Clear the decks for the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth by network executives this week when the International Olympic Committee and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games announces the winner-or winners-of the 1996 broadcast rights.
The most likely scenario: Cable-ready and Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting will hook up with an over-the-air carrier, either ABC or NBC, to air up to 150 hours of live coverage for less than the $500 million the Atlanta group is seeking.
And, no, there won’t be any pay-per-view, for two reasons: The IOC charter, in so many words, forbids it in the host country, and NBC tried a pay-TV package to help offset the $401 million it paid for the 1992 Barcelona Games, only to wind up losing $100 million more in the process.
CBS, while concentrating on the Winter Olympics lately, still plans an attempt to wrest the Summer Games away from its two competitors, according to executive producer Rick Gentile.
“Atlanta’s next, and that’s what we really want,” Gentile said the other day. “And we’ll certainly be there-at the bidding, that is.”
Even though the ’92 Winter Games brought better-than-expected ratings, Gentile said, “The Summer Olympics is what they call Appointment Television: You make an appointment to be there.”
Tuesday morning, all three networks have appointments in a New York hotel conference room. Checkbooks are mandatory.
– Baseball, while still negotiating new national cable and radio deals, is having problems on the international front. The merger earlier this year between cable programmers Eurosport TV and Screensport left baseball without a European outlet.
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Adding to the mix is ESPN. While marketing an international service in some parts of the world, ESPN hasn’t put together a stand-alone service for Europe. For a while, ESPN was an equity partner in Screensport, most of whose programming, but not baseball, was adopted by Eurosport.
“I don’t know how much interest there is for baseball in Europe,” says Vincent Chupin, a Eurosport executive. “It is not attractive to a lot of our sponsors. . . . For now, the decision has been not to do it.”
Jim Small, a spokesman for Major League Baseball in New York sees Chupin’s comments as possibly a negotiating ploy.
“We’re still working on a agreement and hope to have one by October,” Small said. “Clearly, there’s interest in Europe. Just look at the number of players there. We did a live Cubs game at 3 o’clock in the morning two years ago that outdrew anything in the time period.”
Small expects the World Series if not the playoffs to be aired on Euoropean television-possibly live, despite the time difference.
– Memo to area cable operators: Please don’t forget to change your programming computers to accommodate next Sunday night’s White Sox-Mariners game as ESPN’s alternate baseball telecast, starting at 7:30 p.m.
– Former MTV veejay “Downtown” Julie Brown on ESPN? The cable network is changing its Monday night football lineup, replacing “Schaap Talk” and “Monday Night Matchup” with “NFL Prime Monday,” a 90-minute show hosted by Mike Tirico that debuts at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 6. While ESPN regulars such as Craig James, Joe Theismann and Chris Mortensen will contribute reports and analysis, Brown will do features on players’ off-field lives.
“We have ambitious plans for (the show),” ESPN executive editor John Walsh said. Some ambitions. Brown, also expected to play a role on the network’s youth-oriented ESPN2 that debuts Oct. 1, was known on MTV as much for her zany interviews as for her collection of camisoles and hats.
– USA Network has signed Tim Mayotte to join a group of analysts that includes John McEnroe, Tracy Austin, Barry McKay and Virginia Wade for the U.S. Open, starting Aug. 30. In addition, CBS’ James Brown has been hired as prime-time studio host, joining daytime studio host Michael Barkann, play-by-play men Ted Robinson and Bill Macatee and courtside reporter Linda Pentz in USA’s 90 hours of live coverage. . . . CBS’ Tim Ryan and Mary Carillo warm up for the Open by covering the singles final of the U.S. Women’s Hardcourt Championship at 1 p.m. Sunday on WBBM-Ch. 2.
– Bears broadcaster Wayne Larrivee will host the weekly “Dave Wannstedt Show” on WGN Radio at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays, starting Aug. 26. “Coach Wannstedt had already agreed to one-on-one interviews with Gary Fencik, Hub Arkush and Bob Collins,” WGN boss Dan Fabian said. “Now the important people, Bears fans, will have a chance to help him solve a few world problems.” . . . ABC will air the Bears-Saints contest Aug. 23 as one of its four NFL preseason games. The series starts with the Raiders-Packers Hall of Fame contest at 2 p.m. Saturday. TNT will telecast the Bears-Eagles game at 7 p.m. Aug. 8 as part of its three-game preseason slate.
– SportsChannel begins 18 hours of live and taped coverage of the U.S. Olympic Festival at noon Monday, hosted by Prime Network’s Paul Kennedy. . . . Northern Illinois broadcaster Bill Baker hosts a one-hour Big West football preview, live from the conference’s media day at the Sands in Las Vegas, at 6 p.m. Thursday on six area stations, including WKKD-AM and FM in Aurora. . . . Jim Harbaugh of the Bears will test his skills against the best in the league in the two-day NFL Quarterback Challenge on NBC’s “SportsWorld” at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on WMAQ-Ch. 5.
– Could there be a more touching sight than Donnie Allison driving late nephew Davey’s car Sunday in the opening of CBS’ NASCAR Talladega 500 telecast? Or more terrifying sights than the on-board view of Neil Bonnett’s crash? The Bonnett crash caused officials to temporarily halt the race, which, in turn, forced CBS to not only begin its Tour de France coverage 30 minutes early but also shorten it. And after such an auto crash, most people would go straight to the hospital, as happened to Stanley Smith in the same accident. Bonnett went straight to the CBS broadcast booth. “My neck hurts a little bit,” he told Ken Squier and Ned Jarrett. . . . SportsChannel also got caught in the switches over the weekend when it cut away from match point in the Newsweek Classic semifinal Saturday between Amos Mansdorf and Richey Reneberg to start the Bears scrimmage telecast on time.