Tag Archives: London

Time to get real time: NBC needs to solve live issue for next Olympics

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A couple of Olympics observations before we go back to real sports:

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During a teleconference, I was struck by a comment from NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus. He called critics of the network’s coverage “a vocal minority” compared to the “silent majority” who made up the bulk of the high primetime ratings.

Now I’m not so sure on Lazarus’ breakdown when it comes to minority and majority. And he shouldn’t construe silence for total approval.

Regardless, Lazarus has to know that the “vocal minority” likely make up a large part of the bread-and-butter viewers of NBC Sports. With the non-traditional sports viewers (women, kids) departing until the next Olympics, many in the “vocal minority” will remain to watch Sunday Night Football, Notre Dame football, golf, hockey, and other sports on the network.

The “vocal minority” clearly want to watch their sports live. NBCOlympics.com does not fill the void for people who prefer their big screen TV. In this day and age, the core sports viewers demand to see events in real time, especially during the weekend. It’s a reasonable request. Really, do we have to wait six hours to watch Usain Bolt on tape delay in the 100 meters?

The whole dynamic makes NBC Sports’ core viewers frustrated and ultimately angry. Perception is highly important, and Lazarus should want the bread-and-butter feeling good about the network’s sports division.

Frankly, the fire over the live issue only is going to get worse for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It’s already starting. Last night, I got followed on Twitter by @Boycott NBC. Its one post read:

NBC has monopolistic Olympic coverage through 2020. Boycott @NBC and let a competent network cover the Games!

I don’t think it is in NBC Sports’ best interests to take another round of getting hammered over tape-delay coverage in primetime. Too much of the narrative about NBC in London was about the live issue, obscuring many of the good things it did.

Lazarus talked about the need to be “innovative” going forward with its Olympics franchise. I’m not sure what the solution is, but NBC must find a way to deliver live coverage on its many networks along with preserving the primetime shows. Have its cake and eat it too.

It’s time for Lazarus and company to innovate. Time for them to make everyone happy, including the “vocal minority,” which as I said may not be a minority.

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One thing I definitely won’t miss is the traditional bashing of NBC’s Olympics coverage. Aside from the live issue, some of the other stuff goes a bit over the top.

Lazarus addressed the criticism in an interview with Richard Deitsch at SI.com. He said:

As far as being defensive, I would say I am protective of the enterprise and  the people who have put so much into this and take pride in what they are  doing…I wish that [some of the criticism] was more comprehensive with research  or with the understanding of what we are doing and how we are doing it. I got an  email the other day from someone who said we had only shown five sports in the  Olympics. We have shown 30 sports on television and everything else is available  online. Frankly, some of the criticism was very personal and targeted and  attacked people by name. That’s reality but as someone leading this group, any defensiveness I feel is trying to protect people who are so dedicated.

Indeed, this is a massive undertaking involving 2,800 people who worked in London. NBC had to mobilize an army to pull off the 5,000-plus hours of coverage. It is an amazing feat that viewers tend to take for granted.

Was everything perfect, no? But it was pretty damn good.

Safe travels home from London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NBC wins big in London, but challenges loom for future Olympics

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That’s it. You can have your life back. As the ad says, “You’re now free to move around the country.

Now the postmortem begins. Here’s my piece that ran in today’s Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.

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With the Olympic flame going out Sunday, it won’t be long before NBC turns its attention to the 2014 Winter Games.

There’s no such thing as an extended break when you have $4.38 billion invested for the rights to the next four Olympics.

NBC will prepare for its trek to Sochi, Russia in 2014 buoyed by ratings and financial success that far exceeded expectations for London. The 17-day extravaganza shows its Olympics franchise is stronger than ever.

Challenges loom: Yet it wasn’t a completely smooth run for the network. Going forward, NBC will have to address tough questions.

The issue of tape delay figures to be a heated topic again, as Sochi is eight hours ahead of New York; nine hours ahead of Chicago; 11 for Los Angeles. Can NBC endure another Olympics ignoring demands for live coverage of marquee events?

