NBC Sports to Air 16 Hours of 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup Coverage

NBC Sports Network will present up to 16 hours of coverage of the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup Semifinals and Finals. Coverage of the America's Cup qualifying series, which determines the challenger for the 2013 America's Cup, begins Friday at 7 p.m. ET from San Francisco, Calif.

Three crews from three countries are competing in the Louis Vuitton Cup, including Artemis Racing (Sweden), Emirates Team New Zealand (New Zealand), and Luna Rossa Challenge (Italy).

The three-round format of the Louis Vuitton Cup includes Round Robin match racing, the Semifinals and the Finals. The Louis Vuitton Cup champion will then compete against ORACLE TEAM USA (United States) in the America's Cup Finals.

ROUND ROBIN
With nine straight victories in the Round Robin series of match racing, Emirates Team New Zealand went undefeated and won the first round of the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup. The victory secured them a spot in the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals, where they will face the winner of the Semifinals.

SEMIFINALS
The Louis Vuitton Cup Semifinals will feature Luna Rossa Challenge and Artemis Racing in a best-of-seven race format, with the winner being the first to score four points. NBC Sports Network's coverage on Friday at 7 p.m. ET will feature Race 3. Coverage continues on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET with Race 4.

FINALS
The Louis Vuitton Cup Finals will feature Emirates Team New Zealand against the victor of the Semifinals round, in a best-of-13 race format, with the winner being the first to score seven points. NBC Sports Network's coverage of the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals will begin on Saturday, August 17 at 6 p.m. ET.

Veteran announcer Todd Harris will serve as the play-by-play commentator for the NBC Sports Network telecasts. Harris will be joined by former America's Cup Helmsman and Volvo Ocean Race skipper Ken Read, as well as renowned sailor and author Gary Jobson.

PRODUCTION
To change the way people understand the sport of sailing, event organizers have made a significant investment in the production of next-generation broadcast images, anchored by onboard agile HD cameras and 13 microphones on each boat.

The backbone of this new visual experience is also a breakthrough in sports broadcasting - augmented reality from a helicopter called AC LiveLine. Created by the same Emmy award-winning team that developed the yellow first-down line widely used in the broadcast of American football, this revolutionary graphics system enables embedded technical aids for viewers, such as ahead-behind lines so audiences can clearly see who is leading the race.

AC LiveLine won an Emmy Award for technical achievement in 2012. In addition, the live broadcasts of America's Cup class racing were nominated for the 2013 Emmy Awards and 2012 Royal Television Society Awards.

COMCAST SPORTSNET CALIFORNIA
NBC Sports Group's regional sports network Comcast SportsNet California will provide additional local coverage that surrounds the event. Comcast SportsNet California will air all Louis Vuitton Cup races on tape delay.

NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA
NBC Sports Live Extra, NBC Sports Group's live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, and tablets, will stream all Louis Vuitton Cup and 2013 America's Cup races televised on NBC and NBC Sports Network. All NBC Sports Network telecasts will be live streamed via "TV Everywhere," the media industry's effort to make quality content available to authenticated customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms.

For desktops, NBC Sports Live Extra can be accessed at NBCSports.com/liveextra. The NBC Sports Live Extra app for mobile devices and tablets is available at the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and on select Android handset and tablet devices within Google Play.

Races airing on:
- NBC will live stream to PCs, mobile devices and tablets through NBC Sports Live Extra;
- NBC Sports Network will live stream to PCs, mobile devices and tablets through NBC Sports Live Extra, and to the digital platforms of participating cable, satellite, and telco services, via "TV Everywhere," which is available on an authenticated basis to subscribers of participating MVPDs.