AT&T today announced that it has signed a deal with NBCUniversal to provide network solutions for broadcasts of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. AT&T’s network will be utilized to stream coverage of the Olympics to the U.S. throughout February.
One highlight of AT&T’s announcement is that the mobile provider will be helping NBC to stream high-definition coverage of the Olympics to a variety of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and PCs. Fans will be able to access these streams during the games to keep up with each day’s action as it happens.
“When people watch the Olympic Games, they increasingly do so from multiple screens – a smartphone, tablet, computer, and the traditional television screen,” said Robert Kiraly, director of Broadcast and Telecommunications Operations at NBC Olympics. “AT&T supports the networking services we need to ensure our viewers will have the best experience possible, no matter their screen preference.”
AT&T did not state in its announcement whether Olympics coverage would be part of the carrier’s new Sponsored Data program. The new revenue plan, which was outlined last week, would see content providers paying AT&T for the bandwith its customers use. The plan has raised concerns from open internet advocates, who see it as an attempt by AT&T to charge more for data already flowing over its network while gaining a measure of control over how its subscribers use their expensive capped data plans.
