforms as well as TeamUSA.org.
The extensive Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA programming complements 400 hours of Olympic Sports programming that was already scheduled to air in 2017 on NBC and NBCSN, and streamed on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, as well as on the distributors’ on demand and digital platforms.
The formation of the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA was announced in December 2016 as a ground-breaking collaboration between the IOC, USOC, and NBCU to create a comprehensive Olympic content and distribution partnership in the United States. The partnership complements the Olympic Channel global digital platform, which was launched by the IOC following the Closing Ceremony of Rio 2016. For more information, click here.
–OLYMPIC CHANNEL: HOME OF TEAM USA–
