Can NBC Make Money From The 2018 Olympics In Pyeongchang?

COMMENTS (12)

• By 2018 Comcast may have sold off NBC Universal…so, it may not even be a problem for them. No one has owned NBC Universal for that long before they lose interest and money.

  In any case, Charlie Sheen is already planning the Tiger’s Blood Ultimate Career Ending Competition as a counter programming choice for those not interested in delayed Olympic broadcasting. The problem for Charlie is that this will be on Current TV…and, no one knows where to find Current TV.

  Comment by tom — Wednesday July 6, 2011 @ 12:34pm EDT  Reply to this post

• That time difference could actually work in NBC’s favor if the execs in charge are able to convince the organizing commitee to move events to South Korean daytime hours. NBC was able to do something similar for the Beijing games, and it worked well for them. In South Korea, 8:00pm New York Time would be 10:00am South Korea time. That would be a good kick off time for morning events like Alpine skiing or figure skating.

  Comment by Rob — Wednesday July 6, 2011 @ 12:50pm EDT  Reply to this post

  • The problem is, the Winter games already have a smaller viewing audience in America and all of the primetime events will still be in the evening local time. So your figure skating, speed skating, ice hockey, slalom, etc. will all take place in the middle of the day in America when everyone’s at work.

    The last Winter Olympics were on the North American continent and were still a disaster.

    Comment by Matt — Wednesday July 6, 2011 @ 1:35pm EDT  Reply to this post

• The bigger issue is that the US (and Canadian) hockey teams have historically done poorly in the Olympics outside North America, potentially robbing NBC of their broadest-based ratings draw since, as proven by Nagano and Sochi, Americans won’t tune in to see an all-Europe final.

  And that’s even assuming the NHL participates, which is semi-doubtful.

  Comment by Stephen — Wednesday July 6, 2011 @ 2:03pm EDT  Reply to this post

• NBC already said every Olympics from 2014 onward will be live somewhere — whether it’s online or on cable. They’ll still tape delay events for prime time but somewhere every event will be live, so presumably nothing will be exclusive to the prime time window anymore.

  Will be interesting to see how that impacts them and sets their advertising rates.

  Comment by Doc Michaels — Wednesday July 6, 2011 @ 2:08pm EDT  Reply to this post

• But wouldn’t it be worse for NBC if France or Germany had won it? Primetime in the US is after midnight in Central Europe. They wouldn’t be able to show anything. In Beijing, they had the swimming finals in the morning and the heats in the evening. I’m sure NBC can do some deal to get the same in South Korea.

  Comment by Allie — Wednesday July 6, 2011 @ 2:42pm EDT  Reply to this post

• Is it just me or is Pyeongchang the most unsexy, dreary, boring, cold, drab location on earth to host the 2018 Winter Olympics? Would anyone feel safe travelling to Pyeongchang for the Olympics, knowing that North Korea is a scant 60 miles or so away? Can North Korea resist the temptation to start up some trouble?

  Comment by Gravity's Silhouette — Wednesday July 6, 2011 @ 3:05pm EDT  Reply to this post

  • It’s just you.

    Comment by annie — Thursday July 7, 2011 @ 1:50am EDT  Reply to this post

• Traditionally, alpine skiing, ski jumping, and cros-country skiing at a Winter Olympics are held during morning housrs (local time), so those events may well get seen live in prime-time in the U.S.

  I also think some other events (such as snowboarding or perhaps even some figure-skating) in Pyeonechang will in fact be in the morning there for the same reason.

  And the U.S. men’s/women’s hockey games will probably be in the early afternoon there, resulting in 12:05 A.M. EST face-offs.

  Remember this as well: NBC will be paying two-thirds of worldwide TV rights fees. So if they tell Pyeongchang 2018 “Put X, Y, and Z in the morning so we can show it live at 8 P.M. New York Time”, they will say “Yes, Sir! Whatever You Say, Sir!”.

  Comment by Joseph — Wednesday July 6, 2011 @ 4:24pm EDT  Reply to this post

  • That’s how it should be but it never is.

    NBC are idiots for the way they overpay.

    Comment by Michael Hartman — Wednesday July 6, 2011 @ 8:16pm EDT  Reply to this post

• The time difference doesn’t look good. I say they wouldn’t make money out of it

  Comment by disposable diapers — Thursday July 7, 2011 @ 5:31am EDT  Reply to this post

• But what’s the problem? The Earth is round, and somewhere NBC will broadcast ads at the right time slots.

  Comment by Jacob — Sunday July 10, 2011 @ 2:53pm EDT  Reply to this post