By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
With very little in the way of live sports going on around the world right now, sporting networks are scrambling to produce any content that will engage or re-engage a thirsty audience.
For NBC Sports, that has included digging into their vaults to play re-broadcasts of old Olympic Games footage.
NBC has been the sole American broadcaster of the Summer Olympics since 1988, though they also telecasted the 1980 and 1964 Games in-and-among runs by ABC and CBS. The network now pushes the events across its full channel of networks, including the Olympic Channel, Bravo, USA, Oxygen, Telemundo, Telemundo Deportes, Golf Channel, CNBC, MSNBC, and NBC Sports Network.
That means thousands of hours of archived footage that many of us haven’t seen since they aired live.
The opening night of Olympic Games Week will begin on Monday at 7 Eastern Time with a Best of Team USA segment that will feature the top athletes from the 2016 Rio Games, including swimmers Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel, and Ryan Lochte. The event will run for 2 weeks until April 27th.
The week-long coverage will focus on sports where American teams have excelled (NBC Sports does, after all, reach a primarily American audience) including gymnastics, basketball, women’s soccer, track & field, beach volleyball, diving, water polo, and swimming.
The schedule will include an all-aquatics day on April 17th (Friday), with diving, water polo, and swimming.
NBCSN Olympic Games Week TV Schedule – Aquatics Only
Shows that will be entirely, or in part, about aquatic sports.
| Date | Time (ET) | Program | Events |
| April 13 | 7 p.m. | Return to Rio | Best of Team USA |
| April 14 | 10 p.m. | Return to Rio | Michael Phelps |
| April 15 | 7 p.m. | Return to Rio | Women’s Swimming |
| 9 p.m. | Return to Rio | Men’s Swimming | |
| 11 p.m. | Return to Rio | Women’s Diving | |
| April 16 | 12 a.m. | Return to Rio | Men’s Diving |
| 2 a.m. | Return to Rio | Women’s Water Polo Final | |
| April 17 | 12 a.m. | Return to London | Men’s Diving |
| 1 a.m. | Return to London | Women’s Diving | |
| 2 a.m. | Return to London | Women’s Water Polo Final | |
| 8 p.m. | Return to London | Women’s Swimming | |
| 10 p.m. | Return to London | Men’s Swimming | |
| April 18 | — | — | — |
| April 19 | — | — | — |
| April 20 | 1 a.m. | Olympic Films | London 2012 |
| 8:30 p.m. | Return to Beijing | Michael Phelps | |
| April 21 | 1 a.m. | Return to Beijing | Michael Phelps |
| 2:30 a.m. | Return to Beijing | Beijing Olympic Stories | |
| April 22 | — | — | — |
| April 23 | — | — | — |
| April 24 | — | — | — |
| April 25 | — | — | — |
| April 26 | 10:30 p.m. | Olympic Films | 1968 documentary |
| April 27 | 12 a.m. | Olympic Films | Sydney 2000 |
| 2:30 a.m. | Mary Carillo | Summer Olympic Adventures |
Aquatics Only – different view
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NBCSN Olympics Games Week TV Schedule
| Date | Time (ET) | Program | Events |
| April 13 | 7 p.m. | Return to Rio |