NBC To Cover Several Low-Profile Olympic Sports From N.Y. HQs
NBC plans to broadcast at least 10 sports during the Beijing Games from its N.Y. HQs, meaning "more than two dozen play-by-play broadcasters and analysts" will not call the events live from China, according to Teddy Greenstein of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. NBC Sports Dir of Communications Brian Walker said that the practice "has become more commonplace and that it would not affect the most high-profile Olympic sports." Greenstein reported sports covered from N.Y. include archery, badminton, baseball, equestrian, fencing, handball, shooting, soccer, softball and tennis. Also, select basketball games will be called in N.Y. Walker said that he is "not certain how many of NBC's 2,900-person crew would remain" in the U.S. He added that NBC "has mandated its broadcasters refrain from using misleading words such as 'here' if they are not, in fact, in China." Walker indicated that the net "had not intended to announce its remote Beijing plan but also had not attempted to hide it from the public" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 7/20).
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Fencing One Of Beijing Olympic Sports
NBC Plans To Cover From N.Y. HQs |
ALWAYS PART OF THE PLAN: NBC Sports & Olympics Exec VP & Exec Producer David Neal said in a statement to THE DAILY, "As part of our negotiations with the IOC in 2003 for the rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympics, we agreed to quickly move toward a 25% reduction in our on-site personnel and facilities for future games. That process began with the 2006 Torino Olympics. As our coverage plans for the ’08 Beijing Olympics expanded to more than 3,600 hours, covering all 34 summer Olympic sports, we decided to develop a significant broadcast and digital operation based in (N.Y.) to handle cable and online coverage of 13 of those 34 sports. In those cases, our firm plan is and always has been to have our on-camera hosts identify their location as being at NBC’s Olympic headquarters in (N.Y.), and to have our play-by-play commentators not only identify which Chinese city that each competition is taking place in, but also to say that they are broadcasting from our (N.Y.) Olympics headquarters” (THE DAILY).
BROADCAST NEWS? In N.Y., Brian Stelter notes many NBC officials "are concerned about how they will be permitted to cover any unscheduled events [during the Beijing Games], like political protests or government crackdowns -- or whether the Chinese government will allow them to cover such things at all." If NBC covers "any controversies aggressively, it risks drawing the ire of the Chinese and interfering with coverage of sports events." However, if the net "shies from coverage of any protests, NBC risks being criticized in the West for kowtowing to China." NBC News President Steve Capus: "If there's news, we're going to cover it" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/21).
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