It's no wonder this CTV / Rogers consortium forked over major dough in order to broadcast these Olympic games. In this age of the PVR / DVR, advertisements are virtually invisible, with one exception: live sports.
The only time I see ads on television are during live sporting events, and since Friday night, 99% of my television viewing has been these 2010 Olympics on a CTV or Rogers station. And I have to watch them live, which means catching more ads this month than I have in the previous year. The Olympics is an event worth investing in, you'd think.
CBC got outbid by CTV to broadcast these games, and for the past few weeks I've been hearing various rumours from insiders at CTV and other media companies regarding two subjects: imminent headcount reduction at CTV and possible selling of future Olympic rights by CTV to CBC.
Let's take a look at that first topic I've been hearing all over the place lately. Speculation is that immediately following these Olympics CTV will announce a substantial round of firings/layoffs. I hope I'm wrong, I don't want anyone to lose their job, but there's a lot of smoke here.
As for the Olympics, this CTV/Rogers consortium has the rights to 2012 in London. It's possible these rights could be flipped back to CBC for the right price. Personally, I hope this does happen. I preferred the CBC Olympic coverage to the coverage I've been watching this past week from Vancouver.
Oh... and look for Lloyd Robertson to assume a reduced role in the not to distant future. CTV would never can the living legend, but they're ready for him to step aside now.
If you'd like to join in on this Canadian media speculation, please feel free to do so in the comments. If you're an insider with details, contact me and we can play Woodward and Bernstein.
