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Vancouver Olympic Media Updates


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One aspect I was hoping to mention about NBC's Vancouver 2010 coverage plans that I only got last night from NBC Universal's press release was of the fact there will be more than 1000 hours of on-demand full events replays, highlights, feature, interviews, and encore packages with accompanying stats, results, comprehensive athlete bios, expert analysis (so I take there won't be any of that no announcer footage during the action), and rules to the sports with the video alerts like they did with Beijing. Now NBC aired the Torino Winter Olympics for a combined 416 hours among members of the NBC Universal family. Given that the hours of broadcasting could go up to an additional 40-100 hours, and the networks were almost complete in their coverage while missing a few women's ice hockey games and the full prelims of athletes in sports like figure skating, what other than the aforementioned will fill it up? Will we NBC viewers get the pre-Opening Ceremony festivities at BC Place? I think so on that.

Something tells me there has been an increase in the Spanish-language coverage from Telemundo that boosts it to 1000 hours. Surely, they saw what CTVglobemedia-Rogers was planning to do with theirs (2100 hours in total from them) and thought, "We gotta stay with them on that". I don't believe NBC is going to air that many hours, not with the ancillary stuff with the likes of MTV Canada involved north of the border and Rogers-owned radio stations. Again as a reminder, much of the hours come from simultaneous and comparable coverage in French, Chinese, Portuguese, Inuit, Hindu, Italian, and Korean aside from English. Unless that same footage NBC will use will offer multiple language commentary under the Silverlight technology online and announce that soon, we will have to wait and see outside of Spanish.

Only one Rogers Media-owned station is confirmed for the Vancouver 2010 coverage: CJCL, Toronto's Fan 590 AM. Others will be announced shortly. CTV, TQS, OMNI, Rogers SportsNet, TSN, RDS, and APTN all will do HD coverage.

Solar Sports will cover the Vancouver Olympics in The Philippines. SKY Sport 1 & 2 HD will cover the NZ's Games satelitte/cable HD coverage down in New Zealand. Prime HD, though not yet officially announced, surely will cover over-the-air portion.

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One aspect I was hoping to mention about NBC's Vancouver 2010 coverage plans that I only got last night from NBC Universal's press release was of the fact there will be more than 1000 hours of on-demand full events replays, highlights, feature, interviews, and encore packages with accompanying stats, results, comprehensive athlete bios, expert analysis (so I take there won't be any of that no announcer footage during the action), and rules to the sports with the video alerts like they did with Beijing. Now NBC aired the Torino Winter Olympics for a combined 416 hours among members of the NBC Universal family. Given that the hours of broadcasting could go up to an additional 40-100 hours, and the networks were almost complete in their coverage while missing a few women's ice hockey games and the full prelims of athletes in sports like figure skating, what other than the aforementioned will fill it up? Will we NBC viewers get the pre-Opening Ceremony festivities at BC Place? I think so on that.

Durban.. what press release are you referring to? I saw the one NBCU put out a couple of weeks ago, but that was all about the online coverage, it didn't mention the TV coverage. And the extra hours will come from 2 things. First off, I see them covering more curling from Vancouver than they did from Torino where there were matches at 3am. And second, because events will be covered live, much moreso than from Torino, that leaves NBC less time to edit them before they air, meaning they'll be shown more in full.

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Durban.. what press release are you referring to? I saw the one NBCU put out a couple of weeks ago, but that was all about the online coverage, it didn't mention the TV coverage. And the extra hours will come from 2 things. First off, I see them covering more curling from Vancouver than they did from Torino where there were matches at 3am. And second, because events will be covered live, much moreso than from Torino, that leaves NBC less time to edit them before they air, meaning they'll be shown more in full.

Quaker2001, you are right. I was actually referring to the NBCU press release regarding its Vancouver Olympic Internet plans. Those 1000 hours come from just the Internet, not the overall total coverage with the broadcast. You're also right about since the time zones are more favorable for NBC's broadcast, there will less time to edit the footage for live airing (a good thing). Curling will get more love through online. I also presume NBC will install cameras throughout events like cross country skiing and biathlon as opposed to just leaving it to the world feed upon broadcast. Apologies for the confusion.

