NBC to lose money on Winter Olympics

[jal41]

The bad news just keeps coming for NBC...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aMUUbSWYQOiM

 

[landtuna]

It's not like this should be a surprise. Don't these network people talk with marketing types to ascertain the potential revenue before offering up the big bucks?

Suggestion: NBC to just buy the CBC's coverage. It's better (MUCH BETTER) and we don't have to sit through all those "up close and personal" puff pieces.

 

[mjlarochelle]

It's not like this should be a surprise. Don't these network people talk with marketing types to ascertain the potential revenue before offering up the big bucks?

Suggestion: NBC to just buy the CBC's coverage. It's better (MUCH BETTER) and we don't have to sit through all those "up close and personal" puff pieces.

Big problem - CBC no longer has the Canadian rights. They've gone to CTV, and I don't anticipate their coverage to be the quality of CBC. There has been controversy in Canada over the amount of news coverage CTV has been giving the Olympic torch relay and the lack of balance in its coverage. Worse yet CTV's availability in the United States is even more limited than CBC - unless you live in a select few border towns that can get a CTV station over-the-air, or in rare cases, on cable.

 

[azumanga]

Suggestion: NBC to just buy the CBC's coverage. It's better (MUCH BETTER) and we don't have to sit through all those "up close and personal" puff pieces.

Big problem - CBC no longer has the Canadian rights. They've gone to CTV... Worse yet CTV's availability in the United States is even more limited than CBC - unless you live in a select few border towns that can get a CTV station over-the-air, or in rare cases, on cable.

Another option -- get a gray-market sub to Bell TV or Shaw Direct satellite, though after the Olympics are over, unless you're into Canadian affairs or French-language stuff, it's not really worth it (no thanks to simsubbing, the overabundance of American shows and poor programming practices on the specialty channels).

Back to NBC -- if they stick with the basics, they can make much more money. In other words: more sports, less drama, much less fluff.

 

[Markxxx]

Well you'll note the rights to the Winter Olympics were sewn up long ago. Much before anyone anticipated this recession, which is still going on. Most people didn't think it'd be this bad or last this long, but it keeps going on and on don't it?

Right now for instance, I read they are trying to sew up the rights to the next unsold Winter Olympics, whichever one that is, BEFORE the numbers for this Winter Olypics come in and lower the price

 

[Yeziknoradio]

It's not like this should be a surprise. Don't these network people talk with marketing types to ascertain the potential revenue before offering up the big bucks?

Suggestion: NBC to just buy the CBC's coverage. It's better (MUCH BETTER) and we don't have to sit through all those "up close and personal" puff pieces.

Big problem - CBC no longer has the Canadian rights. They've gone to CTV, and I don't anticipate their coverage to be the quality of CBC. There has been controversy in Canada over the amount of news coverage CTV has been giving the Olympic torch relay and the lack of balance in its coverage. Worse yet CTV's availability in the United States is even more limited than CBC - unless you live in a select few border towns that can get a CTV station over-the-air, or in rare cases, on cable.

No, he means to SIM SUB CTV on NBC instead of using their own NBC people.
That would be fine if it were ONE North American team at the Olympics.
What if a specific event comes down to Canada vs USA?

Wouldn't you want NBC to be there to give USA's view on things instead of Canada's coverage?
What if USA gets gold in something and Canada only has bronze in a specific event...then CTV decides to spend all their time interviewing the Canadian saying "aw you really tried..."
Thus ignoring the American all together!
NBC needs to be there to interview anyone CTV ignores!

Nice try though...It's the OLYMPICS! It's not at all like regular pre recorded television programs.

 

[landtuna]

No, he means to SIM SUB CTV on NBC instead of using their own NBC people.
That would be fine if it were ONE North American team at the Olympics.
What if a specific event comes down to Canada vs USA?

Wouldn't you want NBC to be there to give USA's view on things instead of Canada's coverage?
What if USA gets gold in something and Canada only has bronze in a specific event...then CTV decides to spend all their time interviewing the Canadian saying "aw you really tried..."
Thus ignoring the American all together!
NBC needs to be there to interview anyone CTV ignores!

Nice try though...It's the OLYMPICS! It's not at all like regular pre recorded television programs.

Actually, that's not quite what I meant. In covering Olympics past I've noted that Canadian TV spends much less time doing puff pieces on athletes, host city, and political ramifications of win/lose and much more coverage of the events themselves (regardless of which countries are represented).

In comparison to U.S. network coverage which gives us hour upon hour of talking heads describing everything BUT the actual events and then covering only those events in which Americans have good chances to medal.

I may be among the minority of Americans who prefer to see athletes doing their thing with only the necessary commentary to complete the event. If I want to know the entire childhood background of an individual ice skater I can look it up.

AND, I am getting more and more disgusted with the addition of entertainment-friendly "sports" such as freestyle snowboarding and the like. These may be fun to watch but they are not true sports in that the majority are judged on esoteric values (like figure skating). I realize the IOC wants to attract more youngsters to the audience but it dilutes the Games for true sports.

But back to the original subject.....as an American I am, of course, interested in coverage of our athletes but that doesn't mean I am necessarily less interested in those of other countries. Were NBC to pick up CTV's coverage of the Games and add their own interviews and specials as appropriate it would undoubtedly cost them far less to produce (perhaps resulting in a profit!) and result in a better end product.

The Japanese have shown the ability to produce a better automobile than the U.S. Why not import a better show from Canada?

 

[azumanga]

Were NBC to pick up CTV's coverage of the Games and add their own interviews and specials as appropriate it would undoubtedly cost them far less to produce (perhaps resulting in a profit!) and result in a better end product.

NBC and all other networks had been doing just that to cover Olympics that weren't on American soil, instead relying on the feeds from the host broadcaster (in this case, CTV), and tweaking it to their taste.