Bob Costas‘ absence will not be the only major change in next year’s Olympics coverage.
NBC Sports will no longer delay its primetime Olympics window until primetime on the West Coast, it was announced Tuesday, meaning all time zones will see coverage at the same time — 8 PM ET, 7 PM ET, 6 PM MT and 5 PM PT. The Los Angeles Times first reported the news.
It had been standard practice, even for U.S.-based Olympics, to delay primetime coverage in Western markets until 8 PM PT and 7 PM MT. Not even the Western-based Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics aired live in the Mountain or Pacific time zones.
The change will also apply to NBC’s daytime Olympic programming, which had also been delayed three hours on the West Coast presumably to accommodate the network’s morning shows, and its late night windows.
The move does not mean that all primetime coverage will air live, but simply that all U.S. viewers regardless of time zone can watch NBC’s coverage at the same time.
In all time zones, local news will air immediately after NBC’s Olympic windows. In the Pacific time zone, that might mean a local newscast at 9 PM.
(Tue. news from NBC Sports Group Press Box 3.28, Los Angeles Times 3.28)
