KEY POINTS:
Sky television has promised to deliver the most comprehensive Olympics coverage New Zealand has ever seen, with 22-hour coverage during the 16-day event and extensive coverage of the build up to the 2012 London Olympics.
The network was awarded the New Zealand broadcast rights to provide coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Games in London by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this morning.
Sky Television director of communications Tony O'Brien said it was early days yet but the broadcaster would be investing huge amounts of time and energy into the events.
"Coverage on Prime will be 22 hours a day for the duration of the 16-day competition," he said this morning.
"Combined games coverage will be more than 2,600 hours, which is phenomenal. That's more than ever before."
The IOC said it selected Sky and its free-to-air channel, Prime, on their capacity to reach the broadest possible audience through a variety of broadcast platforms.
Prime's UHF coverage reaches more than 91 per cent of the country, Mr O'Brien said, and more than 80 per cent of all television viewers have tuned into the channel, according to AC Nielsen figures.
Sky also broadcasts seven dedicated sports channels, which will all feature Olympic coverage.
Megan Richards of Television New Zealand, the IOC's traditional broadcast partner, said the state broadcaster was disappointed with the decision but was concentrating on next year's Olympics coverage.
"We did our best to secure them and clearly we were outbid but right now we're focussing on next year's Olympics in Beijing for which we do have the rights."
