In which year were the Olympics Games first carried live on television? margin: +/- 4 years

While the Olympic Games had been broadcast on television in some capacity before, the 1960 Winter Games in Squaw Valley, California, marked a significant turning point in sports broadcasting. For the first time, American audiences could watch the Olympic Games live on television. This was a monumental undertaking for the time, as Squaw Valley was a largely undeveloped resort, requiring the construction of an entire infrastructure to support the global event and its television broadcast.

CBS secured the broadcast rights for $50,000 and faced considerable logistical challenges. Equipment had to be transported by toboggan, and cameramen carried their gear up icy slopes to capture the action. The network's coverage, hosted by a young Walter Cronkite, not only brought the excitement of the games into American homes but also inadvertently led to a major innovation in sports broadcasting. During the men's slalom, officials were unsure if a skier had missed a gate and asked CBS if they could review the videotape of the event. This request sparked the idea for what would become instant replay, a now-standard feature of televised sports.

The broadcast of the 1960 Winter Olympics was a ratings success and demonstrated the immense potential of televising major sporting events live. It helped fuel a boom in the popularity of winter sports across the United States and set a new standard for future Olympic coverage. The pageantry of the opening and closing ceremonies, orchestrated by none other than Walt Disney, further captivated the national audience and solidified the Squaw Valley Games as a memorable moment in both Olympic and television history.