Olympics


The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

Tabs

About

Since their first telecast in 1960, the Olympic Games have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with television. TV has popularized the event to the point that the global audience is now estimated at one billion viewers. Over the years, however, American television networks have become mired in a high-stakes bidding war for broadcast rights. The stiff competition has kept rights fees inordinately expensive and, as a result, America contributes much more money than any other country to support the Olympics. In 1996, the Summer games in Atlanta were priced at $456 million, a figure that did not include the cost of the production itself, which has been estimated at another $150 million. All of the Western European nations combined paid $250 million in fees for the same games.

It can also be argued that network coverage of the games has expanded to the point of excess in the attempts to recoup spiraling costs by selling more commercial time. Nevertheless, the ratings, advertising revenue, and prestige associated with broadcasting the games have established the Olympic rights as among the most coveted and expensive in all of television.

Simultaneously, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) has become increasingly dependent on income derived from American television. Even the scheduling of the games has been changed, in part, to accommodate the U.S. media. In 1994, the IOC adopted a two-year staggered schedule; the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer were followed by the 1996 Summer games in Atlanta. This eased the strain on corporations who were beginning to find the price of quality Olympic advertising prohibitive. At hundreds of thousands of dollars for a thirty-second spot, or hundreds of millions for a sponsorship package, neither the Committee nor the networks could afford to lose these clients. Spacing the Summer and Winter Olympics two years apart thus allowed sponsors to spread out their costs and also to invest in more high-profile packages. The revised schedule also granted the IOC more time to effectively allocate the revenue.

The conditions now surrounding the televised contests derive from increased attention to the Olympics that began in the late 1960s. The games first attracted a significant television audience during the 1968 Summer games when Roone Arledge was at the helm of ABC Sports. The combination of his in-depth, personalized approach to sports broadcasting (embodied by ABC's Wide World of Sports) and the technological advances in the field, such as satellite feeds and videotape, set the standard for Olympic telecasts. Utilizing inventive graphics and personal profiles of the athletes, Arledge slated forty-four hours of coverage, three times as many hours as the previous Summer games. He packaged a dramatic, exciting miniseries for the television audience and successive producers have continued to expand on his model.

The 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany showed further growth in costs and coverage. However, the drama of the games was overshadowed by the grisly murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. Viewers watched in horror as the events of the 5th and 6th September massacre unfolded, and television turned into an international forum for the extremist politics of the Black September Organization. This event provided the single worst tragedy in the history of sports broadcasting.

The Olympics have also given television sports some of its most glorious moments and endearing heroes. Few will ever forget the U.S. hockey team's thrilling victory over the Soviets in 1980, Nadia Comenici's perfect performances, or the dedication and perseverence of athletes like Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis and Dan Janssen. Typically, the top American athletes become media celebrities, winning lucrative endorsement and commercial deals along with their medals.

Aside from catapulting the athletes to media stardom, the Olympic games are a ratings boon for their host network. Customarily, that network captures 50% of the television audience each night for the two-and-a-half weeks of the Olympic telecast. Furthermore, this habitual pattern establishes a relationship between the viewers and the network which translates into increased ratings for regularly scheduled programming. This springboard into the new season, along with the hefty sums commanded by Olympic advertising time are the reasons that the broadcast rights are so sought after and so expensive.

Possibly, however, the situation has gotten out of control. For example, the Squaw Valley games in 1960 cost CBS only $50,000 in rights fees. Twenty years later, NBC bid an astonishing $87 million for the 1980 summer games in Moscow. This price was almost four times the fee for the previous summer rights. Unfortunately for NBC, the U.S. boycott of the games destroyed hopes of a windfall and sabotaged the scheduled 150 hours of planned coverage. Still, rights fees have continued to climb. The Summer broadcast rights almost tripled from 1980 to 1984 ($87 million to $225 million) and both Winter and Summer rights have gone for $300 million or more since 1988.

Traditionally, networks lose money on the Olympics. Bids are made knowing that the result will be millions of dollars lost. The games have become such an emotionally charged part of a network's inventory, however, that profit is no longer the chief concern. Broadcasting the Olympics, much like broadcasting professional sports, is more about network prestige than about making sound business decisions.

