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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Olympics TV Coverage Leads to Week-Long Delay of General Conference
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- The recent LDS Church press release announcing
General Conference indicated that the semi-annual conference would be held
on October 7th and 8th. But the release didn't mention that the Church had
decided to delay Conference by a week because of the Sydney Australia Summer
Olympic Games, allowing LDS Church-owned KSL-TV to fulfill its contractual
obligation to show the games and still broadcast conference.
Since 1977, the Church has held conference on the first weekend of April and
October, which would ordinarily mean that this year's conference would be
held on September 30 and October 1st. But the Olympics made the Church
change this year's date. "Because of contractual obligations to carry NBC
network coverage of the Summer Olympic Games, public service time to
broadcast [General] Conference sessions on KSL television is not available
during the weekend of 30 September-1 October," said LDS Church spokesman
Dale Bills in a prepared statement on Wednesday.
The Church has delayed or cancelled Conference several times in its history,
including cancelling Conference in October 1957 because of a flu epidemic.
This Conference will be unique because it will include the dedication of the
LDS Church's new Conference Center, which was used, even though construction
wasn't complete, for the last Conference in April.
Source:
TV Conflict With Olympics Forces LDS Church to Delay Fall Conference
Salt Lake Tribune 10Aug00 N1
By Peggy Fletcher Stack
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