NBCUniversal to provide record 6,755 hours from Rio Olympics

STAMFORD, Conn. – NBCUniversal’s TV and digital networks will show a record 6,755 hours of action during this summer’s Rio Olympics.

The previous high was 5,535 hours from the 2012 London Games.

The main NBC network will broadcast more than 260 hours, including the opening and closing ceremonies and extensive coverage of swimming, gymnastics and track and field, the company said Tuesday.

Rio is just one hour ahead of the United States’ Eastern time zone. The last Summer Games held in a time zone close to that of the U.S. was the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, when NBC was the only network airing events. It showed just 171 hours.

There will be a total of 2,084 hours televised across 11 NBCU networks this August, including two specialty channels for basketball and soccer.

Another 4,500 hours or so will be streamed live. This is the third straight Olympics that NBC will stream every event live.

NBC also plans to distribute 4K Ultra HD content on a one-day delay and virtual reality programming, both Olympic firsts.