Media appreciation thread

[Doodlesweaver]

Consensus in the UK is that the stars of the BBC coverage are Michael Johnson (always good) and Clare Balding. CB does the rugby league coverage on the BBC, and she's very good on that too. Too much reliance on ex-footballers like Lineker who are rather out of their depth in other sports. We love moaning here, but, truth to tell, the BBC is generally as professional as any broadcaster, I reckon.

I bloody love Michael Johnson, I wish he was a presenter. He's so sensible and smart and low-key. Fits in on the BBC brilliantly. I can't even believe he's an American most of the time.

There was a great picture of the Beeb studio during MO Farah's race on the weekend and Johnson was leaping up as was Denise Lewis. Colin Jackson was sitting in his chair hands in his face unable to watch! Very funny.

Lineker is out of his depth but he's trying and not doing too bad. Just doesn't look right fronting the shows.

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Would she have a problem if the British cyclists were accused of doping?

Isn't it weird, the collective blindness that descends? What about the US swimmers, one of their coaches was questioning a personal best by a swimmer another nation????? Hello!

 

[Wallaby]

No doubt Culbert is the best of the technical experts commentating - knows his stuff, knows the competitors, identifies the australians with a bit more detail without barracking, and doesn't miss anything.

He asked Daly Thompson what was on his Ipod and Daly said 'some strange stuff' - including Choral works, national Anthems, some speeches - interesting. Then when Culbert claimed to be a Child of the 80s into Dead or Alive, Spandau Ballet, Bronski beat and so on, Daly threw up A Flock of seagulls, and Culbert responded by quoting the entire first verse and chorus of I Ran during the next 2 competitors in the long jump. And still got all their distances and placings in...............

 

[muzzington]

Not being a big follower of many of the sports I've loved the track commentary with Daley and co. Almost relaxing without being lazy at all.

 

[muzzington]

Dwayne Russell is like a completely different commentator. I was hoping one of the Horses in the Equestrian was named "Crazy Good" though.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Isn't it weird, the collective blindness that descends? What about the US swimmers, one of their coaches was questioning a personal best by a swimmer another nation????? Hello!

A variation of "sore glutes" is the most appropriate words.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

No doubt Culbert is the best of the technical experts commentating - knows his stuff, knows the competitors, identifies the australians with a bit more detail without barracking, and doesn't miss anything.

He asked Daly Thompson what was on his Ipod and Daly said 'some strange stuff' - including Choral works, national Anthems, some speeches - interesting. Then when Culbert claimed to be a Child of the 80s into Dead or Alive, Spandau Ballet, Bronski beat and so on, Daly threw up A Flock of seagulls, and Culbert responded by quoting the entire first verse and chorus of I Ran during the next 2 competitors in the long jump. And still got all their distances and placings in...............

Thanks Wallaby. Wish I had caught this.

Culbert is fantastic. To me he is to Australian Athletics commentating what Richie Benaud is to cricket commentating. Played the game at the highest level, knowledgeable, credible, entertains, informs, explains things well and just knows his shit.

I am flicking back and forth to the decathlon pole vault - yes its still going - and Culbert, Thompson and 2008 Beijing decathlon gold medalist Brian Clay have been very good.

 

[Peter maxwell]

Peter Donegan calling the athletics is the coverage highlight of the games.

 

[Peter maxwell]

Peter Donegan a wonderfully underrated commentator across a lot of sports. True pro.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Would anybody know which station has, or is going for, the next Olympic rights? I've had a look, found nothing, so far.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Would anybody know which station has, or is going for, the next Olympic rights? I've had a look, found nothing, so far.

The IOC hasn't offered the rights for at least the 2014+2016 games yet because they are waiting for the NRL rights to be negotiated. They know that who ever gets the rights and what they pay will determine how competive the Olympic rights are. If 7 end up with both footy and NRL rights they aren't going to bid for 2014+2016 because they wont have the TV channels free to deliver an Olympic coverage.

