NBC Sports selects Harmonic for Winter Games
February 16, 2022
NBC Sports has selected Harmonic to provide its Edge media processing solution for its production of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, from Beijing, China, February 2-20, 2022. The announcement was made today by Anil Abraham, Sr. Director Architecture & Engineering, NBCUniversal, and Shahar Bar, Senior Vice President, Video Products and Corporate Development, Harmonic.
NBCUniversal provides coverage of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games from Feb. 2-20, featuring a Winter Olympics-record 2,800+ hours of coverage across NBC, Peacock, USA Network, CNBC, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. The Opening Ceremony was presented on Friday, Feb. 4, live in the morning and again in primetime on NBC and Peacock. Similar to recent Winter Games, NBC’s primetime Olympic coverage began the night before the Opening Ceremony on Thursday, Feb. 3. Coverage began on Wednesday, Feb. 2, on USA Network and Peacock. NBCUniversal is presenting its 18th Olympic Games, 12th consecutive overall, and sixth straight Winter Games, all the most by any U.S. media company.
NBC Sports will use a software-based Edge solution to deliver live 4K HDR broadcasts with immersive audio to local stations and affiliates. The Harmonic-enabled broadcast distribution at scale in UHD HDR spans the full course of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games from Beijing.
Harmonic’s XOS Edge solution streamlines all Olympic feeds from Beijing, enabling live 4K HDR broadcasts of the Opening Ceremony and nightly primetime coverage of the Winter Games, while ensuring the highest possible quality for HDR audiences. It is deployed at participating affiliate stations for automatic switching between UHD HDR for Olympics coverage and HD for local news reporting.
“With only half a year separating the Summer and Winter Games, Harmonic’s ability to optimize XOS to reduce the number of staff needed to operate commercial integration across participating stations while maintaining high video/audio quality and system stability was critical,” said Abraham.
“Harmonic helped NBC Sports deliver the first-ever broadcast distribution of UHD HDR at scale and is proud to be part of this next important milestone for the industry,” said Bar. “It’s yet another way that our video technology is pushing forward innovation to bring immersive experiences and even greater impact to live sports events.”