The channel would not carry live Olympic events, so it would not compete against its global TV partners unless it could make arrangements with broadcasters in individual countries. Certainly, a media company that is spending heavily for Olympic rights would be wary of competition from the Olympics’ own channel.

The volume of live sports available apart from the Olympics seems similarly limited and will most likely depend on the network’s success in making deals with the existing media rights holders of regional, national and international events around the world. Lumme said the channel would not compete with other broadcasters to buy rights but would work with federations to “add value to their offerings.”

An Olympic network with a modest schedule of live events casts the channel in a different light from that of sports channels whose distribution and fees are based on carrying games. NFL Network is carrying 16 games in conjunction with CBS Sports; NBA TV has a 97-game schedule this season; and the ESPN-owned SEC Network shows hundreds of conference games.

The Olympic network is not likely to be available until about 2017, so the programming lineup is by no means locked in. But broadly, the goal is to feature the old footage, much of it unseen since it was originally broadcast, and to produce new programming, including Olympic news and shows on I.O.C. pet issues such as education and environmentalism. It would also provide a platform for cities bidding to host the Winter and Summer Games and ostensibly help Olympic sponsors more directly reach their audience.

Ed Desser, a former N.B.A. executive who helped created NBA TV, wondered if an Olympic channel could survive without the kind of rich diet of live action enjoyed by networks affiliated with leagues, conferences and teams.

“If the idea is to promote the Olympic brand, you need large audiences to be meaningful,” Desser said. “I don’t know how you do it without live events.”

He added: “If you’re the Pac-12 networks, your raison d’être is not just to program basketball and football but to provide exposure for university programs and other sports. You wrap that up with high-visibility products, which fuels distribution.”