NBC Plans Extensive Online Coverage of NYC Marathon, Olympic Trials

NBC will provide live online coverage of two sporting events from New York City this weekend on its Web sites, NBCSports.com and NBCOlympics.com.

The Peacock network will team up with online sports broadcaster MediaZone to cover the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials–Men’s Marathon on Saturday, Nov. 3 and the 2007 New York City Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 4. The start of the Saturday Olympics trials event—which start at Rockefeller Center—will be broadcast live on “The Today Show” at 7:35 a.m.

NBC says this is the first time an Olympic trials event has ever been streamed live online. Sunday’s race will be available for a $4.99 fee while the Saturday Olympic trials will be free. Both races will be available on both www.nbcsports.com/marathon and www.nbcolympics.com.

Sunday’s online broadcast will begin at 9:30 a.m. and is set to include live chat features, commentary when watching On Demand and a three-hour world feed. NBC Sports will broadcast highlights of Saturday’s marathon Saturday afternoon from 2–2:30 p.m., and highlights of Sunday’s New York City Marathon on Sunday afternoon from 3–4 p.m.

“NBC Olympics and NBCOlympics.com are excited to broadcast the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for the Men’s Marathon—the first-ever live streaming of a U.S. Olympic Trials event. Over the next year, NBCOlympics.com will continue to cover the ‘Road to Beijing’ with news, scores and results, feature reporting and live streaming video,” said Perkins Miller, senior vice president of Digital Media for NBC Sports & Olympics.