NBC is "going out of its way" to let viewers know
events at the Summer Games are going to be shown on tape
delay, according to Richard Huff of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS.
During the first three days of coverage, host Bob Costas
"will explain to the viewers the taped nature of the
telecast" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/29). NBC Sports Chair Dick
Ebersol: "At the beginning (of the broadcast), Bob Costas
will say that what they're seeing has been taped, and then
it's off to the races" (N.Y. POST, 6/29). Ebersol, on
scheduling the taped events: "With the kids back in school
and the adults at work, we've tried to put the events on at
a time when they will reach the widest possible audience"
(SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 6/29). In L.A., Alan Abrahamson notes
that NBC's use of the term "plausibly live" during it's '96
Olympics coverage "invited -- and drew -- severe criticism"
(L.A. TIMES, 6/29). Ebersol: "Off the criticism of the last
two Olympics, I thought we should come clean and point out
in the first week that these Games are on tape. The
'plausibly live' thing hurt us" (USA TODAY, 6/29).
TIME ISN'T ON THEIR SIDE: In N.Y., Don Kaplan, on
yesterday's press conference: "The publicity machine is
beginning for the first 'Complete Olympics' -- too bad, it
will all be completely on videotape" (N.Y. POST, 6/29). In
Chicago, Ron Rapoport writes that he was "fascinated" with
NBC's Olympics plans, but adds that the idea of everything
being taped "raises a question: Why do we watch sports,
anyway? To find out who won, of course. ... If NBC tries to
sell the Olympics as sports, not enough people will watch --
and particularly not enough women. ... So rather than give
us the sports, we will get 'story-telling.'" Rapoport adds
that it should "be possible to show some events live and
repeat them in prime time the next evening." Ebersol, when
asked if that type of schedule would be a possibility: "That
would terribly dissipate what we're trying to do. It's not
the business we want to be in" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 6/29).
In L.A., Alan Abrahamson writes that Ebersol "promised" that
NBC's Olympics coverage "won't be quite as sappy as in years
past." Ebersol: "We've gone out of our way to downgrade
asthma as a major story of sacrifice" (L.A. TIMES, 6/29).
WELL, ISN'T THAT SPECIAL: As part of its Olympic
coverage, NBC "is preparing an 'After School Special' type
of broadcast aimed at young viewers that will air on MSNBC
in the afternoons," explaining the "ins and outs of the
sports featured in the day's broadcast." Also, one of the
"centerpieces" of NBC's coverage will be a three-hour bio on
Muhammad Ali (Lori Buttars, S.L. TRIBUNE, 6/29).
IS THE RATINGS PROJECTION "AMBITIOUS"? DAILY VARIETY's
John Dempsey calls Ebersol's ratings prediction (17.5-18.5)
"ambitious," as the network not only faces a 15-hour time
difference in broadcasting from Sydney, due to the late
start of the Games this year, competition from the NFL and
MLB postseason (DAILY VARIETY, 6/29). But Ebersol said
that he's "not worried about baseball games and NFL games
competing against Sydney." Ebersol: "If a person wants to
watch a baseball game with 4,300 people in the stands in
Tampa Bay, so be it. I think the other networks did us a
favor pushing back the start of prime-time season until Oct.
2" (USA TODAY, 6/29).
KICKING SOCCER TO CABLE: In Newark, Matthew Futterman
notes that last year's U.S. women's soccer team's World Cup
victory was "last summer's highest-rated sporting event."
But NBC will show "no more than a half hour of the women's
soccer final in prime time." The rest would be seen on
cable. Ebersol: "I don't care who's playing, you absolutely
cannot show a two-hour soccer game in prime time. We've put
it on in a place where it will be available to [the] widest
possible audience." Costas: "It's one thing to have good
intentions, but it's another thing to follow those good
intentions to commercial suicide" (STAR-LEDGER, 6/29).
