Sochi 2014 Olympic Media Updates

[Durban Sandshark]

Quebecor Media already is involved with the TV side of the Canadian Olympic coverage for Sochi 2014 through TVA Sports and the abundance of hockey coverage and the focus on French-Canadian Olympians. Now it's taken over another area of Olympic media where Bell Media usually reigned during the last Olympic period: print media. Its subsidiary Sun Media reached a 3-year deal agreement with the Canadian Olympic Committee for providing extensive and unprecedented print media coverage of the Olympics from Sochi to Rio De Janeiro. Just you wait for the left-wing nations bashing out of those papers and then could blast the MPs at all levels, especially the federal ones, when Canada loses. What, didn't The Globe and Mail do a good job starting from Vancouver to London. Speaking of Vancouver, there's no Sun Media newspaper based in BC, so who will get access to the COC coverage there? Maybe the Vancouver Sun and/or the Province in a separate deal. What a fall from grace it seems for the Bell Media and sports rights. Already bad enough with the future loss of NHL TV rights to Rogers Sportsnet and TVA Sports days ago, and it's possible TSN will take a much reduced role in terms of Sochi coverage hours like its French brother RDS will (hope not in the latter).

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/11/28/sun-media-canadian-olympic-committee-team-up

One of the few Chinese Olympic coverage-related news out there for now, CCTV hopes for a spike in ad dollars and eyeballs next year with the Sochi Winter Olympics, the World Cup, and the Asian Games after a current advertising revenue slowdown that even prompted not to normally disclose its numbers from a closely-watched auction during this period.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304607104579209772074539030

France Televisions and Deltatre team up for France Televisions multisports apps on protable devices yablets and smartphones, starting with a JO 2014 launch

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/olympicsnews/story/50684/france-televisions-deltatre-to-partner-for-multi-sport-apps-ahead-of-sochi-2014

To answer your question, Rok, Eurosport is currently in the midsts of a organizational restructuring with its owner TF1 selling it off to potential buyers. Because of this, the pan-European sports network wasn't able to buy the pan-European sports pay-TV Olympic rights to both Sochi and Rio.

[rok]

But if still that EBU selling rights,then also couldnt afford ?

[yoshi]

Eurosport is being sold??!!

[JMarkSnow2012]

Eurosport is being sold??!!

The sale process started a while ago; what's new is that it may be fast-tracked:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/discovery-communications-starts-early-eurosport-658545

[Durban Sandshark]

But if still that EBU selling rights,then also couldnt afford ?

But Sportfive now deals with the selling of the Olympic TV rights across Europe save for Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain

[yoshi]

So who now has the 'second' rights for UK like Eurosport had? BT I guess but I can't see anything on their site.

[Durban Sandshark]

I don't think their reach is wide enough across Europe yet for BT Sport. Besides, the BBC might get threatened since all the Brits had for the Olympics has been on the Beeb on the terrestrial side. Just going to be the BBC for the next two years, which wouldn't be too bad. Seems a bit too late for the IOC to award any pan-European Olympic TV rights with Sportfive now with some of the commenatators that were on Eurosport various language channels moving on elsewhere that currently hold the rights in those nations like Russia and Poland.

Had a strong sense that Chris Collinsworth from Sunday Night Football on NBC will return to the Winter Olympics, who will offer the insights of being an athlete, as will Mary Carillo. But the surprise here is Ato Bolden will make his Winter Olympics debut. Not so much of a surprise when you think track athletes (and even football players), both men and women, trying their hand in bobsledding nowdays--think Lolo Jones and Jana Pitmann. And Ato might offer insights into that type of transition as an athlete from one event to another and be there along the track, a transition he himself never did but could use his track background as a basis.

http://travew.biogamergirl.com/2013/12/nbc-announces-three-new-correspondents.html

