Some Online Olympic Video Is Better Than None; Full Web Access Awaits Model

AOL CEO Jon Miller sees a time when the Olympics is shown online much like AOL’s multi-feed live and archived webcast of Live 8. That time isn’t now despite the spread in broadband access, improvements in video serving and geo-coding technology. Even though U.S. internet users have access to more online video than every before, it’s in the form of post-event snippets on demand. Even Gary Zenkel, the president of NBC Olympics who tells Kevin Maney nothing will ever replace watching on television, believes live Olympic content will be accessible by 2012 — when NBC’s current deal ends. “But we’ve got to see an economic model that supports that,” he adds. For now, the model NBC does have requires protecting TV ad sales.