The network also has to solve glitches that hampered live streaming of events at NBCOlympics.com. Too often, the picture froze at crucial times on various digital devices.

Ultimately, NBC still needs to overcome the perception issues. Despite the high ratings, there was significant criticism over how NBC packages its telecasts of the Olympics. #NBCFail developed a strong following on Twitter.

Lazarus responds: Mark Lazarus, working his first Olympics as NBC Sports chairman, acknowledged the network has heard the reaction that lit up social media throughout the Games.

“Some of it is fair and we are listening,” Lazarus said.

Yet Lazarus believes the critics were “a vocal minority” compared to “a silent majority” of viewers who enjoyed NBC’s coverage. The claim would seem to be supported by a poll conducted last week by the Pew Research Center for the People and Press. It said 76 percent of the 1,005 respondents described the coverage as either excellent or good.

Validated: For NBC and Lazarus, though, the ultimate validation came in the ratings. NBC expected viewership for 2012 to be down by as much as 20 percent from the 2008 Games in Beijing, which had  marquee events live in primetime. Yet despite only taped coverage in primetime this year, NBC averaged 31.5 million viewers per night through Saturday, up 12 percent from Beijing.

NBC also did strong ratings during the day and on its other platforms, including the NBC Sports Network. All told, an estimated 210 million American tuned into its coverage.

“The ratings have been very gratifying,” Lazarus said. “We exceeded everyone’s expectations, including our own.”

Instead of a projected $200 million loss, the network believes it will break even on this year’s Games. With the rights for the next four Olympics relatively flat, NBC has reason to feel good about its big investment.

“The NBC brand is strengthened by the Olympics, and the Olympics are strengthened by NBC,” Lazarus said.

Live issue: Yet NBC came up short in some people’s eyes, especially over the live issue. The network drew considerable ire for not airing high-profile races featuring Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt live during consecutive Sunday afternoon telecasts. Instead, NBC waited nearly six hours to show those events during primetime.

Lazarus is quick to point out that NBC aired more than 30 hours of live coverage daily on its platforms and that every sport was available live on NBCOlympics.com. However, he did acknowledge the network will reexamine its stance for 2014.

“We evaluate our business models all the time, and seek the best ways to satisfy the majority of viewers, as well as advertisers, and our affiliate stations,” Lazarus said. “We have to wait for the data from these Games to come in, and then we’ll make our plans accordingly.”

Lazarus also will evaluate the performance of NBCOlympics.com. It generated more than 1 billion page views. However, the network took heat for technical problems that arose due to the unprecedented amount of live coverage.

“You can’t simulate the Olympic Games,” Lazarus said. “After the first weekend, in relative terms, we had very few issues. The evidence is in the length and amount of live streaming as the Games went on—the numbers are staggering.”

On to Sochi: Indeed, these Olympics marked a transition of sorts. The impact of the digital component, from social media giving a wider voice for critics to watching a 100-meter race on your cell phone, was significant. Lazarus expects the evolution of new technologies to ramp up even more going into 2014 and beyond.

“We’re going to continue to innovate,” Lazarus said. “What we’re doing today is leaps and bounds ahead of  the way the Olympics were handled in Beijing. We’ve got the Olympic games through 2020, and the one thing we know for sure is that the media  landscape is going to change.”

Newspaper Olympics coverage varies: Philly papers cut back; LA Times, USA Today all-in

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Special Report:

Staffing the Olympics used to be a no-brainer for major newspapers. The Games are a major worldwide event and you air-mail as many reporters as possible.

I was among 15 staffers for the Chicago Tribune during the 2000 Games in Sydney.

Obviously, times, priorities, and most importantly, economics have changed. It’s no longer automatic to send an army of staffers to cover an Olympics.

In fact, the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer initially decided skip the trip to London. They returned the five credentials issued to the papers. However, at the last minute, the editors decided to send Phil Sheridan.

Said Josh Barnett, executive sports editor for the Philadelphia Daily News on the overall decision: “It’s exclusively a financial decision. It’s a significant commitment (to staff an Olympics). With dwindling resources, you have to make decision of how and where to best use your people. It was a choice we didn’t want to make, but it was something we had to do.”

