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XXIII OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES NBC UNIVERSAL NEWS ACCESS GUIDELINES

 

This is to advise you that NBCUniversal Media, LLC (“NBCUniversal”) has acquired the exclusive right in the United States and its territories and possessions, including Puerto Rico (the “Territory”),  to  exhibit  the  XXIII  Olympic  Winter  Games,  to  be  held  in  PyeongChang,  South Korea  (the  “Games”).   The  Games  are  scheduled  to  begin  on  Thursday,  February  8,  2018,  and conclude on Sunday, February 25, 2018.   These News Access Guidelines (the “Guidelines”) set forth the terms by which NBCUniversal grants other broadcasters and cablecasters in the Territory permission to use Olympic Material, as such term is defined below.

 

NBCUniversal  will  provide  television  coverage  of  the  Games  on  the  NBC  Television Network (and its owned and operated and affiliated television stations), NBCSN, USA, CNBC, and the Olympic Channel (collectively, the “NBCUniversal Coverage Channels”).   NBCUniversal’s exclusivity extends in all languages and to all media, devices and formats, including but not limited to broadcast, over-the-air, cable, pay, satellite, IPTV and theatrical  television, all forms of radio, any distribution via the Internet, wireless or mobile platforms (e.g., websites, apps, social media, desktop,  smartphones,  tablets,  connected  TVs,  streaming,  download,  etc.),  video-on-demand,  in- flight, DVDs/videodiscs, videoboards, SD, HD, UltraHD, 4K, virtual reality, augmented reality and any other form of public or private display (collectively, “Media Distribution”), and to all aspects of the Games, including but not limited to:

 

  •      all aspects and elements of the Opening Ceremony and the Closing Ceremony;

     

  • all athletic competitions and/or exhibitions (practice/training, preliminary, qualifying and final  rounds),  as  well  as  all  non-athletic  events  or  activities,  that  occur  at  any  physical location (a “Venue”) controlled by the Organizing Committee for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Games (“PyeongChang 2018”);

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  •       all award, medal and other official ceremonies held at any Venue, including but not limited to  the  Olympic  Park  Common  Domain,  the  Olympic  Village,  Village  Square,  and/or Medals Plaza; and

 

  •       all  other  events,  performances,  exhibitions,  demonstrations,  rehearsals  and  activities  that occur  at  a  Venue,  including  but  not  limited  to  the  Olympic  Park  Common  Domain (including  shooting  into  the  Olympic  Park  Common  Domain  from  outside  thereof),  the Olympic Village, Village Square, and/or Medals Plaza.

 

Recordings of any and all of the foregoing aspects of the Games are hereinafter referred to as  “Olympic  Material”.     For  the  avoidance  of  doubt,  Olympic  Material  does  not  include announcer descriptions, any other audio elements, feature material, and interviews, the use of all of which is prohibited under any circumstances.  NBCUniversal’s agreement with the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) provides that, other than as specifically set forth in the Guidelines, no one other than NBCUniversal and/or NBCUniversal’s authorized sublicensees may broadcast, distribute,  transmit,  display,  stream,  exploit  or  otherwise  exhibit  (collectively,  “Exhibit”)  within the  Territory  audio  or  video  of  any  Olympic  Material  in  any  form  of  Media  Distribution whatsoever.

 

Accordingly, NBCUniversal authorizes use of excerpts of Olympic Material only if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

 

1.    Use In News Programs Only:  Excerpts of Olympic Material may be used solely in regularly scheduled  television  news  programs.    This  excludes  programming  such  as  news  and  sports magazines,  news  promos  and  updates,  entertainment  programs,  entertainment  news  programs, magazines and features, sports features and other sports programs or special programs of any kind. All-sports  television  networks  may  use  excerpts  of  Olympic  Material  only  as  part  of  regularly scheduled general sports news programs, subject to the other limitations of the Guidelines.

