ABSTRACT
In an Olympic telecast, NBC production professionals make overt choices about what to show (selection), what to show a lot (emphasis), and what to avoid (exclusion) within a given telecast. For example, NBC's Olympic primetime telecast offers sports like swimming and skiing in a moderate amount, shows virtually every competitive minute of gymnastics and figure skating, and excludes events like boxing and hockey that have not proven to impart the wide demographic net that producers hope the Olympics will cast. In addition to producing high ratings, producers are required simultaneously to fashion a telecast that frames the fullest and most complete “Olympic experience” they deem to be attainable—a task that is controversial and constantly moving. Solomon clarified that the more intricate Olympic planning usually occurs almost immediately following a preceding Games, so that an Olympics gains daily attention from the chief producers for two years.
