2,200 Hours of Live Streaming Video on “NBCOlympics.com on MSN” Centerpiece of Digital Offerings NBC Olympics Mobile Presents the Most Ambitious Sporting Event Coverage Ever Delivered on Mobile

NEW YORK (RUSHPRNEWS)July 29, 2008 – NBC Universal will offer the single most ambitious digital event coverage ever including 2,200 hours of live competition encompassing 25 sports on NBCOlympics.com, with thousands more available on demand. NBCOlympics.com will serve as the Olympic fan’s hub for every aspect of the 2008 Beijing Games experience.

NBC Olympics Mobile will present the most comprehensive sporting event coverage ever delivered on mobile, providing Olympic fans with the best in news and video coverage. From live mobile TV broadcasts to breaking news to text and video alerts, NBC Olympics Mobile will be the “on-the-go” destination for Olympic fans. The full digital plan for the Beijing Olympics, August 8-24 was announced today by Gary Zenkel, President, NBC Olympics.

“Over the past 20 years, we have continually expanded our coverage of the Olympics to new platforms as they have become available, and the Beijing Games will mark another milestone,” said Zenkel. “With the Beijing Games, the Olympic viewer will be able to define his or her own Olympic experience like never before, watching every sport throughout the Games be it at home on TV, in the office on their computer or on the go on their mobile phones.”

Following is an overview of NBC Universal’s various digital offerings for the Beijing Olympic Games:

NBCOLYMPICS.COM on MSN:
Merging news, results and schedules with extensive video coverage highlighted by 2,200 hours of live streaming broadband coverage and an unmatched depth of unique storytelling content, NBCOlympics.com on MSN will be the Olympic fan’s hub for every aspect of the 2008 Beijing Games experience-from the most comprehensive TV schedules to learning how to connect to mobile, gaming, VOD and other digital destinations.

EXCLUSIVE PARTNERSHIP WITH MICROSOFT: NBC Universal’s exclusive partnership with Microsoft unites NBC’s Olympic coverage expertise, MSN’s large audience reach and Microsoft’s innovative Silverlight 2 technology to deliver NBCOlympics.com video while putting users in control of how they want to experience the Games – online and on demand. Starting August 6, fans logging on to the MSN homepage (http://www.msn.com) will have exclusive access to NBCOlympics.com’s comprehensive coverage of the Beijing Games.

Many of the NBCOlympics.com features are detailed below:

VIDEO: NBCOlympics.com will provide approximately 2,200 hours of live streaming broadband coverage of Olympic competition where users can choose from up to 20 concurrent streams encompassing 25 Olympic sports. In addition, the site will offer more than 3,000 hours of on-demand access to full-event replays and extensive highlights, including daily recaps of key events, best-of montages, commentator analysis and athlete-specific clips. (By comparison, at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, NBC streamed two hours of live footage.)

The video player’s enhanced mode, powered by Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, will offer picture-in-picture, quad-screen functionality, a larger viewing area and an improved user experience.

REAL-TIME RESULTS: For all Olympic sports, NBCOlympics.com will present the most comprehensive results anywhere online, provide LIVE results as events are happening and offer statistical summaries, tournament draws and group standings.

PERSONALIZED TELEVISION AND ONLINE VIEWER’S GUIDE: This section, traditionally one of the most trafficked portions of the site during the Games, will be even more important to help navigate the expanded Olympic coverage across all the NBC Universal broadcast and digital platforms. NBCOlympics.com’s complete schedule for the NBCU broadcast and online coverage reflects the most up-to-date programming information as the television and online schedules are modified throughout the Games. Additionally, site visitors who enter their zip code will receive localized listings that reflect the exact programming available from their local NBC affiliate, including live streaming listings and digital affiliate channel locations for high-definition viewing on NBC Universal cable stations. Viewers will be able to sort the listings by sport, network, day and time, as well as search by keywords such as athlete, team or country.

EXPERTISE AND ANALYSIS: NBC’s Olympic commentators will provide video reviews and previews of competition, as well as insight into specific events, rules and athletes competing in the Games. In addition, NBCOlympics.com producers and writers, including Alan Abrahamson, widely considered the foremost Olympic writer, will be breaking news as well as writing columns, features and analysis. The Associated Press will serve as the primary source for recaps and previews of all the Olympic competition.

