2016 Olympics logo unveiled New Year's Eve in Rio
(AP) – 3 hours ago
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The logo for the 2016 Olympics will be unveiled for the first time at Rio's traditional New Year's celebrations.
It will be shown just moments before the fireworks at Copacabana beach are set to go off at midnight on Friday. The logo will be projected on a huge screen on the sand.
Local officials and members of the International Olympic Committee will be at Copacabana to witness the event, along with nearly two million tourists and Rio residents expected for the New Year's Eve party at the famous beach, according to authorities.
Rio won the right in 2009 to host the 2016 Olympics, beating Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago. The Rio Games will be the first in South America.
Olympic organizers have said the Rio 2016 brand was created to reflect the city's culture and represent its natural wonders and joyful residents. They said the logo was designed based on four pillars: contagious energy, harmonious diversity, exuberant nature and Olympic spirit.
Nearly 140 agencies participated in the process to design the logo and only eight made it into the final phase. A multidisciplinary team of 15 national and international members of Rio 2016's organizing committee made the final decision a few months ago.
IOC President Jacques Rogge made his first visit to Rio since the Pan American Games in 2007. He's taking a close look at how the city has been preparing for the games.
He was expected to visit a local slum and construction sites of a tunnel and a subway line on Thursday. He helped lay the cornerstone for the future Olympic and Paralympic Village on Wednesday. He also was present at the signing of an agreement for the construction of the Olympic Park, where 19 facilities will be located.
Rogge said he's liked what he has seen so far. Local authorities and members of the IOC coordination commission have had planning sessions throughout the week.
"I see the preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games is going extremely well," he said.
Rio Gov. Sergio Cabral said the lack of airport infrastructure remains the greatest obstacle in preparations for the games, but downplayed concerns it will remain a problem when the event begins in six years.
Rogge called for local authorities to avoid building venues that may not be of use after the games.
"The Olympic Games are an opportunity for a city, and even a continent, to think of its future," Rogge said.
Associated Writer Tales Azzoni in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
In NBC’s Shadow, Comcast Must Ponder Taking Olympic Plunge
In NBC’s Shadow, Comcast Must Ponder Taking Olympic Plunge
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Does Comcast cherish the Olympics with the same fervor as did General Electric, which has paid billions to make NBC the network of the Summer and Winter Games for a generation?
The question arises because Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, is close to regulatory approval to buy control of NBC Universal from G.E. in a deal valued at $30 billion — and because the Olympics are near-certain guarantees of prime-time dominance for 17 nights every two years.
As early as next spring, Comcast will face ESPN, Fox and a possible CBS-Turner Sports bid at the International Olympic Committee’s auction for the media rights to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“I don’t think Comcast wants its first move with its new partner to be a negative one and to lose something NBC has had for years,” said Barry Frank, an executive vice president of IMG who has negotiated Olympic deals in the past.
Comcast, which serves 22.9 million of the nation’s 100 million pay-television subscribers, according to SNL Kagan, has done little to tip its Olympic intentions. But it understands the impact of sports through its ownership of Versus, the Golf Channel, 11 regional sports networks, the Philadelphia Flyers and the 76ers.
And its chairman, Brian Roberts, who has won four silver medals and one gold in team squash at the Maccabiah Games, attended the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
But Comcast has reason to be cautious about plunging into Olympic economics, where the cost of buying media rights in the United States has soared almost without a dip since CBS paid $50,000 for the 1960 Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif.
NBC lost $223 million on the Vancouver Games because of the recession and the steep price it paid to carry them; the network could lose more on the 2012 Summer Games in London on its highest-ever $1.18 billion rights fee.
“They’re eager to show they can make money running NBC, and the Olympics may not be a way of doing it,” said Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
The I.O.C.’s auction for the 2014 and ’16 rights, which has been delayed to avoid the worst of the recession, will test the networks’ desires to demonstrate financial prudence.
Jacques Rogge, the I.O.C. president, said recently that he wanted more than $2.2 billion, which G.E. paid for the 2010 and ’12 rights and for a global sponsorship — the latter an extra that Comcast, without international interests like G.E.’s, has no reason to buy. G.E. said in 2008 that its sponsorship was paying off with $700 million in contracts for 400 Olympic projects in and around Beijing.
