TCA 2010: Ebersol Hopes USOC, Comcast Continue To Hold Off On Olympic Network

Says NBCU Will Likely Bid For 2014-16 Games Without Comcast

Melissa Grego (Broadcasting & Cable) -- Multichannel News, 1/10/2010 1:19:42 PM

Dick Ebersol, executive producer and chairman of the Olympics for NBC Universal, said Sunday he hoped the TV network that the U.S. Olympic Committee had been planning with NBCU's owner-to-be Comcast would remain on hold.
The U.S. Olympic Network was put on hold in August
Ebersol also said he expected NBCU to bid for the Soji, Russia and Rio de Janiero Olympics without the input of Comcast due to timing. "The IOC will want to have bids to the rights to the 2014 and 16 Olympics some time this summer, so it will be up to NBC and [parent] GE to weigh what they're going to do with that [bid]," Ebersol said during an appearance via satellite at NBCU's TCA press tour.

Pasadena, Calif. — Ebersol expects this year's Olympics to do better than the Torino Games because of the amount of live coverage of big-draw events like skating. On at least two nights of head-to-head Olympics vs American Idol competition, NBC will be live with skating.

"Will we beat them? I don't know, that's the no. 1 show on TV," he said. "But I do think we'll do much better against Idol those two nights because we're live."