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London 2012 Olympic Media Updates


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Watching this men's high jump competition from ABC's 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics coverage made me wish that NBC's would not only be, if not necessarily, live but fuller in terms of coverage. Seems like it was from the glory days of US track and field broadcasting from many eons ago.

Indeed it was a different time. Track and Field was a bigger deal as it hass lost a lot of its luster in the US over the past few Olympics, largely due to drug scandals. I think aside from that the advancement of videotape (and non-tape based recording technology) make it easier to package things like a field event together and eliminate a lot of the dead air. Plus, some of what I'm seeing there looks like what we saw with NBC in 1988 in Seoul where they jumped quickly to get somewhere live, but I don't think that's a smart thing to do anymore. NBC got ripped to shreds for that type of approach in 1988 and that's why they largely haven't gone back to it.

Ah, but it's now 2012. It's a brand new ballgame. New management running NBC and the cable networks. And of course the promise of live coverage of every event. So even if you don't get that full coverage on TV, it will be there online.

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Blog post from BBC's head of operations for London 2012:

Every so often I post a quick update on what we're up to - mainly to keep everyone informed of what the BBC 2012 project is doing, but also in the interests of accountability. This blog literally answers to you.

So two things to mention today.

First, a long-running theme: we've secured outline planning permission for our studio in the Olympic Park. This will perform a similar function to the presentation studio we used in Beijing - being at the centre of the action and with a panorama of all the main venues.

The only difference here is that it will be able to accommodate simultaneous broadcasting for BBC One and BBC Three.

We'll publish more information about the studio in the coming weeks, but the headlines are that we've prioritised sustainability and value for money.

Part of the construction involves using shipping containers, which are economic and eco-friendly; and on top of them we'll be putting the World Cup studio from Cape Town in 2010, which BBC Sport promised would be re-used.

So Gary Lineker, for one, should feel at home; and the crowds in the Olympic Park will see the BBC studio in a great location.

Second, I wrote a few months back about our ticket purchases.

We set tough rules: business and production use only and we wouldn't buy super-premium tickets. We also bought no tickets for ceremonies and we guaranteed there would be no free tickets for the personal use of our staff or presenters.

At the time our total number of purchases was, as I said, an average of 27 a day over the competition period - 488 in total.

There has always been an option for us to return up to 20% of this total and get our money back if the detailed planning showed there were tickets we might not need; and, having made a fresh assessment of our production and business needs, that's what we've now done.

So 100 tickets have gone back to Locog, and our new total is 388 and as promised, we will publish the information about how we use any tickets for business use.

Both these developments show our over-riding aim for 2012 - which is to spend money on the output where it can be enjoyed by tens of millions of people. It's an investment we're determined to use wisely.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/rogermosey/2012/01/bbc_olympic_park_studio_plans.html

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At the 200-day mark

Had a feeling with this being an Olympic year that we would see something out of NBC Sports and Panasonic at the CES show going on right now in Vegas. Check out the finer 3D Olympic TV details, that includes 200 hours of 3D telecasting and the use of special Panasonic 3D cameras, with these:

http://satellite.tmcnet.com/news/2012/01/09/6042229.htm

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/television/NBC-To-Broadcast-London-Olympics-in-3D-137021188.html

http://www.twice.com/article/478796-Panasonic_Goes_For_3D_Olympic_Gold.php

So what's next on the agenda?

(but why in the hell did they have to chose those members of the US women's soccer team--aka They Who Must Not Be Named--for this??!! :angry: )

More stuff from the BBC: BBC will have in total 17 presenters on both BBC One and BBC Three. The former is going to be more wall-to-wall with only news reports interrupting things with even BBC Two getting involved for a little bit during the newstimes. The latter will cherry pick events for British viewers. Plus 1233 cameras will be used by the BBC. It will be all 2500 hours of live stuff with the other half online and taped delayed. Along with other types of Olympic-related or Olympic-involved spin-off programming in their entertainment, culture, news, and sports. Just some of the details of what Roger Mosey and his BBC team plans to do this new Olympic year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/9004785/London-2012-Olympics-BBC-gears-up-for-the-greatest-show-on-earth.html

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Wonder where will the studio be that's high enough to have panoramic view... not the orbit for sure. Perhaps on top of the media centre?

