• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, August 8, 2008

The mobile site will allow viewers to access real-time coverage of the games anywhere they can pick up a cell phone signal, and will include headlines, news for every sport, exclusive videos, slideshow galleries, and profiles of Team USA, among other content.

In addition, the mobile Web site will offer live results and schedules, medal counts, and detailed TV and online listings for NBC Olympics programming, along with video highlights, and daily polls.

To call the mobile deal a large undertaking would be an understatement, according to Juha Tiihonen, Starcut's CEO. "This site will provide the most ambitious sporting event coverage ever provided to mobile sports fans," Tiihonen said.

Starcut has established a strong track record working with NBC Universal in the past. In April, it provided NBC with the tools and software to build and manage ad-supported mobile internet sites for several programs, including "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "The Biggest Loser," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," and "Heroes."

For the deal, NBC Universal licensed Starcut's MediaOne Platform, a mobile publishing tool, to design and publish sites "in house."

Other clients have included Nokia, which it helped to launch a streaming video service named Medeo last year. Also last year, it helped Zagat Survey develop and design a mobile platform dubbed Zagat.mobi. With offices in New York, Helsinki and Singapore, Starcut has built and launched more than 300 mobile sites.

From August 8-24, 2008 NBC Universal will present 3,600 hours of coverage, highlighted by NBC in prime time with live swimming, gymnastics and beach volleyball. By comparison, in August 2004, 203 million viewers watched as the networks of NBC Universal--NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Bravo, Telemundo, and NBC's HD affiliates--offered 1,210 hours of Olympic coverage from Athens.

NBC owns the exclusive U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2012, which includes Beijing in 2008, Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012.