By Brian Stelter, CNN Business
A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.
With China set to host the 2022 Winter Games in two weeks’ time, Olympic broadcaster NBCUniversal says it will acknowledge the “geopolitical context” of the games, but the athletes will remain the “centerpiece” of the coverage.
The network touched on the topic of China during a presentation for reporters on Wednesday. But the answers are not going to satisfy or silence the peacock network’s many critics.
There was news on several other fronts, as well:
— USA Today’s Christine Brennan scooped that “NBC Sports will not send any of its announcing teams to China.” A network rep said this was “due to Covid concerns.” They will work out of the NBC Sports hub in Stamford, Connecticut instead…
— Execs acknowledged that navigating Summer Games content was a chore, and they swear that it’s going to better this winter: The Peacock streaming service will be “your home for all things Olympics…”
— Ad sales and partnerships president Dan Lovinger said that while there is “still some work to be done between now and the end of the Games,” Beijing ad sales are “exactly at the same spot we were heading into the Pyeongchang Games” in 2018…
Covering China
As Sheila Dang and Helen Coster wrote for Reuters Wednesday, Beijing’s Winter Games “have been marred in…
