US broadcaster NBC will not send any of its expert commentators to China to cover the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to COVID-19 fears, reported USA Today Wednesday.
“Specialized commentators for the Olympics”, such as those for figure skating or alpine skiing, “will cover the events from our facilities in Stamford (Connecticut) due to concerns related to COVID”, explained to the daily Greg Hughes, vice -president of communications for NBC Sports.
According to the newspaper, the main commentator for these Olympic events Mike Tirico will only be in China for the opening ceremony of the Games on February 4 before returning to the United States a few days later.
“We will still have a strong presence on the ground in Beijing and our coverage will be top notch as usual, but our plans are changing day by day, as is the case with most media covering the Olympics,” assured Hughes.
NBC has owned the US broadcast rights to the Olympics since 1988.
Channel officials said the coverage plan was similar to the strategy used for the Tokyo Games last year, with the main fear being, according to USA Today, staff who test positive for COVID-19 in China face long stays in quarantine.
“With the changing conditions related to COVID-19 and China’s zero tolerance policy, this adds a layer of complexity to all of this, so we need to ensure that we can deliver the same quality experience to US viewers.” This is why we will be shared between the two cities, “Beijing and Stamford, explained Molly Solomon, president of NBC and executive producer of the Olympic production of the network.