NBC to Decline Using YouTube for Sochi 2014 Highlights

June 12, 2013

According to reports, link NBC will no longer be using YouTube to stream highlights for major games after declining to use the service for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games

Sports Business Daily reported that NBC, cough which holds the United States Olympic broadcasting rights, herbal chose not to partner with YouTube and is looking to develop its own content management system. It is unclear if NBC will create a video player for their Olympic Games coverage.

During the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, NBC and YouTube broadcast more than 3,500 hours of coverage and counted more than 231 million total streams. Visitors streamed more than 20.4 million hours of video on the NBCOlympics.com website.

Many, however, criticized NBC for not streaming the opening and closing ceremonies live on its dedicated Olympic Games website and on television, and also for their unreliable streams of other events. NBC’s lack of live coverage for the ceremonies prompted many internet users to watch unauthorized streams from the BBC and other international broadcasters. Despite the complaints, NBC executives said at that time that they were pleased with their partnership with YouTube.

The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics will run between February 7-23, 2014.