London 2012 Olympic Media Updates

[Durban Sandshark]

This news just hitting from the BBC. BBC's Director General Mark Thompson announced hours ago that he will resign following the London Olympics and Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee after a scandal, budget, and cutback-plagued tenure of nearly eight years, sometime in the autumn. So obviously it won't impact the BBC's direction of its Olympic coverage and overseeing the BBC's extensive TV, radio, web, interactive, and digital operations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...t-arts-17433580

http://online.wsj.co...1423196134.html

Go ahead, check out the Weymouth and Portland Olympic Live Site details that you go all in for free and watch not just the sailing being screened with two 60 sq. m screens on the BBC's Olympic coverage (the sailing events are right by) but other key Olympic events like both ceremonies and other stuff from noon-6pm and have fun with the Britain's favorite various sports for up to 2000 from 10am-6pm at the interactive Sports Arena (max. capacity in Weymouth 15,000). With fireworks and a Cultural Olympiad.

http://news.dorsetfo...mpic-live-site/

http://www.dorsetech...__Duncan_Flint/

That gladiatorial spirit shines through in Manchester's Elbow's official BBC song for the 2012 London Olympics and of Elbow's frontman Guy Garvey's friend Bryan Grancy who passed away in 2006, who still inspires over getting emotional watching athletics.

http://www.thenation...mpic-theme-song

This is Elbow chatting with some students from Bury Grammer School about the song as part of the BBC School Report:

http://www.bbc.co.uk...hester-17366356

More on the low total of female Nine Olympic presenters for London with Leila McKinnon as the sole one.

http://www.dailytele...0-1226292591574

Forgot that the award-winning Nine Network and its Wide World of Sport will kick off their 300+ hour London Olympic coverage with London Eve show on Friday, July 27 along with of course exclusive live coverage of both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

If it weren't for the possibility that the quality of free-to-air Australian HDTV is not of high standard as it is on pay-TV outlets like FOXTEL and Optus, as it is alleged, there would not be any discussion on this. Because of this, a debate has remerged down there. Not only that, FOXTEL, in their hopes of boosting its Australian subscriber shares to 50% with the London Olympics rapidly coming up, are asking subscribers to cough up at least hundreds of dollars to watch FOXTEL's boasting of high quality of Olympic (and sports like NRL) TV programming in HD with more in its stable (and promote that better) than what the free-to-air networks could offer as its counterpart as subchannels and--not only that--it is hoping the ACCC will allow FOXTEL's planned acquisition of regional pay operator Austar to penetrate even further into the Australian pay-TV market. By contrast, Nine's HD coverage is on GEM.

http://smarthouse.co...dustry/S3H7Q6T4

But we still don't know how much exactly what FOXTEL's London Olympic package will cost. Given the prices for Vancouver which was $A50 for early birders and A$65 after that, I project somewhere around A$80 (if an early deal comes) to A$99 because of double the channels offered. It's all about how much people are willing to fork over on this. Derek Fung of Cnet Australia asks this.

http://www.cnet.com....s-339333552.htm

The first two of the Nine Network London Olympic promos have hit this past week. Interestingly, it does not reprise the style or presentation of the Vancouver promos with narration. Does have the same voiceover this time from before ID the coverage from Eddie McGuire at the end. It's all about the Australian athletes and former ones expressing their thoughts and memories. First, Olympic gold medalist of the 1988 Seoul Olympics 200m men's freestyle Duncan Armstrong, now a Fox Sports Australia host, recalls his strategy he used in his surprise defeat over the heavily-favored American Matt Biondi.

Edwina Alexandra discusses her dream of capturing Australia's first-ever Olympic gold in equestrian show jumping as the ultimate in her lifelong love and accomplishments in the sport.

We haven't heard from what Telstra will do with online coverage at its Big Pond, but we should expect something soon since it is a part owner of FOXTEL. But will they just opt, naturally, for FOXTEL, and incorporate Nine's coverage too? Or will Telstra, a sponsor in Nine's coverage, to leave Nine alone to offer theirs through its Wide World of Sports website?

