On TV
March 31, 2011
What do women want? NBC thinks it knows. The network's coverage plans are to go straight for the heartstrings -- focusing in on the drama, the passion, the spectacle. ``The story is so much more important (to women),'' according to NBC Sports President Dillon Sandberg. ``Men will basically sit through anything to get the results.'' The Games is the only sports event on TV that draws women in equal numbers to men, and NBC believes it also represents the last ``family TV'' -- mom, pop and the kids sitting around the same television set. So the network's staff of 2,800 Games workers (2,500 in300 in York-- are charged with keeping mom watching in order to keep buyers of NBC's $675 million of commercials happy. Don't expect rapid cuts to, say, last-second track-and-field finals. ``We will not jump around just to prove we can jump around,'' says Mr. Sandberg. Gymnastics, swimming, diving and other ``female-appeal sports'' will be the ``driver of prime-time coverage.'' In Barcelona, NBC tried handing straight events coverage to TripleCast -- three pay cable channels showing pure athletics -- charging subscribers a $100-plus fee. NBC says it lost $100 million dollars on the venture. So this time, there will be no coverage on cable. And when the network isn't focusing on a somersaulting pixie, it will be showing one of 140 canned ``profiles'' of athletes (two-thirds of them about Americans) and their stories. Get out the handkerchiefs. Don't Touch That Dial NBC plans 171.5 hours of coverage from . Add on the two-hour ``Today'' show, broadcast from and likely to be heavy on sports stories, and that's the most network Games coverage ever. Two years ago, CBS broadcast 119.5 hours of the Lillehammer Winter Games. In contrast, the 1980 ``Miracle in '' Winter Games took place with only 53 hours of coverage. NBC's lowest-rated Summer Games -- the Games -- had 15 minutes an hour of commercials. This time it will be down to nine minutes. Let the Hype Begin At the opening ceremony, dancers will ride onto the field in new Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks. General Motors brags it's the first Games sponsor ever included in the ceremonies, which will be watched by about 3.5 billion people. ``As the only brand to have a presence in opening ceremonies, we are able to break through the marketing clutter,'' says a GM spokesman. -- Jami P. Shippy and Alexandra Peers
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