Quaker2001, how many hours do you think NBC Sports Network will show overall since we know MSNBC, USA, and CNBC will carry in theirs? If I recall right, you project it would carry on a daily basis roughly up to a solid 15 hours nonstop daily with all of the forthcoming scheduling complications (not just time zones) and overlapping with hockey and curling arising when they start. And will it attempt to televise events on February 6 like NBC proper will like fuller coverage of the team figure skating, women's moguls, and the men's and women's slopestyle? Hopeful it would as the anchor sports network. Those events won't overlap as I checked the Sochi schedule, so NBC Sports Network can show them in full with no issues--about a 10 hour block there. Now with NBC Sports Network into the fold, it can be obviously a little more diverse and extensive in the Winter Olympic sports than MSNBC, USA, and CNBC possibly ever could! I think NBC will carry over its weekday formula from Vancouver (2 afternoon hours, 4-5 primetime hours, and 1-1.5 late night hours) to Sochi like Barcelona_'92 says--but will be extnded on weekends, hence the 5 primetime hours. I'd be surprised if the top events like alpine skiing will see NBCSN action too and then to be repackaged later for NBC primetime. Also, what can you speculate about Telemundo's plans right now? It must show the ceremonies and be more extensive in Winter Olympics sports coverage on the Spanish side of things.

[Barcelona_'92]

On NBCOlympics.com, it says that coverage on NBCSN will be begin on Saturday, February 8th, so the only coverage on the 6th will be the primetime coverage on NBC.

I don't expect Telemundo will have any coverage of the Winter Olympics. It didn't in 2006 and 2010.

[Durban Sandshark]

Which is kinda too bad. Then again, NBC Sports Network obviously has other broadcasting committments to adhere to on the 6th like maybe college basketball games to cover. Yes, there's the Internet IOC world feed streaming where we can watch the events in full with no commercial interruption. But it would be nice they were televised on NBC close to being in full. With NBC on the 6th will just packaged highlights of those said events. NBC programmers likely want to make sure NBC truly kick things off instead of the cable networks in the Winter Olympics.

[Quaker2001]

Quaker2001, how many hours do you think NBC Sports Network will show overall since we know MSNBC, USA, and CNBC will carry in theirs? If I recall right, you project it would carry on a daily basis roughly up to a solid 15 hours nonstop daily with all of the forthcoming scheduling complications (not just time zones) and overlapping with hockey and curling arising when they start. And will it attempt to televise events on February 6 like NBC proper will like fuller coverage of the team figure skating, women's moguls, and the men's and women's slopestyle? Hopeful it would as the anchor sports network. Those events won't overlap as I checked the Sochi schedule, so NBC Sports Network can show them in full with no issues--about a 10 hour block there. Now with NBC Sports Network into the fold, it can be obviously a little more diverse and extensive in the Winter Olympic sports than MSNBC, USA, and CNBC possibly ever could! I think NBC will carry over its weekday formula from Vancouver (2 afternoon hours, 4-5 primetime hours, and 1-1.5 late night hours) to Sochi like Barcelona_'92 says--but will be extnded on weekends, hence the 5 primetime hours. I'd be surprised if the top events like alpine skiing will see NBCSN action too and then to be repackaged later for NBC primetime. Also, what can you speculate about Telemundo's plans right now? It must show the ceremonies and be more extensive in Winter Olympics sports coverage on the Spanish side of things.

In doing the math, I'm guessing (or maybe I'm just hoping) that the number of hours for NBCSN will be around 200. They'd be on 15 hours a day when the curling competition starts (Midnight ET and stay on through 3pm ET). That's followed by the NBC daytime show from 3 ET to 5 ET and then CNBC's curling block from 5 to 8 leading into primetime, so it would be round-the-clock coverage.. that would be a first for a Winter Olympics and don't think they wouldn't remind us of that.

I had thought NBCSN could have live coverage on the 6th, but it sounded like that wasn't going to happen. And I doubt that's because of programming commitments on NBCSN's part (is there anything they're showing live in the AM hours that day that precludes them from showing Olympic coverage?.. probably not), but more to preserve NBC's primetime show.

As I said earlier, what I would like the philosophy to be is for NBCSN to show whatever doesn't need to be on NBC. I said the same thing of NBC's morning/afternoon show as well. Instead of showing a few ski jumps or the condensed version of the speedskating competition in primetime, show the whole thing on NBCSN and use that extra time in the primetime show to have a few more runs in alpine or a couple more figure skaters. That's what having an all-sports cable network should do for them that they didn't have in the past. It's not like you're really hurting primetime in that regard either.