[Durban Sandshark]

CTV Olympics just launched their London 2012 Olympics You Tube channel for all of us to enjoy:

http://www.youtube.c...re=results_main

It even launched its own Google+ CTV Olympics page: https://plus.google....561750712/posts

With that, CTV just aired a new one, narrated by Gordon Pinsent, featuring the famed Laval, Quebec diver (and heartthrob) Alexandre Despatie with a local black barbershop there as the locale for seeing him in action on TV in keeping with the theme of people coming together everywhere from various cultures and backgrounds and celebrating, discussing, and watching the Olympics. Given that this is set in Quebec, I thought there was going to be some French in this one. There is, but obscured. Alex's got one last chance for golden glory. Could he do it in Canada's Commonwealth birth mother's home?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zobA1zCroQ

Since I brought up Despatie and Quebec and all that, there has yet to be any RDS Imagine promos hitting. I would expect a French version for Despatie among them, though. By the way, it's Mary Kom, not Khan as erroneously written.

More thoughts about CTV and other stuff will come tomorrow.

[Durban Sandshark]

NBC promotes the just-completed live coverage of the Kellogg's 2012 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championship in Everett, Washington:

http://tvbythenumber...-on-nbc/124686/

American Olympic gymnastics hopefuls speak on this NBC 2012 London Olympics promo ready to assert their dominance they've enjoyed for the past few years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvEC4iB2tUg

RTE isn't just broadcasting the Olympics for the Irish public on TV, Internet, and radio. It is also promoting its own Irish Olympic hopefuls seeing how they're faring as they are securing their places among the Irish London 2012 Olympic team with radio profiles on each of them every Sunday called Mission 2012 hosted by RTE Sport's Jacqui Hurley on RTE Radio 1 as part of Sunday Sport from 2-6pm (Ireland time). For all of them, you can watch these archived interviews or just listen to most of them.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/mission2012/

RTE also showed the Irish men's field hockey team playing on RTE Two and on rte.ie/sport (Ireland only) in a final qualification game against South Korea. That, unfortunately, ended up http://www.rte.ie/sp...and_korea.html]

heartbreaking for the Irish as they tried to make the Olympics for the first time in over a century[/url]. The South Koreans made a last-gasp goal in the final minutes of a spirited game.

http://www.rte.ie/sp...land_korea.html

I find it a little interesting that in the midst of severe cutbacks and sports broadcast droppings due to the severely challenging climate of the Irish economy, RTE wasn't going to cutback on the Olympics coverage. Then again, the Olympics, the Summer Olympics that is since RTE never gave immense love to the Winter counterpart since Ireland never medaled in it yet, are a every four-year event when many nations' broadcasters around the world that currently hold the Olympic broadcast rights in their respective areas are boosting theirs in just about every media platform there is out there. Yet, it is an expensive undertaking with the IOC not decreasing its rights (and even its hosting rights) fees for the next round of Olympic TV rights. In fact, RTE Sport has been criticized and pressured for the incurring broadcasting costs that, the Paralympics, and Euro 2012 will entail. It even axed live broadcasting of Basketball Ireland's National Cup Finals.

You just knew all that Internet and mobile overload usage in Great Britain geared towards the Olympics, especially coming from the BBC and over at the Olympic venues, is bound to be a major drain in usage and power, consuming all those streams--1500 people for every 20 streams every minute. Britain (or even the USA) is not like South Korea or even France in terms of its broadband power. You'd think BT, an Olympic sponsor, would upgrade it those nations' levels years in advance. But the good news is, they're rapidly working on that round the clock.

http://hosted.ap.org...EMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://sports.yahoo....ug=ycn-11128464

NRK's London 2012 Olympic webpage (OL 2012). Not a truly bonafide or abundant Olympic page for the Norweigans, but will be as we get closer: http://www.nrk.no/sp...ll/ol/1.1144519

