The Winter 2026 Olympics are coming up and NBCUniversal has been saying for a while what their ATSC 3.0 plans are:
https://www.nbcolympics.com/video-audio ... %20(1080i).
NBC NextGen TV***
NBC coverage of the Olympics will be available in 1080p Dolby Vision and Atmos through NBC’s NextGen TV broadcasts in select cities.
***NextGen TV is the new free Over-the-Air broadcast TV standard that has been rolling out across the United States. More information available here.
This is the same as 2 years ago for the summer olympics, meaning no 4K yet. Sadly my ATSC 3.0 NBC stations in Baltimore and Washington (111.1 and 104.1 respectively) are currently DRM encrypted.
2026 NextGen Olympics TV Coverage Plans
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danieljlevine
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Re: 2026 NextGen Olympics TV Coverage Plans
Hilarious! Most people will be watching on ATSC 1.0! Why? Because of DRM!
Re: 2026 NextGen Olympics TV Coverage Plans
I have a TV that can play ATSC3.0 DRM, but in my area (Dallas) we don't have an ATSC3.0 NBC station. Oh well plenty of other options to watch in higher quality than ATSC1.0, just need to spend a little cash.
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danieljlevine
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Re: 2026 NextGen Olympics TV Coverage Plans
Anyone have an NBC NextGen TV that doesn’t have DRM who can report on the nature of the Olympic broadcasts when they start? HDR, Atmos, 4K are all fair game. Guessing 4K is not possible. Does NBC on NextGen TV stations already broadcast with HDR and Atmos all the time? Or do they switch it in and off with the content. I think switching is too agile for stations to pull off.
Re: 2026 NextGen Olympics TV Coverage Plans
The page linked above hasn't been updated since Paris 2024 so who knows what NBC's actual plans are. Peacock got a press push talking about getting Dolby this and Dolby that, but I'm not seeing anything about any plans for enhanced coverage via ATSC 3.0, and we're less than 17 days away from the first events starting.
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DSperber
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Re: 2026 NextGen Olympics TV Coverage Plans
In all honesty, there's really nothing to motivate watching the Olympics on NBC broadcast, ATSC 1.0 or 3.0. First of all given the 6-9 hour time zone difference here in the US with rare exception virtually nothing that you see during day or night will be truly "live". Perhaps it might be live overnight, but then it will be edited and boiled-down for American TV consumer consumption for re-broadcast during the following daytime and primetime hours. You will not see "start to finish" sessions, but probably only winners and hightlights and top-tier countries and competitors.
Furthermore, ATSC 3.0 content is simply the national 1080i ATSC 1.0 content locally upconverted to 1080p and "faux HDR". Audio is the original ATSC 1.0 5.1 locally upconverted to "faux Dolby Atmos" 7.1.4 or 9.1.4.
Furthermore, the only events that will be covered are what/when NBC chooses to put on NBC network. Off-events are on the NBC sister cable channels like USA. But even these are again not start-to-finish complete session telecasts. Edited, chopped, discontinuous, and uninteresting.
As was proven last summer with the Paris Olympics, the ideal and only really satisfying way to watch the Olympics now is through Peacock, and preferably ad-free Peacock. First, the video is actually true camera-native 1080p production taken directly from OBS and distributed as-is via Peacock. It will either be 1080p SDR or 1080p HDR, depending on whether it is actually "live" and/or high-profile event. Replays are always 1080p SDR, but many live broadcasts are true native 1080p HDR.
Furthermore, Peacock coverage is of ALL EVENTS, at EVERY VENUE, and "start-to-finish" sessions. First ball to last, so to speak. No editing to eliminate uninteresting content. It is exactly as if you bought a ticket to a 2-hour session or an event venue, and you get to watch everything that happens at that event... including the award ceremony that follows if there is an award ceremony. Again, first ball to last.
It is night-and-day difference between camera-native true OBS production 1080p SDR/HDR available with Peacock vs. the "faux 1080p HDR" seen on NBC ATSC 3.0. Well worth the price of admission to sign up for one month to ad-free Peacock, for the two weeks of that type of coverage. You get to choose what YOU WANT TO "GO TO", and then you get to see it start-to-finish. You don't have to watch what you don't want to, and you don't have to sit through commercials, and you watch in glorious camera-native true 1080p SDR/HDR.
The special USA4K that NBC made available through selected streaming TV services for the Paris Olympics was awful. It was just a 4K simulcast version of the exact same program content being shown shown on conventional USA cable channel in 1080i. And that content was thousands of small discontinuous "snippets" of running around from one event to another. Again, not complete start-to-finish event coverage. Unwatchable, especially if you'd recorded those thousands of snippets to your "cloud DVR" and then wanted to watch something later.
==> Trust me. Maximize your 2026 Olympics TV pleasure. Watch the thing on Peacock, just what you want, live local time in Italy and full replay after-the-fact, ad-free (replays), camera-native 1080p SDR (replays) and camera-native 1080p HDR for live high-profile events. Start-to-finish, complete LIVE/REPLAY event coverage including all award ceremonies, for ALL EVENTS, at ALL VENUES.
Furthermore, ATSC 3.0 content is simply the national 1080i ATSC 1.0 content locally upconverted to 1080p and "faux HDR". Audio is the original ATSC 1.0 5.1 locally upconverted to "faux Dolby Atmos" 7.1.4 or 9.1.4.
Furthermore, the only events that will be covered are what/when NBC chooses to put on NBC network. Off-events are on the NBC sister cable channels like USA. But even these are again not start-to-finish complete session telecasts. Edited, chopped, discontinuous, and uninteresting.
As was proven last summer with the Paris Olympics, the ideal and only really satisfying way to watch the Olympics now is through Peacock, and preferably ad-free Peacock. First, the video is actually true camera-native 1080p production taken directly from OBS and distributed as-is via Peacock. It will either be 1080p SDR or 1080p HDR, depending on whether it is actually "live" and/or high-profile event. Replays are always 1080p SDR, but many live broadcasts are true native 1080p HDR.
Furthermore, Peacock coverage is of ALL EVENTS, at EVERY VENUE, and "start-to-finish" sessions. First ball to last, so to speak. No editing to eliminate uninteresting content. It is exactly as if you bought a ticket to a 2-hour session or an event venue, and you get to watch everything that happens at that event... including the award ceremony that follows if there is an award ceremony. Again, first ball to last.
It is night-and-day difference between camera-native true OBS production 1080p SDR/HDR available with Peacock vs. the "faux 1080p HDR" seen on NBC ATSC 3.0. Well worth the price of admission to sign up for one month to ad-free Peacock, for the two weeks of that type of coverage. You get to choose what YOU WANT TO "GO TO", and then you get to see it start-to-finish. You don't have to watch what you don't want to, and you don't have to sit through commercials, and you watch in glorious camera-native true 1080p SDR/HDR.
The special USA4K that NBC made available through selected streaming TV services for the Paris Olympics was awful. It was just a 4K simulcast version of the exact same program content being shown shown on conventional USA cable channel in 1080i. And that content was thousands of small discontinuous "snippets" of running around from one event to another. Again, not complete start-to-finish event coverage. Unwatchable, especially if you'd recorded those thousands of snippets to your "cloud DVR" and then wanted to watch something later.
==> Trust me. Maximize your 2026 Olympics TV pleasure. Watch the thing on Peacock, just what you want, live local time in Italy and full replay after-the-fact, ad-free (replays), camera-native 1080p SDR (replays) and camera-native 1080p HDR for live high-profile events. Start-to-finish, complete LIVE/REPLAY event coverage including all award ceremonies, for ALL EVENTS, at ALL VENUES.