Getting the games dead to rights

Some 700-plus television cameras are broadcasting the hopes and despairs of some 10,200 athletes from 200 countries to an expected television audience of 3.5 billion. There are more than 15,000 media personnel based in Sydney, mingling with some 250,000 other Olympic visitors.

The figures are huge. And none more so than the money paid for TV rights. US network NBC paid a figure in the region of $705 million for the exclusive US broadcast rights to the 2000 Olympic games. Having already negotiated for Sydney, in December 1995, NBC and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) signed an agreement granting the television network the exclusive US broadcast rights to the next five games, both winter and summer, for a combined total, for the years 2000 to 2008 of $3.5 billion. That's more money than General Electric, the giant US corporation, paid for the entire NBC network back in the mid-1980s. And it's for just a few weeks' TV.

NBC is not even broadcasting the games live. The time difference between the US and Australia means major events are being taped and shown to prime time audiences as much as 15 to 18 hours later.

RTE has not revealed what it paid to secure broadcasting rights to the Sydney 2000 games - much, much less than NBC, of course. It has secured exclusive Irish TV rights to the games until 2008.

The issue of exclusive sports rights is a contentious issue at present, with RTE and TV3 slugging it out domestically and BSkyB always lurking. The UEFA Champions League in soccer, once occupying prime time on the national broadcaster, is now the flagship programme at the two-year-old commercial station. Soon it will be joined by Coronation Street, with the soap's producers, Granada, purchasing 45 per cent of TV3.

RTE's GAA coverage of football and hurling may be under threat. RTE is believed to have paid around £1 million for the broadcast rights for this year's GAA championship games, but the contract is due to expire at the end of this year, leaving the association free to negotiate with other broadcasters including TV3. The GAA is also said to be looking to seek a separate deal for television and radio rights. The advance of new technology, most notably the personalised television and video service that DSL (digital subscriber lines) and even digital television will bring, is already having a significant effect on the negotiation of exclusive rights, though we won't really see the technology for another few years.

A spokesperson for TV3 said it is too early to say whether the station will be competing for Olympic rights after 2008, but media commentators have little doubt that they will. Ireland is not represented very well by athletes at Olympic level, but the games still draw big audience figures. Television is about ratings, and big audiences mean the highest advertising rates. You can't ignore the prestige that comes with broadcasting the Olympics, but there is a real attraction about the advertising revenues generated during the coverage. NBC has grossed sales of over £900 million. RTE isn't saying.

One of the biggest areas that "exclusive" broadcast rights have impacted is on the Internet's coverage of the Olympics. While NBC's www.nbcolympics.com is the most comprehensive site, the IOC has banned all Olympic video streams, moving pictures and audio from all open sites. If you take a look at ireland.com or any of the big sites you will note the absence of the multimedia that has become synonymous with the web. "Live updates" come in the text format with precious few visual extras.