These exploding costs have sent networks looking for alternative strategies to ease the financial burden. In 1992, NBC made an ill-fated attempt at utilizing pay-per-view subscriptions. The "Olympic Triplecast" was organized in conjunction with Cablevision and intended to sell packages of commercial-free, extensive programming. The plan was a failure, mainly due to viewers' reluctance to pay to see some events when network coverage of others was free of charge.

CBS has had more success in reducing their outlay by joining forces with TNT (Turner Network Television). The Winter Olympics of 1992 began the collaboration between the two networks which gave TNT 50 hours of programming in exchange for $50 million towards rights fees. The arrangement was so successful that it was renewed in 1994 for the Lillehammer games. The sharing of broadcast duties and costs seems to hold a promising future for both the quality and cost of Olympic coverage.

-Jennifer Moreland

FURTHER READING

Farrell, Thomas B. "Media Rhetoric As Social Drama: The Winter Olympics Of 1984." Critical Studies in Mass Communication (Annandale, Virginia), June 1989.

Larson, James F. "A Comparative Analysis Of Australian, US, And British Telecasts Of The Seoul Olympic Opening Ceremony." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media (Washington, D.C.), Winter 1991.

________________. Global Television And The Politics Of The Seoul Olympics. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1993.

Lawrence, Robert Z. "Fool's Gold: How America Pays To Lose In The Olympics." Television Quarterly (New York), Summer 1990.

Rothenbuhler, Eric W. "The Living Room Celebration On The Olympic Games." Journal of Communication (New York), Autumn 1988.

Sandomir, Richard. "Lights, Cameras, Psycho-Dramas, Dysfunction! (NBC's Coverage of the 1992 Olympics)." New York Times, 28 July 1992.

_______________. "Play It Again And Again And Again." New York Times, 11 February 1992.

Highlights
Bob Costas on hosting the Olympics
00:45
Dick Enberg on calling the Olympics
02:13
Curt Gowdy on preparing to cover hockey for the Olympics
02:10
Don Ohlmeyer on the 1972 Munich Olympics
05:24
Bob Costas on covering the Olympics and why it's so captivating; on the tone of the Games and the Centennial Park bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
09:15
Danette Herman on being the Executive in charge of talent for three Olympic games
03:58
Who talked about this show

Ray Aghayan

View Interview
Ray Aghayan on designing for the 1984 Olympics
04:24

Bob Costas

View Interview
Bob Costas on hosting the Olympics
00:45
Bob Costas on covering the Olympics and why it's so captivating; on the tone of the Games and the Centennial Park bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
09:15
Bob Costas the first time he served as prime-time host of the Olympics - 1992 in Barcelona; on how he approaches hosting
05:23
Bob Costas on the 2000 Sydney Olympics
01:34
Bob Costas on the 2004 Athens Olympics
00:42
Bob Costas on the response he gets to his Olympic coverage; on the dynamics of international sports
05:53
Bob Costas on decisions Dick Ebersol has to make as producer of The Olympics
01:11

Robert Dickinson

View Interview
Robert Dickinson on working with producer/director Don Mischer on the Salt Lake City and Atlanta Olympics
05:35
Robert Dickinson on the highlight of his career - the Athens Olympics and 1984 Olympics
02:43

Dick Ebersol

View Interview
Dick Ebersol on the success of The Olympics in the U.S. - women
04:06
Dick Ebersol on the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France
10:46
Dick Ebersol on the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico
02:02
Dick Ebersol on the 1972 Munich Olympics
23:56
Dick Ebersol on how Muhammed Ali came to be involved with the Atlanta Olympics
05:34
Dick Ebersol on Brandon Tartikoff asking him to run NBC's Sports division
05:00
Dick Ebersol on making clear to his employees at NBC that sports was still a passion
04:48
Dick Ebersol on the Beijing Olympics  
15:05

Dick Enberg

View Interview
Dick Enberg on calling the Olympics
02:13
Dick Enberg on announcing for the 1988 Olympics  in Seoul, South Korea and various other Olympics
02:45

Frank Gifford

View Interview
Frank Gifford on how Roone Arledge changed sports broadcasting with his coverage of the Olympics
01:37

