NBC Says Up To 60% Of '08 Olympics Will Be Live In Primetime

After the IOC’s decision to hold the swimming and gymnastics finals during the ’08 Beijing Games in the morning (see THE DAILY, 10/26/06), NBC’s first eight primetime telecasts “will all include live swimming,” and live broadcasts of men's and women's gymnastics and the all-around finals “will take place during a four-night period within that stretch, though individual finals will take place in the Beijing evening,” according to Adam Thompson of the WALL STREET JOURNAL.  NBC Universal Sports & Olympics Chair Dick Ebersol estimated that “as much as 60% of NBC's prime-time programming will air live in the U.S.”  NBC will “accompany its TV broadcast with more than 1,200 hours of live, streamed coverage” on NBCOlympics.com for 26 sports. While the IOC “bars in-stadium or on-screen logos during Olympic TV broadcasts, NBC will fill 15[%] of computer screens" with rotating banner ads during its streams (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/15).

NEW RIGHTS FEE MODEL: In Manchester, Paul Kelso reports the IOC's traditional method of selling rights "as a single entity on a regional basis" is being "challenged by the EC competition commission, which would like to see the rights marketed on a sport-by-sport basis."  The "intervention would massively undermine the value of the rights and could have a devastating effect on minor sports that benefit hugely from the collective package" (Manchester GUARDIAN, 6/15).