NBCU to Offer Closed Captioning, Audio Description, and Web Content Accessibility
Closed Captioning to be Provided for All Coverage with Commentary in English and Spanish
2024 Paris Olympics to Feature More Audio Description than Ever Before, Including All Coverage on NBC and the Gold Zone Whip-Around Show on Peacock
STAMFORD, Conn. – June 25, 2024 – NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 will be accessible to more viewers of all abilities than ever before, providing the excitement of the Olympic with enhanced closed captioning, expanded audio description, and improved digital content accessibility.
Closed captioning, which provides text of the coverage audio for viewers who are Deaf or hard of hearing, will be available for all Olympic events airing across NBCU’s broadcast and cable networks. NBCUniversal will also provide closed captioning for all digital livestreams with commentary across Peacock, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.
More audio description services – interspersing broadcast audio with skilled voices describing Olympic scenes and context – will be available for viewers who are blind or visually impaired for the Paris Olympics than any previous Games. All coverage on NBC, including daytime, primetime, and late night, and the Gold Zone whip-around show on Peacock, will feature audio description provided by Descriptive Video Works. In a first for a U.S. broadcaster, audio description services for NBC coverage will be provided in stereo, enhancing the quality of sound for viewers.
Additionally, improved web content accessibility, including keyboard navigation, color contrast and support for screen readers, will be available on NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC Sports app, and Peacock. Livestreams and replays which offer audio description will have English audio description as a language choice within the players on these digital platforms. To easily find all events with audio description, click here.
To contact NBCUniversal about issues related to closed captions, please send an email to CCFeedback@nbcuni.com. For audio description issues, email ADFeedback@nbcuni.com
“We’re excited to provide all viewers with more accessibility to our Olympics coverage than ever before,” said Gary Zenkel, President, NBC Olympics. “With the goal of enabling all viewers to enjoy the unprecedented excitement of the Olympic Games in Paris, we’re proud to provide closed captioning on all live coverage and the most audio description ever.”
All of this audio description and closed captioning will be available to Comcast Xfinity customers who experience the Games on the Xfinity X1 platform, including on the live Olympic Games coverage delivered in 4K, on Xfinity Stream, and on Xfinity Flex.
“For over a decade, Comcast NBCUniversal has been committed to connecting people to moments that matter,” said Tom Wlodkowski, Vice President of Accessibility at Comcast. “NBCUniversal’s accessible coverage for this year’s Olympic Games is an important part of our mission. As a consumer of Olympics programming with audio description, I could not be more excited to share in the joy that these Paris Summer Games will bring.”
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In Paris this summer, the world’s greatest athletes will compete against the backdrop of one of the most beautiful cities in the world where the modern Olympic Games were conceived 130 years ago. This will be the third time Paris has hosted the Olympics (1900 and 1924), tying London for the most as a Summer Games host. Los Angeles (1932, 1984) will tie those two cities when it hosts the first Summer Games in the U.S. in 32 years in 2028.
The Paris organizers are reimagining the Games to make them more accessible to the public and to showcase their city to the world. In a first, competitions will be held amidst iconic Parisian landmarks – beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower, equestrian at the Palace of Versailles, and urban sports at Place de la Concorde. The surfing competition will take place nearly 10,000 miles from Paris in Tahiti, a part of French Polynesia.
The NBC broadcast network and streaming service Peacock will be the company’s primary platforms for its coverage of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, scheduled for July 26-Aug. 11. Click here for more linear programming information and here for more about the Olympic experience on Peacock. NBC and Peacock will present live coverage of the Opening Ceremony on Friday, July 26, beginning at Noon ET. Telemundo will provide Spanish-language coverage beginning at 1 p.m. ET. Primetime coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.
NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032, which are scheduled for Paris (2024), Milan Cortina (2026), Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032). The host city for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games has not yet been chosen.
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