An Olympian Effort

Thanks to pay-per-view TV, it will be possible to spend every minute between July 26 and Aug. 9 watching the Summer Olympics and still not see everythingcovered.

Those who sign up for the PPV TripleCast will be able to watch 12 hours of live programming on three separate cable channels each day between 2 a.m. and 2 p.m., followed by a 12-hour replay (see box).

For those who don’t choose the TripleCast, NBC has 161 hours of coverage planned, beginning with a two-hour preview show Friday at 9 p.m. and four-hour coverage of Opening Ceremonies Saturday at 8 p.m.

NBC’s Olympics telecasts will have many of the sounds, ideas and even people that made ABC Olympic coverage so legendary, but also a few wrinkles of its own.

NBC Sports Executive Producer Terry O’Neil said the philosophy of the network’s coverage will be to convey a sense of urgency that quickly takes viewers from competition to competition, without some of the feature-filled delays that brought CBS criticism during its Winter Olympic coverage in February.

To O’Neil, NBC’s goal is to show Michael Jordan dunking on a foreign basketball player four to five minutes after the start of the telecast. A concrete example of NBC’s desire not to tarry are its plans to show Saturday’s Opening Ceremonies 25 seconds after going on the air at 8 p.m.

Bob Costas will assume the high-profile job of the prime-time host, with Dick Enberg and Katie Couric hosting in the mornings. Two recent additions to NBC, Hannah Storm, formerly of CNN, and Jim Lampley, an ABC alumnus, will be the late-night hosts.

Because of the time difference between the United States and Barcelona (nine hours on the West Coast, six on the East), these Summer Games will be a taped affair. But, O’Neil said, NBC “will not deliver the games in an edited or truncated manner.”

Instead, the network will try to convey a sense of being in Barcelona to the viewers, showing events that take place in the morning during the morning and evening events during the evening.

Among the familiar aspects of Olympics coverage that NBC will utilize are the “Up Close and Personal” profiles of competitors pioneered by ABC.

“But we won’t be using those as much as you’d expect,” said O’Neil, who worked at ABC as a researcher for the 1972 Summer Olympics and as producer of the 1976 Summer and Winter Olympics and 1980 Winter Olympics. “Although it draws viewers in with a rooting interest and empathy that’s an important component to us, the format has been abused over the years,”

NBC will be supplementing those features with looks back at past Olympic athletes.

Also returning is “Bugler’s Dream,” the memorable unofficial Olympic theme, but in a version re-orchestrated by John Williams, conductor of the Boston Pops. The fanfare Williams composed for the 1984 opening ceremonies also will be used.

The most prominent technological innovation will be an underwater tracking camera used for swimming.

“Everything that matters is under water,” said NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol, who also worked at ABC. “All we’ve seen in the past is what happened on top of the water.”

The lipstick-sized camera will be placed under the third lane, inside an approximately 2-foot-long, partly clear fiberglass container that travels on cables pulled by a technician from the pool deck.

For those who can’t get enough Olympics coverage, KTLA offers a look at the local competitors in “Barcelona Bound: Southern California’s Olympic Hopefuls,” Sunday at 8 p.m.

And KNBC will present “Roggin’s Olympic Heroes,” a look at Southern California Olympians from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, hosted by Fred Roggin, who will be in to Barcelona to file reports for the station’s newscasts.

The Facts of TripleCast

Fans will be paying $125 to watch the TripleCast’s nonstop coverage of the Summer Olympics on three channels. Coverage will be commercial-free and uninterrupted by features or switching away from venues.

The TripleCast won’t be taking leftovers from NBC’s 161 hours of coverage. It is billing its coverage as “the best events from the earliest competitions throughthe finals and medal ceremonies.”

The three channels are patriotically named red, white and blue. The Red Channel will feature track and field, swimming, boxing, baseball, synchronized swimming and road race cycling.

The White Channel will be devoted to gymnastics (both rhythmic andartistic), diving, equestrian sports, tennis and soccer.

Basketball, volleyball, wrestling and water polo will be on the blue channel.

NBC is producing the TripleCast and some of its announcers will work both the broadcast and pay-per-view events.

Some cable systems will be offering other viewing packages: all three weekends at $29.95 a day, the first week for $95 or the entire TripleCast plus memorabilia and an Olympics highlight tape for $175. For details, check with your local cable operator.