NBC Posts $223 Million Loss on Winter Olympics (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

CBS News ^ | April 16, 2010

[Zakeet]

The tally is in: NBC lost $223 million on the Winter Olympics in the first quarter.

That's slightly better than the most recent estimate of $250 million in losses. Advertising sales have improved a bit since NBC parent General Electric Co. made that projection in late January.

The Olympics did bring about $800 million in extra revenue to GE. But NBC had a lot of production and other expenses, including $820 million just to acquire the rights to carry the Vancouver Games on television and online. That expense was cited as the main culprit for the red ink.

[Zakeet]

The FCC better hurry up before it's too late for GE to flip the bird ... to Comcast.

[abb]

ping

[bert]

The values determined by money coming in and money going out do not consider the propaganda value of all the short leftwing messages delivered

[tobyhill]

“The tally is in: NBC lost $223 million on the Winter Olympics in the first quarter.

That's slightly better than the most recent estimate of $250 million in losses.”

WOW! I'm sure the shareholders are relieved that they didn't lose as much money as expected. <sarc

[Zakeet]

Last year, NBC Sports lost even more money than NBC News alert.

[stephenjohnbanker]

GE made 16.1 BILLION in profits, and paid ZERO income tax. Don’t cry for me, Argentina......

[mlocher]

!!!!gnihc-ahC

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[rdl6989]

Doh! That’s gonna leave a mark.

[Perdogg]

I used to like the Winter Games until they put the X-games crap in it. My guess is that since we got hit with snowmaggedon in the East a week before the games started, people didn’t want to watch.

[abb]

Very likely.

One other factor is the execrable droning of the commentators telling “life stories” of the athletes instead of covering the events themselves. Anyone can now short-circuit that BS by watching the events online.

Remember how some Monday Night Football fans used to listen to the game on the radio while watching on TV so they wouldn’t have to hear Howard Cosell? Sort of the same thing.

[xzins]

From the beginning, it was a bust to me. They focus on cute and flamboyant to the exclusion of everything else.

I simply wasn’t interested.

The old winter Olympics with Jim McKay(?)....I’d watch it night and day.

What have they lost?

1. Attention throughout an entire event.
2. Masculinity and femininity
3. The extreme, polarized competitiveness between eastern bloc and the US during the Cold War.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

Since I went to Vancouver for the games...did not watch any of NBC coverage....either live or Canadian TV networks (though...CBC in past games did a better job on the Olympics than CTV, IMO)

The real gauge on whether the Olympics were “worth it or not” will be in the overall Feburary ratings....if NBC got no carry-over from the games...then they are in bigger trouble

Wonder who will do the 2014 games? NBC has just up until 2012 summmer games

[donna]

Droning is right. What is the word for claustrophobia only to noise - that’s what I get.

Same with the reporterettes on Fox who talk so fast and never take a breath.

[1rudeboy]

GE made 16.1 BILLION in profits, and paid ZERO income tax. Don’t cry for me, Argentina......

How much more do you want to pay for a lightbulb in order to be happy?

[TomGuy]

NBC had a lot of production and other expenses, including $820 million just to acquire the rights to carry the Vancouver Games on television and online. That expense was cited as the main culprit for the red ink

Acquiring the rights to and broadcasting events are the culprit for the red ink?

So, if they had not acquired the rights to broadcast, they would not have had the red ink.

What brilliant logic. [/s]

[No wonder NBC is financially destitute and getting worse. Maybe a Leno at the 10 pm ET hour would save the network. Another /s]

[LoveUSA]

What have they lost?

For one thing, American television has lost their loyalty to the U.S. I only got to see one medal ceremony with our National Anthem, and that was the blonde bimbo skier.

[Dallas59]

It’s time for Obammy to take over.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“How much more do you want to pay for a lightbulb in order to be happy? “

Answer = 4 cents.

Any more non sequiturs?

[TomGuy]

One other factor is the execrable droning of the commentators telling “life stories” of the athletes instead of covering the events themselves.

I hardly watched anything on the NBC broadcasts, until they saw MSNBC and CNBC getting twice their NBC numbers of viewers for the men's hockey games and put the hockey finals on NBC.

MSNBC and CNBC were not quite as bad with the personal lives commentaries. MSNBC got over 8 million for the men's semi-final; that was one of the biggest audiences MSNBC ever got for anything.