Curt Gowdy

View Interview
Curt Gowdy on preparing to cover hockey for the Olympics
02:10
Curt Gowdy on the 1964 and 1968 Olympic games; on evolving technology that came from the Olympics
04:10

Herb Granath

View Interview
Herb Granath on how ABC became the network of the Olympics
01:25

Danette Herman

View Interview
Danette Herman on being the Executive in charge of talent for three Olympic games
03:58
Danette Herman on getting Muhammad Ali for the Atlanta Olympics
00:53

Lee Holdridge

View Interview
Lee Holdridge on scoring films about the Olympics
04:52

Don Roy King

View Interview
Don Roy King on directing Olympics updates, and on memorable moments of directing for CBS News and Good Morning America
04:54

Jim McKay

View Interview
Jim McKay on hosting the Summer Olympics on CBS
03:14
Jim McKay on broadcasting from the first foreign Olympics to be televised in the United States, the 1960 Summer Games in Rome and on interviewing Cassius Clay
03:07
Jim McKay on how CBS handled coverage of the 1964 Olympics
07:30
Jim McKay on the first time TV was used to decide an event; the 1968 Olympics
02:44
Jim McKay on the Israeli hostage crisis during the 1972 Munich Olympics
18:38
Jim McKay on how the Olympic Games have changed since 1972 and on Dorothy Hamill
14:57
Jim McKay on how the Olympic Games coverage has changed; the 1984 Games in Los Angeles
03:05

Al Michaels

View Interview
Al Michaels on the original prospects of and expectations for the U.S. Ice Hockey team for the 1980 Winter Olympics
06:23
Al Michaels on how the U.S. Hockey team playing the Soviets at the Winter Olympics played into the Cold War narrative at the time
05:24
Al Michaels on his experience of calling U.S. Hockey team defeating the Soviets at the Winter Olympics and on coming up with "Do you believe in miracles?"
06:40
Al Michaels on announcing the U.S. verses Finland game where the U.S. won the Gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics
01:10
Al Michaels on how his announcing the 1980 Winter Olympics hockey broadcasts impacted his career
02:39
Al Michaels on covering all the various sports at the Olympics
05:15

Sig Mickelson

View Interview
Sig Mickelson on CBS's coverage of the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley
06:50
Sig Mickelson on Walter Cronkite anchoring the 1960 Winter Olympics from Squaw Valley, and on technical difficulties during the show
02:14

Don Mischer

View Interview
Don Mischer on producing the 2002 Winter Olympics and how 9/11 affected the games
11:56
Don Mischer on producing the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
13:04
Don Mischer on producing the Special Olympics in Shanghai
04:37

Thomas W. Moore

View Interview
Thomas Moore on ABC's acquisition of the Olympic games in the 1960s and '70s
02:01

Don Ohlmeyer

View Interview
Don Ohlmeyer on the 1972 Munich Olympics
05:24
Don Ohlmeyer on becoming an associate director on The 1968 Olympics
03:06
Don Ohlmeyer on The 1968 Olympics
06:38
Don Ohlmeyer on the 1980 Olympics in Moscow
04:33

Hank Rieger

View Interview
Hank Rieger on doing publicity for the 1984 Olympics and challenges he faced covering the Olympics
08:47

Herbert S. Schlosser

View Interview
Herbert S. Schlosser on NBC's negotiations to broadcast the Olympics in 1964
05:07

Sanford Socolow

View Interview
Sanford Socolow on technological advances that aided CBS coverage of the Munich Olympics in 1972
04:02

Tony Verna

View Interview
Tony Verna on leaving WCAU to cover The 1960 Rome Olympics
01:38
Tony Verna on the process of getting the tapes to America during The 1960 Rome Olympics
01:53
Tony Verna on directing the 1984 Summer Olympics
01:57

David L. Wolper

View Interview
David L. Wolper on producing the 1984 summer Olympics opening ceremonies
12:22

Jeff Zucker

View Interview
Jeff Zucker on working as a Researcher for ABC during the 1984 Olympics
03:12

All Shows

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
J
L
M
N
P
R
S
T
W