Privately, the I.O.C. believes the Sochi-Rio media rights could be worth as much as $2.7 billion.
But, Moffett said, “It’s a stretch to imagine making money at $2 billion.”
Network executives say they believe that Sochi is less valuable than Vancouver (cost: $820 million) because of its relatively warm winter climate and that Rio should not bring as large a rights fee as a domestic Olympics would have in Chicago, one of the losing bidders in the election to host the 2016 Summer Games.
But Richard Carrion, the I.O.C. member handling the auction, said in an interview, “I think there are plenty of things to make Sochi an exciting place and Rio is a good summer site.”
Last month, Leslie Moonves, the president of CBS, mindful of NBC’s losses and what the I.O.C. is seeking, seemed to indicate he would bow out of the auction if he could not get a bargain.
“We don’t need to invest in something to lose money,” Moonves told an industry conference, “or just to help the prestige of the network. I think we’re already there.”
Despite its ability to acquire much of what it wants, ESPN has signaled that it will not be profligate in its Olympic bidding, which acts as a pre-auction brake on the I.O.C.’s optimism.
Last April, ESPN was outbid for the rights to the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament by the combined forces of CBS and Turner, which are paying $10.8 billion over 14 years. ESPN offered 10 percent less than CBS and Turner.
“The N.C.A.A. is instructive,” said John Skipper, ESPN’s executive vice president for content. “We felt we had the best plan. I’m confident we’ll have an excellent Olympic plan, but, like the N.C.A.A., we expect to be aggressive and prudent.”
NBC and Comcast officials declined to comment.
Acquiring the rights to the Olympics is often a case of want, not need.
They provide 17 days of highly rated programming and blanket the Internet. But they lack the week-to-week power of N.F.L. games like those that NBC carries on Sunday nights, which is the network’s highest-rated program.
Dick Ebersol, who has run NBC’s sports division since 1989, adores the Olympics, produces them and would probably have left if another network had acquired them. He is part of the Olympic movement, was a close friend of the I.O.C.’s late president Juan Antonio Samaranch and is a recipient of the committee’s highest honor, the Olympic Order.
In two stealthy moves in 1995 — one of which came shortly after Fox Sports believed it had pre-empted NBC on the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia — Ebersol acquired the rights to the Olympics from 2000 to 2008. Then he outbid Fox by $700 million at the auction for the 2010 and ’12 rights, where ESPN offered only a plan to share revenues with the I.O.C.
Now, Ebersol’s sealed bids at the coming auction will be made with Comcast’s financial analysis and approval. The purse strings will be held by Roberts, not by Olympic-friendly G.E. chairmen like Jack Welch or Jeffrey Immelt. Instead of working for top NBC executives like Bob Wright or Jeff Zucker, Ebersol will report to Stephen B. Burke.
Wright, who as chairman and chief executive of NBC Universal was part of a small group that plotted the network’s extended era of Olympic domination, said that the economic projections that justify a bid can be undone by a bad economy years later, which occurred in Vancouver.
“I don’t think anybody at this stage thinks they have to have the Olympics to survive, or that the Olympics will change their business model in a significant way to take a big business risk,” said Wright, now an adviser to Lee Capital Partners. “So Comcast certainly doesn’t have to have the Olympics to make NBC Universal successful.”
But a rationale can be made for cash-rich Comcast to follow G.E.’s aggressive example. Analysts say that Comcast can help to monetize its rights fees by selling Olympic video-on-demand packages to its millions of broadband customers and that Olympic advertisers might flock to reach its millions of cable and broadband subscribers.
Comcast could raise Versus’s low profile by packing it with Olympic events like those that have been on NBC Universal-owned networks like USA, CNBC and MSNBC. With golf returning as an Olympic sport in 2016, the Golf Channel would carry the sport.
Putting the Olympics on Versus could also be a major step toward becoming a stronger rival to ESPN, especially if Comcast stocks it with cable rights to the N.F.L. (the league could create a new package out of expanding to an 18-game schedule), extends its N.H.L. deal and pursues a Major League Baseball contract.
