Source : Globe & Mail

After suffering a financial setback at the Athens Olympics in 2004, the CBC is poised to take home gold from the Turin Winter Games.

That was the message this week from the network, which reported record advertising sales for the 2006 Olympics.

"I can tell you these are the most successful Games ever for us at CBC," said René Bertrand, the executive director of media sales. "We have a record number of sponsors."

A total of 15 major sponsors are on board for Turin. That's an increase of three over the sponsorship group that signed up for the successful Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2002.

But Turin, which will begin in two weeks, is handicapped by the same problem that confronted the CBC at Athens, where weak ad sales and small audiences put the network several million in the hole.

The CBC will be denied a live prime-time show because of the six-hour difference between the European venue and Canada's Eastern time zone.

Still, Turin ad rates have stayed competitive with those for Salt Lake, where the CBC had the advantage of providing live prime-time programming.

A 30-second prime-time spot for Turin is $30,000, compared with $30,900 for Salt Lake. That slight decrease is the result of a taped show producing a smaller audience than a live production.

Off-prime rates are up slightly from Salt Lake because the morning and afternoon telecasts from Turin will carry the big, live events. An off-prime spot costs $9,450, compared with $9,000 at Salt Lake.

Although the CBC's Turin coverage is unlikely to match the 2.3 million average audience that Salt Lake produced -- the CBC's largest during its Olympic contract, starting in 1996 -- the numbers will be good.

There's been plenty of buzz about the Canadian team, which is projected to win a record number of medals, as well as the usual amount of interest in the two hockey teams.

But revenue isn't the only good news for the CBC. Expenses are down. The network paid a rights fee of $28-million for Turin, compared with $33-million for Athens.

What's more, about $1-million will be saved by keeping two-thirds of the Olympic crew -- about 150 people -- in Toronto rather than on-site.

Prime-time host Brian Williams will work out of a Toronto studio, as will morning host Terry Leibel. The editing suites and control rooms also will be in Toronto.

In addition to saving money, the Toronto location will enable the CBC to more effectively manage the content, said Terry Ludwick, the Olympic executive producer. The crew will work normal hours and will have easier access to the CBC's video library.

On the downside, Williams and Leibel won't be able to interview athletes face to face. However, the taped coverage may make it easier to reach the athletes.

A prime-time show, on-site, would require athletes to show up at the studio in the middle of the night.

Leibel doesn't think the remote hookups will diminish the quality of the show.

"Listen, I've done tons of those double-enders," she said. "We do it all the time. It's more fun to have the athletes come in the studio, of course, but we'll handle it."

The CBC will produce about 1,000 hours of English-language content for eight platforms, consisting of the CBC's main network; TSN; CBC Newsworld; CBC Country Canada, for nordic events; a high-definition channel; CBC Radio; Bell Mobility for highlights packages; and video on demand, available only to digital subscribers of Rogers Cable.

But the essential Games coverage, 304 hours, will be seen on the CBC's main channel. It will begin in the early morning with Leibel, followed at noon EST by Ron MacLean, who will be on-site, because the live evening events at Turin will be seen in the afternoon in Canada, then followed by Williams at 6 p.m. local times until 11 p.m.

The CBC will provide late-night repeats of the hockey games. There will be some overnight coverage. The bulk of TSN's content will be curling.

French-language TV coverage, for the most part, will be seen on Radio-Canada and RDS.

Major sponsors returning from Salt Lake for the CBC's Turin broadcasts: Visa, McDonald's, Royal Bank, General Motors, Bell, Petro-Canada, Tim Hortons and Kellogg's. New: Rona, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Yoplait, Bombardier.

Most of the big events at Turin will be available in HDTV. They include the opening and closing ceremonies, hockey, figure skating, curling, speed skating and freestyle skiing.

Bertrand said a small amount of ad time remains to be sold.

CBC Sports personnel will provide the host broadcast for curling and hockey.

Vic Rauter will be TSN's daytime Olympic host. Dave Randorf will be on the desk in prime.

Carl juiced?

Rogers Sportsnet commentator Bill Watters, mentioning the men's 100-metre Olympic final at Seoul in 1988, said this week that "all of them were on the juice." Among the alleged dopers, American track star Carl Lewis, who demanded and received a retraction from Watters several years ago for implying a similar thing on the radio.

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