So we'll see what NBCSN has to offer. There are some event overlaps that I'll be curious to see what they do about. I'm not expecting the world from them, but I do expect we'll be looking at a significant upgrade from Vancouver. There were 241 hours of cable coverage then. NBCSN alone could come close to that number. Not to mention that everything will be streamed live online, something we didn't have from Vancouver.

[ofan]

Which is kinda too bad. Then again, NBC Sports Network obviously has other broadcasting committments to adhere to on the 6th like maybe college basketball games to cover. Yes, there's the Internet IOC world feed streaming where we can watch the events in full with no commercial interruption. But it would be nice they were televised on NBC close to being in full. With NBC on the 6th will just packaged highlights of those said events. NBC programmers likely want to make sure NBC truly kick things off instead of the cable networks in the Winter Olympics.

Don't forget hockey commitments too. The NHL does not shut down until the first Saturday of the Olympics.

[Quaker2001]

Don't forget hockey commitments too. The NHL does not shut down until the first Saturday of the Olympics.

Which is going to be an issue for CBC since they have Hockey Night in Canada. NBCSN has NHL games scheduled for the night of the 6th, but then they're done until after the break. Either way though, it's not like those types of events in primteime preclude them from covering the Olympics in the overnight/morning/afternoon hours. NBCSN has plenty of commitments (mostly college basketball and college hockey) during the Olympics.

[rok]

Free online streaming channels will be?

http://www.eurovisionsports.tv/ Here not anymore?

[Durban Sandshark]

Yeah, forgot about the NHL committments, Olympicsfan97. But surely the CBC could produce a special Hockey Night In Canada on that night.

In doing the math, I'm guessing (or maybe I'm just hoping) that the number of hours for NBCSN will be around 200. They'd be on 15 hours a day when the curling competition starts (Midnight ET and stay on through 3pm ET). That's followed by the NBC daytime show from 3 ET to 5 ET and then CNBC's curling block from 5 to 8 leading into primetime, so it would be round-the-clock coverage.. that would be a first for a Winter Olympics and don't think they wouldn't remind us of that.

I had thought NBCSN could have live coverage on the 6th, but it sounded like that wasn't going to happen. And I doubt that's because of programming commitments on NBCSN's part (is there anything they're showing live in the AM hours that day that precludes them from showing Olympic coverage?.. probably not), but more to preserve NBC's primetime show.

As I said earlier, what I would like the philosophy to be is for NBCSN to show whatever doesn't need to be on NBC. I said the same thing of NBC's morning/afternoon show as well. Instead of showing a few ski jumps or the condensed version of the speedskating competition in primetime, show the whole thing on NBCSN and use that extra time in the primetime show to have a few more runs in alpine or a couple more figure skaters. That's what having an all-sports cable network should do for them that they didn't have in the past. It's not like you're really hurting primetime in that regard either.

So we'll see what NBCSN has to offer. There are some event overlaps that I'll be curious to see what they do about. I'm not expecting the world from them, but I do expect we'll be looking at a significant upgrade from Vancouver. There were 241 hours of cable coverage then. NBCSN alone could come close to that number. Not to mention that everything will be streamed live online, something we didn't have from Vancouver.

For those points you just mentioned is why NBC Sports Network, I think, should've taken that Olympic direction being NBC's all-sports cable network, even if NBC wants to preserve the primetime show. Not hurting it at all if NBC Sports Network actually showed 10+ hours of Thursday, February 6, especially starting in the early morning/late night hours--maybe there's a morning show it wants to protect. I don't know. Much of the stuff scheduled on the 6th there doesn't really need to be NBC in full. 200 hours do sound about right for it, likely more.

[Quaker2001]

For those points you just mentioned is why NBC Sports Network, I think, should've taken that Olympic direction being NBC's all-sports cable network, even if NBC wants to preserve the primetime show. Not hurting it at all if NBC Sports Network actually showed 10+ hours of Thursday, February 6, especially starting in the early morning/late night hours--maybe there's a morning show it wants to protect. I don't know. Much of the stuff scheduled on the 6th there doesn't really need to be NBC in full. 200 hours do sound about right for it, likely more.

I'm fairly confident there's nothing important enough on NBCSN the morning of the 6th that precludes them from showing the Olympics. That decision is all about NBC primetime. Here's what the NBCSN schedule could look like. This would total 199 hours..

