Madrid – Featuring Olympic stars and stories from across the globe and continuing the excitement of the Olympic Games all year round, the Olympic Channel is now available in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish in addition to English. The launch of the six additional languages on the Olympic Channel represents the first non-English languages to be added to the global digital platform.
Fans and users have the option to experience the current version of the Olympic Channel in one of seven languages. In addition to the multi-language user interface, viewers can continue to watch original programming with subtitles in one of 10 languages which has been an available feature since the channel launched in August 2016.
“This is a great way to reach more people around the world and to tell the great Olympic stories in a way that connects directly to them,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “The launch of the Olympic Channel platform in multiple languages ensures that more fans around the world will be able to discover and explore stories that will help them to connect with their favourite sports and athletes in their own language.”
“Language and localisation features are a high priority for us in 2017,” said Olympic Channel General Manager Mark Parkman. “The availability of six additional languages on the global digital platform is a significant step in the Olympic Channel’s evolution as we look to create more personalised user experiences for Olympic fans around the world.”
To experience the Olympic Channel in a language other than English, users can select the option through the language button in the upper right-hand corner of olympicchannel.com. On the Olympic Channel app, the experience will coincide with the language of the mobile device operating system. To select a different language, users should change their operating system language preference on their mobile device.
The Olympic Channel plans to release four additional languages in the coming months including Arabic, Japanese, Korean and Russian versions. In addition to creating a multi-language global digital platform, the Olympic Channel is working with broadcast partners and National Olympic Committees to develop localised versions of the Olympic Channel that will offer region- and language-specific user experiences on linear and digital platforms.