NBC Plans To Give Local-Cable Ads an Olympian Push

摘要

With the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens less than seven months away, NBC Cable is plugging opportunities for local-cable ad sales on MSNBC, CNBC and Bravo. But MSOs peddling the Olympics will face stiff competition from local NBC stations trying to move their own inventory. Cable's selling points, NBC Cable contends, will be loads of events and more live hours than broadcast could possibly accommodate. Combined, MSNBC, CNBC and Bravo will offer 500 hours of Olympics coverage, about double NBC's lineup. The cable nets will have a share of marquee sports and events, including 100 finals. As a boon for operators, NBC is turning over an extra minute of ad time per hour on Bravo, bringing the total local avails to three minutes. NBC also plans to generously promote the cable networks' coverage on the broadcast network.