Feb. 8th = 12:30am-1:00pm

Feb. 9th = 1:30am-1:00pm

Feb. 10th-11th = Midnight-1:00pm

Feb. 12th-18th = Midnight-3:00pm

Feb. 19th-21st = 3:00am-3:00pm

Feb. 22nd = 10:00am-1:00pm (Men's hockey bronze medal game)

Feb. 23rd = 2:00am-7:00am

[Barcelona_'92]

I was watching skiing on NBCSN this afternoon, and the ticker at the bottom said "Live Coverage Begins Feb. 6th." I'm not sure if that refers to NBCSN coverage or live internet coverage, but a couple of weeks ago, the ticker said Feb. 8th, so I'm inclined to think that NBCSN will now have some live coverage on the 6th.

[Quaker2001]

I was watching skiing on NBCSN this afternoon, and the ticker at the bottom said "Live Coverage Begins Feb. 6th." I'm not sure if that refers to NBCSN coverage or live internet coverage, but a couple of weeks ago, the ticker said Feb. 8th, so I'm inclined to think that NBCSN will now have some live coverage on the 6th.

I saw that too. I think NBCSN did something similar with London, that initially the countdown was to the first day of coverage (which was 7/25 with soccer), but later they changed it to a countdown to the Opening Ceremony broadcast. So right now, tough to tell what their plans on. And I bet some things still aren't set in stone, particularly the curling schedule since we don't know if there will be a U.S. men's team or not.

[Martijn]

Sochi 2014 news agency abolished by Russian President Putin

December 9 - RIA Novosti, the host news and photographic agency for Sochi 2014, is to be abolished and replaced by a new organisation headed by Dmitry Kiselev, a prominent Russian television presenter recently embroiled in a scandal over anti-gay remarks.

http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/winter-olympics/2014/1017355-sochi-2014-news-agency-abolished-by-russian-president-putin

[Durban Sandshark]

I saw that too. I think NBCSN did something similar with London, that initially the countdown was to the first day of coverage (which was 7/25 with soccer), but later they changed it to a countdown to the Opening Ceremony broadcast. So right now, tough to tell what their plans on. And I bet some things still aren't set in stone, particularly the curling schedule since we don't know if there will be a U.S. men's team or not.

I did not know that on the TV schedule that there was a countdown to the Opening Ceremony broadcast on NBC Sports Network--though there would a small blurb of "subject to change". What was that show like then? How did that impact the coverage of Olympic soccer if you can recall--we all know there was an NBC Olympic Soccer Channel during then. So all this could get our hopes up and change of heart for possible additional coverage on the 6th. But as you say Quaker, that network can be enigmatic at times with the Olympics programming. For NBC's sake, the American curling men better qualify.

Already NBC has made known that the team figure skating will be shown on NBC primetime making its Olympic debut this year, and it would like to show it to attract viewers given figure skating's appeal. Another obvious reason is the opportunity of showing Shaun White on the snowboarding slopestyle, another Olympic debut, against Regina, Saskatchewan's Mark McMorris with the women's version of that and with women's moguls also to be shown. All of the three sports (figure skating, snowboarding, and freestyle skiing) have proved popular with lots of TV viewers.

I'm seriously thinking the Nancy and Tonya 20 year doc NBC is working on right now as part of its Olympics coverage will come on before the women's free skate during primetime.

Alan Pargement still hopes Time Warner Cable in Buffalo would get live CBC 2014 Olympic coverage from CBC Toronto (and even CFTO--CTV Toronto) in HD right at the Canadian-US border at the 100 and 1200 channel levels

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/talkintv/2013/12/it-isnt-easy-adjusting-to-twc-lineup-changes.html

New Yorker magazine editor Dave Renmick joins NBC's Sochi 2014 team as a contributor on all things Russia. Expect him to appear on those late-night NBC Olympics segments with Bob Costas and maybe even appear at the Ceremonies

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/new-yorker-editor-david-remnick-664091

Latest issue of Red Bullertin magazine has photo profiles of favored Sochi 2014 medal hopefuls Sarah Hendricks (ski jumping), Grete Eliassen (slopestyle skiing), Kaya Turski (slopestyle skiing), Arielle Gold (snowboard halfpipe), and Heather McPhie (freestyle skiing moguls) all of them stretching during training and their personal thoughts on "faster, higher, and stronger" from pages 46-53.