 

2.    Exhibition   of   Olympic   Material   Only   After   Conclusion   of   Certain   NBCUniversal Programming:   NBCUniversal recoups a substantial part of the expenses it incurs in securing its rights to Exhibit the Games by providing coverage of the Games through its exclusive prime time and  late  night  (“prime  time  plus”)  programming.   Accordingly,  in  order  to  protect  this  primary revenue source, the Exhibition of Olympic Material until the completion of certain NBC Television Network  nightly  programs  is  strictly  prohibited  (a  summary  of  the  NBC  Television  Network’s prime time and late night (“prime time plus”)  Games programming is attached hereto as Exhibit A).  Specifically:

 

a.    Olympic  Material  Through  and  Including  Prime  Time:     Excerpts  of  Olympic Material recorded off-air from any telecast, through and including the prime time telecast, on any given day from any of the NBCUniversal Coverage Channels may not be Exhibited on  such  day  in  any  time  zone  in  the  Territory  until  the  NBC  Television  Network  has completed its prime time telecast in such time zone on such day, subject in all instances to the other limitations of the Guidelines. See Exhibit A.

 

b.    Olympic  Material  From  Late  Night  (“Prime  Time  Plus”):    Excerpts  of  Olympic Material recorded off-air from the late night (“prime time plus”) telecast on any given day may  not  be  Exhibited  on  such  day  in  any  time  zone  in  the  Territory  until  the  NBC Television Network has completed its late night (“prime time plus”) telecast in such time zone on such day, subject in all instances to the other limitations of the Guidelines.   See Exhibit A.

 

c.    Cable Networks With A Single Feed:  For the avoidance of doubt, cable networks with a single feed may not Exhibit or otherwise use excerpts of Olympic Material on any given day from any of the NBCUniversal Coverage Channels until the NBC Television Network has  completed  its    prime  time  telecast  in  all  U.S.  time  zones  where  such  single  feed network is viewed, subject in all instances to the other limitations of the Guidelines.  See Exhibit A.

 

3.    Source of Olympic Material:   The only permissible source of excerpts of Olympic Material for use in the Territory (other than as outlined in paragraph 5) is footage that is recorded off-air from  any  of  the  NBCUniversal  Coverage  Channels  (for  the  avoidance  of  doubt,  recordings  of Olympic  Material  Exhibited  on  NBCOlympics.com,  any  of  NBCUniversal’s  Olympic-related applications,   or  any  other   source   outside   of   NBCUniversal   Coverage   Channels,   is  strictly prohibited).    The  Exhibition  or  other  use  or  exploitation  of  such  excerpts  from  the  following sources  are  prohibited:  (a) Olympic  Material  obtained  from  any  other  IOC-licensed  Olympics rightsholder;  and  (b)  Olympic  Material  provided  by  any  individual,  including but  not  limited  to athletes,  coaches,  officials,  their  family  members,  and/or  spectators  at  the  Games.    For  the avoidance  of  doubt,  these  prohibitions  include  any  material  captured  (x)  within  any  Venue, including  but  not  limited  to  the  Olympic  Park  Common  Domain,  the  Olympic  Village,  Village Square,  and/or  Medals  Plaza;  (y)  by  any  of  the  foregoing  persons  with  any  personal  device, including but not limited to a personal computer, video recorder or cell phone; and (z) Exhibition or  other exploitation of GIFs  and/or  any other  multiple-exposure still images  with  a refresh  rate designed  to  simulate  the  look  and  feel  of  video.    Footage  supplied  by  Olympic  Broadcasting Services may not be used without NBCUniversal’s advance, express written consent (see contact information  below).    Requests  to  use  such  footage  will  be  considered  only  if  (a)  the  event  or activity  shown  in  such  footage  has  not  been  Exhibited  on  any  of  the  NBCUniversal  Coverage Channels;  (b)  24  hours  have  elapsed  since  the  occurrence  of  the  event  or  activity  shown  in  the footage; and (c) the other limitations of the Guidelines are satisfied.

