NBC To Crack Down On Copyright Violations During '10 Olympics

NBC Universal (NBCU) is "preparing to crack down on any copyright violations of its coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver," according to Paul Thomasch of REUTERS. Canada's "'weak' copyright laws recently landed it on a 'priority watch list' issued by the U.S. Trade Representative, adding fuel to concerns within NBC Universal about piracy during the Vancouver Olympics." NBCU General Counsel Rick Cotton said the Canadian government "has been aware for some time now of the shortcomings in its laws." Cotton: "They are going to face extreme concern and unhappiness from Olympics rights-holders and from the IOC around the globe if there is widespread pirating of the Vancouver Olympics." The concern with piracy is its "threat of drawing viewers to competing websites." Some critics contend that NBCU during the '08 Beijing Games "hurt itself and limited its audience by keeping its Olympic video so closely guarded on the Web." However, Cotton said that NBCU "would follow the same blueprint for distribution during the Vancouver Olympics." Cotton: "Right now, the primary model on the table is what happened with the Beijing Olympics, which is an NBC Olympics site." More Cotton: "Why would you put yourself to the trouble of searching for a sport or clip that you were particularly anxious to see, be bounced all over various sites, maybe find it, maybe not, as opposed to going to a site that offered you a quality experience?" (REUTERS, 6/19).

EXECUTIVE DECISION: NBCU President & CEO Jeff Zucker discussed streaming programming online in a Q&A with PAID CONTENT's Staci Kramer, and he said he does not believe there is a "model that exists right now that would show" how streaming the net's primetime Olympic coverage at the same time it is broadcast over the air would be beneficial. Zucker: "I wouldn't want to devalue the price of the Olympics or the Super Bowl or whatever it is. ... I think events like those where you're paying a huge rights fee and you've got to recoup it there, I think that would be the ultimate loss of analog dollars for digital currency" (PAIDCONTENT.org, 6/17).