Source : National Post

'Very disappointed'

Canada's first domestic Olympics in more than 20 years will be on private networks after a consortium of Bell Globemedia and Rogers Communications outbid CBC for the rights to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Games.

The winning bid was a record US$153-million, with US$90-million going for the Vancouver Games.

It marks the first time Canadian rights to a Winter Games cost more than those for a Summer Olympics and represents a 221% increase on the US$28-million CBC paid for Canadian broadcast rights to the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

Bell Globemedia and Rogers paid a further US$63-million, also a record, for the 2012 Summer Games, which have not yet been awarded to a host city.

In the end, CBC sports president Nancy Lee said her network lost out in the bidding because of money.

"It would appear so," said Lee from Lausanne, Switzerland. "We're very disappointed. I truly believed the bid that was put forward was very good.

"Everyone knows our vast experience at the Olympics and the support we have for amateur sport between Olympics, as we [broadcast] it 52 weeks a year.

"We offered ... a fee that was commensurate with the increases that have been offered in the States and Europe, which is about 40% on Turin and Beijing, which we think is very significant based on what the market can bear."

While Lee did not reveal exact numbers, her statement suggested the CBC's bid would have been about US$95-million, including US$34-million for the Vancouver Games, far less than the Bell Globemedia/Rogers total.

The loss of the Olympics marks a double blow for CBC, coming during the NHL lockout when the network has been deprived of its cash cow, Hockey Night in Canada.

Lee said the absence of HNIC revenues had no impact on the crown corporation's ability to bid for the Games.

Ian Morrison, spokesman for the media watchdog Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said CBC's failure to retain the Olympics was a major blow.

"There is for CBC a kind of danger to its prestige, to its position because the public has come to think of it as an Olympic broadcaster in the last decade and now that's changed," said Morrison. "So regardless of what they say, I would think that senior [CBC] management will have egg on its face today."

For CTV, which also broadcast Winter Games from Calgary in 1988 and Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994 as well as the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games, getting back into the five-ring circus was a triumph.

"We certainly believe that 2010 will be the biggest sports event in Canada this decade -- it may well be the biggest event in Canada this decade," said Ivan Fecan, president of BellGlobemedia.

"And we really felt we needed to be a part of it, and right in the centre of it. And so we also think there's a huge amount of interest, from viewers and advertisers, for 2010. And so we put on our thinking caps and sharpened pencils and decided that we wanted to make a strategic-but-responsible bid."

The massive increase in value of the 2010 Games was no surprise.

"That's just the nature of the higher interest because it is in Canada and there will be more Canadian interest to advertisers," said Doug Checkeris, president and CEO of The Media Company, an ad buying firm.

"That may be what was attractive to CTV and Rogers, that they can use it to leverage relationships with advertisers outside the Olympics."

What impact the change will have on viewers is not known.

"I don't think that the average viewer cares very much whether they see their Olympic coverage on CTV or TSN or CBC or whatever," said Morrison. "CTV has a very good reputation as far as sports broadcasting. Nobody complained the way they covered the Lillehammer Winter Olympics, for example. I don't think that it will make a great deal of difference for the public."

The move to CTV, Rogers and their affiliates also mean it is likely familiar CBC personalties such as Brian Williams and Ron MacLean will no longer be hosting Olympic broadcasts.

"It's the nature of our business," said Williams. "Properties move back and forth. I congratulate CTV and wish them good luck. My focus is now on Turin."

MacLean said he was pessimistic about the outcome of the broadcast bidding before it started.

"I know there was some optimism from the people at CBC, but to be truthful, I was kind of resigned to the idea that that was a pretty powerful convergence going on on the other side of the bidding."

Instead, he said he might enjoy attending the 2010 Games as a spectator only.

Lee said it was too early to say if CBC might change the way it covers the next two Olympics.

"We're heading into once again a very busy spring and summer with our amateur sports," she said. "Come Thursday we're going to be celebrating a year out from Turin, so we'll be doing those games in '06. We've got Beijing in '08, so our plate is very full. These Games are a long way off."

© National Post