Sweden's SVT has yet to unveil its own Olympic page for London 2012. But Finland's YLE definitely has for its upcoming "Lontoo Olympiasat" coverage. Check it out: http://yle.fi/urheil...at/lontoo_2012/ It is announced by YLE, through YLE's London Olympic project chief Robert Portman, that YLE TV2 and its Swedish digital sister channel FST5 will air 450 hours all live from "Lontoo" with only YLE TV2 making available it for HD. On the radio end YLE Puheen Olympiaradion will broadcast 200 hours from London. It is going to air the Vantaa Cup wrestling championships, Finland's largest wrestling competition, which acts as an Olympic qualification--4th phase.

http://yle.fi/urheil...la_3013586.html

Also very interesting is of the fact that ARD and ZDF are planning to show as of now 240 hours of Olympic coverage from London, a 60-hour decrease from the 300 hours it aired from Beijing (and Hong Kong if you count the equestrian events held there). Germany being the strongest economy in all of Europe, decided to cut back in the TV hours of Olympic coverage. No word yet on whether the digital channels from both networks that were involved from Athens to Vancouver--ZDFdocukanal (since replaced by ZDFneo in late 2009), ZDFinfokanal, EinsPlus, and EinsFestival--will return for this. I'd say they will. And there's a possibility the coverage will be without any commentary at all. So maybe, some of those hours will head towards their way. Other German digital channels may join like ZDFkultur and EinsExtra. A nation like Germany should have lots of coverage. Given the manner how the German networks apparently bounce around events based on their schedules, it may make sense if an outlet like Sky Deutschland could get on board and boost its nationally profile even further with its Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga packages with the Olympics and offer multiple channels to watch from with events live and uncut with full events and their army of broadcasters. On the other hand, Germans already get the German language Eurosport for coverage as an alternative.

I seriously believe Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium will emulate what they did with Vancouver in terms of having more complete coverage online rather than on the TV networks involved. It will be live and on demand too. That means if you're a Canadian resident seeing a handball game between France versus Sweden or see a swimming heat involving swimmers from Mauritius, Togo, and Cyprus--stuff viewers don't tend to see, you will have to get it there online through the concurrent streams becuase of the fact Canada is not a strong handball nation at all (even with Quebec being a better-supported area for it) in the first example and the need for attract better attention for Canadians to TV and see how they fare in the latter. No second of action will be missed online though. It, I believe, will be broken down to the three levels: Best of the Best, Extended, and Complete. I also think CTV and V, with some exceptions of exclusivity, will act as an hub of coverage and will alert viewers to head elsewhere like TSN or Rogers Sportsnet or RDS for the fuller footage like it did with Vancouver under the Best of the Best format, even more so here with London since there's far more events to chose from. It's a business through and through, even in Canada if everything televised is all live;TV's still where's it at. Now handball may get better attention on RDS though but not for, say, TSN let alone CTV.

I would like to see current TSN March Madness studio host Kate Beirness get involved with the women's basketball Olympic call, assuming the Canadian women qualifies (which I think they have a nice shot at in Turkey). More Canada stuff on my next post.

Here is what we have so far in the terms of hours of Olympic coverage in just about every announced area in the world. Many nations still have to either announced their Olympic broadcast plans for London or announce the exact breakdown in hours for it for each network (Internet streaming included) for nations like Canada, Germany, and the United States. Of course, as indicated, this is subject to change and will be updated as we go along. If you know of other nations', please let us know to add later on. We should've done this for Beijing, Vancouver, Turin, and Athens. This, as of now, does not include the radio portions:

BBC One/BBC Three/BBC.co.uk (Great Britian)--5000 hours

NBC/NBC Sports Channel/MSNBC/NBCOlympics.com w/YouTube/CNBC/Bravo/Telemundo (USA)--3000 hours

CTV/TSN/TSN2/Rogers Sportsnet/CTVOlympics.ca/RDS/RDS INFO/RDS2/OMNI/APTN/ATN/OLN/V/RDSOlympiques.ca (Canada)--5000 hours

