NBC paid nearly $1.2 billion for the U.S. rights to the London Olympics this year. It plans more than 5,500 hours of coverage on its TV networks and through streams on NBCOlympics.com. NBC now says it expects to break even, despite earlier predicting a loss on the games.
Here's a look at how much NBC paid for past games and the number of coverage hours, including those online:
- 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. $705 million, 442 hours.
- 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. $545 million, 375.5 hours.
- 2004 Summer Games in Athens. $793 million, 1,210 hours.
- 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy. $613 million, 416 hours.
- 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. $894 million, 3,600 hours.
- 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. $820 million, 835 hours.
- 2012 Summer Games in London. $1.18 billion, 5,535 hours.
Last year, under new owner Comcast Corp., NBC also won a bid for the next four games. It is paying $4.38 billion combined. According to the International Olympic Committee, the breakdown is:
- 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. $775 million.
- 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. $1.226 billion.
- 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. $963 million.
- 2020 Summer Games in Madrid, Tokyo or Istanbul (winning city to be announced next year). $1.418 billion.