It just came out from down under yesterday regarding Australia's winter Olympic broadcast plans in Vancouver next year. FOXTEL plans to feature four channels of Vancouver Olympic coverage with a separate HD channel for extra coverage to boot, unlike what Seven did up to Beijing. FoxteliQ disc drive units and its mobile and broadband units will enhance the Australian coverage with choice, customization, and control. But there's a price, literally: a subscription price stands in the way if any diehard Aussie Winter Olympic fan wants all of that. Nine Network, the free-to-air broadcast holder, assumes nobody wants all that wall-to-wall coverage FTA in nation, despite recent medal success in the Winter Olympic (most notably its first golds in Salt Lake City), not known for its snow and questions the Winter Olympics' potent and broad commercial appeal in Australia, where snow and cold weather are anomalies. Formerly, especially more so with the WOG, networks would delay coverage if held at time zone that don't comply with the Australians. I have come to understand that the problems Seven endured wasn't entirely its fault: Australian federal government broadcast regulations prevented the network from multichanneling its coverage, something that will alleviate all those constant complaints about jumping from one to another with commercial breaks interrupting important moments. Kinda makes you wonder come 2012 Australia will successfully make its transition into digital television from analogue and if the National Broadband Network propels the way Aussies can watch Internet TV. Look for Harvey Norman to participate as a sponsor. Hours have not yet been mentioned in total, but I suspect Australia will finally overtake New Zealand in its Winter Olympic TV coverage in that regard.

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I'm not really a fan of this development (and it's because of the fact I don't have my own computer and cable/satelitte subscription): NBC and many of the top cable/satelitte TV companies plan to authorize a sophisticated authentication system to allow access to live and some archived Internet streamings of those 1000+ hours of the Vancouver Winter Olympics only to those pay-TV subscribers--and make it less easy to hack. It's a contrast to what CBS and the NCAA did for their annual March Madness On Demand that allows you to watch every game live in their entirties with no regional interference. Things are still under negotiations with the networks and the system is still under development. The need to raise revenue is paramount for both the NBC network and the cable companies obviously. We'll see how things shake up in the early going when premium cable TV network HBO does with their Internet video subscription (to HBO subscribers) and Comcast rolls out Internet channels when those start later in the summer.

Olympics A Test Case For Web Video

Also, don't look for NBC's cable networks like MSNBC and CNBC transmit their share of the footage into Canada because, like with Beijing and Torino, it'll be blacked out to ex-pat Americans living in Canada perhaps wanting US-centric stuff.

If you haven't noticed already, Rogers Sportsnet has the Olympic rings underneath its logo as a broadcasting bug.

Here's the latest Believe in 2010 ("Do You Believe?") commercials featuring hockey star

, who comes from a legendary hockey family, and ski crosser
. Are there any plans for French-language versions on those networks? Too bad Gillian and her teammates lost in the IIHF Women's final to the USA in Finland over the weekend.
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The article about FOXTEL's Olympic plans for Aussie consumers is coming up. When you think about how Nine/Foxtel broadcasted the Melbourne 2007 Commonwealth Games with FOXTEL operating eight devoted channels. FOXTEL will offer half that much, each of them running 24 hours a day and live. It also notes that Telstra Big Pond will get involved with Internet access and live video streaming.

Foxtel Will Charge For Live 2010 Olympic Coverage With Four Olympic Channels and One HD Channel

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Additional thoughts on the upcoming authentication hurdle: we all get and understand that NBC, as the biggest doner of TV billions the IOC gets, it's not cheap to own the US TV rights to the spectacle, and we get that not everything has to be free for every single event or programming televised on TV. But something like Super Bowl has very limited international appeal. The Olympics definitely has that global cache; it's supposed to be one of those event the world gathers around for to bring together while rallying behind our best athletes against other nations'. Erecting barriers like this authentication, as the Sports Business Journal broke, seemingly goes against the spirit of the Games. If CTVglobemedia-Rogers can allow live streaming access unconditionally in Canada, why can't we Americans?

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So NBCOlympics.com worked out an agreement with Microsoft to utilize a supposedly bigger and better version of the much-maligned Silverlight that is called Silverlight 3 for its HD Olympic Internet streaming, live and on-demand. This is to be called Smooth Streaming going a full 720p up to 1080p in HD. Minimal buffering and quicker startup times are among the key features because of Smooth Streaming adapts to the real times of the computer's bandwidth. But with the better HD quality, advertisers and subscription revenues will come into play. CTV in Canada and Italy's RAI will utilize this technology as well for their respective coverage.

The CTVglobemedia-Rogers Media Olympic Consortium's French language often gets neglected here on this boards with all of the attention understandably going to the English version--we even gave more love to APTN than RDS/TQS. With legendary award-winning and popular names in sports like Claude Mailhot, Pierre Horde, Richard Garneau, Jean Page, Denis Cassavant, Jacques Demers, Michel Bergeron, Daniele Sauvageau, Michel Lacroix, Gaetan Boucher, Melanie Turgeon, and Jean Luc "Big Air" Brassard all part of the RDS' broadcasting talent, this shapes up to be the best French-language sports broadcasting teams ever. Mind you, I have never fully paid much attention to what the French-Canadians had to offer until last year. If any of you on these boards know more about how the French-Canadian coverage and its Olympic sportscaster roster over the years, what do you guys think about the unprecedented amount of coverage and how does it compare to the past ones, both winter and summer? Greater details about the RDS/TQS/RIS Vancouver 2010 team right here on CTVOlympics.ca . Like to get my hands on some of that coverage when it hits and watch!

