Perhaps NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol learned something after
overseeing the all-tape-all-the-time Sydney Olympics.
NBC apparently didn't.
Agreeing to a request by affiliates, the network will broadcast Salt Lake City Games next year on tape delay on the West Coast.
The typical main daily block of NBC's coverage of the Winter
Olympics -- some live, some on tape -- will air from 8-11:30 p.m. on
the East Coast, which is 5-8:30 p.m. on the West Coast. In hopes of
having more viewers in front of their television sets in California,
Washington, Oregon and Nevada, the network is going to broadcast
the show each day from 7:30-11 p.m. there.
Those markets cover 15-20 percent of the country's television homes.
The affiliates and network had been discussing the tape option
for the West Coast since January, mindful of the poor ratings for
the Sydney Olympics last year.
All events in Sydney (except one basketball game) were shown on
tape, some delayed as long as 24 hours.
The prime-time average rating for 17 days of Sydney telecasts
was 36 percent lower than in 1996 -- and the worst for any Olympics
since the 1960s. More significantly, ratings were well below what
sponsors were promised, prompting NBC to run extra commercials.
The decision to turn to tape again was announced Monday, and was
followed by criticism by Ebersol.
"I am emphatic that delaying our prime-time Salt Lake coverage
is a mistake, which is exactly what I told the affiliate board when
they first brought this issue to my attention earlier this year,"
he said in a statement. "We have each debated this issue
passionately for months. I understand their position but I simply
don't agree with it."
It's a strikingly different position from the one taken by
Ebersol before the Sydney Games, when he said: "If you have
hundreds of millions of dollars on the table -- in the case of
Sydney, $705 million in rights fees and $100 million in production
costs -- you have to put this on to reach the widest possible
audience. You HAVE to."
As it is, a portion of NBC's coverage from Salt Lake City
already was slated to be on tape. Plus, Ebersol's sports division
has been known to show other events on tape, including Jennifer
Capriati's victory at the French Open last month.
Affiliates, though, help pay for Olympic television rights fees, which
are $545 million for Salt Lake as part of the $3.5 billion going to
the IOC for five Olympics through 2008. And they want to be able to
attract more viewers with later starting times for telecasts.
"It's a mistake in his mind; I don't think it's a mistake in
the viewer's mind," Jack Sander, executive vice president of Belo Corp. and
chair of the NBC affiliate board, said Tuesday. "I respect Dick
Ebersol, but we've got to serve our communities and reach the
people when they're available to be reached."  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories |
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