NBC is planning to use its soon-to-be-acquired cable network USA to cover the U.S. Olympic trials in a number of sports.

The network announced Tuesday (March 2) that provided its merger with Vivendi Universal Entertainment goes through, USA will become the home for Olympic trials in track and field, diving, weightlifting and other sports beginning in May.

"We are delighted to provide a platform to showcase the best U.S. Olympic athletes and to brand USA Network as the home of the U.S. Olympic Team," NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol says. "Making USA Network the cable home of the U.S. Olympic Team and the U.S. Olympic Team trials makes perfect sense."

NBC also hopes to use USA for some of its coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The first of 11 consecutive Saturdays of Olympic trials programming is scheduled to begin May 22; if the merger isn't completed by then, the trials will air on Bravo, which NBC already owns.

USA is a logical home for NBC's extended Olympics programming. The cable network already does some sports programming, including several golf events and the U.S. Open tennis tournament. USA is also more of a general-interest network than NBC's current cable properties, the arts-focused Bravo and news networks CNBC and MSNBC, making sports a more sensible fit.