MEDAL TRACKER: An in-depth page presenting real-time medal standings, plus related content such as medal ceremonies, past medal standings searchable by country and sport, as well as links from the medal tracker to recaps and highlights of competition.

TEAM USA: Thorough coverage of the American athletes throughout the Beijing Games. Content includes results and medals, video introductions and daily events to watch.

ATHLETE PROFILES: NBCOlympics.com will present bios for all 10,500 athletes competing in Beijing, with unmatched depth of information and content around the American competitors, including Q&As, photo galleries, video clips, results and more.

COUNTRY PROFILES: Snapshots of all 205 participating nations include general data (e.g. population, location), plus Olympic histories and 2008 Olympic outlooks.

PHOTOS: NBCOlympics.com will use screen grabs from NBC Sports broadcasts as well as a full library of Getty and Associated Press images to offer multiple galleries and narrative slideshows across all Olympic sports.

DESTINATION BEIJING: A section dedicated to the host city and nation, featuring video features, photo galleries, written features, blogs and more, for users who want to learn more about the culture of China and the Olympic host city, Beijing.

INSIDE THIS SPORT: This is a feature that will give users everything they need to know about a specific sport including competition formats, scoring systems, rules, glossaries, historic timelines and venues.

BLOGS: More than a dozen Olympians are contributing personally shot, home-video style content to NBCOlympics.com as part of an “Olympic Insider” feature that offers insight into the athletes’ personalities and the sports they play. Installments include tours of residences, behind-the-scenes at training sessions, out-of-competition team outings and more. The “Olympic Insider” can be explored at www.nbcolympics.com/olympicinsider/index.html.

WIDGETS: NBCOlympics.com widgets allow users to stay up to date on the Beijing Olympics without leaving their personal homepages. Widgets include: top news, video & photos, athletes to watch, TV and online listings, medal trackers, results, schedules and local coverage.

TELEMUNDO: Telemundo.NBCOlympics.com offers Spanish-speaking viewers a destination for all things Olympics. The largest Spanish offering to date for NBC Olympics, the Telemundo section is a near clone of the English-language site featuring comprehensive coverage (news, video, photos) on key sports including medals, results, athletes and countries.

GAMES:
PRIMETIME COMPANION: A special application to enhance the primetime broadcast, offering video features, text and photos on competition airing in primetime highlighted by polling, chatting, trivia and more. This application will also offer the “Primetime Challenge,” a two-screen gaming application in which Olympic fans can play along as they watch NBC’s primetime broadcast. Users can compete for points in real-time, while playing against their friends and other fans, by predicting the outcome of live events, answering Olympic trivia and polls, playing Olympic-themed mini-games, and chatting with their friends about that night’s competition. The “Primetime Challenge” will be available for all 17 nights of NBC’s primetime coverage.

OLYMPIC QUICK PICK FANTASY GAME: The Olympic Quick Pick fantasy game will allow fantasy players and Olympic enthusiasts the opportunity to win prizes for participating while cheering on Olympic athletes. Visitors of NBCOlympics.com will be assigned five random athletes competing for a medal each day. Based on how those athletes finish in their medal events, users will earn fantasy points. Those that accumulate the most fantasy points both daily and over the course of the entire Olympics will win prizes.

OLYMPIC FLASH GAMES: Fans of diving, weightlifting, and archery can compete online in games designed to mimic Olympic competition.

OLYMPIC TRIVIA GAMES: Olympic fans will also be able to test their knowledge with NBCOlympics.com trivia games. Players will be able to compete against other Olympics fans, as well as challenge friends to beat their scores.

OLYMPIC ZONE:
A total of 227 of the 232 (97%) NBC affiliated websites (including all top 100 markets) are participating in the 2008 Olympic Zone offering. Olympic Zone presents localized coverage of the Beijing Olympics directly from a user’s hometown NBC station. Track local athletes, watch video, slideshows and read blogs. Expanded features in 2008 include:
· Localized national video available via Olympic Zone Advanced Olympic Zone integration into NBCOlympics.com (more modules, contextual items such as local athlete tracker)
· Expanded localized content including national video fed into Olympic Zone
· Improved local athlete trackers with featured local athletes on the national site
· Widgets for placement on station and partner websites
· Local email alerts

NBC OLYMPICS MOBILE:
NBC Olympics Mobile presents the most ambitious major sporting event coverage ever delivered on mobile, providing Olympic fans with the best in news and video coverage – how they want it, wherever they want it. From breaking news to text and video alerts to live mobile TV broadcasts, NBC Olympics Mobile will be the mobile destination for Olympic fans.