One impact of the Vancouver Olympics is already felt: the Academy Awards next year will return to March so as to:

a) not get overlooked by the Games in terms of interest and TV coverage

B) stop the clogging the TV sweeps events for now

Terra will once again get involved in the Olympics for Latin America (except Brazil that TV Record holds) for Internet and cell phone coverage.

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Panasonic gets 2010 Olympics gig

Posted by Jeb Stuart on Apr 20th, 2009

Panasonic’s DVCPRO HD camcorders and P2 HD storage format media will be used to capture the 2010 Winter Olympics to be held in Vancouver, Canada. The Olympic Broadcasting Services Vancouver (OBSV), who will host the broadcasts, will be using the Panasonic equipment to capture and distribute the Winter Olympics footage.

The 2010 Olympic Games will be the first Winter games to be captured with HD (1080i) equipment. Panasonic’s DVCPRO HD format was previously used in the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing.

“As in Beijing 2008, during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, everything will be broadcast from the venues in High Definition,” said Manolo Romero, OBSV’s CEO. “We are confident that for Vancouver 2010 we will be able to capitalize on the experience we gained in Beijing 2008 by providing reliable and efficient, high-quality video broadcast to TV viewers around the globe.”

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Demers just resigned as Minnesota Wild head coach (and coached New Jersey to its first Stanley Cup in 1995), so it makes sense to make the move to booth.

It's Jacques Lemaire, not Demers, who resigned as Minnesota Wild's coach and coached the New Jersey Devils to its first Stanley Cup in 1995. Demers did himself win Stanley coaching the Montreal Canadiens two years earlier, the last time the Cup was in Canada. Though I wouldn't be surprised at all if Lemaire eventually joined Demers and Bergeron as RDS' Olympic hockey analysts. Perhaps RDS is negotiating with Lemaire on that as we speak.

Don't be shocked if CTV decides to carry its "Believe" campaign (Donald Sutherland and all) onto London 2012.

Thanks Mr. X on the heads up regarding the new Panasonic HD cameras to be used for Vancouver.

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Last week the IOC and CCTV decided that CCTV's Beijing coverage on several platforms was so damn good for the host country last year that the IOC granted the entire Chinese media rights for Vancouver--free-to-air and subscription TV, Internet, and cell phones to China's state television entity, mostly because of its capabilities and capacity to reach the broadest amount of people possible in China. Based on what CCTV did for Beijing, we can expect less channels for CCTV to choose from than last year, but CCTV 1, CCTV 5, CCTV HD, and CCTV News will participate. A couple of specific Olympic channels are very likely. We 'll see how many hours each portion of CCTV will get themselves involved. But I'll take a wild stab in the dark and say just about everything.

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Wall Street Journal breaks the news of discussions between InBev AB and NBC Universal over the TV advertising money and spot for Vancouver. Apparently, AB plans to cut its Olympic TV ad exposure for NBC by half in Vancouver. But its budget is bigger for advertising this year on account largely for the World Cup next year in South Africa. Could Coors and/or Miller fill up those spots?

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Just a brief bit in this to keep things going.

We still don't know exactly what Rogers Sportsnet's portion of the Olympic coverage will consist of. But we do know Vancouver's own Brad Fay will anchor the coverage serving as the Rogers Sportsnet studio host.

Also announced (in Ottawa), CTV will air Vancouver Winter Paralympics' sledge hockey gold medal game live as part of the 50 hours of coverage coming from CTV (half of that will be in French). Yes, there will be French-language simulcasting of that from RDS and TQS with efforts to assure the Senators that coverage with occur in both English and French and that French-language coverage of the Paralympics be shown throughout Canada, not just in Quebec. A formal announcement is forthcoming this week.

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There's a row right now that the CRTC, that's the US equivalent of the FCC north of the border, is involved in between CTV and the CBC over whether the French-language coverage is adequate and should the CBC get involved to cover what CTVglobemedia-Rogers Media possibly can't on TV. More details next week.

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^ i'd love to see CBC get involved somehow, but how can the CRTC possibly have any say in this? CTV/Rogers bought the tv rights, they should be able to do whatever they want.

