U.S. Olympic Committee to launch TV network in 2010

CHICAGO - By Ian Sherr

The United States Olympic Committee will launch a cable television network devoted to Olympic and Paralympic Games next year, with Comcast Corp agreeing to carry the channel in its cable lineup.

Despite the Olympic's biennial nature, representatives say the channel will broadcast year-round with video-on-demand and Internet streaming on top of its normal broadcasts.

The channel's programing will include news reports, commentary, interviews, documentaries, movies, and classic Olympic footage, the USOC said.

The Olympic games themselves will continue to be broadcast by General Electric Co and Vivendi's NBC Universal, and the Olympic network said it does not plan to broadcast the games in the future.

"We don't see ourselves as competing with NBC," Norman Bellingham, chief operating officer of the USOC, said during the announcement. "We see ourselves as being about the Olympic movement."

Beyond the Olympics themselves, getting rights to bigger more lucrative sports such as swimming, track and field, gymnastics, and skating could be tough as those sports negotiate their own deals outside the Olympic venues.

"There are a great deal of rights that are available and will become available soon," Bellingham said.

The committee also said Comcast will offer the Olympic channel as part of its digital basic offerings, giving it more exposure than competing premium sports cable channels.

The USOC did not say what it expects to earn per subscriber to the channel.

The Major League Baseball network earns 20 to 30 cents per subscriber per month, and National Football League network earns 75 cents to $1.10 per subscriber [ID:nN30355197].

The network will begin broadcasting in 2010 after the Vancouver games, though an exact date was not announced.

Comcast shares rose 1.6 percent to $13.51 on Nasdaq early Wednesday afternoon.

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