CBC gets a head start on Beijing 2022 Olympics coverage

The programming is part of a countdown to the Winter Olympics, which runs from Feb. 4 to Feb. 20.
By Stephanie Marcus
December 2, 2021

CBC/Radio-Canada has given its first look at its coverage plans for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, kicking things off with the return of Road To The Olympic Games. 

The series, which spotlights high-performance athletes from Canada and around the world in the lead-up to the Games, premieres its Winter Olympic edition on Dec. 4 and will air weekly throughout December and January on CBC TV and CBC Gem.

In Quebec, Radio-Canada Sports will premiere the original, eight-part documentary series, Le rêve olympique, which profiles Canada’s top medal contenders, starting Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. ET on ICI TÉLÉ, and will be available on ICI RDI from Dec. 27 to 30, and the VOD website ICI YOU, from January 3 to 6.

The programming is part of a countdown to the Winter Olympics, which begins on Feb. 4 and runs until Feb 20. That lead-up will also include live streams of key competitions and qualifiers on the CBC Sports website and mobile apps.

CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of Beijing 2022 will include broadcasts from every venue, including Canadian medal-winning moments, totalling more than 3500 hours of live content across all platforms.TSN, RDS and Sportsnet will also offer live event coverage, providing multiple viewing options. As part of a special two-game deal with Twitter, certain events will also be live-streamed on the platform.

CBC/Radio-Canada holds the Canadian broadcast rights for the Olympic games through 2024 and set a new record high for digital audiences during last summer’s Tokyo Olympics. Viewers logged 37 million video streams across its website, CBC Gem streaming platform and its dedicated Olympics app, while 28 million viewers watched at least some of CBC’s Olympic content on linear television.

More details about coverage plans, including sponsors, will be announced in the coming weeks. Last summer, CBC told MiC that it was looking at ways to maintain audience engagement and momentum between the closer-than-usual Tokyo games and Beijing, to ensure it maintained the value between some new brand opportunities it had developed last summer.