Women Athletes Dominate Prime Time Telecast of 2016 Olympics

WOMEN ATHLETES DOMINATE PRIME TIME TELECAST OF 2016 OLYMPICS – A UA sports communication researcher and his colleagues are exploring potential gender, race and nationality disparities within television coverage of the Olympics. Final results from the study, by Dr. Andrew Billings, director of the Alabama Program in Sports Communication and the Ronald Reagan chair of broadcasting in UA’s department of telecommunication & film, and colleagues from the University of Delaware and Utica College, show women athletes account for 53.7. percent of NBC’s primetime coverage of the 2016 Olympics in Rio and men 46.3 percent. For several decades, men received the majority of the primetime clock time, but those results shifted in 2012, with women athletes receiving an average of 55 percent of the primetime coverage. For more information, contact Jamon Smith, media relations, [email protected], 205/348-4956.