Why televising the Olympics is more complicated than it seems

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Why televising the Olympics is more complicated than it seems image

These questions originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights. They were answered on May 10th, 2016.

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Answers by Jim Bell, Executive Producer of NBC Olympics: 

Q: How do TV networks decide what Olympic sports to show live, given that there are so many parallel events?

A: The good news is that we now have so many platforms, including digital, that virtually every second of Olympic competition is available live somewhere. In the past, this was a more difficult process. As recently as the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, for example, NBC broadcast a grand total of 171.5 hours of total coverage on a single network. This inevitably meant that some sports and athletes weren't going to get appropriate coverage (and at those Games in particular many of the women's sports were relegated to a brief highlight in prime time at best). Today, if you're a fan of archery or table tennis, or anything else, it's all there. Where we continue to make tough decisions is with regard to our prime time coverage. We tend to focus on a few sports that are very popular and whose athletes are a little more well known, such as swimming, gymnastics, track & field, diving and beach volleyball. During the Rio Games it should be interesting on some nights, as there will be multiple events taking place and we'll have to decide which ones to follow and when it makes sense to break away to something else. That's the challenge but it's one we enjoy and embrace and hope to get right more often than not so the viewers can enjoy these Games.

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Q: How do cultural differences between countries affect the Olympics and production?

A: If you are referring to our work, the team at NBC thoroughly enjoys meeting new people and embracing new cultures as we prepare for the Olympics. The production of the Games is a project that takes years and requires many visits to the host city and country. Having experienced so many Games before, we've gotten to know various countries, cultures, and especially cuisines, to say nothing of other fun facts like learning the occasional curse word in a foreign language.

If, however, you are referring to the athletes and the coverage of the Games, we aim to keep the focus on the competition and let the performances of the athletes shine through any differences. The Games, after all, are about bringing people together. There are some times, like the Opening Ceremony, when we'll discuss certain geopolitical storylines as they may be relevant. 

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Q: How quickly after one Olympics ends does production on the next begin?

A: Well it would be nice to wait for one Olympics to end before planning for the subsequent Games, but we don't have that luxury. In fact, we've already made multiple trips to South Korea for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games. The turnaround time is especially short between Summer and Winter Games, closer to 18 months than 2 years. We have a little bit more of a cushion after a Winter Olympics, more like 2 1/2 years, but Summer Games are much bigger, with more countries, athletes, sports, and venues, so they require that additional time. In South Korea, we recently had a World Broadcaster Meeting, where we got together with other rights-holding broadcasters and met with the IOC's television arm, OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services). At these meetings, we interact with the PyeongChang 2018 leadership team and get to know the location and venues. We can thus begin to formulate our planning, which includes everything from production and programming to catering and hotels, and many other areas as well. Tokyo is the site of the 2020 Summer Games and we have visited once already to meet with their leadership team. And we already have familiarity with Beijing, host of the 2022 Winter Olympics, from the 2008 Summer Games. It's nice that the next 3 are all relatively close, so I think we'll visit more than one each time we're in the neighborhood.

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