MICHAEL PHELPS & DARA TORRES HEADLINE DAY 1 OF THE BEIJING OLYMPICS LIVE IN PRIMETIME

NBC'S SATURDAY PRIMETIME OLYMPIC COVERAGE BEGINS AT 8 PM ET/PT

BEIJING � August 8, 2008 � NBC's primetime coverage of the Beijing Olympics begins Saturday at 8 p.m. ET/PT with men's 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley gold medal finals, as well as women's 400m individual medley and 4x100m freestyle relay. Michael Phelps begins his quest to make history in the 400m individual medley, and 41-year-old mom Dara Torres leads Team USA in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay. Also live in primetime, defending Olympic beach volleyball gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh take on Japan (Saiki/Kusuhara). Men's gymnastics competition will also heat up the night.

Saturday's coverage continues with the following:

NBC DAYTIME: The live women's volleyball match between USA and Japan highlights NBC Daytime. Team USA's coach "Jenny" Lang Ping, helped lead the Chinese Volleyball team to a gold medal in 1984 in Los Angeles and a silver in 1996 in Atlanta, and at this Olympics looks to lead the USA to gold.

NBC LATENIGHT: Also on the volleyball front, live in latenight the USA men's team takes on Venezuela.

CABLE: Live on USA Network, the USA women's soccer team goes head-to-head with Japan, after a disappointing loss to Norway. In women's basketball, Team USA takes on Czech Republic live on USA. CNBC kicks off its first night of live boxing. MSNBC features two live women's soccer games and women's fencing individual sabre gold medal finals.

Highlights for Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008, include:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 � DAY 1

NBC and NBC HD

10:00 a.m. � 6:00 p.m. Women's Volleyball � USA vs. Japan (LIVE) Swimming Men's Beach Volleyball � Rogers/Dalhausser (USA) vs. Samoilovs/Plavins (LAT) Women's Beach Volleyball � Branagh/Youngs (USA) vs. Kadijk/Mooren (NED) Men's Cycling � Road Race Rowing

8:00 p.m. � Midnight Swimming � Gold Medal Finals (LIVE) Men's 400m Freestyle, 400m Individual Medley Women's 400m Individual Medley, 4x100m Freestyle Relay Women's Beach Volleyball � May-Treanor/Walsh vs. Saiki/Kusuhara (JPN)(LIVE) Men's Gymnastics � Team Competition

*Note: LIVE Swimming Semifinals Men's 100 breaststroke & Women's 100m Butterfly

12:30 a.m. � 2:00 a.m. Men's Volleyball � USA vs. Venezuela (LIVE)

USA and USA HD

2:00 a.m. � 2:00 p.m. Women's Soccer � USA vs. Japan (LIVE) Canada vs. China Women's Basketball � USA vs. Czech Republic (LIVE) Equestrian � Eventing Dressage (LIVE) Men's Beach Volleyball � Nummerdor/Schuil (NED) vs. Laciga/Schneider (SUI) Women's Beach Volleyball � Barnett/Cook (AUS) vs. Uryadova/Shiryaeva (RUS) Women's Fencing � Women's Sabre Quarterfinals Women's Shooting � Air Rifle Gold Medal Final Women's Badminton � Lee (USA) vs. Rice (CAN) Women's Weightlifting � Flyweight Gold Medal Final

CNBC and CNBC HD

2:00 a.m. � 5:00 a.m. Boxing � 75kg, 81kg Competition (LIVE)

5:00 p.m. � 8:00 p.m. Boxing � 75kg, 81kg Competition

MSNBC

5:00 a.m. � 5:00 p.m. Women's Soccer � Nigeria vs. Germany (LIVE) Brazil vs. North Korea (LIVE) Women's Volleyball � Italy vs. Russia Poland vs. Cuba Women's Fencing � Individual Sabre Gold Medal Final Women's Handball � France vs. Angola Russia vs. South Korea Badminton � Singles competition

TELEMUNDO

7:30 a.m. � 2:00 p.m. Women's Soccer � USA vs. Japan (LIVE) Men's Beach Volleyball � Heyer/Heuscher (SUI) vs. Conde/Baracetti (ARG) Boxing Women's Volleyball � Poland vs. Cuba

6:00 p.m. � 8:00 p.m. Beach Volleyball Boxing

Midnight � 1:00 a.m. TBA

UNIVERSAL HD

24-hour MSNBC & CNBC HD Simulcasts and Coverage

NBC OLYMPIC BASKETBALL CHANNEL

2:30 a.m. � 2:30 p.m. Women's Qualifying Round 2:30 a.m. - 4:15 a.m. Spain vs. China (LIVE) 4:45 a.m. � 6:30 a.m. Brazil vs. S. Korea (LIVE) 6:30 a.m. � 8:00 a.m. Belarus vs. Australia 8:00 a.m. � 9:45 a.m. USA vs. Czech Republic (LIVE) 10:15 a.m. � 12:00 p.m. Russia vs. Latvia (LIVE) 12:00 p.m. � 1:45 p.m. Mali vs. New Zealand 1:45 p.m. � 2:30 p.m. USA vs. Czech Republic 2nd half re-air

NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL

5:00 a.m. � 5:00 p.m. Women's Preliminaries 5:00 a.m. � 6:45 a.m. USA vs. Japan (LIVE) 7:45 a.m. � 9:30 a.m. Brazil vs. N. Korea (LIVE) 9:30 a.m. � 11:00 a.m. Nigeria vs. Germany 11:00 a.m. � 12:30 p.m. China vs. Canada 12:30 p.m. � 2:00 p.m. Sweden vs. Argentina 2:00 p.m. � 3:30 p.m. New Zealand vs. Norway 3:30 p.m. � 5:00 p.m. USA vs. Japan (re-air)

NBCOlympics.com - LIVE STREAMING BROADBAND COVERAGE:

Men's Archery Women's Archery � Competition & Quarterfinals Badminton Women's Fencing � Individual Sabre Semifinal & Gold Medal Final Men's Fencing � Individual Epee Competition Women's Field Hockey Men's Judo � 60kg Competition & Gold Medal Final, 66kg Competition Women's Judo � 48kg Competition & Gold Medal Final, 52kg Competition Sailing Men's Shooting � 10m Air Pistol Gold Medal Final, Men's Trap Competition Women's Shooting � 10m Air Pistol Competition & Gold Medal Final Women & Men's Basketball Equestrian � Team Dressage Women's & Men's Handball Rowing Women's Soccer Men's & Women's Tennis Women's Weightlifting � 53kg Men's Weightlifting � 56kg Cycling � Road Race

NBC PRIMETIME HIGHLIGHTS:

�The opening night of competition shifts the attention from the magnificent Bird's Nest to the National Aquatics Center. Nicknamed the "Water Cube", it is an awe-inspiring translucent structure that gives spectators the sensation of being under water while looking up at its roof.

�Fittingly, one of these Games' most spectacular venues is the host to unquestionably one of the greatest swimmers ever, 23-year-old Michael Phelps. He begins his chase for history LIVE in primetime in the 400m Individual Medley, an event in which he shattered his own world record at the Olympic Trials and is favored to win. By the end of the week, Phelps could break the record for most career gold medals by any Olympic athlete ever, summer or winter. The current record is nine, shared by Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi, Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, American swimmer Mark Spitz, and American track star Carl Lewis. Phelps, who already owns six gold medals from Athens, could swim as many as eight events in Beijing if all goes as planned. Fellow American Ryan Lochte is the second fastest of all-time in this event and should make this the fourth straight Olympics in which Americans go 1-2 in this event.

�Dara Torres leads Team USA in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay Gold Medal final versus Australia. On the women's side, world champion Katie Hoff could bring the USA its second gold of the night in the 400m IM in what could be a classic duel with Australia's Stephanie Rice -- Hoff broke Rice's world record at the Olympic Trials in June.

�The USA Men's Gymnastics Team looks to qualify for the eight-team final and earn a chance at a second straight team medal. Host China has won the last two world championships and will be the team to beat.

NBC DAYTIME HIGHLIGHTS:

�The greatest cyclists in the world take to the streets of Beijing in the men's road race, an event that provides the perfect introduction to the Olympic city. The 150-mile race begins in the center of Beijing, passes through Tiananmen Square and other historic sites before reaching its conclusion at the grandest of finish lines, the Great Wall of China.

�The USA Women's Volleyball Team begins its medal quest against Japan LIVE on NBC. The eyes of China will be on Team USA's coach "Jenny" Lang Ping, who helped lead the Chinese volleyball team to a gold medal over the USA at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and later coached the Chinese team to a silver medal in 1996 in Atlanta.

NBC LATENIGHT HIGHLIGHTS:

�The USA Men's Volleyball Team plays its first match of the Olympics LIVE against Venezuela. In Athens, Team USA made an exciting run to the bronze medal game after a thrilling quarterfinals comeback against the favored host, Greece.

USA NETWORK HIGHLIGHTS:

� LIVE coverage of two medal contending USA women's teams. The USA Women's Soccer Team faces Japan in game two on the road to gold. Later, the USA Women's Basketball Team begins its Beijing schedule against the Czech Republic.

�The first gold medal awarded at this Olympics will be either shooting's women's air rifle final or weightlifting's women's flyweight final, and whichever event it is, host nation China is heavily favored to capture the first gold medal at the Beijing Games. Three different Chinese lifters have won the past three women's flyweight world championships, while Du Li is the favorite in the women's air rifle.

CNBC HIGHLIGHTS:

�CNBC's comprehensive coverage of the Olympic Boxing tournament begins, with LIVE elimination bouts in the overnight hours and comprehensive coverage of the second session in the afternoon.

NBC OLYMPIC BASKETBALL CHANNEL

�Welcome to an Olympic hoops dream -- The NBC Olympic Basketball Channel will feature complete coverage of all 76 games (38 Men's, 38 Women's) in the Olympic Basketball tournament in spectacular high definition, from the early round games through the men's and women's gold medal finals, featuring many of the world's best players suiting up in their national colors.