“Comcast is buying NBC in large part to go out and beat up ESPN,” said Susan Crawford, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, who is writing a book about the Comcast-NBC Universal deal.
Skipper, of ESPN, said, “It’s not hard to see how Versus could be helpful to their bid.”
With the Olympics — and more — Versus could expand beyond its 75 million subscribers and raise the average 30-cents-a-subscriber fee it charges pay-TV operators . ESPN charges an industrywide high fee of about $4.50 but is not planning on trying to persuade operators to pay more if it buys the Olympic rights. ESPN intends to show everything live, even at Sochi time, an alteration to a policy begun at ABC and continued at NBC.
Crawford said that if Comcast made a strong challenge to ESPN, then “the foreclosure value of keeping ESPN out of the Olympics is higher than the market value of the Olympics.”
But if Comcast does not follow G.E. in making a blowout bid, it could cajole the I.O.C. to sell it the rights to four Olympics, not just Sochi and Rio, Crawford said.
At least one network has already asked to buy the four Games through 2020, according to two sports industry executives with different roles in the coming auction who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Carrion, of the I.O.C., said the organization would prefer not to let one company make a pre-emptive bid but that he would consider asking if the networks want to buy the rights to four Olympics through 2020 “because this is a long-term investment.”
Until the auction, the I.O.C. and the networks will joust publicly about what the next Olympic Games are worth. As G.E. proved by underwriting NBC’s ambitions, all it takes is one network to show the greatest desire for the Olympics to satisfy the I.O.C.
“Don’t underestimate them,” Wright said of the I.O.C. “They’re a very smart, savvy crowd.”
RubinMedia Consulting
Henry Jason Rubin
editing.production.engineering
2320 East Hampton Street
Tucson, Arizona 85719 USA
520.360-9181 Mobile
www.linkedin.com/pub/0/141/2a5
http://henryrubin.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post.html
From: Henry Rubin [mailto:HJ.Rubin@att.net]
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 8:42 PM
Subject: Comcast /NBC News
Maybe you all have seen this article, I thought I would pass it along.
Henry
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ia720786bb43ba0b0dc456828d113f06d?pn=2
RubinMedia Consulting
Henry Jason Rubin
editing.production.engineering
2320 East Hampton Street
Tucson, Arizona 85719 USA
520.360-9181 Mobile
www.linkedin.com/pub/0/141/2a5
http://henryrubin.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post.html
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Does Comcast cherish the Olympics with the same fervor as did General Electric, which has paid billions to make NBC the network of the Summer and Winter Games for a generation?
The question arises because Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, is close to regulatory approval to buy control of NBC Universal from G.E. in a deal valued at $30 billion — and because the Olympics are near-certain guarantees of prime-time dominance for 17 nights every two years.
As early as next spring, Comcast will face ESPN, Fox and a possible CBS-Turner Sports bid at the International Olympic Committee’s auction for the media rights to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“I don’t think Comcast wants its first move with its new partner to be a negative one and to lose something NBC has had for years,” said Barry Frank, an executive vice president of IMG who has negotiated Olympic deals in the past.
Comcast, which serves 22.9 million of the nation’s 100 million pay-television subscribers, according to SNL Kagan, has done little to tip its Olympic intentions. But it understands the impact of sports through its ownership of Versus, the Golf Channel, 11 regional sports networks, the Philadelphia Flyers and the 76ers.
And its chairman, Brian Roberts, who has won four silver medals and one gold in team squash at the Maccabiah Games, attended the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
But Comcast has reason to be cautious about plunging into Olympic economics, where the cost of buying media rights in the United States has soared almost without a dip since CBS paid $50,000 for the 1960 Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif.
NBC lost $223 million on the Vancouver Games because of the recession and the steep price it paid to carry them; the network could lose more on the 2012 Summer Games in London on its highest-ever $1.18 billion rights fee.
“They’re eager to show they can make money running NBC, and the Olympics may not be a way of doing it,” said Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
The I.O.C.’s auction for the 2014 and ’16 rights, which has been delayed to avoid the worst of the recession, will test the networks’ desires to demonstrate financial prudence.