MOBILE WEB: The NBC Olympics Mobile Web site will deliver the most comprehensive coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games available for mobile users. The NBC Olympics Mobile Web site currently includes live news, highlights and feature video, Team USA profiles, slideshow galleries, voting polls, alerts sign-up, and much more. And starting August 8, mobile users will be able to view live medal counts, detailed results & schedules, customizable TV & online listings, and all the top news and video from Beijing.

Users can access the NBC Olympics Mobile web site by going to http://mobile.nbcolympics.com on their mobile device’s Internet browser or by texting “OLYMPICS” to 51515.

ALERTS: NBC Olympics Mobile also provides alerts for every Olympic fan. Text and e-mail alerts are available for breaking news, top headlines for all Olympic sports, medal results, event previews, athlete alerts, and TV/live streaming schedule reminders. NBC Olympics Mobile will also provide free photo & video highlight alerts for top Olympic sports.

MOBILE VIDEO: NBC Olympics Mobile Video will provide highlights, daily news, and exclusive feature videos on-demand to mobile video users. Mobile video is available on the NBC Olympics Mobile Web site and on-deck with select mobile providers.

MOBILE TV: NBC Olympics Mobile will launch NBC Olympics 2Go, an all-new 24/7 mobile TV channel featuring the best of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. NBC Olympics 2Go will include complete event coverage from NBC, USA, MSNBC, and CNBC programming. With NBC Olympics 2Go, users will be able to featured and live event coverage while they are on-the-go!

For more information on NBC Olympics Mobile offerings, visit http://www.nbcolympics.com/mobile

NBC OLYMPICS ON THE GO:
This free download-and-play service will allow users to watch NBC’s Olympics coverage at home or on the go. Once a viewer chooses the sports they want to watch, high quality video of the events will automatically download, as they become available, to Windows Media Center on their PCs or laptops running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate. With “NBC Olympics On The Go,” powered by Wavexpress’ TVTonic, users will then be able to watch long-form full event coverage in up-to-HD quality whether they’re online or offline. Viewers looking for highlights of the top action from Beijing will be able to download those videos through the “NBC Direct” service.

In addition, users may also be able to download content to handheld devices via Amazon.com and Zune.”

NBC OLYMPICS VIDEO ON DEMAND:
Viewers will be able to access robust NBC Olympics video content on-demand from their home, both prior to and during the Games, through their cable, satellite, or telco television provider. Olympic fans will be able to gear up for Beijing with NBC Olympics pre-games content, with recaps from Athens, previews of Beijing, and profiles of Team USA. And during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, NBC Olympics will provide daily highlights and long-form coverage of the best action from Beijing — including exclusive HD features. NBC Olympics Video On Demand content will be available on select cable & satellite operators. Viewers must check with local providers for availability.

NBC OLYMPICS INTERACTIVE TV APPLICATIONS: Olympic fans can access exclusive NBCOlympics.com content through their television with NBC Olympics Interactive TV applications. Viewers can get all the best NBC Olympics coverage during the Games: top news stories, updated medal counts, detailed NBC Olympics TV listings, profiles of Team USA, and more. NBC Olympics Interactive TV applications will be available on select cable and satellite operators. Viewers must check with local providers for availability.

OUR PARTNERS:
In addition to the strategic partnership with Microsoft, many other partnerships have been secured to power the NBC Olympic digital effort. Partners for NBC’s Digital Olympics are: 360i, Akamai, Amazon Unbox, Anystream, AP, AP/Stats, Blue Order, Clearspring, Cyradis, Delivery Agent, Deltatre, Doubleclick, Fanball, Getty, IDS, Level 3, Limelight Networks, LiveHive Systems, Lyris, MSO’s, Mediatonic, Omniture, Quantcast, Phillips, Play Hard, Scheduall, Schematic, Sega, SinglePoint, Starcut, Sun, Tribune Media Services, TV Tonic, Universal Sports, Xbox, Zune
Members of the media can get more information about NBC Universal and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at www.nbcumv.com.
NEWS SOURCE Sports Features CommunicationsTM
Tampa, FL USA