When five media conglomerates present their bids for the broadcast rights of the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games on June 5 and 6 to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne Switzerland, they won’t know where the Games will be held.
A decision as to the 2010 host city won’t be announced until July and the 2012 Summer Olympic Games venue won’t be announced until 2005.
Network interest and profits increase when the host city is closer to the United States.
According to the New York Times, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is hoping that five-way bidding will incite a frenzy by NBC trying to keep its franchise and by its rivals trying to end NBC’s sponsorship of the Games.
Since NBC made its Olympic deal for the 2000 to 2008 Games, the parent companies of all five companies have either changed or expanded.
Neal Pilson, a consultant to the IOC told The New York Times, “the Olympics are primarily an entertainment property to be exhibited on a variety of platforms. We’re not just talking to the TV divisions or sports divisions”.
General Electric (NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo and Telemundo) will be bidding against Viacom (CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1, TNN. BET), the Walt Disney Company (ABC, ESPN) News Corporation (Fox, Fox Sports Net and FX) and AOL Time Warner (CNN, TNT, TBS, but with only a baby broadcast network like the WB, it may have to reassess its entry into the auction) reports the New York Times.
The conglomerates will all be bidding for the same rights – broadcast, cable, radio, Internet (with streaming video) satellite, pay-per-view and video-on-demand.
David Hill, chairman of the Fox Sports Television Group said, “if we think television is fragmented now, imagine how it will be in seven years. The iconic events will get even bigger, and the Olympics are right up there”.
