NBCOLYMPICS.COM TO OFFER ORIGINAL, DIGITAL-ONLY PROGRAMMING FOR SOCHI GAMES

Gold Zone to Offer More Than 100 Hours of Whip-Around Coverage of Most Compelling Live Events for Verified Cable, Satellite & Telco Customers

Sarah Hughes to Serve as Analyst for Olympic Ice, Daily Figure Skating News & Highlight Studio Show

Julie Donaldson to Host Olympic News Desk Updates Throughout the Day

STAMFORD, Conn. - January 8, 2014 - In addition to delivering more than 1,000 hours of live streaming coverage of the upcoming Sochi Games, NBCOlympics.com, America's preeminent digital destination for Olympic content and exclusive online home of Olympic video coverage, will deliver unprecedented digital-only original programming, the vast majority for verified cable, satellite & telco customers.

The video offering, new to Winter Games coverage, will include whip-around competition coverage from Gold Zone; a daily figure skating news and highlights show, Olympic Ice; and regular news updates throughout each day of competition via NBCOlympics.com's Olympic News Desk updates.

GOLD ZONE

Beginning on February 8, Gold Zone, an exclusive video channel on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app, will offer more than 100 hours of whip-around coverage of the most popular live action from the Sochi Games. The channel, which will stream 7 a.m. -3 p.m. ET on most days, will allow verified viewers to experience multiple events, as they happen.

Gold Zone may take viewers from a freestyle skiing final to the conclusion of an exciting ice hockey game, in real time, enabling them to catch the most exciting Olympic action whenever and wherever it's happening.

Gold Zone hosts Andrew Siciliano and Ryan Burr will provide context to what's being streamed and will keep fans up-to-date as the action switches from event to event.

To get up-to-the-minute updates on what is being featured on Gold Zone, fans can follow the dedicated twitter handle @NBC_GoldZone.

OLYMPIC ICE

Olympic Ice, a studio show available on NBCOlympics.com and NBC Sports Live Extra, will offer verified viewers a comprehensive review of all the figure skating news and highlights taking place each day during the Sochi Games. It will air at 5:30 p.m. ET on most days, from February 7-21.

Russ Thaler will host the 30-minute show, and will be joined by analyst and 2002 Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater Sarah Hughes.

OLYMPIC NEWS DESK UPDATES

Hosted by Julie Donaldson, Olympic News Desk updates will stream periodically throughout the day and unauthenticated on NBCOlympics.com. They will feature the most up-to-date news, competition and highlights, from the day's events in Sochi.

THE OLYMPICS BEGIN FEB. 6, 2014

With more Winter Olympic events than ever before, competition for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games from Sochi, Russia, will begin one day prior to the Opening Ceremony. As a result, NBC will begin its primetime coverage of the 2014 Sochi Olympics on Thursday, February 6, one night before the broadcast network provides its traditional coverage of the Opening Ceremony on Friday February 7. This marks the first time NBC will air Olympic primetime coverage before the Opening Ceremony. The primetime broadcast on Thursday, February 6, 2014, is scheduled to include competition in snowboard slopestyle (men's and women's), in which two-time gold medalist Shaun White is expected to compete in the slopestyle's Olympic debut; team figure skating, which is also in the Olympics for the first time; and women's freestyle moguls.

ABOUT NBC OLYMPICS

A division of the NBC Sports Group, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming and promoting NBCUniversal's Olympic coverage. It is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history. For more information on NBC Olympics' coverage of the Sochi Olympics, please visit: http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/