Jacques Rogge, the I.O.C. president, said recently that he wanted more than $2.2 billion, which G.E. paid for the 2010 and ’12 rights and for a global sponsorship — the latter an extra that Comcast, without international interests like G.E.’s, has no reason to buy. G.E. said in 2008 that its sponsorship was paying off with $700 million in contracts for 400 Olympic projects in and around Beijing.
Privately, the I.O.C. believes the Sochi-Rio media rights could be worth as much as $2.7 billion.
But, Moffett said, “It’s a stretch to imagine making money at $2 billion.”
Network executives say they believe that Sochi is less valuable than Vancouver (cost: $820 million) because of its relatively warm winter climate and that Rio should not bring as large a rights fee as a domestic Olympics would have in Chicago, one of the losing bidders in the election to host the 2016 Summer Games.
But Richard Carrion, the I.O.C. member handling the auction, said in an interview, “I think there are plenty of things to make Sochi an exciting place and Rio is a good summer site.”
Last month, Leslie Moonves, the president of CBS, mindful of NBC’s losses and what the I.O.C. is seeking, seemed to indicate he would bow out of the auction if he could not get a bargain.
“We don’t need to invest in something to lose money,” Moonves told an industry conference, “or just to help the prestige of the network. I think we’re already there.”
Despite its ability to acquire much of what it wants, ESPN has signaled that it will not be profligate in its Olympic bidding, which acts as a pre-auction brake on the I.O.C.’s optimism.
Last April, ESPN was outbid for the rights to the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament by the combined forces of CBS and Turner, which are paying $10.8 billion over 14 years. ESPN offered 10 percent less than CBS and Turner.
“The N.C.A.A. is instructive,” said John Skipper, ESPN’s executive vice president for content. “We felt we had the best plan. I’m confident we’ll have an excellent Olympic plan, but, like the N.C.A.A., we expect to be aggressive and prudent.”
NBC and Comcast officials declined to comment.
Acquiring the rights to the Olympics is often a case of want, not need.
They provide 17 days of highly rated programming and blanket the Internet. But they lack the week-to-week power of N.F.L. games like those that NBC carries on Sunday nights, which is the network’s highest-rated program.
Dick Ebersol, who has run NBC’s sports division since 1989, adores the Olympics, produces them and would probably have left if another network had acquired them. He is part of the Olympic movement, was a close friend of the I.O.C.’s late president Juan Antonio Samaranch and is a recipient of the committee’s highest honor, the Olympic Order.
In two stealthy moves in 1995 — one of which came shortly after Fox Sports believed it had pre-empted NBC on the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia — Ebersol acquired the rights to the Olympics from 2000 to 2008. Then he outbid Fox by $700 million at the auction for the 2010 and ’12 rights, where ESPN offered only a plan to share revenues with the I.O.C.
Now, Ebersol’s sealed bids at the coming auction will be made with Comcast’s financial analysis and approval. The purse strings will be held by Roberts, not by Olympic-friendly G.E. chairmen like Jack Welch or Jeffrey Immelt. Instead of working for top NBC executives like Bob Wright or Jeff Zucker, Ebersol will report to Stephen B. Burke.
Wright, who as chairman and chief executive of NBC Universal was part of a small group that plotted the network’s extended era of Olympic domination, said that the economic projections that justify a bid can be undone by a bad economy years later, which occurred in Vancouver.
“I don’t think anybody at this stage thinks they have to have the Olympics to survive, or that the Olympics will change their business model in a significant way to take a big business risk,” said Wright, now an adviser to Lee Capital Partners. “So Comcast certainly doesn’t have to have the Olympics to make NBC Universal successful.”
But a rationale can be made for cash-rich Comcast to follow G.E.’s aggressive example. Analysts say that Comcast can help to monetize its rights fees by selling Olympic video-on-demand packages to its millions of broadband customers and that Olympic advertisers might flock to reach its millions of cable and broadband subscribers.
Comcast could raise Versus’s low profile by packing it with Olympic events like those that have been on NBC Universal-owned networks like USA, CNBC and MSNBC. With golf returning as an Olympic sport in 2016, the Golf Channel would carry the sport.
