The IOC will invite more than 200 sports and media
technology officials to Lausanne in November for a "world
summit on Internet issues and opportunities," according to
USA TODAY's Mike Dodd. The conference, which will "likely"
be called the "New Media and Sport" conference, "hopes to
bring" technology directors from int'l federations and pro
leagues together with "experts" from Internet companies,
media groups and sponsors. Dodd writes that the IOC "admits
it is struggling with its strategy for the Internet,
particularly the issue of video footage during the Games."
IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch: "At the moment, we are
lost. We have big worries about what can happen in the
future, not only for the IOC but also sports federations.
Inviting to Lausanne the most important people in this field
can help us." The summit is "tentatively" set for November
16-17 (USA TODAY, 4/18). In L.A., Alan Abrahamson writes
that the IOC's summit plans are a "revealing sign of the
import of the technology and finance issues that have both
nothing and everything to do with sports." IOC VP Dick
Pound: "We have to find some way to get our Internet act
together." The IOC is "under increasing pressure from its
broadcast 'partners' to include the Internet in the
definition of the rights granted them" (L.A. TIMES, 4/18).
OLYMPIC NOTES: NBC said that starting in June, the PAX
TV network will air "prime-time coverage of the 2000 United
States Olympic Team Trials" leading up to NBC's coverage of
the 2000 Olympic Games. Previously, NBC had sold the rights
to the trials to ESPN (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/18)....Pound,
on reports out of Sydney that the host city for the 2000
Games is in trouble: "Reading the local media and listening
to local politicians -- assuming you have the stomach or
patience for either -- you might be forgiven for thinking we
have serious problems, that sponsors are pulling out, that
the organizing committee is in disarray, that we are facing
serious financial problems. Nothing could be further from
the truth. We are set for one of the most spectacular
Olympic Games we have ever seen" (AP, 4/18).
