OLYMPICS: Wow, two whole new channels! (Maybe. Maybe not.)

Exhibit A: NBC's special new Olympics Basketball Channel. And NBC's special new Olympics Soccer Channel.

Do you know if your cable company is offering these two channels? Did you even know they exist?

You wouldn't, unless (like me) you stumbled across their existence on some unaffiliated web site, then took the time and trouble to scour your local cabler's on-screen program guide, and somehow managed to remain patient enough to scroll down to find them lurking unannounced on Chs. 182 and 183.

There they are -- secret channels!

Another great job, cable!

At least those are the channel numbers on my central New Jersey cable system (Comcast). They could be any channels on your local cabler. Or they may not exist for you at all. NBC is offering these two single-sport channels to cable/satellite companies, some of whom are taking them up on the offer (DirecTV and DISH did), and some of whom aren't.

So here's something good my cable company is doing for me, but I never would have known if I hadn't been curious, intrepid and, truly, trained as a reporter to just keep digging, no matter how long and circuitous a route it involved.

Of course, as I write this on Friday morning, NBC's Beijing Olympics event coverage hasn't begun, so the two channels are blank right now. Proof of their programming has yet to be aired. So maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.

Like cable.

As Emily Litella would say: Never mind.

UPDATE! --

Now at 3:45 p.m. ET Friday, both channels show up on my Comcast cable system with on-screen schedule promos for future broadcasts starting Saturday. That's the good news.

Here's the good/bad news -- both channels are high-definition.

Great for folks with HD service. Not so hot for those watching standard-def sets.