Viasat CEO Jonas Karlen took the time to answer some questions regarding its Sochi 2014 broadcasting plans. He revealed there will be Viasat Sport Olympic channels (Viasat OS Kanal) 1-7 that will broadcast everything live with Swedish commentators, viasatsport.se will have the best clips and summaries for free with Viaplay having the full events live and on-demand. TV3 will have the bulk of the live Olympic events with complimentary channel TV10 being able to show a wide amount of Olympic programming too and was chosen because its track record for sports broadcasting. For Swedes who don't want to watch the Olympics, TV6 will be the MTG channel turn to. A one month trial period comes that February to get Viasat customers.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.viasatsport.se/os/senaste-nytt/viasats-vd-svarade-pa-era-fragor/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.viasatsport.se/os/senaste-nytt/viasats-vd-svarade-pa-era-fragor/%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D877

ATV will show both ceremonies live on ATV and online--and also on-demand online at ATV.at

http://atv.at/navigation_extra/clipverband/184

[Quaker2001]

I did not know that on the TV schedule that there was a countdown to the Opening Ceremony broadcast on NBC Sports Network--though there would a small blurb of "subject to change". What was that show like then? How did that impact the coverage of Olympic soccer if you can recall--we all know there was an NBC Olympic Soccer Channel during then. So all this could get our hopes up and change of heart for possible additional coverage on the 6th. But as you say Quaker, that network can be enigmatic at times with the Olympics programming. For NBC's sake, the American curling men better qualify.

Already NBC has made known that the team figure skating will be shown on NBC primetime making its Olympic debut this year, and it would like to show it to attract viewers given figure skating's appeal. Another obvious reason is the opportunity of showing Shaun White on the snowboarding slopestyle, another Olympic debut, against Regina, Saskatchewan's Mark McMorris with the women's version of that and with women's moguls also to be shown. All of the three sports (figure skating, snowboarding, and freestyle skiing) have proved popular with lots of TV viewers.

I'm seriously thinking the Nancy and Tonya 20 year doc NBC is working on right now as part of its Olympics coverage will come on before the women's free skate during primetime.

It's not a show.. Barcelona was referring to the bottom line ticker that is promoting Sochi coverage much as they did in the lead up to London. Although that you brought it up, there is a program on Universal Sports called Countdown to Sochi that's been airing every week. And you're darn right John Shuster better come through this week in the Olympic qualifier, if for no other reason than that it'll be better for the curling coverage.

There's definitely some good primetime fodder for that first night, even though none of the events are medal finals. Figure skating won't be anywhere but NBC primetime. And I hadn't thought about Tonya and Nancy, but I bet you're right they have a feature in the making for that night.

[Durban Sandshark]

I can confirm that. Just not the air date. ESPN is working on one too for its 30 For 30 series:

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/tca-olympics-present-documentary-nancy-kerrigan-tonya-harding-incident-106451

[Quaker2001]

I posted this elsewhere, but figured I'd share with the crowd here..

http://www.mediafire.com/download/gsi2k590v6vgg81/Oly14+Schedule.xlsx

What it is is an hour-by-hour competition schedule for Sochi, sorted by day. The column headings at the top are the venue names (which is why some sports are combined in the same column, although it should be clear what column is what sport). And because what fun would it be in a TV forum otherwise, I started noting what events will be on what networks. Red is MSNBC. Light blue is USA. Yellow is the window for CNBC. And all of the hockey/curling games involving the United States are in dark blue. I'll update this as we get closer to February and more information comes out, but this should provide a good baseline as to what might be on when.

[Barcelona_'92]

I can confirm that. Just not the air date. ESPN is working on one too for its 30 For 30 series:

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/tca-olympics-present-documentary-nancy-kerrigan-tonya-harding-incident-106451

The ESPN documentary will air on January 16 at 9pm Eastern.

[Durban Sandshark]

Wikipedia didn't have a air date for Tonya and Nancy when I last checked last night under the ESPN 30 For 30 entry there. Makes sense to put it in January, for it will be the 20th anniversary of the incident during the US Figure Skating National Championships in Detroit and as a de facto Sochi Olympics tie-in. There's supposed to be 30 docs in this installment Volume 2. But one more is needed based on that list.