Barnett added, “I hope this is an anomaly for us as opposed to the norm.”

The St. Paul Pioneer-Press also made the same decision, electing not to send a staffer to London. Meanwhile, the Pioneer-Press’ main competitor, Glen Crevier of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, has two writers and a photographer in London.

Mike Bass, senior editor/sports for the Pioneer-Press, explained:

“There’s the realization that our reporter/columnist would likely make a greater impact covering local teams and issues than at the Olympics. There is a risk in all this, of course. If a major story breaks that involves an athlete from our market, we wouldn’t be there to cover it. Then again, if the story is big enough, the wires would certainly cover it in some way and we could try to supplement it. With the size of staff we have, these are the decisions we have to make all the time.”

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On the other side of the spectrum, there’s the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. The Times isn’t cutting back. It has 13 staffers in London.

Sports editor Mike James said the Olympics have been a staple of the Times’ sports coverage through the years.

“We think of the Olympics as one of our franchise opportunities,” James said. “It’s a chance for us to broaden our readership. You get a lot of interest from people who don’t normally read our section during the Olympics.”

James added, “I didn’t have to do a sales job (to upper management). They recognize the Olympics are an important thing we do during two-plus weeks.”

USA Today also is applying full-court treatment. Dave Morgan, senior VP for content and editor in chief for the USA Today sports media group, noted the staffing breakdown:

“We have about 48 reporters/editors, about 20 photographers, 11 attached to video and 5 for office administration and support (which includes circulation of our International edition). So 84 in all.”

That’s up from 60 in Beijing, he said:  “With the growth of the USAT Sports Media Group, we now include US Presswire (all-sports photo agency that we bought last year) and are fully coordinated with our Broadcast team on the video side so that’s where the growth is.”

However, even though it is increasing its digital presence, Morgan said the newspaper remains the prime focus.

“We see the newspaper as the sizzle reel for all the work appearing across our digital platforms,” Morgan said. “We will be creating much more content on a daily basis than we can hope to publish in print, and of course we don’t print every day, so the newspaper can’t be our only focus. But it is still our flagship product that best differentiates our content for the audience.”

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Those appear to be the extreme cases of high and low. Most papers are somewhere in between, probably more on the low side.

For example, the Chicago Tribune has dropped from 15 staffers in 2000 to 9 in Beijing to 5 (all writers) in London this year.

The reason? “Economics. Like so many,” said Mike Kellams, the Tribune’s associate managing editor for sports.

However, Kellams stressed the Olympics remains a priority to the Tribune.

“I’m also trying to strike the balance between news (not just events) and analysis,” Kellams said. “For the first time, we’ll better exploit Phil Hersh’s Olympic expertise (covering his 16th Olympics) by allowing him to write columns each day from the Games. I expect those to be smart and insightful as we know Phil’s work to be. I also expect it will be the kind of Olympic stories that only someone with his vast experience can first recognize and then tell to our readers.”

Minneapolis’ Crevier said the modern newspaper has to play the role of looking ahead in its Olympic coverage.

“I think it is important for print publications to look ahead to what is happening today,” Crevier said. “With a five-hour time difference, results and game coverage will seem stale in the daily paper the next day.”

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When asked about staffing for the games, Mark Jones, director of communications for the USOC, said interest remains strong in coverage for the Olympics.

“No one is immune to the changes that have occurred in the media landscape, but interest and coverage of the Games seems to continue to be a priority,” Jones said.

The difference, he said, is that more sports web sites are staffing the Games than ever before. FoxSports.com has a made a big commitment for the first time.

“We continue to see changes in the media landscape and certainly have more and more Internet-only news organizations accredited for the Olympic Games and covering the Games,” Jones said.

 

 

 

 

 

Meet Jim Bell, NBC’s executive producer for Olympics; On his plan and learning from Ebersol

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Jim Bell doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who takes himself too seriously.

When I asked how it will feel to sit in The Chair–the “Ebersol chair” if you will–during the Olympics, he went into a mock panic.

“I’m going to be very nervous,” Bell said. “I didn’t think this would actually happen.”

