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Deborah D. McAdams / 10.05.2009 12:00AM
Rio’s Olympics Win Means Lower U.S. Broadcast Bids
COPENHAGAN, DENMARK: The 2016 Olympics from Rio will be worth less to U.S.
broadcasters than had Chicago won its bid to host the Games. Dick Ebersol,
NBC’s chief of sports, told the press last week that broadcast rights for the
2016 Games will be worth a much as 15 percent less from the Brazilian venue
versus one in Chicago.
That will translate into less money for the International Olympic Committee,
which last week gave the Games to Rio after dismissing the Windy City in the
first round of voting, despite a personal visit from President Barack Obama and
First Lady Michelle Obama. More than half of the IOC’s global broadcasting
revenues have come from NBC over the course if it’s current deal with the
network--more than the rest of the world’s combined.
NBC paid a total of $5.7 billion for the Summer and Winter Olympics between
2000 and 2012. Of that, the network shelled out $2.2 billion for the 2010
Vancouver Winter Games and the 2012 Summer Games from London, breaking the $1
billion mark for broadcast rights to a single Games. By comparison, Brazilian
broadcasters paid a reported $60 million for the rights to those Games, and
$170 million for the 2014 and 2016 Games.
U.S. broadcast rights for the 2014 and 2016 Games have not been awarded.
Bidding may not commence until as late as 2012 if the economy doesn’t improve
sooner, the IOC’s Richard Carrion told The
Associated Press. All the major
broadcast networks plus ESPN are expected to bid, though New Corp. chief Rupert
Murdoch recently said one from Fox would be unlikely, since networks struggle
to make a profit from the Games.
NBC has made the most of its rights in recent years with an unprecedented
multiplatform coverage, including live streaming on the Internet and replays on
its diginet, Universal Sports, that continue to this day. And while networks
may not see a huge return on the Games, affiliated stations see revenues rise
during the events.
Ebersol suggested that the U.S. Olympic Committee played into Chicago’s defeat
in Copenhagen last week. The relationship between the USOC and the IOC is rocky
at best, as described by Philip Hersh of the Los
Angeles Times. Part of that bad blood is said to involve substantial
salaries paid to top USOC executives, who did not attend a June IOC meeting
during which competing host cities were reviewed for the first time.
The IOC was also put out by a move by the USOC to launch its own Olympics TV
network in the United States, possibly bypassing broadcasters for future
coverage and costing the IOC millions.
Whether or not the USOC’s actions hurt Chicago, the city was outbid by Rio to
the tune of around $9 billion. Rio went to Copenhagen with a budget of $13.92
billion compared to Chicago’s $4.8 billion.
(Cover image by comawe ; story image by Jin Shuo)
More on Olympics broadcasting:
“Rio choice not so grand for U.S. TV,” by Michael McCarthy at USA
Today.
July 13, 2009: “U.S. Olympics Plans to
Launch Cable Network”
The U.S. Olympic Committee threw in with the nation’s largest pay TV
operator to launch a games-themed 24/7 cable network. The International
Olympics Committee reacted quickly from Lausanne, Switzerland. The USOC
apparently forgot to run the idea by the IOC beforehand, according to The
New York Times, quoting an IOC official saying, “We should have sat
down before they did anything unilaterally.”
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Thursday 12:00AM
Broadcasters File Suit Against FCC’s Political File Rules
“The FCC decision to put the political files online will bring broadcasters into the 21st century, and will make already public information more easily accessible to everyone.” Free Press Senior Policy Counsel Corie Wright.