Putting the Olympics on Versus could also be a major step toward becoming a stronger rival to ESPN, especially if Comcast stocks it with cable rights to the N.F.L. (the league could create a new package out of expanding to an 18-game schedule), extends its N.H.L. deal and pursues a Major League Baseball contract.
“Comcast is buying NBC in large part to go out and beat up ESPN,” said Susan Crawford, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, who is writing a book about the Comcast-NBC Universal deal.
Skipper, of ESPN, said, “It’s not hard to see how Versus could be helpful to their bid.”
With the Olympics — and more — Versus could expand beyond its 75 million subscribers and raise the average 30-cents-a-subscriber fee it charges pay-TV operators . ESPN charges an industrywide high fee of about $4.50 but is not planning on trying to persuade operators to pay more if it buys the Olympic rights. ESPN intends to show everything live, even at Sochi time, an alteration to a policy begun at ABC and continued at NBC.
Crawford said that if Comcast made a strong challenge to ESPN, then “the foreclosure value of keeping ESPN out of the Olympics is higher than the market value of the Olympics.”
But if Comcast does not follow G.E. in making a blowout bid, it could cajole the I.O.C. to sell it the rights to four Olympics, not just Sochi and Rio, Crawford said.
At least one network has already asked to buy the four Games through 2020, according to two sports industry executives with different roles in the coming auction who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Carrion, of the I.O.C., said the organization would prefer not to let one company make a pre-emptive bid but that he would consider asking if the networks want to buy the rights to four Olympics through 2020 “because this is a long-term investment.”
Until the auction, the I.O.C. and the networks will joust publicly about what the next Olympic Games are worth. As G.E. proved by underwriting NBC’s ambitions, all it takes is one network to show the greatest desire for the Olympics to satisfy the I.O.C.
“Don’t underestimate them,” Wright said of the I.O.C. “They’re a very smart, savvy crowd.”
RubinMedia Consulting
Henry Jason Rubin
editing.production.engineering
2320 East Hampton Street
Tucson, Arizona 85719 USA
520.360-9181 Mobile
www.linkedin.com/pub/0/141/2a5
http://henryrubin.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post.html
From: Henry Rubin [mailto:HJ.Rubin@att.net]
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 8:42 PM
Subject: Comcast /NBC News
Maybe you all have seen this article, I thought I would pass it along.
Henry
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ia720786bb43ba0b0dc456828d113f06d?pn=2
RubinMedia Consulting
Henry Jason Rubin
editing.production.engineering
2320 East Hampton Street
Tucson, Arizona 85719 USA
520.360-9181 Mobile
www.linkedin.com/pub/0/141/2a5
http://henryrubin.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post.html
Monday, December 27, 2010
Comcast-NBC merger could hinge on future of Internet video Dec 20, 2010 8:00 AM, By Michael Grotticelli
Comcast-NBC merger could hinge on future of Internet video
Dec 20, 2010 8:00 AM, By Michael Grotticelli
Regulators are considering a requirement that Comcast must make NBC’s broadcast and cable channels available to rival online providers at reasonable prices.
The future of Internet video has now become the dominant issue in whether the federal government approves the merger application of Comcast and NBC Universal.
Federal regulators, according to a report from the Associated Press, are now pushing for tough conditions to ensure that Comcast can’t hold back the growth of online video. The cable giant could do this by withholding content or pushing up prices for NBC programs at a time viewers are starting to turn to the Internet for viewing television programming.
The government is trying to extract concessions from Comcast in its bid for NBC that could determine whether customers can someday realistically drop their cable subscriptions and go online-only for their TV, the AP reported.
So far broadcasters and cable providers have moved online with caution, attempting not to hurt their current business models. Many television shows and movies have been blocked from the Internet. Others have been part of walled gardens that limit where and when viewers can watch online television.
Comcast has been resisting the efforts of federal regulators to ensure a choice of Internet access providers. The cable operator has argued that the efforts are unnecessary because NBC Universal only accounts for about 10 percent of television viewing and less than 10 percent of box office revenue in the United States.
Even so, Comcast is participating in an industry-wide program to limit online viewing of many popular shows to cable subscribers. NBC has joined other broadcast networks in blocking access to full episodes of its shows through Google TV software, which delivers Internet content to TV sets.
