Network Competitors Set to Skate All Over NBC's Olympics

(Abc Via Reuters)

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By Lisa de Moraes

Thursday, February 9, 2006

The Winter Olympics are so over.

Sure, the competition hasn't started yet -- NBC's event coverage kicks in Saturday, after tomorrow's opening ceremonies.

But whereas in the past the Games pretty much owned prime time and the other broadcast networks stayed out of the way, this year those networks intend to swamp the Games coverage with a tsunami of original programming.

So what's different?

No buzz.

"Everyone sensed a lack of buzz -- and they're feeling good about their shows," said one competitor. The Games "are not this insurmountable thing -- 'Idol' scares me a lot more than the Olympics does."

No buzz, because no "personalities" have emerged, the suit explained.

Figure skater Michelle Kwan "is in her eighth Olympics," the executive joked. (Technically, this will be Kwan's fourth Winter Olympics, although in her first she was a backup competitor.) Skier Bode Miller "is the best thing that's ever happened to NBC and I'm not sure anybody's that interested in him."

What else has changed?

NBC's ratings.

"NBC is the fourth-placed network now. Why should the first-, second- or third-placed networks back down because the fourth-placed network has the Olympics?" noted another competitor.

Even though the Games bring a lot of new viewers to the network, NBC, with its ratings substantially down from its heyday, has far less ability to promote the Olympics than four years ago. It's not an appointment network anymore.

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