Interesting that our man Tom Wolzien is being quoted in this article
on AT&T, NBC, and the Olympics--It was in my newspaper tonight:
Posted at 10:37 a.m. PDT; Friday, June 11, 1999
NBC, AT&T reach deal to provide Olympics, digital-TV programming
by Sallie Hofmeister
Los Angeles Times
Cable customers will be able to watch more Olympics coverage than ever and see digital programming without a special TV set under an agreement between AT&T and NBC that could set the stage for other similar pacts between broadcasters and cable operators.
Yesterday's agreement breaks a yearlong stalemate over digital transmission between the cable and broadcast industries, and is a giant step forward in broadcasters' transition from analog to state-of-the-art digital technology, which offers better picture and sound quality.
The eight-year pact also quadruples the amount of Olympics programming on cable, giving AT&T subscribers more hours of coverage of the top-rated sporting event than they will receive on NBC, underscoring the network's continued faith in cable as troubles mount in its traditional business.
"It resolves a lot of issues for both sides," said Tom Wolzien, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein & Co.
AT&T, the largest U.S. long-distance telephone carrier, has undertaken two huge acquisitions that will make it the largest cable operator in the country.
Under the agreement, AT&T, currently the nation's second-largest cable operator, will pay NBC an undisclosed extra fee for Olympics programming that will run on the network's two news channels, MSNBC and CNBC. NBC plans to air 250 hours of live programming on the two cable channels during each of the next five Olympics beginning next year.
NBC said the cable broadcasts will give the network an outlet for more of the 3,000 hours of live programming it films during the Olympics.
While neither NBC nor AT&T would disclose terms of the deal, sources say the phone giant is paying close to $1 a year for the next eight years for each subscriber it reaches. If other cable operators agree to a similar deal, it could significantly defray the record $3.5 billion that NBC paid for rights to those games.
Under the new pact, AT&T has also agreed to carry NBC's high-definition television signals to its 11 million cable subscribers, becoming the first cable operator to make those signals available.
Cable operators, which now carry broadcasters' analog signals to their customers to comply with federal "must-carry" laws, say doing the same thing for broadcasters' digital channels would force them to knock off popular existing cable channels to make room on their crowded systems for the higher-quality signal.
AT&T has agreed to make a channel available to NBC once all its systems are fully upgraded. |
