Another Olympic Television Channel In The U.s.

[OlympicGames]

It seems the USOC has plans to start an Olympic television channel in the U.S., the "USOC Network". This is in addition to NBC's "Universal Sports". Apparently, the "USOC Network" has been in the planning stages for some time, but has been slow to get off the ground. It now seems that the USOC would like to get the channel going between now and the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The following from: http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle...;ATCLID=1595372

Also on Probst's to-do list will be to start the USOC Network, a long-planned project that many thought would get off the ground before the Beijing Olympics but didn't.

The USOC has secured rights to televise events from more than half the individual sports on the Olympic program, but the strategy of bringing them to air has been slow to develop.

The following from: http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/beijing...peter-ueberroth

How does the U.S. Olympic Committee take the momentum from these Games and build on it in the future?

Ueberroth: It’s going to be a challenge. The network will be a big help because the idea is to take all of the sports into the American homes for parents and kids to see. Parents are younger and their kids are their focus. Taking fencing coaching into the home and also being able to remind them of the footage of the triple gold medal … will hook them.

You see the network as critical. Where does it stand?

Ueberroth: I see that as important. We’re not looking at it from a commercial success point of view. We’re looking at it as a way to fight obesity. China doesn’t have this problem. We have this problem where we’re focused on a couple of sports and the computer is competing with the playground.

Where do things stand with the network? Will it come to fruition within a time period?

Ueberroth: It has to get itself well established in the gap between now and the (2010) Winter Games.

Do you see in that period establishing a USOC network?

Ueberroth: Yes.

Do you see the existence of Universal Sports as problematic?

Ueberroth: No, I don’t.

Can they both exist and be run independently?

Ueberroth: I can’t speak to what they will and won’t do. The brand United States Olympic Committee is powerful and will do well.

[OlympicGames]

Here's another write up about the USOC Network, and it's co-existence with NBC's Universal Sports.

The following from: http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/121743

OLYMPICS RIGHTS: In Chicago, Philip Hersh wrote of the competition between the World Championship Sports Network (WCNS) and a potential USOC network, while USOC officials from '00-03 were "busy making utter fools of themselves, leading to a revolving door at the top," WCNS Chair & CEO Claude Ruibal began "quietly purchasing U.S. rights for TV and on-line use from international sports federations that all but gave the content away in return for exposure" in the U.S. Now that the USOC is "trying to create a TV network of its own," the organization would "love to have those rights, nearly all of which Ruibal tied up in long-term deals." The USOC has "similar arrangements with most of its national sports federations, the notable exceptions being figure skating, swimming, gymnastics and track and field, but the three summer sports are expected to cut a USOC rights deal in the near future" (CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 6/18).