After a freewheeling decade of cocaine benders and decisions like greenlighting “Bionic Woman,” NBC is attempting to make some sound financial decisions. Not only is NBC Universal scaling back its coverage of the April 29th royal wedding, but the network’s sports honcho Dick Ebersol is struggling to get the funds to renew NBC’s Olympic package.
NBC Universal has cut a number of pretaped segments from its “aggressive and comprehensive coverage” of the royal wedding because insiders fear Prince William and Kate Middleton are “too boring,” according to sources…
“The US public’s interest was not what they thought,” sniped an NBC insider. “Kate and Prince William are both really boring.” [Page Six]
Wow, that’s crazy. There’s a marriage between two people who represent a vestigial tail of the government that the United States revolted against almost 250 years ago, and Americans AREN’T interested? Pardon me, my monocle fell out when I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
As US television networks put the finishing touches on Olympic TV rights bids due next month, there’s growing friction between NBC Universal’s longtime Olympics chief, Dick Ebersol, and network brass, sources tell The Post.
NBC Universal outbid competitors for the TV rights last time around, but Jeff Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, then the majority owner of the network, later admitted the Games had been a money loser. That’s something Comcast, NBC’s new cost-conscious owners, are keen to avoid.
Ebersol has been a proponent of packaging sports and airing them as live in primetime to maximize ad revenue rather than broadcasting the moment they air, something rival ESPN is planning to do. [NY Post]
Ebersol’s primetime package was annoying in 2008, when blogs and the Internet started spoiling the stories, and it was downright idiotic in 2010 after the rise of Twitter. Hell, people IN THE SAME CITY AS THE OLYMPICS had to watch the Olympics on tape delay. Comcast shouldn’t just turn down Ebersol’s bid for the Olympics, they should fire him. Preferably out of a cannon.
