The Olympics Triplecast was an experimental pay-per-view television package in the United States during the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. While an ambitious project, the Triplecast – a joint venture of NBC and Cablevision – was a massive financial failure.
Overview and history
NBC, which had broadcast rights to the Games,[1] believed that viewers would be willing to pay US$95 to $170 to watch events live, which would normally be shown on tape delay on the network in prime time. It partnered with Cablevision,[2] a prominent New York cable provider, to create three channels, dubbed Red, White, and Blue. A special three-button remote control with the colors of the channels as the buttons was offered by some cable operators for free as a lure to sign up for the service.[3] Channels aired twelve hours per day (from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET) then repeated their content for the other twelve hours.[4] Programs came from the world feed.[5] As an added inducement for viewers to order the package, Triplecast coverage featured star announcers and pundits, such as Chick Hearn for basketball and Bob Papa
Issues
Several issues plagued the Triplecast.
Logistics
Cable providers took a lower profit cut than they normally do for pay-per-view events. A national center was also set up (1-800-OLYMPIC) to take calls, but it often had trouble telling if a viewer's cable system was participating. In January 1992, for instance, Chuck Dolan, head of Cablevision, tested the ordering system, which could not tell if his Cablevision Long Island system was carrying the Triplecast.[6]
Low uptake
The biggest issue with the Triplecast was low uptake. NBC had estimated some two million people would subscribe to the programming.[7] But Triplecast projections were only around 200,000-250,000, and the Pay-Per-View Update industry newsletter estimated 125,000. Early reports of slow sales even inspired David Letterman, then hosting NBC's Late Night
Legacy
Even before the Olympics started, many criticized the business model. On July 16, nine days before the Opening Ceremony, one Philadelphia Inquirer writer called it "the biggest marketing disaster since New Coke".[12] The Triplecast was deemed by The New York Times "sports TV's biggest flop" and that NBC and Cablevision were "bereft in sanity" in operating it.[13] By 1994, it was referred to as "the Heaven's Gate of television".[14] Albert Kim, the editor of Entertainment Weekly, went on National Public Radio and called it "an unmitigated disaster for NBC".[15] It was a loss of about $100 million (half of which was covered by Cablevision under agreement) for the two parties. It also shaped NBC's strategies in the coverage of future Olympics.
NBC did not use pay-per-view to cover any future games. While NBC alone broadcast the 1996 Summer Olympic Games
External links
References
- Joseph Gallant. TV Broadcasting History – The World Comes Together in Your Living Room: The Olympics on TV retrieved 6 July 2015^
- The 1992 Barcelona Olympics NBC Sports History Page^
- Article at findarticles.com^