Behind The Scenes

ESPN International airs 1,700 hours of London Olympics to Latin America

LONDON — For the past two weeks, ESPN International has broadcast 1700 event hours of the 2012 Olympic Games in Portuguese and Spanish throughout Latin America.

With one of the widest, multichannel coverage plans ever of the Olympic Games in the region, ESPN has dedicated six networks — at least three per country — to fulltime, high definition coverage of London 2012 in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

ESPN Argentina is charged with the huge task of serving all the Spanish-speaking territories. To accomplish this, close to 100 ESPN employees from South America and Bristol traveled to London to cover the Games.

As rights-holders, the Argentine production team is based in the International Broadcast Center. Their analysts, reporters, camera crews, and more are working inside the Olympic Park and at sites throughout London.

All content from the Games is being sent to Argentina where additional enhancements are made. In Buenos Aires, a second dedicated Olympics team supplements the coverage with news and information and commentary. Both teams are working around the clock to provide the best coverage for their 200 million households.

“ESPN is proud of the coverage we have been providing for the Olympic Games in Latin America,” said Tim Bunnell, senior vice president of production, programming and marketing, ESPN International.

“Our ability to dedicate multiple networks in-region to London 2012 is truly exceptional. Our signature team of journalists and correspondents, many of whom have covered numerous Olympic Games, are making this one of the most memorable and rewarding Olympic Games of recent times.”

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