ITV

Category: NBC

  • NBC crosses $1 billion ad sales mark for Olympics

    MUMBAI: NBC has been able to cross its target of a record $1 billion in ad sales for the Athens games, which kicked off last Saturday.
     
     

    In India Doordarshan is airing the games and the situation is very different. As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, while DD will net Rs 80 million from the games, the acquisition costs were substantially higher at Rs 240 million.

    Coming back to the US, an NBC Sports spokeswoman Cameron Blanchard was quoted in Newsday saying that the network, which is broadcasting 1,210 hours of coverage across six channels which is nearly three times the amount it aired from Sydney in 2000, sold out its inventory before Friday’s Opening Ceremony. NBC paid $793 million for the rights. It is airing Olympic programming on NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, the USA Network and Telemundo.

    Trade magazine Television Week added that NBC charged $700,000 per 30 seconds for broadcast prime-time spots, $250,000 for weekend day air time and $75,000 for late-night and weekday spots.
     
     

    Visa, Mazda, AT&T Wireless, BMW, Allstate and McDonald’s are among the marketers that have launched new campaigns tied to the Olympics. US Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps who has so far won three Gold medals, tennis players Venus and Serena Williams and weight lifter Shane Hamman are among the athletes starring in the ads.

    Earlier the parent NBC Universal had stated that it expected to make a profit of about $50 million from the Olympics. This figure is less than it was two years ago, when NBC raked in $75 million from broadcasting the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. NBC had to pay more for the rights to carry the Athens games compared to Sydney. It also had to absorb higher security costs.

  • NBC, Bronfman shortlisted for Vivendi Universal bid

    NEW YORK: It has been two months since Vivendi formally invited bids for Vivendi Universal Entertainment. Initially, the company had claimed that the bids came in fast and furious, but now there are just two parties remaining. They are NBC and the Bronfman Group.

    Vivendi Universal’s board has decided to continue negotiating with the two of them instead of deciding a winner outright. Reports indicate that NBC has the edge because of its media strength and its parent, General Electric.

    However, unlike the Bronfman Group, NBC has not offered cash upfront, of billions of dollars for a debt-burdened Vivendi.

    Whichever way the chips fall, Vivendi will have a substantial minority interest in a US media corporation. Putting a spanner in the works is the fact that Vivendi is looking at an initial public offering for the assets as an alternative to a sale.

    Vivendi’s wants $14 billion for the assets and that is a figure that left many bidders sore. If the sale were to go through it would result in either one of the world’s largest media companies or one of the world’s biggest private equity funds.

    Bronfman’s Group includes Cablevision Systems which is, the main cable TV operator in New York and private equity fund Thomas H Lee Partners.

    Vivendi Universal Entertainment’s assets include the Universal movie studios and theme parks, cable channels.