Networks primed for 2014 bidding war
TMC
It shouldn't be long after the 2010 Vancouver Games when the IOC
awards TV rights in the United States for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi
and the 2016 Olympics in Rio, rights that the IOC is almost certain to
sell as a package. NBC has been the host network for every summer
broadcast since 1988 and each winter telecast since 2002. But the
group from ABC/ESPN dipped a toe into the Olympic waters last week by
securing the South American rights to the 2010 and 2012 Games.
Iberoamericana Television Organization (ITO) had broadcast each of the
Summer Games since 1992, when Barcelona hosted the Games. ESPN Star
Sports had already won partial rights for those two Games in Asia.
Though the Games in Sochi won't draw significant interest from the
U.S. market, the IOC hopes that Rio's favorable time zone (two hours
from the East Coast during summertime), a travel-log aura comparable
to Beijing's, a less competitive summer sports season and the
possibility of a stronger economy that could lure advertisers would
make the Games attractive to a network.
ABC has not shown the Olympics since the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary,
where Jim McKay was still the primary studio host. The Games have
never been on ESPN.
NBC is still expected to bid for the package, though the recent news
that Comcast may assume a controlling stake in NBC Universal adds
uncertainty to that prospect. CBS and Fox may also bid, though neither
has indicated strong interest.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/brian_cazeneuve/11/17/vancouver.notes/#ixzz0X9fwqoKC
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Don Del Grande
>ABC has not shown the Olympics since the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary,
>where Jim McKay was still the primary studio host. The Games have
>never been on ESPN.
And yet, ESPN was the first to break the news of the bombing at the
Atlanta Olympics in 1996 (NBC was on a commercial break at the time).
-- Don