Until recently, online viewing had largely been limited to personal computers. Now, a variety of new devices are available that bring Internet video to television sets. The Apple TV and Roku set-top boxes, for example, serve as bridges to deliver online programs to the TV. Some high-end sets — among the best sellers this holiday season — connect directly to the Internet.
Cable companies worry that easy viewing of Internet video on TVs could lead customers to drop their monthly subscriptions in favor of low-cost online alternatives. Comcast’s 22.9 million cable subscribers pay an average of $71 per month for cable television.
Broadcasters are also afraid that Internet video will cannibalize revenue from television commercials, which are far more lucrative than online ads. They fear cable cancellations, too, because cable companies increasingly pay them per subscriber for the rights to carry stations on their lineups.
One rule regulators are considering would require Comcast to make NBC’s broadcast and cable channels available to rival online providers at reasonable prices. Under current rules, cable TV companies have to share programming they own with rivals such as satellite companies, but not Internet distributors.
Regulators could also prohibit Comcast from requiring a cable subscription to get online access to NBC Universal’s shows and movies. They are also considering whether to force Comcast to sell NBC’s 32 percent stake in the Internet video service Hulu.
Whatever is decided, the AP report said, the two sides are close to an agreement, which could pave the way for the FCC and the Justice Department to approve the deal imminently.
Comcast’s proposed $13.75 billion purchase of a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal would give the nation’s largest cable television company control over a major movie studio, Universal Studios, and some of the most-watched channels on television. The programming properties include the NBC network and Telemundo on broadcast TV and CNBC, Bravo and Oxygen channels on cable.
Dec 20, 2010 8:00 AM, By Michael Grotticelli
Regulators are considering a requirement that Comcast must make NBC’s broadcast and cable channels available to rival online providers at reasonable prices.
The future of Internet video has now become the dominant issue in whether the federal government approves the merger application of Comcast and NBC Universal.
Federal regulators, according to a report from the Associated Press, are now pushing for tough conditions to ensure that Comcast can’t hold back the growth of online video. The cable giant could do this by withholding content or pushing up prices for NBC programs at a time viewers are starting to turn to the Internet for viewing television programming.
The government is trying to extract concessions from Comcast in its bid for NBC that could determine whether customers can someday realistically drop their cable subscriptions and go online-only for their TV, the AP reported.
So far broadcasters and cable providers have moved online with caution, attempting not to hurt their current business models. Many television shows and movies have been blocked from the Internet. Others have been part of walled gardens that limit where and when viewers can watch online television.
Comcast has been resisting the efforts of federal regulators to ensure a choice of Internet access providers. The cable operator has argued that the efforts are unnecessary because NBC Universal only accounts for about 10 percent of television viewing and less than 10 percent of box office revenue in the United States.
Even so, Comcast is participating in an industry-wide program to limit online viewing of many popular shows to cable subscribers. NBC has joined other broadcast networks in blocking access to full episodes of its shows through Google TV software, which delivers Internet content to TV sets.
Until recently, online viewing had largely been limited to personal computers. Now, a variety of new devices are available that bring Internet video to television sets. The Apple TV and Roku set-top boxes, for example, serve as bridges to deliver online programs to the TV. Some high-end sets — among the best sellers this holiday season — connect directly to the Internet.
Cable companies worry that easy viewing of Internet video on TVs could lead customers to drop their monthly subscriptions in favor of low-cost online alternatives. Comcast’s 22.9 million cable subscribers pay an average of $71 per month for cable television.
Broadcasters are also afraid that Internet video will cannibalize revenue from television commercials, which are far more lucrative than online ads. They fear cable cancellations, too, because cable companies increasingly pay them per subscriber for the rights to carry stations on their lineups.
One rule regulators are considering would require Comcast to make NBC’s broadcast and cable channels available to rival online providers at reasonable prices. Under current rules, cable TV companies have to share programming they own with rivals such as satellite companies, but not Internet distributors.
Regulators could also prohibit Comcast from requiring a cable subscription to get online access to NBC Universal’s shows and movies. They are also considering whether to force Comcast to sell NBC’s 32 percent stake in the Internet video service Hulu.
