MUMBAI: The Associated Press (AP) has reached an agreement with US broadcaster NBC Sports and NBC Olympics to be the exclusive news agency for the distribution of select, NBC-produced text content and video links related to the 2008 Olympic Games through a premium online product produced by the AP.

NBC Universal holds the broadcast and video rights within the US for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. AP says that it has a history of Olympics coverage and will be covering the 2008 games in text, photos and multimedia.

The joint effort will provide AP customers with Olympics coverage leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as during the 17 days of international Beijing competition. AP customers can receive a turnkey solution that will give their users, readers and viewers Olympic content matched with the exclusive video coverage and related content provided by NBC through its NBCOlympics.com Web Site.

AP deputy managing editor for multimedia Lou Ferrara says, "We're excited to have this relationship with NBC. When an athlete wins a gold medal, the customer will get the story and photo quickly from the AP, as much of the world has come to expect. But now, it will also be tied to video and other deep content that only NBC Sports and NBC Olympics can produce. This should make it easier for readers to get information while also creating a traffic exchange for NBC and stickiness on AP customer Web sites."

The AP's online product will launch in the coming weeks with interactive graphics, multimedia and text content. This new product also will include links to exclusive video produced by NBC as well as text content produced by the NBCOlympics.com editorial staff. As the Games approach, the amount and depth of Olympics content both from NBC and AP will dramatically increase.

NBC Universal will present more than 3,600 hours of coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, more than the combined total of every Summer Olympics ever televised in the United States. The Beijing Olympic Games will start 8 August 2008, with unprecedented around-the-clock coverage and, for the first time in the United States, live streaming of Olympic broadband video coverage.