NBC outbids ABC, FOX for Olympics

LUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- NBC will remain America's Olympic network for at least nine more years.
Already holding the U.S. rights to five Olympics from 2000 to 2008, NBC secured the contracts for the 2010 and 2012 games Friday for $2.201 billion.
NBC, owned by General Electric, beat bids from ABC and FOX.
The decision was announced after nearly seven hours of deliberations by an IOC panel headed by president Jacques Rogge.
"They were obviously the best bid in terms of the audience, the platforms, the reach and the financial aspect," Rogge said.
The previous pact
The previous contract, worth $3.5 billion, was reached in a pair of secret deals in 1995. This time, the IOC made it a competitive bidding process.
Rogge declined to say how much ABC and FOX bid. ABC and FOX also declined to disclose the value of their bids. FOX indicated that its bid was substantially lower than NBC's.
Under the package, NBC will pay $2.001 billion in direct rights for the two Olympics: $820 million for the 2010 Winter Games and $1.181 billion for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
"The business of big-time American sports has gotten out of hand. That is not true of the Olympics," NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said. "It's not just a sporting event. It's a family event, and it makes itself extremely attractive to advertisers, to affiliates, to our own stations."