 

4.    Internet/Wireless:   Olympic Material may not be Exhibited on the Internet, wireless devices, and/or  via  any  other  interactive  forms  of  Media  Distribution  (including,  but  not  limited  to, connected  devices,  social  media  platforms,  mobile  and  websites  except  as  indicated  in  this paragraph 4.   Olympic Material may be Exhibited via such platforms only to the extent that such Olympic  Material  is  part  of  the  live,  simultaneous,  linear  transmission  of  a  program  that  is authorized  to  include  Olympic  Material  in  accordance  with  paragraph  1  of  the  Guidelines.   In addition, such program must be either (a) part of a 24/7 television service available to authenticated subscribers  where  such  service  is  distributed  substantially  in  its  entirety  via  the  Internet,  or (b) Exhibited  via  the  Internet  by  a  broadcast  television  station  or  cable  network  simultaneously with   such   station’s   or   network’s   linear   television   Exhibition   of   such   program.    Under   no circumstances may Olympic Material be Exhibited via an archive or other on-demand product or offering.   Please  note  that  Olympic  Material  archived  on  NBCUniversal’s  digital  platforms  via NBCUniversal’s digital media player is not embeddable on third-party websites.

 

5.    Press  Conferences:    Footage  of  any  official  press  conference  organized  by  the  IOC  or PyeongChang 2018 and held in the Main Press Center in PyeongChang may be used but only with a delay of at least thirty (30) minutes from the conclusion of the press conference.   Such footage also may be Exhibited on the Internet or via any other interactive media and/or wireless devices, but  again,  only  on  a  delay  of  at  least  thirty  (30)  minutes  from  the  conclusion  of  the  press conference.

 

6.    Number  of  Newscasts/Length  of  Excerpts  of  Olympic  Material:    Excerpts  of  Olympic Material  may  appear  in  a  maximum  of  three  (3)  television  newscasts  per  day,  subject  to  the restrictions in paragraph 7.   No such excerpt may exceed thirty (30) seconds in duration, and all such  excerpts  collectively  may  not  exceed  two  (2)  minutes  in  total  in  any  single  television newscast.  All-news and all-sports linear 24/7 television networks are not subject to this restriction, provided the combined time of all excerpts (including repeat Exhibitions) does not exceed a total of six (6) minutes per day and all other limitations of the Guidelines are satisfied.  For the purposes of clarity,  a  single-sport  linear  24/7  television  network  focused  on  a  sport  that  is  contested  in  the Games  may  use  up  to  six  (6)  minutes  of  Olympic  Material  of  such  sport  each  day  during  the Games,  provided  that   such  network  has  obtained  the  advance,  express   written  consent   of NBCUniversal (see contact information below).

 

7.    Three Hour Separation:  Television newscasts in which excerpts of Olympic Material appear must  be  separated  by  at  least  3  hours;  notwithstanding  the  foregoing,  stations  that  telecast  both local  news  and  network  news  programs  from 5:00  a.m.  to  10:00  a.m.  and/or  from 4:00  p.m.  to

7:30 p.m. may air as many reports containing eligible excerpts of Olympic Material as they wish so long as the combined time of such excerpts during these time periods does not exceed a total of 2

minutes.  All-news and all-sports television networks are not subject to this restriction.

 

8.    24-Hour Window:  Excerpts of Olympic Material may be used only during the 24-hour period following the time that the use of such excerpts is first permitted under the Guidelines.   Use after such   24-hour   window   requires   the   prior   written   approval   of   NBCUniversal   (see   contact information below).

 

9.    Courtesy  Credit/NBC  “Bug”:    The  following  video  credit  must  be  displayed  over  any excerpts  of  Olympic  Material  for  the  duration  of  the  clip:  “Courtesy  NBC  Olympics”.    As  all Olympic Material must be recorded off-air (subject to the exceptions set forth in paragraph 3), it is expressly  prohibited  for  any  party  to  alter,  eliminate  or  otherwise  change  the  translucent  “bug” affixed to such Olympic Material in any manner whatsoever.

