U.S. hockey fans needed a pay video subscription to watch the USA-CAN women’s gold medal game online but the men’s victory over Switzerland was barrier-free—and paidContent has learned the Friday men’s semi-final with Finland is likely to follow suit. NBC already has promised to broadcast Friday’s game live across the…

It’s half-way through the Vancouver Olympics and NBC Universal’s research head Alan Wurtzel already has some findings to share about the viewing results so far. Anticipating the ire of bloggers who have complained that NBCU has been holding back too much live coverage of the games from online, Wurtzel made…

It’s no secret that Disney (NYSE: DIS) would like to get another crack at the Olympics and plans to bid for rights to the 2014 and 2016 games.The last time ABC had rights to the Olympics was 1988—before e-mail was ubiquitous, broadband was even a possibility and ESPN was a…

It apparently can’t be an Olympics without dueling claims from both Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and NBC on whose Olympics website is tops. The headline of Yahoo’s release today: “Yahoo Sports Dominates Winter Olympics Traffic.” And here’s NBC’s: “NBCOlympics.com On MSN Leads All Competitors Through First Weekend Of Vancouver Games” (The…

Through some quirks of scheduling, I got my first taste of Olympics action on a laptop through in-flight wireless—not the big screen in our living room—and watched the winning ski jump late at night on demand using the NBC Olympics iPhone app. The 2010 Winter Olympics may not be the…

NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) is bringing back its “total audience measurement index,” or TAMi, for next month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The company first used the system to track audience viewing data across traditional broadcast and digital a year-and-a-half ago. The audience data initiative, which is headed up by Alan…

Let’s get the credits out of the way first: this February, NBC Sports will stream more than 400 hours of live event coverage on NBCOlympics.com during the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. That’s an astonishing amount of live video compared to the last Winter Games in Torino when the sum total…

We tend to focus a lot on News Corp.‘s desire to get paid for its online content but the “pay plus ads” refrain is being sung elsewhere in the company, too. News Corp (NYSE: NWS) wants a dual revenue stream for Fox, too—aka retransmission fees. Or, as News COO Chase…

With the 2016 Olympic Games all squared away and set for Rio de Janeiro, members of the International Olympic Committee could get down to more serious business—such as how to handle the issue of online video. WPP Group CEO Sir Martin Sorrell had some very simple ideas for the IOC…

Exactly a year ago CAA announced its biggest bet on sports media, and formed a new unit called CAA Sports Media Venture, as a rollup venture in the sector. But besides hiring Chris Bevilacqua, co-founder of CSTV Networks, as the venture’s CEO, nothing much has happened.  The new unit was…

Shock. Horror. NBC is angry at the new Olympics channel to be launched by USOC and Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA), announced yesterday. Yesterday, they declined comment when we asked. Today, Dick Ebersol reveals to NYT that they had on and off talks with USOC for a year about combining their Universal…

That was quick: The United States Olympic Committee announced this morning that it will launch a cable TV network devoted to Olympic and Paralympic Games next year, along with Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) who will carry it in its lineup. Comcast is an equity partner in the channel. And soon after…

Reuters editor-in-chief David Schlesinger has warned the International Olympics Committee Press Commission its media accreditation rules are outdated and must be modernised to allow audience members to report from the Games. “The old means of control don’t work ... “Fundamentally, the old media won’t control news dissemination in the future.…

The 2012 London Olympics will be the most wired yet but, true to its modest ambitions relative to Beijing, will focus on mass viewer appeal over cutting-edge online media, organisers say. “We don’t necessarily see this as, first and foremost, an opportunity to innovate,” Alex Balfour, new media head for…

In the two years since Jeff Zucker became president and CEO of NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), he’s shifted the digital strategy more than once; played an important role in creating the joint venture dubbed “ClownCo” by doubters and transforming it into Hulu; approved putting thousands of Olympic hours on broadband;…

While Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) CEO Jeff Bewkes has been talking up TV Everywhere, NBC quietly has been planning once again to limit live broadband viewing of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver to pay TV subscribers—but with tougher authentication. Live streaming will be offered to cable, satellite and telecom multichannel…

Major League Baseball’s digital unit may have dropped Microsoft’s Silverlight as its online video platform, but Silverlight apparently works just fine for NBC Universal (NYSE: GE). NBCU has reupped with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) for the 2010 Vancouver Games. The two companies will run “NBCOlympics.com on MSN” again, complete with live…

Although the summer Olympics ended just over six months ago, the networks are already putting their digital plans in place for London’s 2012 games. Speaking at a forum on the games, executives from NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) and the BBC discussed their expectations for the online games. In terms of…

CBS (NYSE: CBS) and Time Warner’s Turner Networks are in discussions about making a joint bid for the broadcast rights for 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games, AP confirmed. Both media giants caution that the talks are merely exploratory and no plans have been put in place. NBC Universal (NYSE: GE)…