Whatever is decided, the AP report said, the two sides are close to an agreement, which could pave the way for the FCC and the Justice Department to approve the deal imminently.
Comcast’s proposed $13.75 billion purchase of a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal would give the nation’s largest cable television company control over a major movie studio, Universal Studios, and some of the most-watched channels on television. The programming properties include the NBC network and Telemundo on broadcast TV and CNBC, Bravo and Oxygen channels on cable.
2012 Summer Olympics London
Two million people have signed up for tickets to the Olympics, the Standard has learned.
The milestone approached as Olympics chiefs finalised their strategy for selling £500 million of tickets for London 2012.
Organisers say they have been encouraged by the huge demand —and the fact that people are registering their interest across all 26 sports.
Some 1.95 million people have signed up for tickets which go on sale in March. On average, people have signed up for seven sports and half say they also want tickets for the Paralympics. About two thirds of ticketholders are expected to come from London and the South-East.
The Standard understands that organising committee Locog will cap the number of applications for high-demand events between four and eight per person per session in the majority of sports to boost the individual's chances of getting a ticket for prime events through the ballot.
However for lower-demand events such as the football tournament, for which there are one million tickets, it will be possible to make a group application so members of a club can travel and sit together.
Tickets will go on sale on 15 March — 500 days before the Games — for an initial 40 days.
Data gathered so far by Games chiefs suggests there will not be enough demand next year for all the tickets so there is likely to be a second and third wave of sales later in the year or early in 2012. By not releasing tickets too early, Locog hopes to minimise the chances of tickets falling into the hands of touts.
Organisers aim to raise £500 million, excluding VAT, from the sale of 8.8 million Olympic tickets. A poster campaign to register is running on buses and Tubes.
Locog commercial director Chris Townsend said: “When we launch the ticket application in March that window will be open for several weeks. It will give people time to download the application and plan their Games. We urge people to sign up because it takes time to look at all the 650 sessions of sport and the pricing options and take it all in.
“Logistically it takes time to get from one event to another and we need people to understand that.”
Games chiefs were today battling icy conditions before this evening's illumination of the Olympic stadium. Up to 2,000 people, including local schoolchildren, will witness the Prime Minister switching on the floodlights for the first time.
The milestone approached as Olympics chiefs finalised their strategy for selling £500 million of tickets for London 2012.
Organisers say they have been encouraged by the huge demand —and the fact that people are registering their interest across all 26 sports.
Some 1.95 million people have signed up for tickets which go on sale in March. On average, people have signed up for seven sports and half say they also want tickets for the Paralympics. About two thirds of ticketholders are expected to come from London and the South-East.
The Standard understands that organising committee Locog will cap the number of applications for high-demand events between four and eight per person per session in the majority of sports to boost the individual's chances of getting a ticket for prime events through the ballot.
However for lower-demand events such as the football tournament, for which there are one million tickets, it will be possible to make a group application so members of a club can travel and sit together.
Tickets will go on sale on 15 March — 500 days before the Games — for an initial 40 days.
Data gathered so far by Games chiefs suggests there will not be enough demand next year for all the tickets so there is likely to be a second and third wave of sales later in the year or early in 2012. By not releasing tickets too early, Locog hopes to minimise the chances of tickets falling into the hands of touts.
Organisers aim to raise £500 million, excluding VAT, from the sale of 8.8 million Olympic tickets. A poster campaign to register is running on buses and Tubes.
Locog commercial director Chris Townsend said: “When we launch the ticket application in March that window will be open for several weeks. It will give people time to download the application and plan their Games. We urge people to sign up because it takes time to look at all the 650 sessions of sport and the pricing options and take it all in.
“Logistically it takes time to get from one event to another and we need people to understand that.”
Games chiefs were today battling icy conditions before this evening's illumination of the Olympic stadium. Up to 2,000 people, including local schoolchildren, will witness the Prime Minister switching on the floodlights for the first time.
MultiCam Edit Avid Media Composer
Just completed a Jazz trio program, four cameras, Edited with multicam mode with Avid Media Composer. Very easy to use, lot of different options for selecting cameras in or out of sync.
Henry
Henry
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