 

10.  Videoboards:   Videoboards placed at various locations in PyeongChang and the surrounding areas, and featuring Olympic Material, may appear incidentally in the background of programming aired by broadcasters and cablecasters, but Olympic Material appearing in this manner will count against the time-related limitations set forth in paragraph 6.

 

*   *   *

 

The IOC has advised that the violation of any of the Guidelines could lead to the loss of official  Olympic  accreditation  at  the  Games  or  subsequent  Olympic  Games  by  the  person  or company responsible for said violation.

 

For   copyright   purposes,   NBCUniversal   plans   to   record   our   Olympic   programming simultaneously with its transmission.  The owner of the resulting recorded audiovisual work will be the  IOC,  and  the  Olympic  programming  will  be  pre-registered  and  registered  with  the  U.S. Copyright Office.  The IOC has authorized NBCUniversal to act as its party-in-interest with respect to copyright violations occurring within the Territory.   NBCUniversal hereby grants broadcasters and cablecasters in the Territory permission to record the NBCUniversal Coverage Channels off-air for the sole purpose of obtaining excerpts of Olympic Material for use by such broadcasters and cablecasters  in  regularly  scheduled  television  newscasts  that  air  in  the  Territory  prior  to  the conclusion of the Games, and otherwise in accordance with the limitations of the Guidelines.  This permission  is  further  conditioned  on  the  agreement  of  such  broadcasters  and  cablecasters  to  the terms of the Guidelines.  By recording these Exhibitions, broadcasters and cablecasters expressly agree  to  the  terms  of  the  Guidelines  and  agree  that  any  violation  of  these  terms  may  entitle NBCUniversal  to  remedies  including  compensatory  damages,  equitable  relief,  and  revocation  of the license granted herein.

 

NBCUniversal’s exclusive rights to the Games in the Territory must be respected.  Any use of  Olympic  Material  other  than  as  specifically  provided  herein  and  by  applicable  law  will  be considered a violation of NBCUniversal’s rights and may subject violators to legal liability under the laws of copyright, trademark, unfair competition, misappropriation and/or contract.  In addition, the  unauthorized  rebroadcast  or  other  re-Exhibition  of  any  other  broadcast  station’s  or  cable network’s  program  that  includes  Olympic  Material  may  subject  responsible  parties  to  liability under § 325(a) of the Communications Act of 1934.   Furthermore, NBCUniversal has acquired a number of original musical compositions which are under exclusive license to NBCUniversal for commercial and promotional uses.  Under the terms of those licenses, broadcasters and cablecasters are  not  permitted  to  use  any  of  these  compositions  in  any  commercial,  promotional  or  thematic manner whatsoever.

 

NBCUniversal reserves the right at any time and at its sole discretion to vary the terms of the Guidelines.  For questions regarding the Guidelines, or to request permission for additional uses that, as noted above, require further consent from NBCUniversal, please contact the undersigned at stacy.clark@nbcuni.com.  We appreciate your cooperation.

 

Stacy Clark

Director, Footage & Contracts | NBC Sports Group

 

Exhibit A:

NBC Television Network

Olympic Prime Time and  Late Night (“Prime Time Plus”)

 

The chart below lists the times for each prime time program, immediately followed by the times for the late

night (“prime time plus”) program on such day, if applicable.