I reckon they'll bung it on top of a tower block near the Park. As the video in the blog post shows, they put the same studio on top of a hospital to get the view they wanted for the World Cup. I reckon the BBC will base themselves just outside of the Park somewhere, but high enough to get a nice panormaic view of it.

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I reckon they'll bung it on top of a tower block near the Park. As the video in the blog post shows, they put the same studio on top of a hospital to get the view they wanted for the World Cup. I reckon the BBC will base themselves just outside of the Park somewhere, but high enough to get a nice panormaic view of it.

Sounds plausible indeed. Or perhaps on top of Westfield Stratford

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Had a feeling with this being an Olympic year that we would see something out of NBC Sports and Panasonic at the CES show going on right now in Vegas. Check out the finer 3D Olympic TV details, that includes 200 hours of 3D telecasting and the use of special Panasonic 3D cameras, with these:

http://satellite.tmcnet.com/news/2012/01/09/6042229.htm

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/television/NBC-To-Broadcast-London-Olympics-in-3D-137021188.html

http://www.twice.com/article/478796-Panasonic_Goes_For_3D_Olympic_Gold.php

So what's next on the agenda?

(but why in the hell did they have to chose those members of the US women's soccer team--aka They Who Must Not Be Named--for this??!! :angry: )

So it's coverage from select venues shown on tape-delay the next day.. sounds an awful like their HD coverage from 2004 in Athens. That was spearheaded by Sony, so not a surprise that another major technology company is leading this one. Remains to be seen if this will be what gets 3D to start taking off. If HD at the Olympics is any indication, it may be at least another 4 years before we can answer that question.

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So it's coverage from select venues shown on tape-delay the next day.. sounds an awful like their HD coverage from 2004 in Athens. That was spearheaded by Sony, so not a surprise that another major technology company is leading this one. Remains to be seen if this will be what gets 3D to start taking off. If HD at the Olympics is any indication, it may be at least another 4 years before we can answer that question.

Sure does sound like Athens. Apparently this is more about not wanting to interfere with the now-already established HDTV and standard, since both are now digital. The majority of Americans yet to have 3D capabilities on their TVs and may not quite be interested just yet. In four years time, maybe it will be. Sounds to me this isn't as essential for the benefit of many viewers, otherwise they'd go all out. One former athlete and Yahoo columnist and Olympic fan wonders wonders aloud about the use of 3D instead of simply making better Olympic coverage. I'll tell why, Debbie: The Olympics, with its massive tentpole attention domestically and foriegn, are one of the few televised events out there that a new development can utilized at least as an experimental manner that networks. Furthermore, NBC proper wants to justify monster ratings to advertisers and its big fee. So it will get packaged as NBC, in this case, sees fit and go into sports where the attention will be massive and have potent audiences through years of history of interest and coverage, among them. Many events will be seen online where 3D coverage isn't yet developed. I agree NBC could be better in terms of coverage, but it is getting so with each passing Olympics--as long as events are covered well and with quality regardless of media platform.

If Bell Media's last year were an indicator. Look for it to hit the top spot this year in the digital standings with London 2012.

http://www.newswire.ca/fr/story/904999/bell-media-digital-rocks-into-2012-with-top-spots-in-the-canadian-online-landscape

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This is more related to Sochi and Rio than it is to London, but still very interesting nevertheless..

Low-ball bid for Olympic TV rights could leave Canadians in dark

I saw at the bottom of the article that something like this has happened before involving Australia and the 1988 Olympics, can anyone elaborate on that one if possible?

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This is more related to Sochi and Rio than it is to London, but still very interesting nevertheless..

Low-ball bid for Olympic TV rights could leave Canadians in dark

I saw at the bottom of the article that something like this has happened before involving Australia and the 1988 Olympics, can anyone elaborate on that one if possible?