Seriously, Bell knows he has a big seat to fill as NBC’s executive producer for the Olympics in London. Previously, that role was played by former NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, who personally called the shots for every Olympics televised by the network since 1988.

Now with Ebersol stepping aside and only serving as a consultant in London, it will be Bell, 44, who will be making the big decisions during NBC’s massive coverage of the Games.

He hardly is a rookie. He is executive producer of Today and has worked under Ebersol for several Olympics.

A former All-Ivy defensive lineman at Harvard, Bell talks about the challenge that lies ahead of him in London.

What did you learn from Ebersol?

Oh, let’s see. Only everything. He’s an amazing guy.

He taught me that pace is very important to the telecast. His philosophy was to keep it moving.

Also, he taught the importance of having a plan. Planning out everything to the minute, but also knowing when you have to change off that plan.

Will it be different not seeing him in the big chair?

It’ll be different, sure. I’ll consult with him every day.

Will you will bring a certain style to the telecasts?

We’ll have to see. I expect what’s worked will in the past will work well again. At its core is storytelling.

Dick used to say if you don’t make the athletes empathetic, you won’t get the women to watch. What do you think in that regard?

I think there’s something to that. I might choose the word humanity. You’re talking about sports most viewers don’t follow. So it is important to personalize the athletes.

What has it been like to prepare for the Games?

One of the more interesting aspects is that you get two years to prepare for two weeks. You could make a decision 18 months out and not be bound by it. Something will happen you didn’t plan for during the Olympics.

Seriously, how do think you’ll feel when it all begins with the Opening Ceremonies?

We’ve done this for 20-plus years. Who was the guy? Gladwell? (Malcom Gladwell) talked about the 10,000-hour rule (the amount of time to master something). Well, I will tell you there are people here who have 10,000 hours working the Olympics.

We’ve got people who know what they’re doing. It’s not about one person. It’s about the entire team.

 

 

 

 

Dream Team rises again in NBA TV documentary

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The U.S. basketball team will have plenty of star power in London, but there will be only one Dream Team.

Twenty years ago in Barcelona, a team for the ages transformed basketball. A new documentary on NBA TV (Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET) chronicles Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, Patrick, Scottie and the rest with interviews and rare footage.

I’ll have more next week, but here’s a video clip with the release below.

From NBA TV:

NBA TV will celebrate the 20th anniversary of USA Basketball’s iconic team, which captured the attention of fans around the globe, when the network premieres NBA TV’s “The Dream Team” presented by Right Guard on Wednesday, June 13, at 9 p.m. ET.

Narrated by writer/director/producer Ed Burns, the film will be the definitive documentary of the historic 1992 USA Basketball team, featuring recent interviews with all 12 members, including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Charles Barkley.

The 90-minute documentary will showcase never-before-seen footage and untold stories of how the most dominant team ever assembled returned USA Basketball to glory, while turning basketball into a global phenomenon.

The world had rarely seen a frenzy as the one the Dream Team created when it arrived in Barcelona, Spain, in July 1992. The Dream Team featured 11 future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame players and three future Hall of Famers on the coaching staff, including head coach Chuck Daly.

NBA TV’s “The Dream Team” presented by Right Guard® will take viewers on a behind-the-scenes journey into the selection of the team, the dynamic personalities, the legendary team-building experiences in training camp and exhibitions, and ultimately its rock-star-type unveiling in Barcelona.

NBA TV’s “The Dream Team” presented by Right Guard® will include:
· Exclusive one-on-one interviews with the entire Dream Team: Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Christian Laettner, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, and John Stockton, as well as assistant coaches Lenny Wilkens, Mike Krzyzewski, and P.J. Carlesimo
· The Team’s only loss, as documented through rare footage from USA Basketball’s film library, and the untold story behind what has become part of basketball legend
· The Story of the greatest game never seen, featuring exclusive footage from 20 years ago in Monte Carlo when Magic and Jordan went head-to-head in practice
· How The Team was chosen: the story behind the selection process for the Dream Team’s roster
· Many other exclusive interviews with those connected to the team.