Olympics: Some More Details on NBC’s Coverage of the Women’s Soccer Tournament

Today, NBC Sports posted a press release which includes details of their London Olympics coverage for the first few days of the games. Adding that information to what is already known, here is a summary of viewing options:

• All matches involving the United States Women’s National Team will be shown live on NBC Sports Network.
• Some non-USA matches will be aired live on MSNBC.
• All women’s matches should also be shown on NBC’s temporary Olympic Soccer Channel, whether live, tape-delayed, or as a re-broadcast. This temporary channel will only be available to those with service from participating cable/fiber and satellite providers. (A specific list of providers does not yet seem to be available.)
• In addition to TV coverage, all matches will be streamed live online at NBCOlympics.com. On-demand replays should also be available.

Detailed listings for matches are not yet available, but based on the above press release, the known TV schedule for the first two match days of the women’s tournament will be as follows (excluding the Olympic Soccer Channel; all times are EDT):

Wednesday, July 25th
10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Great Britain vs. New Zealand (MSNBC, Live)
11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. – USWNT vs. France (NBC Sports Network, Live)
2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. – Other Match (NBC Sports Network, Live)
2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. – Other Match (MSNBC, Live)

The possible other matches are Colombia vs. North Korea and Sweden vs. South Africa. Both have 2:45 p.m. kick-offs. COL/PRK will probably air on NBC Sports Network, since those teams are in the USA’s group. The final hour or so of the time blocks for the other matches may be used for studio recaps.

Saturday, July 28th
11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. – USWNT vs. Colombia (NBC Sports Network, Live)
Sometime during 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. – At least one other match (MSNBC)

Since the women’s soccer tournament starts two days before the opening ceremony, the first day’s worth of matches will be the only Olympic events, so NBC will have much more scheduling room to air other matches.

Last week, NBC announced that four alumni of the USWNT will be serving as analysts at the Olympics: Brandi Chastain, Kate Markgraf, Cat Whitehill, and Angela Hucles.