Big surprise. Peacock pays $2B. Poor editing in the 5th paragraph makes for amusing reading. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...2&e=2&u=/nm/20030607/tv_nm/olympics_rights_dc
Yeah, besides the obvious typo with the year, it also looks like the author messed up his tenses. What is Reuters coming to?
Nah-ah. Sundials, baby! OK, seriously now...let's bring up the price tag for '10 and '12. That's half a billion more than the rights for '06 and '08, and they made $75 million from one Olympics. That can only mean a GLUT of Olympic coverage for the '12 Games, and somewhere in there soccer in English has to be in there. There is only so much gymnastics, swimming and track and field I can take in a manner of two weeks. Of course, table tennis I would love to see on live television.
Men's Olympic Futbol will air exclusively on Telemundo starting with the 2004 games. Women's Olympic Soccer will air on MSNBC, CNBC, or Bravo, with MSNBC being the most likely outlet. NBC will use Men's Futbol and Women's Soccer to maximize cable/satellite revenue. Given that Men's Futbol and Women's Soccer appeal to two distinct audiences (of two distinct age groups, speaking two distinct languages) coveted by advertisers, the channels on which Men's Futbol and Women's Soccer will appear on the NBC family of network come as no surprise. The advertisers only want those who watch Men's Futbol and those who watch Women's Soccer. In other words, the advertisers do NOT care about those who want to watch Men's Soccer. Men's Olympic Futbol sells. Women's Olympic Soccer sells. But Men's Olympic Soccer does not sell.
Unless there's a huge shift in Olympic viewing patterns over the next decade, expect to be disappointed. Gymnastics, swimming and track & field are ratings winners (even if they're "plausibly live") every four years as long as there are American medal candidates.
Because, you know, markets and what's profitable never changes, and everything can be pigeonholed into one of the two categories. Dumbass.
Re: Re: 2010 and 2012 Olympic Bidding [R] Same thing they've been coming to for years: crap. That might be true today, but 1) Nobody, not even you Ollie, can predict market trends 7-9 years from now and 2) any stake they have in Bravo does not translate into available space to place sporting events. It's much more likely that NBC will have some other cable outlet by then.
Good post Da CFO. But I disagree with your statement that Women's Olympic Soccer sells and men's Olympic Soccer does not sell. At the last 2 Olympics, Men's Soccer sold out stadium after stadium, even though they were played in Australia and the U.S., not exactly hotbeds of soccer interest. NBC has hyped the USWNT to the ends of the earth and put the games on at prime time. That helped the ratings, but women's soccer did not draw very good crowds in Australia. The quraterfinal between the US men and Japan in Adelaide was one of the most dramatic moments of the 2000 games, but it was buried at 7 A.M. Pacific time, while the Golden Girls were in prime time day after day after day. So it doesdn't surprise me that men's Olympic soccer has been banished to Spanish televisionwhere it can't steal the show from the Golden Girls. I think politics has a lot to do with it. The Olympics, viewed through the lens of American media, has become more of a feminist festival than a sporting event, with endless infomercials about glass celings and abusive fathers. They really should broadcast it on Lifetime instead of NBC. The same slant obtained at the Winter Olympics. The U.S. and Russia were to meet in a long-awaited rematch of the Miracle on Ice. After 20 years of anticipation, the game was aired at 11:30 P.M. Eastern Time, an odd time for such a big event. Meanwhile the U.S. Women's Hockey team was in prime time night after night, with endless prattling about how great women's hockey is. Hype equals reality in the U.S. Just my opinions.
Yawn. Thomas, you've gotta get better material. At least find something that doesn't make you sound as shrill as Lopiano. Three things 1)The women's events in Sydney that were shown in prime time were tape-delayed. The men's events shown at 7 a.m. meant, duh, they were LIVE. I'll take live events over tape delay any day of the week. 2) The U.S./Russia match was not a re-match of the "Miracle on Ice" game. The Red Army was long gone and the USSR broken up -- not comparing apples and oranges. 3)NBC WANTED to show the game earlier, but the olympic committee wouldn't move the games. They wanted the game to start in prime time on the east coast. As for the women: http://olympics.hiasys.com/olympics_main/news/ap_olynewstv02082002.htm Here is when women's hockey was shown from Salt Lake (all times EST): Mon. Feb 11: MSNBC, 1-6 p.m. block Tue. Feb 12: MSNBC, 1-6 p.m. block Wed. Feb 13: MSNBC, 1-6 p.m. block Thur. Feb 14: CNBC, 6-midnight block Sat. Feb 16: NBC, 1-6 p.m. block Thur. Feb 14: CNBC, 6:30-midnight block Tue. Feb 19: MSNBC, Semifinal, 1-6 p.m. block Tue. Feb 19: CNBC, Semifinal, 6-9 p.m. Thur. Feb 21: MSNBC, Bronze game, 1-7 p.m. block Thur. Feb 21: CNBC, Gold medal game, 7-10 p.m. Out of 10 timeslots, only 2 (semifinal and the gold medal game) had dedicated blocks of time for the games. All others were as part of coverage blocks that showed multiple events -- which means that they weren't even showing games in their entirety. And here's the best part: they were only in prime time 3 times out of 10. Say it with me: you either didn't know what you were talking about or you were lying. Either way, you're wrong.
