LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — NBC will now be the champion of Olympic broadcasting in the United States through at least 2036.
The IOC said Thursday it signed its long-time United States broadcast partner to a $3 billion renewed deal for the 2034 Salt Lake City Olympics and the 2036 Summer Games.
The International Olympic Committee’s statement said the agreement elevates Comcast NBCUniversal to being a strategic partner instead of just a media rights holder, promising “innovative joint strategic initiatives and projects” and involving the streaming platform Peacock.
The IOC said it would benefit from “Comcast’s investment in relevant and innovative start-ups” in a deal that was surprisingly announced in the final weeks of Thomas Bach’s leadership of the Olympic body.
The 2036 host has yet to be decided with interest shown by Olympic officials in countries including India, Qatar, Turkey, Hungary and Indonesia.
NBC signed its most recent Olympic rights deal in 2014 covering each Summer Games and Winter Games through 2032. That was valued at $7.75 billion and includes the next Summer Games in 2028 in Los Angeles.
NBC was widely seen to have a good and profitable 2024 Paris Olympics, with roving correspondent Snoop Dogg proving to be a huge hit with audiences at home and fans in the city.
The broadcaster said its coverage from Paris reached 67 million total viewers on average daily across all platforms.
That NBC deal done 11 years ago was a major decision early in Bach’s IOC presidency that secured the financial future of the Olympic body.
The new U.S. rights deal has been sealed just one week before Bach’s successor is to be elected at an IOC meeting in Greece, on March 20.
“The media landscape is evolving rapidly and, by partnering with one of the world’s leading media and technology companies, we will ensure that fans in the United States are able to experience the Olympic Games like never before,” Bach said in the statement.
NBC has broadcast every Summer Olympics since 1988 and every Winter Games since 2002 in Salt Lake City — all the games since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. A previous renewal in 2011 secured each games from 2014 through 2020 for $4.38 billion.
“It is our honor to continue to bring the full power of our company’s expertise in creating and distributing content that connects with Americans,” Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said, “as well as to begin to provide even more innovative technological support and solutions to the IOC and its stakeholders in areas that benefit athletes and the many people dedicated to organizing the Olympic Games around the world.”