NBC holds off Fox and ESPN to snare four more Olympics
06/07/11 01:49 PM
By ED BARK
NBC will continue as the network of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games after outwitting, outplaying, outlasting and, most important, outbidding rivals Fox and ESPN.
The Peacock, which already had the rights to the summer 2012 games in London, wrapped up a deal for the 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 Olympics after the three networks made their pitches in Lausanne, Switzerland. NBC announced that it has paid $4.38 billion for the package of two winter and two summer Olympics.
"We are honored to continue as the U.S. Olympic broadcaster for the remainder of this decade," Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement Tuesday. "Every two years the Olympic Games provides iconic content for us to deliver on all platforms."
NBC had been seen as vulnerable under new owner Comcast and without longtime sports president and key Olympics negotiator Dick Ebersol, who recently resigned after the two sides failed to reach agreement on a new contract. But the network found the means to continue its streak, and will have telecast 11 consecutive Olympics (dating to the 2000 summer games from Sydney, Australia) by the time the 2020 summer games are completed.
Local stations, such as Fort Worth-based NBC5, also benefit from greatly increased "sampling" during the Peacock's saturation Olympics coverage.
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