Oliver, if the 2012 Games come to the States (highly unlikely, yes, but possible), and the US Men start doing well, any chance NBC will pick up a game? Or at least SAP an English feed on Telemundo?
While we're predicting the future, can you get me the lottery numbers too? Who knows if NBC will still be around in its current format in 2012 and who knows what kind of subsidiaries and technological advances will be around nine years from now.
Up to your usual trick of name-calling again, aren't you, "HalaMadrid". Bottom line: advertisers in the US know that they can get the eyeballs of those diehards who watch Men's Soccer by advertising during Women's Soccer and Men's Futbol. That's why advertisers in the US usually don't bother with men's soccer, but stick only to Men's Futbol and Women's Soccer, unless the men's soccer match is the World Cup. Men's Soccer telecasts in English in the US have become the ugly stepchild on the advertising food chain. Why bother with 0.2 ratings? Men's Olympic Futbol belongs on Telemundo, period. End of discussion. If you choose not to get a TV platform that comes with Telemundo, tough luck. There is advertiser interest for Men's Olympic Futbol on TV in 2004, but virtually no advertiser interest for Men's Olympic Soccer on TV in 2004. I don't see that changing for 2008 or 2012 unless the US Men win an Olympic Gold Medal or a World Cup (an Olympic Silver Medal for the US Men won't be good enough, and nobody on Madison Avenue cares what the US Men do during Gold Cups, Confed Cups, etc.) Note that NBC can always alter its schedule midway through any Olympiad. If the US Men's soccer team get to the semifinals and the final, NBC can always add an English-language telecast on MSNBC, CNBC, or Bravo at the last minute.
Men's Olympic soccer/futbol may sell at the stadium. Men's Olympic futbol may sell on US TV en Espanol (we'll know for sure in 2004). But Men's Olympic soccer does NOT sell on US TV in English unless the US Men reach the medal round. The US Men are NOT expected to be medal contenders yet. Women's Olympic soccer does OK on US TV (about an 0.6 rating on MSNBC) because the US Women are EXPECTED to be a gold medal contender.
Very nice work by geordienation to call out Mr. Flannigan on his lies about the 2002 Olympic hockey tournaments. Also keep in mind that the women's final (live on CNBC) ran opposite the women's figure skating long program (live on NBC), the biggest ratings draw at the Games. And, by the way, the women's soccer final in 2000 was such a darling of the feminist media that it aired a) on tape delay, b) on cable (MSNBC) and c) in the afternoon. You could argue that the NBC networks did more justice to men's soccer and baseball by showing those sports' big games in the morning, on just 1-2 hours' tape delay, and before the headlines were completely splashed all over the world. And it's asinine to compare Australian ticket sales with American TV ratings. Aussies love field hockey, but that doesn't mean NBC would have gotten great ratings just because the stadiums were full in Sydney. I give NBC full credit for airing the U.S. men's matches in 2000 -- and it's too bad they aren't doing it again in Athens. But the women's tourney is essentially another World Cup and the Americans will be favored to win. The men's tourney is a U-23 tourney (and there isn't a U-23, U-20, U-17, etc. international tournament in ANY team sport that Americans will watch), and the U.S. won't be as big a favorite. But I'm sure it's just a feminist conspiracy.
http://www.mndaily.com/daily/1996/08/07/editorial_opinions/l0807.lett/ http://www.real-sports.com/mag/wantmore/wantmore_octnov00_olyteamusasoccer.html
And this is the important point. Almost all of NBC's prime time coverage is focused on events with American gold medal contenders. In fact, if you like sports that Americans don't do well in, then you're most likely out of luck unless you have access to Canadian TV. Plus, female viewers are a huge part of NBC's target audience for the Games - considering how much NBC pays for the rights, it would be foolish to not go after women. So you get heavy coverage of women's sports and a lot of human interest puff pieces. The predominantly male sports audience might not like it, but NBC's number crunchers do. There's no feminist conspiracy here, just sports business in the 21st Century.