[Durban Sandshark]

Get ready, Germans! Germany's ZDF and ARD (aka Das Erste) just hours ago announced fuller Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics plans that will, along with the 240 television hours they will mutually broadcast as was revealed from the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics advertisers' press kit, it will also have an additional 500 live hours through four Internet streaming channels for a total of 740 hours. This will continue a practice starting with London 2012 for the two channels going extensively online instead of previously using its combined four digital channels to suppliment the vast coverage. Your ZDF Opening Ceremony live host from Sochi will be Wolf-Dieter Poschmann. Katrin Muller-Hohenstein and Rudi Cerne will be ZDF's Olympic studio anchors with other notable ZDF Sport members Marco Büchel, Norbert König, Sven Fischer, and Alexander Ruda. ARD will have Gerhard Delling and Michael Antwerps acting as their Olympic studio anchors with Tom Bartels and ARD's Russia news correspondent Ina Ruck covering the Closing Ceremony. Both will use the latest 10x10m large glass panoramic Olympic studio at the Olympic City in Sochi along the Black Sea. Team leaders in Sochi are Dieter Gruschwitz (ZDF) and Werner Rabe (ARD).

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/sport/olympische-winterspiele/olympia-2014-ard-und-zdf-senden-740-stunden-aus-sotschi-12704490.html

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.faz.net/aktuell/sport/olympische-winterspiele/olympia-2014-ard-und-zdf-senden-740-stunden-aus-sotschi-12704490-l1.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.faz.net/aktuell/sport/olympische-winterspiele/olympia-2014-ard-und-zdf-senden-740-stunden-aus-sotschi-12704490.html%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D907http://www.zdfsport.de/Olympia-Winterspiele-2014-in-Sotschi-bei-ARD-und-ZDF-31060682.html

http://www.rtv.de/artikel/21953/ard-und-zdf-stellen-olympia-team-fuer-sotschi-2014-vor.html

Katarina Witt (figure skating--ARD), Kati Wilhelm (biathlon--ARD), Dieter Thoma (ski jumping--ARD), Markus Wasmeier (alpine skiing--ARD), Peter Schlickenrieder (cross country skiing--ARD), Sven Fischer (biathlon--ZDF), and Marco Buchel (alpine skiing--ZDF) and even sports psychologist Hans-Dieter Hermann (ZDF) all headline the ZDF/ARD Olympic analysts as former Olympic champs. But the list is incomplete for the hockey, snowboarding, speed skating, bobsled, and luge/skeleton analysts are yet to be named. ZDF will soon unviel a new ZDFmediathek app for tablets and smartphones with online capabilities like Live Ticker, Live Times and Starts, and a starting grid for online viewing, particularly on-demand.

http://www.wunschliste.de/tvnews/m/olympia-2014-ard-und-zdf-veroeffentlichen-sendekonzept

http://www.merkur-online.de/sport/fussball/olympia-2014-sotschi-tv-internet-live-stream-infos-zr-3264953.html

Streaming can rewind back to the last 90 minutes when recording, and ARD plans for news story tie-ins to the Russian issues but won't interfere with sports coverage, if I read this right. A documentary is involved too

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.rp-online.de/sport/olympia-winter/ard-und-zdf-zeigen-240-stunden-olympia-in-sotschi-aid-1.3877850&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.rp-online.de/sport/olympia-winter/ard-und-zdf-zeigen-240-stunden-olympia-in-sotschi-aid-1.3877850%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D907

Elemental plans for 4K and Ultra HD Sochi 2014 coverage but won't reveal what worldwide Olympic TV broadcast rights holders. I'm thinking NBC, BBC, Network Ten, CBC/SRC, ARD/ZDF, France Televisions, Channel One, NTV+, Russia 1-2, NOS, Sky Italia, SKY NZ, and TVE are all on board in this.

http://www.fiercecable.com/story/elemental-gears-4k-olympics-and-ultra-hd-programming-tiers/2013-12-10?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

TV Totaal makes note on the omission of Eurosport for both Sochi and Rio De Janeiro, when many Dutch sports fans have

come to expect Eurosport covering the Olympics since 1992 along with NOS:

http://www.totaaltv.nl/nieuws/14690/olympische-spelen-niet-meer-op-eurosport.html