NBC's Connection To The Olympics Is Here To Stay

During the 2012 London Olympics, NBC is broadcasting the games in the United States, with Bob Costas serving as the main prime time studio anchor. If it seems like NBC and Costas are a permanent part of the summer games, it is because they have been involved with the event for a very long time.

This is NBC's seventh straight Summer Olympics and Costas sixth as lead anchor. The network started broadcasting the summer games during the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Costas began leading the coverage at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Not everyone is thrilled with NBC's London coverage because many fans would prefer to have certain events broadcast live during the day, as opposed to airing on tape delay at night. In this internet and social media age, many people already know the results well before NBC televises what took place.  Despite this situation, the Peacock continues to show most of the major competitions at night, allowing them to generate more advertising revenue during the primetime hours.

Like it or not, NBC will continue to be synonymous with the Olympic Games for many more years to come.

In 2011, the Comcast entity signed a $4.38 billion contract with the International Olympic Committee, maintaining their Olympic rights, for both the summer and winter games, through 2020. NBC has also been broadcasting the Winter Olympics since 2002 in Salt Lake City.