Geordination, with all due respect, the US-Japan quarterfinal in Adelaide was NOT shown live. NO events from Australia were shown live. All were tape-delayed. Not a big mistake, but you must remember all the complaining about no live coverage. The TV slots you cite for women's hockey at the Olympics prove my point. None of them were shown at 2 A.M. Eastern time, were they? Most were good spots. The U.S.-China women's hockey game was on here at 7.15 P.M. I think that is prime time. Don't you? Keeep in mind the NBC feed, not the MSNBC feed in terms of hyping the sport. The rematch of the Miracle on Ice was much talked about in hockey circles and it is very strange it was put on TV in the middle of the night. Skipshady. If the TV coverage is focused on potential gold medal winners then men's soccer should be in there. We made the semi-finals last time and had outplayed Cameroun, the gold medal winner, in a preliminary round match. The U.S. may very well win the gold medal in soccer in Athens. Too bad Americans won't get to see it.
That's precisely the reason why Men's Futbol, Boxeo, y Beisbol will tentatively air exclusively on Telemundo during the 2004 Olympics. NBC is targeting women with its English-language coverage. Madison Avenue values English-speaking female viewers more than English-speaking male viewers during prime time. Notice that ratings on NBC during week 2 is usually lower than during week 1 because swimming and gymnastics are finished, leaving track and field and diving as the anchor sports on NBC. Suburban white females do NOT watch much track and field, especially the short-distance track events, which are consumed primarily by males and "urban" (read: African-American) viewers. Madison Avenue also knows that the English-speaking male viewers who want to watch Men's Futbol, Boxeo, y Beisbol will find a way to get Telemundo. With Telemundo now part of the NBC family of networks, NBC now has an additional revenue stream from Men's Olympic Futbol, Boxeo, y Beisbol. On Madison Avenue: Olympic Boxeo sells, but Olympic boxing does not. Olympic Beisbol sells, but Olympic baseball does not. Olympic Futbol sells, but Men's Olympic soccer does not. The media business in the 21st century is all about slicing and dicing the audience so that you can offer the exact target audience you can get in order to generate a targeted revenue stream. It is all about the Benjamins.
I wonder what Ms. Donna de Verona will say if NBC televises the medal ceremony when the American men are awarded the gold medal in Athens. NBC has had a policy of broadcasting all medal ceremonies when the U.S. gets the gold. How will they explain the total absence of coverage of winning the gold in the most popular sport in the world? Market forces do not explain such a phenomenon. Do you really think more and more interviews with the synchronized swimming team about the evil men in their life will get better ratings than a gold medal match? Even one-hour highlights, which the women's hockey team got in prime time on NBC over and over again would do justice to the event. Keep in mind that NBC is paying for the right to show men's soccer whether or not they show it or not. Today's Financial Times reported that NBC pays for total rights, replays, pay per view, everything. The rights fee would be a little bit lower if men's soccer was excluded from the package. It is too bad for the growth of soccer, especially the much reviled men's team, that the sport will not be shown except on Telemundo, which most English speakers can't even find on the dial let alone watch. Please don't compare me to Dr. Lopiano, who is often very insulting in her statements. She often calls males "chickens" and "dinosaurs", as well as gems like "the barn door is open." It is not my style to insult people. Just my opinions.
CNBC had the US-Russia Ice hockey game LIVE. "Americans" will get to watch US Men's Olympic Futbol Team on Telemundo. Telemundo is an AMERICAN network, owned and operated by AMERICANS, based in US, suburban Miami (Hialeah, Florida) to be exact. Just because a TV network does NOT broadcast in English, that doesn't mean that the TV network is not American. === 3 years ago, ABC News did a story on a group of AMERICANS who live in a national capital, who lives their daily lives speaking only Spanish and consuming only Spanish-language media. The name of the national capital? Washington, DC. === In another major American city, you can buy subway tickets in Spanish and read instruction signs on subway trains in Spanish. That city of course is Los Angeles, where almost half of its residents speak Spanish.
Another excellent post Da Cfo. Anyone who watches prime time programming in the U.S., not only the Olympics, will see the pandering to females and how white American males are portrayed as evil. Have you ever watched E.R.? If they didn't comb their hair you would expect to see horns. I think where we differ is about the money-making side of putting traditional male sports on Telemundo. Press reports indicated that Mr. Anchutz waited until Mexico had qualified for the World Cup before inking the deal for World Cup TV. Why? Because studies have shown that more and Hispanics in the U.S. are watching soccer in English, even if it is available in Spanish. More and more want to improve their English and watching futbol is a fun way to practice. If this is true, NBC's policies would be at variance with Mr. Anchutz's because NBC would want to pick up that audience too. I have also read that NBC is going to have 24 hour a day coverage of the Athens games, more than twice the hours from Sydney. It seems odd that they could not find a few slots for soccer, if only to reach the immigrant audience in the U.S. which loves soccer. Why cede that market to Telemundo? After the Olympics are over, don't you want those fans to watch NBC? NBC loses money on the Olympics but figures it makes it back with the swing it gets on unrelated programming after the final streamer is twirled.