Loading ...U.S. Olympic Committee to Launch TV Network in 2010
With the Major League Baseball network earning 20 to 30 cents per subscriber per month, and the National Football League network earning 75 cents to $1.10 per subscriber, it doesn’t surprise me that the United States Olympic Committee plans to enter the cable television market next year.
From the Associated Press…
The United States Olympic Committee will launch a cable television network devoted to Olympic and Paralympic Games next year, with Comcast Corp agreeing to carry the channel in its cable lineup.
Despite the Olympic’s biennial nature, representatives say the channel will broadcast year-round with video-on-demand and Internet streaming on top of its normal broadcasts.
The channel’s programming will include news reports, commentary, interviews, documentaries, movies, and classic Olympic footage, the USOC said.
The offering will be part of Comcast’s Digital Basic lineup, which provides more exposure than premium sports channels, such as the Big Ten Network.
Although the USOC was quick to say that they “don’t see [themselves] as competing with NBC,” the reality is that the USOC now has negotiating leverage over NBC when the broadcast contract expires. Much like the deal between CBS and the Southeastern Conference, NBC will be too scared not to pony up a few extra million to keep USOC-TV from deciding to go alone into the cable universe. If Michael Phelps stays clean and healthy, he will bring eyeballs to the television. NBC wants those eyeballs.
The new Olympic Channel will not begin operation until after the Vancouver Games.
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This comment was originally posted on Twitter