Athens Games to break television viewing records

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Saturday that the Athens Olympics global broadcast is set to break all records.

The IOC said 300 channels worldwide would transmit an expected 35,000 hours of dedicated coverage from the August 13-29 Games.

It is estimated that over 3.9 billion people will have access to coverage of the Games -- a significant increase from the last Summer Games, said an IOC statement.

The Sydney Games in 2000 were watched by an estimated 3.7 billion, a record for a sports event.

Total viewing hours worldwide are expected to be 39 billion compared with 36.1 in Sydney.