It'll be interesting to see who ends up blinking on this one--the IOC or Canadian TV. The CBC gets much of its funding from tax dollars and is not really in a position to offer more money for sports events. I don't see any way the IOC goes without a broadcast partner in Canada for 2014-16, even if they have to take a relatively low bid. I wonder if the IOC thinks that CTV/Bell and CBC are working together to keep the rights fee down and really wants them to bid against each other.

IIRC, the IOC has also rejected a low-ball offer from the BBC for 2014-16. It's good to see that not all networks are willing to put up the exorbitant fees that NBC did...

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I, like hopefully many Aussie Olympic lovers down there, certainly hope this multichannel rumour is going to be true. Thank goodness for digital TV subchannels in this case. But you can worry if you're an Aussie how will Australia's anti-siphoning broadcast laws will effect it. Nine can improve its FTA Olympic coverage this way and not emulate post-C7 Sport 7 Network with boundcing around events save for the big ones like in swimming. I mean, it worked well for the Commonwealth Games. If so, how will this impact FOXTEL's, like will those two share some members of itsa broadcast personnel like with Steven Bradbury and Alisa Camplin for Vancouver, and, more importantly, does FOXTEL's deal precludes the Nine Network from doing likewise for thwe Olympics? As far as the latter goes, we don't know yet.

http://www.throng.com.au/nine/rumour-nine-provide-multichannel-coverage-london-2012-olympics-over-its-three-channels

http://www.throng.com.au/olympic-games/will-nine-air-2012-olympics-hd

Perhaps if the Portugese wants more extensive Olympic TV coverage as opposed to what they've been getting with just RTP, which tends to be miniscule by today's Olympic broadcasting standards, maybe the likes of Sport TV--NOT the Brazilian version, Portugal's own version--could do it outside of Eurosport. It's now got 4 channels to do the Olmypics with, all with HD capabilities. Its also the only Portuguese-language sports network there, so it would make sense to air some stuff there.

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Hong Kong's i-Cable announced their London Olympic media coverage plans last week. 6 i-Cable TV channels involved with hopes for Fantastic Television, I-Cable's free-to-air TV network, to get aboard as soon as the HK government issues the licence for it from a two-year application with live and tape-delayed programming. Four of those six cable channels will be self-produced in HD and in Cantonese (also available in standard) with at least 10 hours daily of coverage from an experienced staff from Beijing, Guangzhou. Two of them will be 24-hours featuring the most important events live on the Olympic schedule and later repeated outside of those hours with another ready on stand-by to cover those that aren't on them. I-Cable will have its own Olympic soccer channel for both men's and women's competition like NBC and CCTV did in Beijing and likely London. And two additional Olympic channels transmitting direct satelitte IOC feeds with English professional language commentary without the editing, in a nod to HK's British heritage perhaps (but where would the feed(s) would come from?). It has plans to use i-Cable's website for London Olympic programming with an eye for similar programming material in cell phones, smart phones with apps, tablets, and maybe the iPod anytime, anywhere for HK residents.

It will be the most extensive ever in terms of Olympic coverage with 26 events to do over 17 days. Covering everything. I-Cable News and i-Cable Sports will be on hand to help cover the Olympic action and news to Hong Kong. There will be a weekly Olympic newsprogram called "Swinging London" hosted by Sam Lung and former triathlete Vincci Hui Wai-Sum that started last Thurday.

http://www.i-cablecomm.com/newsroom/index2.php?newsroomid=550

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Apparently, Brazil will have not just SporTV as the cable TV broadcaster for the London Summer Olympics. BandSports will be in this with ESPN Brasil too. Rede Record did not oppose this in their broadcasting negotiations with the IOC. Luciano Valle will lead BandSports' delegation. BandSports even have its own Olympic magazine show called "Marathon? Marathon?".

