David Neal, Executive Producer, NBC Sports & EVP, NBC Olympics just gave the keynote here at HD World and discussed NBC preparations for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

His keynote was mixed between trailers for the Olympics projected in HD and surround sound which can also be viewed on the NBC Olympics site.

These will be the first ever Olympics produced 100% in high definition and while Neal spent nearly all his time on the power of HD, he also noted the changes that have taken place in digital content delivery.

“We have to increasingly work to make our medium appealing” he said. HD partnered with the compelling storytelling will do that.

By the numbers:
- 35 sports 302 events in 37 venues.
- 10,500 athletes.
- Over 1,000 cameras including all host broadcast cameras in HD.
- All broadcast in 1080i with 5.1 stereo surround
- 60 mobile units.
- 12,000 accredited broadcasters from 200 countries.
- Cumulative audience of 4 Billion viewers,
- 1 B for opening ceremonies.

Every venue will be cabled for fiber and every camera down to the bulls eye camera for archery will be HD. NBC will produce 1 signal in both standards, producing for 4×3 center cut. All deliverables coming from one very high end source.

The bottom line is that NBC believes the Olympics will drive HD adoption and the future of broadcast TV. “Once you see it, especially once you see sports, in HD you’re hooked” said Neal. “You can gain traction with HD. At NBC Sports we’re all in.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 9:25 am and is filed under Execs, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.