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NBC gears up for 2010 Games

Network still negotiating broadcast locations near Canada Place and Grouse Mountain

By Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver Sun

June 5, 2009

Hockey fans next year will see TV analyst Pierre McGuire doing his ice-level "Inside the Glass" reporting during Olympic hockey games -- a first for Games coverage.

He's covered NHL games from the unique vantage point between player benches for three years now, so its inclusion in 2010 Olympic broadcasts would seem to be a slam dunk.

But NBC Sports executive producer David Neal said his network and Canadian broadcast rights holder CTV/TSN needed approval from three organizations to make it happen -- the International Ice Hockey Federation, the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, and Olympic Broadcaster Services Vancouver.

Fortunately, they all embraced the idea.

"In the Olympic world, these things take a while to navigate," the multi-Emmy-Award-winning producer said in an interview from New York. "These will be my ninth Olympic Games, so I'm accustomed to the various channels you have to work with to get things done.

"The amazing part of this whole experience is there was no convincing needed. Everyone had the same reaction."

NBC paid $820 million US for the U.S. broadcast rights for the 2010 Games, so it's no surprise Olympic officials do whatever they can to accommodate the broadcasting giant.

Neal said Vanoc, under chief executive John Furlong, has been extremely forward thinking and open to new ideas.

"In some ways, this is the antithesis of the typical organizing committee," he said.

Neal said NBC chairman Dick Ebersol encourages network producers to do anything that gives sports viewers the best seat in the house, whether it's having a microphone near Tiger Woods so you can hear his conversations with caddie Steve Williams or having McGuire report from ice level.

McGuire, who will work for both CTV and NBC during the Games, said the "Inside the Glass" coverage has revolutionized hockey broadcasts by giving viewers a real sense of the energy of the live event. "Approving it shows enlightened thinking on those involved in [Olympic] decision making," he said in an interview.

McGuire routinely interviews head coaches during breaks in the game, but isn't sure he'll get the same cooperation from Olympic coaches, as almost every Olympic game has the intensity level of a Game 7 NHL playoff game.

"There could also be a language barrier with certain teams -- like the Czechs, Slovaks or even the Russians," he said. "But I can't wait. It's an unbelievable privilege to cover the Olympics."

Neal, who is also executive vice-president of NBC Olympics, said the network's preparations for its Vancouver 2010 coverage are progressing well and he's impressed with the advanced state of venue readiness.

"If there was snow and the athletes were here, they could go tomorrow," he said.

Neal has visited Vancouver several times already and looks forward to showcasing the region's postcard-like scenery.

"The natural beauty and photogenic nature of the Vancouver-Whistler area for me, as a television producer, is ideal -- absolutely ideal," he said.

NBC is still negotiating to secure Vancouver broadcast locations for shows like the Today Show and Neal said the process has taken a little longer than expected, but he's not worried.

"They've looked at a number of locations [for the Today Show] and the great thing is that all the options are good," he said. "They just have to decide which one is the best of the best."

The network is believed to be considering broadcast locations in and around Canada Place and Grouse Mountain.

Neal expects the total NBC workforce for the 2010 Games will be down "a little bit" from the 2,500 that worked in Torino during the 2006 Olympics. He said the economy affects everyone and has forced the network to become more efficient.

"But we know better how to cover the Olympics now than we did eight years ago in Salt Lake City," Neal said.

He said the local, provincial and national tourism agencies that make up the 2010 Tourism Consortium have been useful in helping NBC get the video footage it needs to showcase B.C.

The consortium has provided about 250 hours of high-definition video that can be used by all Olympic networks and has assisted NBC whenever it travelled to the province to shoot its own exclusive video.

"At one point last year [before the Beijing Games], our creative director told me he already had more scenic footage of Vancouver-Whistler than he had of Beijing," Neal said.

bconstantineau@vancouversun.com

© Copyright © The Vancouver Sun

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010win...6778/story.html

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A small blurb in USA Today's Michael Hiestand's sports media column indicates that Dan Patrick, in addition to already being a part of NBC's NFL studio, Dan Patrick indicates to him that he will "do some stuff" for NBC's upcoming Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic coverage.

Thanks for adding the Pierre McGuire hockey rink-level reports for both CTV/TSN and NBC from the Vancouver Sun. Makes me wonder will the RDS/TQS will rival that, particularly during Team Canada games, men and possibly women.

Once I read more about the feud between the CBC and CTV over the French-language Olympic Vancouver coverage, I'll post my thoughts on it.