The AFL rights were finalised in April last year and the IOC sold their 2014+2016+2018+2020 US rights to NBC last June for $4.38bilUSD. See links below.

In the Australian on the 9th of August the following article appeared on pages 21 and 22.

Olympic TV rights deal on hold until NRL contract is negotiated

THE IOC is holding off negotiating the next Olympic television rights deal for Australia until after the NRL broadcasting deal is done, according to Games marketing boss Timo Lumme.


Foxtel and the Nine Network paid a reported $128 million for the rights to broadcast the 2010 winter and 2012 Olympics, but the IOC says negotiations for the next rights package, to cover the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, have not yet begun.

Kerry Stokes's Seven group, which was the long-time Olympic broadcaster until the Nine/Foxtel consortium beat it for the 2010/2012 rights, is understood to be keen to win back the Olympic rights. But both Nine and Seven are in a more difficult financial position than they were when the last deal was struck in 2007.

Speaking in London yesterday, Mr Lumme told The Australian that the IOC would wait until the end of the London Games before turning its attention to the Australian rights deal for the next Games.

"We are gradually turning our sights to Australia," he said.

"We haven't made any decision on that, but it is something that we will be focusing on after the end of the Games.

"We want to see the rugby league deal done. That helps. That means clear air for us."

Australia is one of the last major countries to finalise an Olympic broadcasting deal for the 2014/2016 Games.

Mr Lumme said he expected the IOC to begin consideration of an Australian TV rights deal "before the end of the year, but we haven't taken a decision as yet as to when we are going to go ahead".

Senior Nine executives, including managing director Jeff Browne and chief executive David Gyngell, have been in London for the Games, along with Foxtel chief executive Richard Freudenstein.

Mr Lumme said he had heard that Ryan Stokes, son of Kerry Stokes and a former member of the IOC televison commission, might be in London as well, but he had not had any discussions with him during the Games.

He said the IOC felt "very comfortable" with the attractiveness of the Olympics as a product for television in Australia.

"We all know that broadcasters need premium content, so we feel very comfortable that we will be premium content," he said.

He rejected the suggestion that the disappointing performance of the Australian team in London might adversely affect the price of the next television rights deal.

"Yes, there have been a few less gold medals, but the overall performance is strong and will remain strong in the future. It is a very potent package.

"We are very confident that we will get the right value for the market."

The first big deal was struck last year with long-time US Olympic broadcaster NBC, which will pay $US4.38 billion ($4.15bn) for the 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 Winter and Summer Olympics rights.

The IOC has since announced a string of deals around the world, most of them for the 2014 Winter Games and the 2016 Summer Games as a package. While the IOC does not release the details of its deals, market estimates are that it has struck deals for France worth $US125m, for Germany worth $US187m, for Spain worth $US93m and for Italy worth $US220m.

On the eve of the London Games, government owned broadcaster BBC retained the rights to the next four Olympics in a $US100m deal. It followed up with a deal with CCTV for the Chinese TV rights for a reported $US160m

The Canadian television rights package is understood to have just been wrapped up for between $US75m and $US80m, almost half the estimated $US150m paid for the current 2010/2012 Games package.

The IOC does not announce the amount it receives for individual television deals, but Mr Lumme agreed yesterday that there was "always going to be a blip" in the Canadian television rights fees for the next Games as the 2010/2012 package included the Vancouver Games, and home Olympics command a premium.

The question for Australia could be whether the deal is for a package of two Games or for a package of four Games. In an interview with The Australian earlier this year, Mr Lumme said the IOC was expecting an increase of at least 10 per cent on the $128m negotiated for the Australian television rights for 2010 and 2012.

However, the Canadian rights deal, which was struck at a much lower level, is a warning to the IOC that its quest for ever-increasing rights fees runs into the economics of broadcasting the Games when the economic environment is uncertain.

It is understood that the private consortium holding the Canadian rights for 2010 and 2012 has made a loss on the deal despite the fact that the winter Games took place on Canadian soil.
Government broadcaster CBC has regained the rights in the latest deal, following two low-ball bids which were rejected by the IOC.

