• Variety, Tuesday, February 12, 2008 11:15 AM

NBC will give Oxygen two hours of gymnastics and other sports each weeknight during its coverage of next summer's Olympic Games in Beijing -- a huge coup for the female-focused cable net. (NBC U bought Oxygen late last year.) And Stacey Shepatin, a media buyer with Hill, Holliday in Boston, notes that Oxygen's two weeks of Olympic programming are "the kind of high-visibility event that the network could use as leverage" to get cable operators and satellite distributors to pay up when its contracts come up for renewal.

Currently, the fees Oxygen garners are among the lowest of all cable networks. Oxygen's coverage for 10 days between Aug. 11 and 22 will consist mainly of analysis and athlete interviews focusing on gymnastics, women's tennis, synchronized swimming and equestrian competitions. Zalaznick notes those sports tend to appeal to women and "we'll cover the emotion and drama of stories as they're happening."

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