Jeff Zucker, the president and chief executive of NBC Universal, was in London today to give his take on the telly industry at the Royal Television Society's international conference. Zucker, one of the most powerful men in US television, espoused the broadcaster's recent coverage of the Beijing Olympics, which was the most watched in the States since the Barcelona games in 1992, although NBC was criticised for delaying broadcast of the opening ceremony until primetime in order to pull in more viewers. With the next games in London, the time difference with the US will be more acute than it was in China, again causing scheduling problems for NBC, which paid around $1bn for the Beijing event. "We are incredibly excited [about London]", Zucker told delegates. "But the time zone difference for the US is not as beneficial as Asia. That is something we are going to have to deal with." Or, with that kind of money at stake, maybe NBC will want to put some gentle pressure on 2012 organisers to make the scheduling of events more American time friendly?
