"Live sports is what drives live TV today — [the Olympics] is still the most extraordinary live sports event," said Barry Lowenthal, CEO of The Media Kitchen. "For that to go away will have a ripple effect across the industry."
"The linear television business is perhaps more dependent on reality programming and sports than it has ever been before, and the Olympics is arguably the crown jewel of sports programming," said Tim Hanlon, founder and CEO of Vertere Group, a consultancy that works with media and advertising companies. "If things change with the Olympic scheduling and presentation, that is a huge gaping hole in the NBCUniversal universe.
Hanlon said attendance at sports events is becoming less important than TV audiences because of the piles of money that advertisers are willing to spend on live sports, where advertisers can count on viewers seeing their ads instead of fast-forwarding through them. "Sports is increasingly becoming more of a television-first economic model while attendance and in-game experiences are secondary," Hanlon said. "There is something to be said that television trumps everything — you're talking about millions of viewers versus tens of thousands of in-person fans."NBCU said the impact on its business would be small. It has insurance to cover its investment.
"The Olympics are obviously on everybody's mind. What I know is it's full steam ahead," NBCU parent Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said March 3. "There should be no losses should there not be an Olympics. [There] just wouldn't be a profit this year."Still, the Olympics getting canceled or postponed would require the network to fill the airtime with new programming, which could leave them with a weaker lineup and dent ratings.
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Wii Sports olympics. Played from wherever you're holed up.
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