TVNZ gets good deal for Olympic Games

Press, 15 July 1982, Page 15

TVNZ gets good deal for Olympic Games

NZPA staff correspondent Washington Television New Zealand appears to have got a good deal with the SUSSOO,OOO it will pay for rights to the Olympic Games in 1984. With 800,000 television sets in the country, the fee agreed to in Los Angeles this week

works out at 62 cents (American) per set By contrast, Channel 10 in Australia will pay $1.91 per set and the A.B.C. network in the United States will pay $1.67 a set. Other agreements signed so far have been with the European Broadcasting Union for 31 European coun-

tries,. including Britain, and the Philippines. The average fee per set so far is 97 cents, a Los Angeles Olympic Organising Committee spokesman said. The only country to get a better, deal so far is the Philippines. A contract with that country’s Kanlaon Broadcasting Network for $400,000 works out at 50 cerite a set.

Contracts have yet to be signed with the Soviet Union (it will be a package deal for all Eastern Bloc countries), Japan and South American countries.

Prices- negotiated partly reflect the number of colour television sets in each country, as compared with black and white, and the quality of reception. More important, though, is competitive bidding from each country, which explains the high fee Channel 10 paid, facing voracious bidding from other Australian networks, and the Broadcasting Corporation's relatively low fee, faced with no competitors.

Negotiating skills also play a part, the L.A.0.0.C. spokesman conceded.

The' Philippines network which won the contract was one of three networks bidding for it, he said. The committee got $19.8 million from the European Broadcasting Union, but that was less than it had hoped for because the International Olympic Committee presi- ■ dent (Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch)' laid down that there could be no competi-

tive bidding from individual European countries. Japanese television is highly competitive, but the channels there have organised a pool to bid for rights. Negotiations have dragged on for three years. They are now becoming acrimonious and appear stalled. The L.A.0.0.C. is asking for $23.4. million, which . works out' at 80 cents for each of the 29 million televisions sets in Japan, the committee spokesman said. The LA.0.0.C. spokesman described the 80 cents a set figure as moderate in comparison with the price for other major countries. However, the “Los Angeles Times” reports a Japanese N.H.K. network representative in Los Angeles as saying that the committee’s asking price last May was only $19.8 million, the same as for the European Broadcasting Union.

The president of the L.A.0.0.C. (Mr Peter Ueberroth) said the Japanese pool wanted to pay the same as the Philippines per set — 50 cents —but that the quality of Japanese television, the number of channels, the kinds of sets, potential advertising revenue and other factors seemed to merit a higher price.

Mr Ueberroth said he thought the price sought was a fair one. "There it is. What more can I say?" he asked. “They’ve got to come pretty soon, or they’re going to get aced out of space” (in the Olympic Broadcasting Centre).