The Olympics, Year-Round: New TV Channel Will Come To US In 2017 – NPR

Launching next year, the planned Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA network will focus on American athletes and show live competitions on the path to the Olympics. Here, U.S. athletes pose during the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in August.

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Matt Dunham/AP

Launching next year, the planned Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA network will focus on American athletes and show live competitions on the path to the Olympics. Here, U.S. athletes pose during the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in August.

Matt Dunham/AP

The Olympic Channel, which launched as a digital outlet after the Rio 2016 games, will become an American TV network in the second half of 2017, in a collaboration between NBC, the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee.

The new channel looks to build on the Olympics’ popularity by showing live coverage of winter and summer competitions along with features that highlight athletes’ personal stories and efforts to reach the games. Archival footage will also be aired.

The Olympic Channel will also feature Paralympic sports, says U.S.O.C. CEO Scott Blackmun, who called the Olympics’ fan base the fastest-growing in American sports.

Operating under the official name the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, the network will highlight American athletes and offer viewers “year-round Olympic-sport programming from around the world,” the U.S.O.C. says in a news release.

“The evolution of the Olympic Channel in the United States is a significant milestone as we expand our distribution options across the globe in conjunction with our broadcast and National Olympic Committee partners,” said Mark Parkman, the Olympic Channel’s general manager. “Placing a spotlight on Olympic sports outside of the Games themselves will ultimately bring them more deserved attention and help them grow.”

News of the planned launch comes as NBC is slated to use its networks and digital outlets to show the Team USA Winter Champions Series, which starts on Saturday, Dec. 17.

In announcing the plan Thursday, Olympics officials are following in the footsteps of many other sports organizations, such as the NFL and MLB, that have formed their own networks and channels even as they negotiate lucrative TV contracts.