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Olympics

EBERSOL CONTINUES TO DEFEND NBC'S TAPE-DELAY COVERAGE

          NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebersol conducted a conference
     call with the media yesterday to promote NBC's Olympic
     coverage and the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Michele Greppi writes
     that Ebersol "was sounding a little testy" because he was
     "being asked yet again why he's not following his Canadian
     counterparts and offering the competitions live to U.S.
     audiences."  Ebersol: "[Maybe the CBC] can afford to put the
     Olympics on live in the middle of the night when no one is
     watching.  If we got 500,000 people at 12 at night, we'd all
     be fired" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 9/14).  Ebersol: "The minute
     you put something on the air, the clock starts ticking on
     one's exclusivity and our ability to control it and keep it
     from airing by the end of the day somewhere else is severely
     diminished.  So we sit on it to protect it for the largest
     possible audience" (NEWSDAY, 9/14). But in Canada, Rick
     Chislom, who "heads up" TSN's coverage of the Games said,
     "We've got an opportunity to show the games live. ... I
     don't understand why NBC doesn't do that, too.  They have
     the opportunity and believe me, they've got enough staff"
     (OTTAWA SUN, 9/14).  Meanwhile, Ebersol said the impact of
     the Internet "will not be that large" on NBC's viewership:
     "People getting those results are the purists.  They're
     going to be small in number. ... [They are] crazed, and they
     will still want to come (to the broadcasts) because they
     want to see the pictures" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 9/14). 
          THE NUMBERS GAMES: Ebersol: "We project we will average
     somewhere around a 17.5 rating.  That's a big deal, when you
     consider we've added a half hour of prime-time coverage
     starting at 7 p.m. and there's now multiple channels and
     regional sports channels that didn't exist a few years ago." 
     USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke writes that NBC's projection means
     it "has a safety net of a 16.1 average primetime rating
     before" make goods are offered (USA TODAY, 9/14)....In
     Detroit, Steve Crowe writes a "serious effort is apparently
     being made [by NBC] to cut back on the heavy pro-U.S. slant
     of past Games coverage." NBC estimates that 48% of its
     features "will be on foreign athletes" (DETROIT FREE PRESS,
     9/14).  In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley writes NBC is "aiming to
     eliminate excesses and hew to more consistently authentic,
     genuine and honest profiles" (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 9/14).     
          BUT IS THE COVERAGE TOO MUCH? In Seattle, John
     Levesque, on NBC's 441.5 hours of Olympic coverage: "What in
     the name of Roone Arledge is going on here?  Do we need --
     or want -- 18.4 days of Olympic coverage?  Especially when
     the Olympiad lasts only 16 days?"  Levesque calls NBC's
     $715M rights fees "a tad criminal," as the network is paying
     about $1.6M "per hour" for the rights (SEATTLE P-I, 9/14).
          POSSIBLE STORY LINE: NBC's Bob Costas, on the integrity
     of the Games: "If the doping problem exploded into a larger
     issue, that is a greater challenge for the Olympics (than
     the bidding scandal).  Most people see that as serious,
     regrettable, but it's about people in suits, not about the
     athletes themselves.  If the integrity of the competition is
     called into question, if you can't believe in what you are
     seeing as athletic competition, in the basic fairness of it,
     you've got nothing to sell" (NEWSDAY, 9/14).  
          A GOOD BUY: GOP Presidential candidate George W. Bush
     and Democratic Presidential candidate Al Gore bought ads to
     run during NBC's coverage. Buyers said that the 25-50%
     premium for Olympics ads "is worth it" (USA TODAY, 9/14). 

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