Actually, this TdF has been a big coup for OLN, and I would guess the advertiser's are thrilled with
the 1,000,000 viewers/day. Today's NY Times ran this article today regarding OLN's coverage:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As Armstrong Rises, Network Rides Along By RICHARD SANDOMIR
he Outdoor Life Network is a relatively modest sports channel that carries no major sports, and has
not contemplated renaming itself something silly like Spike TV (the new name for TNN). But each July
since 2001, OLN has reached beyond rodeo, fishing and team sniper shooting contests to carry the
Tour de France.
Thanks to Lance Armstrong, the Tour is generating more interest, especially in the United States,
than ever before, and it is the type of programming that can stamp a network's name in viewers'
minds in the same way "Biography" helped give A&E an identity.
OLN's daily live Tour coverage (the successor to taped highlight shows by ESPN and ABC) proves that
a niche sport - with an astonishing American star - can become a network's signature event.
"This is the kind of programming that people will want to find on their dial," Roger Williams, OLN's
president, said yesterday by telephone from Bordeaux, France. But OLN isn't widely available, even
in the expanding digital cable universe. With 54 million subscribers, it is more than 30 million
short of ESPN's subscriber base.
OLN began its Tour coverage in 2001 as part of a four-year deal, then extended the agreement in late
2002 through the end of the decade. OLN's first Tour coincided with Armstrong's third consecutive
victory. The network would be a primary beneficiary of what could be Armstrong's fifth straight
victory when this year's event concludes Sunday in Paris.
The 30.4-mile individual time trial tomorrow (on OLN at 9 a.m. Eastern) is considered crucial to
his chances.
"Lance is to the Tour what Michael Jordan was to the N.B.A.," Williams said.
Last year, between live coverage and replays, OLN generated a 0.8 Nielsen rating (or 336,000 TV
households). The network had 42 million subscribers at the time. Now, with its subscriber rolls up
to 54 million, the 1.9 rating equals 1 million homes.
But a post-Lance falloff may be inevitable, similar to the drop in ratings for pro basketball during
Jordan's retirements.
Williams is planning beyond 2004, when Armstrong may ride his last Tour. He is hoping to create a
series of regional races in conjunction with the International Cycling Union and Amaury Sports
Organization, the Tour's rights holder, to identify the next American stars, and to bring the first
three or four stages of the Tour to the United States.
The Tour is the signature event on a network that has purposely avoided signing expensive deals to
carry traditional sports. "I knew there was an abundance of product to buy without being held
hostage by the major rights holders," said Williams, a former head of sales and marketing at ESPN.
In a way, OLN is a huge version of the early "Wide World of Sports" on ABC, which was filled with
events like barrel jumping and Acapulco cliff diving that no other network wanted or knew about.
Cliff diving is now seen on OLN, and this year the network began carrying the Professional Bull
Riders' Built Ford Tough Series.
It wanted another event in July to "extend the bull franchise," as Williams put it. The result was
nightly coverage of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, complete with opening and closing
ceremonies and the first continuous American coverage of the event.
One requirement of OLN's deal with Amaury is to buy time on a broadcast network for a weekly
highlights show. CBS takes over on the Tour's three Sundays with a taped summary of the week's
events, and is the first to show the final stage into Paris (Sunday from 5 to 6 p.m.).
OLN will follow from 8 to 11 p.m. with taped coverage of the stage. In 2005, Williams said, the
network will shift to live Sunday coverage, figuring the audience is different for each of its
productions.
"The CBS version is for casual viewers, with the emphasis on stories,'' said Victor Frank, the
coordinating producer of CBS's coverage. "Our approach is not for people who want to sit through two
or three hours of cycling every day, but in a format that extracts all the drama."
Since late in the first week, OLN has also taken less knowledgeable viewers into consideration,
explaining the language of cycling in more novice terms.
CBS's Tour ratings have jumped 17 percent from last year; last week's program attracted an average
of two million viewers.
Like OLN, CBS has hit a storytelling jackpot this year, chiefly because of Armstrong's attempt to
win his fifth Tour in a row, but also because of the American Tyler Hamilton's decision to
continue riding despite a broken collarbone. Armstrong's lead has come despite two falls, and one
narrowly averted crash, which Armen Keteyian, the narrator of CBS's coverage, said had only
increased his appeal.
"Now we've seen the mortality of Lance Armstrong," he said.
Armstrong's 67-second lead after 17 stages is less than a fifth of his average advantage at that
point in the past four Tours.
Frank noted that Armstrong's victory last year was almost a stroll. "This year he hasn't had an easy
moment,'' he said. "But I think this is exactly the way he wants it."
If it's not Armstrong's desire, it is certainly CBS's and OLN's.
"John Baughman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:3f2001e8_4@newsfeed...
Quoted message said:My hat's off to OLN for bringing the TdF to the unwashed masses of us over here in America. But it
must not be too popular, else why is OLN running "filler" advertising slots of Beach Ambush, or
the "Bob Roll is a nut" thing?
Are they losing money on this? Last year it was their most poplular show
of
Quoted message said:the year with lots of big name advertisers like FMC etc. What gives this year?
--
- - - John - - -
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John Baughman - Ohio State, Class of ' 72
P.O. Box 153 PLacida, FL 33946 www.FreeWheels.itgo.com Mo-Town Forever!
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