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Show 1 IN FOCUS 1 f"ft, riiYi-'-iiit-niiiirihia'i in-iite-i " - in' iiiimiii'i !! - " - w m el.. . ., A Coverage and cost of winter Olympics boom If a time machir.e were to whirl us back to the resort of Innsbruck, Austria, on Jan. 29, 1964, we would find a town consumed with pomp and circumstance. On that day, Innsbruck welcomed the world with opening ceremonies ceremo-nies of the IX Winter Olympic Games. It was also the beginning begin-ning of the relationship between ABC Sports and the Olympics. From Innsbruck to Grenoble, Greno-ble, back to Innsbruck and soon Lake Placid, ABC has televised many of the great moments in winter Olympics history. Beginning th:s week (Feb. 12-24), ABC will provide 51 hours of coverage during the XIII Winter Olympic Games. Here are some highlights of past games: In 1964, ABC dipped its feet into Olympic waters for the first time, but did not come unprepared. Having covered events like skiing, bobsled-ding, bobsled-ding, figure skating, speed skating and ski jumping, ABC came to winter Olympics coverage cov-erage with impressive credentials. creden-tials. The major problem was the six-hour time difference between New York and Innsbruck. Inns-bruck. For the opening ceremonies, cere-monies, ABC used a communications communi-cations satellite, a step that was to revolutionize Olympics coverage. The IX Winter Olympic Games saw the United States win only one gold medal. Michigan barber Terry McDermott scored an upset in the 500-meter speed skating competition to win the sole U.S. gold medal. For the first time since 1936, the United States failed to win a gold medal in figure skating a result of the tragic plane crash in 1961 in which the entire U.S. team was killed. Four years later, the games moved to Grenoble, France. ABC made considerable use of the Early Bird satellite so that events were seen by. U.S. viewers the same day they took place. It was the first time a sports event originating origina-ting outside of this country was seen live here. Another first was the fact that the telecasts tele-casts were almost totally in color. A development by ABC, IBM and Omega showed the audience the "time to beat" in a given event. The brightest, star of the Grenoble games was Frenchman French-man Jean Claude Killy, who became the second man in his tory to win all three Alpine skiing gold medals. The partisan parti-san French crowd was ecstatic. ecstat-ic. Another winner of the Grenoble Gre-noble games was willowy Peggy Fleming, who took the gold in figure skating. Eight years after Grenoble, ABC returned to Innsbruck. Although only a dozen years separated the two Olympics, ABC's technical advancements advance-ments were progressive. For the first time, ABC was able to provide top-to-bottom coverage cov-erage of an Alpine event, the now famous run by Franz Klammer. Who will ever forget the engaging smile of West Germany's Rosi Mittemaier, humble when she won her first two gold medals and gra- cious when she barely lost her third. There was bubbly Dorothy Doro-thy Hamill who captured a gold medal in figure skating and revolutionized women's hairstyles with her Hamill cut. A determined and powerful power-ful Sheila Young garnered three speed skating medals to make her mark in Olympic history. Coverage has been accompanied accom-panied by astronomical costs. Rights to provide coverage of the winter Olympics have escalated from $200,000 in 1964 to $2 million in 1968 and $10 million in 1976. The 1980 rights cost $15.5 million. The cost of advertising during dur-ing the winter Olympics has grown from $41,000 per commercial com-mercial minute in 1968 to $135,000 for the 1980 Games. The number of advertisers involved in the Winter Olympics Olym-pics has also increased. In 1968, seven major advertisers were involved; in 1976, there were 15 and for the 1980 games, 25 advertisers each have committed at least $800,000 in advertising time. The national ratings have grown with the importance of the event. In 1968, for example, exam-ple, the average ratings were 11.8 with a 27 percent share, but in 1976, the ratings jumped to 19.4 with a 35 percent per-cent share of the audience. It is estimated that 180 million people will watch some portion por-tion of the winter Olympics during the coming two weeks approximately 85 percent of the total U.S. population. |