NBC Wins ’92 Olympics Rights

NEW YORK —  NBC won the U.S. television rights to the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, with a record bid of $401 million, it was learned today.

NBC, which televised the Seoul Olympics in September, had been considered a longshot to get the Barcelona rights. CBS was favored because it already owns the TV rights to the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France. The Barcelona fee topped the previous Olympic record of $309 million paid by ABC for the Winter Olympics in Calgary, where it lost about $75 million. NBC paid $300 million for the TV rights in Seoul.