Rogers is out. Will Shaw enter the fray?
Bell Media and CBC/Radio-Canada have announced a partnership to seek exclusive broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games.
The news comes just one day after Rogers Media announced it would not seek those rights, even though it is part of Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium with Bell, its CTV and affiliated properties. This current consortium is responsible for the upcoming 2012 London Games.
Unlike the Bell/Rogers agreement, which is an 80/20 split with Bell as the majority partner, the new partnership is “much more equitable,” according to Jeffrey Orridge, executive director of CBC sport properties.
“We’ve been involved in five prior Olympics prior to 2010 and 2012,” Orridge said. “We’ve got experience, expertise in terms of production. We feel the complement of talent we have here is unparalleled.”
CBC had split some of its coverage with TSN for previous Games, so it is not unaccustomed to working with a partner (although the new arrangement is of a much larger scale).
Kirstine Stewart, executive vice-president of English services at CBC/Radio-Canada, said in a statement that the deal is “a first and important step in renewing the Olympic tradition on all of the public broadcaster’s platforms. With our commitment to keep offering world-class sports events, including Olympic Games, we will continue optimizing partnership opportunities like this one for the benefit of all Canadians.”
The executive leadership of the new consortium will be chosen if and when it wins the broadcast rights. Kevin Crull, president of Bell Media, told Marketing the leadership of the Bell/Rogers consortium had delivered “world-class” Games in 2010, so for future leadership, “I expect there’ll be a lot of consistency.”
With Rogers out of the running, Shaw Media seems the only organization capable of mounting a strong competing bid for the Canadian broadcast rights, although Shaw’s commitment to sports has been in question lately, as it recently gave up its pursuit of an all-sports channel. Christos Nikitopoulos, Shaw’s vice-president of sports, also left the company in August.
A spokesperson for Shaw would not comment on the company’s specific Olympic plans. “[Shaw is] continuing to assess all programming opportunities in this area. At this time that is all the comment we are able to provide,” the spokesperson said.
The current Consortium found success among advertisers and viewers with its multi-platform approach to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver (which earned it Marketing‘s Media Player of the Year honours in December). It delivered unprecedented online access (7.2 million hours of viewed online video) to live events, finding more than 12 million unique views and 215 million total views on its two main web properties. That, backed by multiple standard and specialty TV and radio broadcasts, reached 99% of Canadians, according to the Consortium’s estimates.
The International Olympic Committee is expected to make the Canadian broadcasting rights available before the end of 2011.
What will Shaw do? Will the new partnership find the same success as the current consortium? Post your thoughts in our comments section.
