I'm still not convinced/ Let's face it, not many of us are going to be tuning in to see promotional videos about how a Doha games in the middle of the desert will be a really good idea (not that it's stopped either FIFA or the IAAF).
I really just don't think that the IOC can use its weight to gain carriage. While NBC's owner Comcast could ensure some distribution, that doesn't mean that it's any other operators' interests to carry the channel. And threats don't really make sense either. There is a long standing part of the Olympic charter that says: "The IOC takes all necessary steps in order to ensure the fullest coverage by the different media and the widest possible audience in the world for the Olympic Games." In other words they need to make the Olympics widely available. And niche channels go against that ideal. In any case, the Coca Colas and Visas of this world don't pay millions of dollars for the games not to reach mass audiences. The impact of this clause means that mostly the Olympics is seen on free-to-air television globally. As I say, a channel showing niche sports is fine. But those rights will always be of value to someone. I suspect speed skating TV rights have some value in the Netherlands for example. So then you start getting into having to produce regional variants as rights permit, and that begins to increase costs. In any case, when is your prime time on a global channel? Even news channels struggle with this globally - Asia is waking up while America is winding down... They're talking about running a channel for less than $100m a year and I can see a significant chunk of that going in just paying for carriage globally. For example, it'll cost something like $100,000 pa to go on one digital platform in the UK. Multiply that up by multiple platforms in multiple territories and you get to a big number quickly. Adam On Wed Dec 10 2014 at 10:10:41 AM JW <[email protected]> wrote: > The two relevant paragraphs from the AP story: > > "The IOC backed the launch of a digital TV channel — possibly as early as > next year — to promote Olympic sports between the games and engage with > young viewers. The channel will feature material from the IOC's archives, > transmit some international sports competitions and offer a promotional > platform for bid cities. > > "The IOC said the channel — to be run by the Madrid-based Olympic > Broadcasting Services — will cost $600 million to operate over the first > seven years, with the goal of breaking even in the first decade." > > Although there may be issues with events that are currently covered in > only parts of the world, they should be able to show a lot of competitions > that currently don't get televised. (For instance, I don't know that any > speed skating finds its way onto American television outside the Games.) > > And, assuming they can get carriage around the world, the IOC will be able > to adopt the negotiating position of "If you don't make us a satisfactory > offer, we'll show the Games on our own channel." > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