Mr Lumme said the IOC had grossed almost $US4bn from the television rights deals for the London and Vancouver Games, some 50 per cent more than the $US2bn it raised from the rights to the 2006 Winter Games in Turin and the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.


Olympic TV rights deal on hold until NRL contract is negotiated

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

US TV deal as reported on NBC Sports last June

NBC Retains Olympic TV Rights through 2020
Broadcaster spends $4.38 billion, lands rights in deal for four games

The peacock network outbid Fox and ESPN by almost a billion dollars Tuesday to win U.S. television rights to four more Olympics and keep the games through 2020.

The result: a $4.38 billion knockout for NBC
....
Executives with direct knowledge of the proposals told The Associated Press that Fox bid $3.4 billion for four games and $1.5 billion for two, while ESPN offered $1.4 billion for two. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the IOC declined to say how much the other networks offered.

NBC has broadcast every Summer Olympics since 1988 and every Winter Games since 2002, and it was the network's experience and familiarity with the IOC — as well as its money — that won over the Olympic body again.
....

NBC has exclusive rights to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, as well as the 2018 Winter Games and 2020 Olympics, whose sites have not yet been chosen. The deal includes all broadcast platforms, including Internet, mobile and hand-held devices.

"You think definitely of the finances, but you think also of the past experiences, you think of the enthusiasm of the team, the technical qualities," Rogge said. "We thought that was the best combination."

IOC TV rights negotiator Richard Carrion said NBC would pay $775 million for Sochi, $1.226 billion for Rio, $963 million for the 2018 Winter Games and $1.418 billion for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
....

In the last rights auction in 2003, NBC outbid Fox and ESPN to secure the 2010 and 2012 Olympics in a deal worth $2.2 billion. That included $2 billion in straight rights fees, plus a $200 million global sponsorship deal with NBC's former parent company, General Electric.

The IOC had said it hoped to exceed that deal this time, and it did — slightly. The $4.382 billion figure for four games represents a small increase only in rights fees compared with the previous two-games package. Carrion said the IOC still hopes to reach a separate extension with GE as a top-tier sponsor.
.....
From page 2 of the link
......

Traditionally, the IOC awards the rights for two games at a time, but the networks expressed interest in going for a four-games package. They did so without knowing where the last two will be held. The IOC will select the 2018 host city on July 6. The candidates are Annecy, France; Munich; and Pyeongchang, South Korea. The host of the 2020 Olympics will be chosen in 2013, and Rome is the only official contender so far.
....

Present at the TV bidding were USOC chairman Larry Probst and CEO Scott Blackmun.

The USOC currently gets a 12.75 percent share of U.S. TV rights deals and 20 percent of global sponsorship revenues, figures many international officials consider too high. Both sides are negotiating a new revenue-sharing deal to take effect in 2020.

The USOC and IOC will renew those talks Wednesday, and say they also hope to have an agreement in place by early July.

NBC Retains Olympic TV Rights through 2020

and from the NY Times

NBC Wins U.S. Television Rights to Four More Olympics
By RICHARD SANDOMIRPublished: June 7, 2011

Since 2000, no network has carried the Olympics but NBC. But when NBC Universal was bought by Comcast this year, there was doubt that it had the passion for the Olympics that led the network’s former parent, General Electric, to pay billions of dollars to stock NBC with the Summer Games and the Winter Games.
......

Brian L. Roberts, the chairman and chief executive of Comcast, said that spreading costs over four Olympics was critical to the bid, which was divided in two: $2 billion for the 2014 and 2016 Games, and $2.38 billion for the next two, whose locations have not been selected. NBC paid $2 billion for last year’s Winter Games in Vancouver (and lost $223 million) and next year’s Summer Games in London.
.....

