“Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA” debuts in millions of US TV homes
Inspired by sport with athletes at the heart of its programming, the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA launched on Saturday 15 July in more than 35 million homes in the United States. The new TV network allows Olympic fans and new generations to further engage with their favourite sports, athletes and stories all year round.
Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA – a partnership between the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and NBCUniversal – is the first localised version of the IOC’s global Olympic Channel, providing a more personalised experience to fans in the United States.
“We are extremely excited with the launch of our first national television channel, which is one of the major milestones of the evolution of the Olympic Channel,” said Mark Parkman, General Manager of the IOC’s global Olympic Channel. “In less than one year from launch, we've developed the global digital platform, which is available on the web and on Android and iOS apps, to be available in 11 different languages, with more than 6,000 pieces of content available, and have announced 54 federation partnerships. And now, we’ve launched our first TV channel in the United States, so it’s been an incredible effort and it speaks volumes of the commitment that NBC and the USOC have to the Olympic Movement.”
“These three parties [the IOC, USOC and NBCUniversal] come together with a common goal of essentially achieving what [IOC President] Thomas Bach's vision was, which was creating the opportunity for fans to access content, and for those of us that have a stake in this movement, this franchise, to reach out to the fans with great, compelling content,” said NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel.
We are extremely excited with the launch of our first national television channel, which is one of the major milestones of the evolution of the Olympic Channel.
“It exponentially increases not only the coverage that you heard about, but the ability to produce and bring great content, competition and storytelling immediately,” said USOC CMO Lisa Baird. “That's the biggest benefit.”
The new linear channel will offer fans year-round programming of Olympic sports, highlighting their favourite American athletes and teams. Programming will emphasise live events from a broad portfolio of summer and winter Olympic sports.
“For athletes who dream of competing in the Olympic Games, training and preparing is a full-time commitment, and we don’t slow down in the years between the Games,” said Nathan Adrian, an eight-time Olympic medallist in swimming. “The Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will give fans more and better opportunities to watch Olympic sports, and that helps build interest in the competitions, the sports, and the stories of the athletes.”
The formation of the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA complements the Olympic Channel global digital platform, which launched following the Closing Ceremony of Rio 2016 in support of the IOC’s goal, set out in Olympic Agenda 2020, of providing a new way to engage younger generations, fans and new audiences with the Olympic Movement.