Facing Criticism, Zucker Defends Olympics Coverage

By Andrew Gauthier 

Bloomberg

Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Zucker defended NBC Universal Inc.’s handling of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, responding to a senator who said U.S. audiences were denied easy access to online coverage.

“We believe our approach was a benefit to all consumers,” Zucker wrote in a March 31 letter to Senator Herb Kohl, chairman of a Judiciary Committee antitrust panel. “We have been able, over the past 10 years, to make a record amount of Olympic content available.”

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Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat, said in a Feb. 26 letter to Zucker that, by restricting access to online coverage of the Olympics, NBC may have hindered the emergence of Internet video as an alternative to pay television. More…

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