Facts About the Olympic Triplecast

The Barcelona Olympics Triplecast, a joint venture by General Electric’s NBC unit and Cablevision Systems Corp., is the first-ever effort to sell the Olympics as a pay-per-view event. It is certain to generate more revenue than any other pay-per-view show in history but is so expensive that it may well lose tens of millions of dollars.

COVERAGE: Fifteen days around the clock, with 12 hours a day of live coverage, starting at 2 a.m. Pacific Time, followed by 12 hours of taped replay.

Events are shown commercial-free on three channels, playing simultaneously.

PRICES: Multi-day packages are $95 for either the first seven days of coverage or seven weekend days; $125 for all 15 days of coverage, plus discounts on NBC Olympic merchandise; $170 for all 15 days, plus discounts, a commemorative book, an Olympic pin set and a highlight video. Single-day packages are $29.95. Prices may vary. Some local cable operators, for example, have been offering 10% to 15% discounts.

POTENTIAL AUDIENCE: Up to 40 million cable-TV households.