Ebersol: NBC will air more than 200 hours from London Olympics, a record

Ebersol: NBC to air 200-plus hours from London

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — NBC will air more than 200 hours from the London Olympics, almost a 25 percent increase over the 2008 Games in Beijing.

NBC Universal Sports chairman Dick Ebersol announced that Friday at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s annual assembly, saying NBC’s cable partners also will expand their coverage by 100 hours and average 50 hours a day.

NBC will televise its seventh straight Olympics in 2012. Next year, all the major American networks are expected to bid for the 2014-16 package.

Asked if he worries about losing the Olympics, Ebersol, who got into the business more than 40 years ago, said, “I’ve been so lucky for such a long period of time that I’ll just keep rubbing my rabbit’s foot.”