Olympics: Comcast Unveils New Features for Coverage of the Tokyo Games

Comcast
(Image credit: Comcast)

 

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—Comcast today announced plans to deliver new viewing experiences for viewing the Olympics to its Xfinity customers on X1, Flex and the Xfinity Stream app.

“For years, X1 has set the bar as the most innovative and technologically-advanced Olympics viewing experience,” said Rebecca Heap, Senior Vice President, Video and Entertainment Services, Comcast Cable. “This year, new features make navigating the Games even easier and more personalized, taking the Olympics experience to a new level. And now with Flex, we have the opportunity to leverage some of the best features of X1, like our voice remote and aggregated guide, to introduce the Olympics and all its passion, exhilaration and glory to even more Xfinity customers.”

On the Xfinity Flex streaming offering for broadband customers, Comcast will offer streamers a robust X1-like Olympics destination that brings all the Olympics-related programming available to stream on the platform into one integrated experience easily accessible by saying “Olympics” into the Xfinity Voice Remote, the company explained. 

Anchoring the destination will be all of Peacock’s free live and on-demand programming, including six themed channels; four live-studio shows; live coverage of gymnastics, track & field and the US Men’s Basketball Team, hundreds of short-form highlights and trending news clips; and several original docuseries and documentaries. 

Peacock’s programming will be curated alongside other Olympic-related programming from streaming services such as YouTube, HBO Max, Prime Video and more, Comcast reported. 

X1 will offer Xfinity TV customers with all 7,000 hours of NBCUniversal’s live, on demand, and streaming coverage of the Games on the TV and across mobile devices with the Xfinity Stream app.

Saying “Olympics” into the Xfinity Voice Remote will take customers to the Olympics destination, while special voice commands for athletes, sports, teams and featured nations will allow customers to get to their favorite Olympics content quickly. 

The X1 destination will feature Comcast’s first-ever fully-personalized experience across devices. With X1’s new personalization capabilities, customers can choose their favorite sports in just a few clicks to customize their Olympics destination, making it easier to find the live coverage they care about most alongside highlights of each chosen sport curated into their own personalized playlist. Any favorited sports will carry over to the Xfinity Stream app, so customers will see the same personalized experience when accessing the Games on the go.

XI users can also get notifications for must-see moments; 100 editorially-curated playlists; sport, athlete and nation pages; NBCU’s 300 hours of Spanish-language coverage; and live coverage in 4K HDR.

The Olympics will mark the first time the games will be available live in 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos immersive audio.

X1 will offer customers full access to that coverage and for the first time, X1 customers with compatible devices will be able to experience all HDR coverage in Dolby Vision HDR. 

Live coverage will be available in most markets and include every night of the NBC primetime show, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, along with popular sports like gymnastics, track & field, swimming, diving, beach volleyball, golf, and tennis.

George Winslow

George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.