Why do they keep showing the same events for the Olympics?

Question

For these channels: NBC, USA HD, and Universal HD:

Track, middle-weight boxing, volleyball, beach volleyball, wrestling, handball, and useless aquatic sports and softball get the most coverage, while all of the remaining events get little to none. Athens 2004 showed a wider assortment of events, including taekwondo, badminton, cycling, and horse racing which I was looking forward to seeing this year.

I know I can see footage of those sports online but why haven't they been airing these events on television?

Answer 1

I figure it has to do with ratings. The events that were on TV in '04 but not this year were probably lower-rated than those with more airtime. Olympics or no, it's still TV, and ratings matter more than almost anything else. The more popular sports, as well as those with big names competing (i.e. Michael Phelps) are going to get a lot more coverage.

The only other reason I can think of is that NBC really split up their coverage among their channels. Olympic events were also on MSNBC (all of the boxing, if I'm not mistaken) and, for some odd reason, Oxygen, which is where the equestrian events ended up this year.

Answer 2

Because there are more of those events; different distances, strokes, relays, synchro diving, springboard, platform, and then all the prelims, quarterfinals, semis, and finals.