NBC’s Olympic cable coverage has in the past been on the USA, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo and Oxygen channels. The old NBC was personalized by Dick Ebersol, who ran the network’s sports division for nearly 22 years until resigning last month in a salary dispute that was the climax of a power struggle with Comcast executives. Ebersol had been critical to every Olympic bid since the acquisition of the rights to the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games; he also engineered two pre-emptive bids within a few months in 1995 that brought NBC the rights to every Olympics from 2000 to 2008, at a cost of $3.5 billion to General Electric
....

What I.O.C. officials saw inside the envelopes were the details of the Comcast/NBC bid: $775 million for Sochi, below the $820 million paid for the money-losing Vancouver Games; $1.22 billion for Rio de Janeiro in 2016; $963 million for the 2018 Winter Games — which will be in Munich; Pyeongchang, South Korea, or Annecy, France — and $1.41 billion for the 2020 Summer Games.

“We were blown away by the NBC presentation and the passion the team has for the Olympics” Richard Carrion, the I.O.C. member in charge of the auction, said in the conference call.

NBC Wins U.S. Television Rights to Four More Olympics


NBC's 2010 + 2012 rights deal announced in June 2003 from the NY Times

OLYMPICS; NBC's Olympic Run Is Extended to 2012 With $2 Billion Bid
By RICHARD SANDOM Published: June 07, 2003

NBC Sports held on to its Olympic franchise today by winning a three-way auction for the United States media rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games with a record bid of $2 billion. It was augmented by a nearly $200 million deal for General Electric, NBC's parent, to become a worldwide Olympic sponsor. The bid was made even though the sites for those Games have not yet been determined.
......

The price for TV rights exceeds by 33 percent the $1.5 billion that NBC will pay for the 2006 and 2008 Olympics. Including the G.E. Olympic sponsorship deal, the bid at its maximum means that the Olympic committee will receive 47 percent more for the Games in 2010 and 2012 than in 2006 and 2008.
....
In the deal, NBC will pay $820 million for the 2010 Winter Games and $1.18 billion for the 2012 Summer Olympics. G.E. sweetened its investment by becoming a worldwide Olympic sponsor, which will cost $160 million to $200 million.
....

Each company placed its sealed bid in a clear cylindrical box at 2:30 p.m. Forty minutes later, the I.O.C. officials began more than seven hours of deliberations in the Coubertin Room on the third floor of the organization's building. A United States Olympic Committee contingent was there; starting next year, the U.S.O.C. will receive 12.75 percent of the United States media rights fees paid by NBC.

The I.O.C. did not ask the bidders to raise their offers. NBC's figure, Mr. Ebersol said, ''was the limit we would go, which we could cover with conservative estimates of advertising and affiliate contributions.''

NBC's bid also included $12 million in rights fees to carry the United States Olympic trials; the creation of a $10 million digital TV library that will let NBC and the I.O.C. transfer thousands of hours into a digital archive; and a commitment it estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars to promote the Olympics.

The process reflected Dr. Rogge's insistence that the rights to 2010 and 2012 be bid competitively, which has not happened since NBC, ABC and CBS bid for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games, which NBC won for $456 million. In 1995, NBC privately negotiated two deals with the I.O.C. to pay $3.5 billion for all Olympic rights from 2000 to 2008
...

OLYMPICS; NBC's Olympic Run Is Extended to 2012 With $2 Billion Bid

 

[imadodgyumpire]

While I was writing my previous post I was watching some of Peter Donegan call Port Melbourne/Bendigo. Hilarious isn't it? One week ago, he's calling the London Olympics, what is now acknowledged as the best ever Track meeting in history. Now, he's calling an obligatory VFL game. I think he'll be calling one of tonights games for country radio? He defintiely will be tomorrow.

edit: Who'd have thought, the IOC would be waiting for the NRL rights to be decided first? It makes me wonder of all the factors they have to keep track of, when negotiating rights for all countries.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Just noticed to the tv guide. On the ABC tonight at 10, The Jonathan Ross Show is on, Usain Bolt and Jessica Ennis will be two of his guests. That's if anybody is still paying attention to this board!

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Thanks for the heads up ima... Caught your post with 45 minutes to spare.