The timing couldn`t have been better. Just as the spotlight was about to fall on the Super Bowl, America`s most-watched sports event, NBC President Robert Wright said enough was enough.
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A little over a week ago, Wright joined the growing legion of TV executives who not only are decrying the high cost of sports programming but are threatening to do something about it.
”The goal for NBC is to be No. 4 in sports,” Wright told an investment group. ”That`s the goal. The problem is that we are now No. 2.”
In other words, he wants to let CBS, ABC and, presumably, ESPN carry the ball. Only CBS has lost its corporate shirt (supposedly $400 million in 1991 alone) by carrying the ball, specifically baseball, and CBS Inc. boss Laurence Tisch has said, ”Never again.” And ABC hasn`t picked up a major ball deal in years.
Major sports programming ”can continue if we handle the finances,” said ABC Sports President Dennis Swanson. ”It won`t continue if you have a sports department continually losing money.”
Wright`s concern is that NBC-which is paying $1.8 billion for rights to the NBA, the NFL, Notre Dame football and the 1992 Summer Olympics-will join CBS in the sea of red ink but without the Nielsen ratings to show for it.
CBS Sports Executive Producer Ted Shaker recently echoed Swanson. ”How do you stay in business if you`re losing money?” said Shaker. ”It`s true for any business.”
CBS has spent $2.2 billion for rights to the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Final Four and the next two Winter Olympics. Those glamor events have helped the network leap from No. 3 into contention as No. 1, a title NBC has held for six straight years.
But ”the high costs of sports rights fees means that during this period being No. 1 means losing an enormous amount of money,” NBC executive Joseph Rutledge told the New York Times. ”In this environment, we`d prefer to make money even if that means coming in further back in the pack.”
So, just as NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was celebrating the conclusion of another profitable season, he had to wonder where the golden eggs would be coming from after 1993, when all the current TV deals end.
”There`ll be absolutely no hike from the National Broadcasting Company,” reiterated NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol. ”We`ve been fairly out front about the fact that in the first two years of this (NFL) contract we`ve lost between $40 million and $50 million. CBS has lost . . . in excess of $100 million. And ABC`s at the same level we are.”
And, as Wright added, pay-per-view may not be the salvation some team owners believe it is. According to Wright, cable companies have been slow to back the pay-per-view Olympics Triplecast, which NBC was counting on to help make up its deficit. NBC reportedly needs 2 million homes to pay the full fee ($125) to break even.
”The distribution of this has turned out to be harder than I guessed,”
Wright said.
Which doesn`t bode well for baseball owners, who will be seeking to duplicate, if not improve upon CBS` $1.06 billion deal, and the Blackhawks, who are studying a pay-per-view package for home playoff games.
The Pittsburgh Penguins could become the latest NHL team to try pay-TV, announcing this week they may televise two to five remaining home games on pay-per-view at $9.95 a contest. No playoff games can be on pay-per-view, however, because KBL and KDKA-TV are contracted to televise them for the next two seasons.
”If you`re sitting in a network office, you`re wondering how much longer the big events will continue to stay on your air,” said Shaker. ”If you`re sitting in a cable office, you feel there`s potential for growth. If you`re sitting in a league office, your day has yet to come in terms of the new technology`s potential and how that may apply to your league. So, it depends on where you`re sitting.”
And right now, no one`s sitting pretty.
– Numbers game: Despite a national Nielsen rating of 40.3 and a share of 61 that made it one of lowest-rated Super Bowls, Sunday`s CBS telecast wound up being watched by 120 million viewers, making it the second-most watched game in NFL history. Only Super Bowl XX had more (127 million viewers). ”The (TV) universe has changed,” explained a CBS official.
– ABC begins its college-basketball affiliation with Raycom in Sunday`s double-header (12:30 p.m., WLS-Ch. 7). . . . Darren Pang hits the road to host WBBM Radio`s ”Hawk Talk” following Blackhawks games Saturday at the Forum and Wednesday at the Cow Palace. . . . Michael Jordan makes an appearance on
”The New Explorers,” the WTTW-Ch. 11 science series hosted by Bill Kurtis, as it delves into the sports world at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. . . . WSNS-Ch. 44 begins airing Telemundo`s coverage of 10 soccer matches in the South American Pre-Olympic tournament in Paraguay at 4 p.m. Saturday, concluding with the championship match at 7 p.m. Feb. 16. Telemundo sports director Tony Tirado hosts.
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– Magic Johnson joins Dick Enberg and Mike Fratello on NBC`s telecast of Sunday`s Bulls-Lakers game. Not that NBC is milking the Johnson story, but. . . Johnson also will be seen on the network Feb. 9 when he attempts to play in the NBA All-Star Game and again Feb. 16 when the Lakers retire his jersey during halftime of their game against the Celtics. Just as the Winter Olympics are being aired on CBS. Hmmm.