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Record hours of coverage for Paralympic Games

CTVOlympics.ca

Posted Wednesday, June 17, 2009 5:50 AM ET

After coming off a dominating World Cup season in which Canadian Paralympic athletes led the world with 29 gold medals, our nation's Paralympians are primed to own the podium in 2010. And Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium will be there as they go for gold, delivering a record 50 total hours of television coverage in English and French of the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, taking place March 12 to 21 in Vancouver and Whistler. All coverage will be available in High Definition, marking the first time the Games will be produced entirely in HD by a Canadian rights-holder.

In addition to live events and daily highlights on television, the Consortium's multi-platform coverage includes results, updates, features and pre-promotional programming on radio, digital and print, marking the biggest and most robust coverage ever in Canada of a Paralympic Games.

"Canada's Paralympic athletes have excelled on the world stage. They are a huge source of national pride and we are committed to giving them the recognition and credit they so richly deserve," said Keith Pelley, President of Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium. "Along with live event coverage and highlights, we will tell the athletes' stories of determination and accomplishments, as they go for gold in 2010."

Each day throughout the Paralympic Games, the Consortium will produce a 90-minute highlights show of all the day's activities, results and updated medal standings, airing in English on either CTV, TSN or Rogers Sportsnet and in French on RDS or RIS Info Sports. In addition, the Consortium will televise all Team Canada ice sledge hockey games in English (CTV, TSN, Rogers Sportsnet) and French (RDS, RIS Info Sports), with the gold medal game airing live on CTV and RDS. Canada is the reigning Paralympic Games champion in ice sledge hockey, having defeated Norway in the Turin 2006 gold medal game.

"Comprehensive coverage of a Paralympic Games is a milestone in Canadian Paralympic history," said Carla Qualtrough, President of the Canadian Paralympic Committee. "The Consortium's coverage of the 2010 Paralympic Games will ensure that all Canadians get to share the experience of the fierce competition that will take place in 2010 as Canada goes for gold against the world's greatest Paralympians."

The Paralympic Winter Games will also have a strong presence during the Consortium's coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Features on Paralympians will air frequently in English and French, celebrating the athletes' athleticism and achievements. In addition, on February 28, the last day of the Olympic Winter Games, the Consortium will air in English and French a one-hour documentary about the Paralympic Winter Games, Paralympic Movement and Canadian Paralympic athletes, setting the stage for the upcoming 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.

Coverage of the 2010 Paralympic Games has been designed to reach the widest possible audience. Digital coverage of the Paralympic Winter Games will be prevalent on CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca leading up-to and during the Games, with athlete features, results, profiles, photos, video, an interactive medal tracker and user generated content.

Rogers Radio, the Consortium's official radio division, will deliver regular updates and highlights throughout the Paralympic Winter Games, focusing on Canada's results and the medal standings. Leading up-to the Games, the radio stations will continue to regularly profile Paralympians in the daily feature Up Close and Personal, which brings Canadians the fascinating stories of Paralympic and Olympic athletes. These features are also available as audio slide shows online at CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca. Paralympians already profiled in Up Close and Personal include ice sledge hockey goaltender Paul Rosen, para-alpine skier Lauren Woolstencroft and para-Nordic skier Brian McKeever and his brother/guide, Robin.

The Globe and Mail, the Consortium's national print partner, will produce a Paralympic Winter Games stand-alone section in March 2010 to spotlight the accomplishments of the athletes. The special section will include athlete profiles and features, predictions, and Canada's stats, standings and medal counts from previous Games.

As part of the Consortium's ongoing commitment to making Canada's athletes household names well before the 2010 Games, Canadian Paralympians are involved in various marketing campaigns, featured news and sports stories, and cross-platform promotions throughout the Consortium's suite of assets and promotional partners, including an existing dedicated Paralympic hub on CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca. Appearances and profiles on English and French platforms include the Road to Vancouver feature series, Get To Know Your Canadian Athletes vignette campaign, CTV programs Canada AM, eTalk and W-Five, TSN's SportsCentre and Off The Record, Sportsnet Connected on Rogers Sportsnet, RDS's Sports 30, Vers Vancouver 2010 and L'Antichambre, and walking the red carpet at the JUNO Awards on CTV.

The Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games takes place March 12 to 21, 2010 in Vancouver and Whistler. The 10-day international competition features 1,300 athletes and officials from more than 40 countries taking part in five sports: alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ice sledge hockey, wheelchair curling, and biathlon. The 2010 Games marks the first time Canada has hosted a Paralympic Winter Games; in 1976, Toronto hosted the Paralympic Summer Games.

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Nice to see some Paralympic coverage (wasn't CBC's coverage of the '06 Paralympics a miserable 15 minute daily highlight show?), but of coarse Sledge Hockey had to be the "centrepiece"...

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