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US ‘sports’ broadcasters shy away due to lack of returns
NEW YORK: Has televising sports lost its sheen? Several US broadcasters claim that an ad slump has made televising sports a money-losing venture and they don’t mind ceding the games to cable TV rather than paying more to keep them.
A Chicago Tribune report says that advertising revenue at the largest networks fell 10 per cent from 2000 to 2001; and regular-season ratings for the four major sports dropped an average of about 18 per cent from 1997 to 2001.
This is a far cry from the ‘hey’ days in the 1990s and early 2000s! The TV Bureau of Advertising, an industry association based in the US, says that Viacom Inc.’s CBS, General Electric Co.’s NBC, Walt Disney Co.’s ABC and News Corp.’s Fox generated a record $15.8 billion in 2000 ( 60 per cent more than in 1990).
The NBA led the decline, plummeting 38 per cent, according to research compiled by Fox Sports. Advertising revenue from sports at CBS, NBC and ABC was $633 million in 1Q2003, down 49 per cent from the same time last year, according to the Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association. Even compared with 2001, a non-Olympic year, the drop-off was 28 per cent.
CBS President Les Moonves, who agreed to pay $6 billion over 11 years to show the NCAA men’s basketball championship beginning this season was quoted as saying in a Chicago Tribune report that the days of networks paying ever-escalating rights fees were over. CBS paid $1.7 billion to air the tournament from 1996 to 2003.
The National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and NASCAR shared in the prosperity, demanding and winning higher fees to broadcast their events. In 1998, for instance, NBC paid the NBA an average of $350 million a year for the rights, more than double its annual fee in 1990.
Time Warner Cable executive VP Fred Dressler was quoted as saying that the current sports model is on “life support.”
Fox was the biggest network spender on sports, signing a $4.4 billion, seven-year contract with the NFL in 1998; a $2.5 billion, five-year contract with Major League Baseball in 2001; and a $1.6 billion, seven-year contract with NASCAR in 2001. The company has said it didn’t get its money’s worth.
In February, Fox took a charge against earnings, reporting that it expected to lose $909 million on the contracts because of a “severe downturn in sports-related advertising” and an “industrywide reduction of projected long-term advertising growth rates.”
CBS, the second-biggest spender, agreed in 1998 to pay $4 billion over seven years to join Fox in broadcasting the NFL. NBC has stopped airing major professional sports. The network surrendered NFL rights in 1998, refusing to match a bid from Fox, and walked away from basketball last year, citing losses of $150 million annually. It got out of baseball in 2000.
NBC would have lost $400 million a year had it retained those contracts, NBC Sports president Ken Schanzer was quoted as saying.
The National Hockey League will be the first major professional league to test the networks’ avowed parsimony. Hockey’s five-year, $600 million contract with ABC and ESPN expires after next season, and many experts said the NHL won’t get as much next time.
NBC broadcasts the Wimbledon and French Open tennis tournaments, University of Notre Dame football, golf’s US Open and Ryder Cup, horse racing’s Triple Crown and so-called niche sports such as the Arena Football League, which doesn’t require a rights fee.
The network also has agreed to pay $1.51 billion for the rights to the 2006 and 2008 Olympics, which may be the only sporting event that can trigger a bidding war, TV executives said. The 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City drew 2.1 billion viewers worldwide.
NEW DELHI: Hamdard Laboratories gathered a cross-section of India’s achievers in New Delhi on Friday, handing out the Hakeem Abdul Hameed Excellence Awards to figures who have left their mark across healthcare, education, sport, public service and the arts.
The ceremony, attended by minister of state for defence Sanjay Seth and senior officials from the ministry of Ayush, celebrated individuals whose work blends professional success with a sense of public purpose. It was as much a roll call of achievement as it was a reminder that influence is not measured only in profits or podiums, but in people reached and lives improved.
Among the headline awardees was Alakh Pandey, founder and chief executive of PhysicsWallah, recognised for turning affordable digital learning into a mass movement. On the sporting front, Arjuna Awardee and kabaddi player Sakshi Puniya was honoured for her contribution to the game and for pushing women’s participation onto bigger stages.
The cultural spotlight fell on veteran lyricist and poet Santosh Anand, whose songs have echoed across generations of Hindi cinema. At 97, Anand accepted the honour with characteristic humility, reflecting on a life shaped by perseverance and hope.
Healthcare honours spanned both modern and traditional systems. Manoj N. Nesari was recognised for strengthening Ayurveda’s place in national and global health frameworks. Padma shri Mohammed Abdul Waheed was honoured for his research-backed work in Unani medicine, while padma shri Mohsin Wali received recognition for his long-standing contribution to patient-centred care.
Education and social development also featured prominently. Padma shri Zahir Ishaq Kazi was honoured for decades of work in education, while former Meghalaya superintendent of Police T. C. Chacko was recognised for public service. Goonj founder Anshu Gupta received an award for his dignity-centred rural development initiatives, and the Hunar Shakti Foundation was honoured for empowering women and young girls through skill development.
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to former IAS officer Shailaja Chandra for her long career in public healthcare and governance, particularly in the traditional systems under Ayush.
Speaking at the event, Hamdard chairman Abdul Majeed said the awards were a tribute to those who combine excellence with empathy. “These awardees reflect Hakeem Sahib’s belief that healthcare, education and public service must ultimately serve humanity,” he said.
Minister Seth struck a forward-looking note, saying India’s young population gives the country a unique opportunity to become a global destination for learning, health and wellness by 2047.
The ceremony also featured the trailer launch of Unani Ki Kahaani, an upcoming documentary starring actor Jim Sarbh, set to premiere on Discovery on 11 February.
Instituted in memory of Unani scholar and educationist Hakeem Abdul Hameed, the awards have grown into a national platform that celebrates those building a more inclusive and resilient India. For one evening at least, the spotlight was not just on success, but on service with substance.
