Olympics Promos Go 'Hollywood’
BY STEVE DONOHUE -- Multichannel News, 7/18/2004 8:00:00 PM
NBC and TV Guide Television Group said they expanded a co-marketing agreement involving the Summer Olympics to include a series of Olympic-themed segments that Access Hollywood stars Nancy O’Dell and Billy Bush will shoot for both NBC and TV Guide Channel.
As part of the barter deal — which will see TV Guide Channel promote NBC’s coverage of the Athens Games in August on both its cable and broadcast networks — the companies said TV Guide Channel would be able to use O’Dell and Bush as special correspondents for TV Guide’s What’s Next segments.
The segments, which will be filmed daily through the Olympics from locations around Athens, will run at 28 minutes and 58 minutes after each hour, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., on TV Guide Channel.
For NBC, the spots will help drive viewers to coverage of the Olympics, which will run on USA Network, Bravo, MSNBC, CNBC and Telemundo, in addition to the Peacock’s broadcast network, TV Guide spokeswoman Brenda Lowry said.
TV Guide Channel will also gain exposure during Access Hollywood, as O’Dell and Bush will plug their Olympic appearances on TV Guide during the tabloid program.
As part of the barter deal, TV Guide Channel will also add a dedicated Olympic Games area to its scrolling program listings in addition to a graphic containing a continuously updated medal count for the U.S. Olympic Team.
The company’s TV Guide Interactive program guide will also feature an Olympics icon on the main menu during the Games. Subscribers who click on the icon will be able to access program listings for all of NBC’s broadcast and cable coverage of the games.
In return, NBC will run a series of tune-in spots for TV Guide Channel throughout its coverage of the games.