 

 

DATE                                               EASTERN              CENTRAL               MOUNTAIN                      PACIFIC                                         

 

Thursday, February 8                  8:00P-11:30P           7:00P-10:30P            6:00P-9:30P                  5:00P-8:30P                                     

 

Friday, February 9                       8:00P-11:00P           7:00P-10:00P            6:00P-9:00P                  5:00P-8:00P                                    

 

Saturday, February 10                 8:00P-11:00P           7:00P-10:00P            6:00P-9:30P                  5:00P-8:30P

 

                                                     11:30P-12:30A        10:30P-11:30P          9:30P-10:30P                8:30P-9:30P                                    

 

Sunday, February 11                   7:00P-11:00P           6:00P-10:00P            5:00P-9:35P                  4:00P-8:35P

 

                                                     11:35P-1:00A          10:35P-12:00 M       9:35P-11:00P                8:35P-10:00P                                  

 

Monday, February 12                  8:00P-11:30P           7:00P-10:30P            6:00P-10:05P                5:00P-9:05P

 

                                                     12:05A-2:00A          11:05P-1:00A           10:05P-12:00M             9:05P-11:00P                                 

 

Tuesday, February 13                  8:00P-11:30P           7:00P-10:30P            6:00P-10:05P                5:00P-9:05P

 

                                                     12:05A-1:30A          11:05P-12:30A         10:05P-11:30P              9:05P-10:30P                                 

 

Wednesday, February 14             8:00P-11:30P           7:00P-10:30P            6:00P-10:05P                5:00P-9:05P

 

                                                     12:05A-1:30A          11:05P-12:30A         10:05P-11:30P              9:05P-10:30P                                 

 

Thursday, February 15                8:00P-12:30A          7:00P-11:30P            6:00P-11:05P                5:00P-10:05P

 

                                                     1:05A-2:00A            12:05A-1:00A          11:05P-12:00M             10:05P-11:00P                               

 

Friday, February 16                     8:00P-12:00M         7:00P-11:00P            6:00P-10:35P                5:00P-9:35P

 

                                                     12:35A-2:00A          11:35P-1:00A           10:35P-12:00M             9:35P-11:00P                                 

 

Saturday, February 17                 8:00P-11:00P           7:00P-10:00P            6:00P-9:30P                  5:00P-8:30P

 

                                                     11:30P-1:30A          10:30P-12:30A         9:30P-11:30P                8:30P-10:30P                                  

 

Sunday, February 18                   7:00P-12:00M         6:00P-11:00P            5:00P-10:35P                4:00P-9:35P

 

                                                     12:35A-2:00A          11:35P-1:00A           10:35P-12:00M             9:35P-11:00P                                 

 

Monday, February 19                  8:00P-11:30P           7:00P-10:30P            6:00P-10:05P                5:00P-9:05P

 

                                                     12:05A-1:00A          11:05P-12:00M        10:05P-11:00P              9:05P-10:00P                                  

 

Tuesday, February 20                  8:00P-12:30A          7:00P-11:30P            6:00P-11:05P                5:00P-10:05P

 

                                                    1:05A-2:00A           12:05A-1:00A           11:05P-12:00M             10:05P-11:05P

 

​

Wednesday, February 21             8:00P-11:00P           7:00P-10:00P            6:00P-9:35P                  5:00P-8:35P

 

                                                     11:35P-12:30A        10:35P-11:30P          9:35P-10:30P                8:35P-9:30P                                    

 

Thursday, February 22                8:00P-12:00M         7:00P-11:00P            6:00P-10:35P                5:00P-9:35P

 

                                                     12:35A-2:00A          11:35P-1:00A           10:35P-12:00M             9:35P-11:00P                                 

 

Friday,  February 23                    8:00P-11:00P           7:00P-10:00P            6:00P-9:35P                  5:00P-8:35P

 

                                                     11:35P-1:00A          10:35P-12:00M        9:35P-11:00P                8:35P-10:00P                                  

 

Saturday, February 24                 8:00P-11:00P           7:00P-10:00P            6:00P-9:00P                  5:00P-8:00P

 

                                                 11:30P-12:30A        10:30P-11:30P          12:30A-1:30A               11:30P-12:30A                            

 

Sunday, February 25                   7:00P-10:30P           6:00P-9:30P              5:00P-8:30P                  4:00P-7:30P

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