Olympic Notes

The AP's Paul Foy reports the '02 Games "are on track to just barely break even after leaving $40[M] for the upkeep of Olympic venues, a nonnegotiable payment required by Utah lawmakers." Olympic trustees were told at a board meeting yesterday that their "uncommitted reserves are down to $55[M] while serious financial risks could take $53[M] of that. That means the $1.3[B] games could end with just $2[M] to spare" (AP, 11/8). ...The SLOC runs a full-page ad in today's edition of USA TODAY touting its Olympic ticket sales. The ad: "New Olympic Tickets Now Available!!" (USA TODAY, 11/9).... BROADCASTING & CABLE's Michael Grotticelli reports that Wow Digital TV is planning a 50-home trial in Salt Lake City during the '02 Games. Participating homes "will be able to receive digital broadcasting of Olympics coverage on their analog sets, call up data and make purchases over their TVs." For the trial, Wow Digital "will have the help of" Bonneville Int'l, owner of Salt Lake City's KSL-NBC. KSL is "committed to broadcasting 70 hours of ... Olympics coverage over its digital station, KSL-DT, and enhancing it with Wow interactive data" (B&C, 11/5).