Malaysian government-owned TV network RTM won the TV rights to air the 2012 London Summer Olympics in Malaysia in early December. It's a bit of a shame that ASTRO won't broadcast them on the pay-TV end since ESPN Star Sports Asia has the rights to them. Just hope they will be as comprehensive like ASTRO was.

http://www.nst.com.my/latest/rtm-given-host-broadcaster-rights-for-2012-london-olympics-1.13635

TeleSUR and TVes are the Venezuelan TV rights holders

http://contactodeportivolvc.blogspot.com/2010/11/telesur-y-vtv-transmitiran-en-exclusiva.html

When I read that SuperSport announced plans to extend itself to Swahili language coverage of KPL soccer as it makes further inroads into East Africa, I can assume it would only be a matter of time if the London Olympics will feature simultaneous coverage in Swahili along with Portugese (and hopefully Afrikaans). Makes sense if it does because, as sub-Saharan Africa's sports TV broadcaster, it seeks to expand its horizons across the continent, and it is already doing so with the announcement of following Kenyan Olympians and four news production crews--since almost all of East Africa are Commonwealth members like South Africa and the UK.

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Sweden's SVT makes official that the network will be at London for the Olympics this year on Friday. SVT will air the 2012 London Summer Olympics in unprecedented amount of hours for Swedish TV. It already started the countdown with a SVT Sport Spegeln profile on Isabellah Andersson. Very little details right now, but surely we'll get them as the date approaches.

http://svt.se/2.21059/1.2682613/svt_sander_mer_ar_nagonsin_fran_os

Since TVNZ no longer holds the Olympic TV rights in New Zealand now that SKY and PRIME hold them, I'm wondering now what network entity will offer the English-language Olympic broadcast rights to the Pacific Island nations (Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, Cook Islands, Palau, and (Western) Samoa)? Based on geography, New Zealand is seemingly closer to them than Australia is. PNG, serving half of the New Guinea island and formerly an Australian colony, has ESPN Star Sports Asia showing the Games. Looking for help in getting its Olympic broadcasting history. Because of the history, I would assume whoever held the Australian, if not Kiwi, Olympic TV rights sent them to PNG for footage. PRIME could do it for the Pacific Island nations this time, but I can't say anything its history regarding its reach to those places. If Nine could do that, then it would be welcome by them. But both Network Nine and PRIME Network are private, commercial networks. TVNZ is a government-owned corporation, which doesn't have to obsess itself too much about making a profit like those two. Not of course counting New Calendonia, Tahiti, or French Polynesia since France Televisions and Eurosport will take care of them.

Since I'm on Asia/Pacific, with ESPN Star Sports Asia having taken over much of Asia except for Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the two Koreas, Macau, and The Philippines, if the coverage offered by it isn't as comprehensive over pay-TV like it was in the recent past in South Asia and Southeast Asia, it will be unfortunate to end up missing what ASTRO (Malaysia), Star Hub and mio TV (Singapore), GEO Sports (Pakistan), and I forgot the name of the cable company in Indonesia that had them too for four years ago. Each brought more indigenious coverage that was very comprehensive live and on-demand. ESPN Star Sports is more Pan-Asian. Speaking of Singapore, would there be any Chinese language coverage for that community to go along with what MediaCorp's Channel 5 will offer in English (in highlight format perhaps) and maybe more comprehensive.

Though it isn't officially announced yet, I can expect Israeli sports channel Sport 5 to get on board as an Olympic broadcaster with the terrestrial Channel 1 to provide FTA coverage. Like it was in Beijing four years ago, Sport 5 will have its family of channels--like Sport 5+, Sport 5 Live, and Sport 5 Gold--to get involved largely on a subscriber basis.

The same also applies towards Al-Jazeera Sports based in Qatar and Dubai Sports and Abu Dhabi Sports in the UAE. In the original Wikipedia entry of London Olympic broadcasters, Nile Sports was mentioned for Egypt. Don't know if it's official or will be.

Sport TV actually did coverage of the Beijing Olympics in Portugal.

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Australia, Italy, France, South Korea, New Zealand, China, and surprisingly, Hungary are among the nations that will get 3D London Olympic TV coverage separate from the regular TV footage.

http://blogs.trb.com/sports/custom/business/blog/2012/01/telecasts_of_london_olympics_t.html

Eurosport UK's MD for London is David Kerr

http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2012/10924-eurosport-appoints-new-md-to-oversee-london-2012-coverage

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