Nine Network (Australia)--300 hours

ARD/ZDF (Germany)--240 hours

YLE TV2/FST5 (Finland)--450 hours

SKY Italia (Italy)--2000 hours

RAI (Italy)--200 hours

I enjoy uploading promos and the like here on this thread as you can tell! Brazil's Rede (or TV) Record is getting ready for London with head trio of anchors at various parts of London. with footage of Brazilian athletes succeeding like Cesar Cielo, the Brazilian men's and women's volleyball teams, the Brazil's handball squad, Fabiana Murer, Diego Hypolito, Brazil's rhtymic gymnasts, Marta and the rest of her soccer teammates, the Brazilian women's basketball team, Larissa Franca, and Juliana Felisberta, among others. Much of the footage comes from the Pan American Games last year in Guadalajara, Mexico. Record's website R7 will proivide the Internet coverage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMKsjD_Pcyw

[Durban Sandshark]

That last promo from Rede Record lasts over 2 minutes, which is rather long by our standards.

Kate Beirness did some serious homework regarding the NCAA basketball coverage on TSN, as Canadiansports mentions on his blog. She has to do something in London, which is why I suggested the women's Olympic basketball competition because if she can research NCAA ball, she can do the international realm. But that might go to Matt Devlin with Jack Armstrong or Stacey Dales.

Sportsnet's portion of the Canadian coverage is interesting just for the fact this time in the manner that the Toronto Blue Jays happen to be playing. The network

with the season right around the corner. Full disclosure: I'm actually a Blue Jays fan and wearing a new Toronto Blue Jays cap as I write this. Take a look at the 2012 Toronto Blue Jays' schedule, and you'll see how Rogers Sportsnet could have difficulties having its own portion of Olympic Primetime shown on some Olympic days. After all, the Blue Jays are owned by Rogers Communications, so they take greater precedence. During this span, including the two pre-Olympic soccer days, there would only be one off day for Toronto that Rogers Sportsnet would have all to themselves to devote to the London Olympics--August 6. Most days, with games going on in the afternoon or on the West Coast, it would be able to have its own Olympic Primetime. We do not know yet what sports will be assigned to the networks involved among CTV, TSN, TSN2, Rogers Sportsnet, and OLN for broadcast, but it would have to be ones where it could be orderly to end Sportsnet's primetime portion before the Jays' Pacific coast games at 9pm CST. But what if any of those afternoon games go into extra innings threatening the Olympic Priemtime time highlight slot portion on Sportsnet? Hopefully, we'll never know about that. Best news is that by the North American primetime, though, is all of the daily London competition will be over. Therefore, Olympic Primetime can act as the daily news and highlights (and some Olympic competition) show, and after Blue Jays' primetime games, Rogers Sportsnet can do that aspect on Olympic Latenight. Toronto Blue Jays' home game against the Detroit Tigers on July 27 will pre-empt Rogers Sportsnet's encore presentation of the Opening Ceremony on primetime and force a delay until later. Whether it show some preliminary men's and women's Olympic soccer games with that going on before the Opening Ceremony remains to be seen.

Flip side of all that is that Olympic Afternoon will be pre-empted on some days because of said Blue Jays games and that action could head toward Olympic Primetime instead. Would like to see Rogers Sportsnet ONE get involved to balance it out like with TSN and possibly TSN2 and RDS and RDS INFO and (maybe) RDS2. I also expect those outside of Quebec wishing to see French-language coverage coming from V will turn to CPAC again. Furthermore, when are we going to see some of the documentaries in Canada for London like we did in abundance for Vancouver out of the Canadian TV networks involved?

It should be this:

RTE also showed the Irish men's field hockey team playing on RTE Two and on rte.ie/sport (Ireland only) in a final qualification game against South Korea. That, unfortunately, ended up heartbreaking for the Irish as they tried to make the Olympics for the first time in over a century. The South Koreans made a last-gasp goal in the final minutes of a spirited game.

http://www.rte.ie/sp...land_korea.html

[Durban Sandshark]

Doubt that Sportsnet One and Sportsnet World would get involved in the London Olympic coverage, if at all. Would be nice to see them involved and cover sports that won't get mass Canadian coverage for a few hours or put it there in the event of the Toronto Blue Jays televised games.

American men's U-23 soccer team gets ready to take on Cuba and the rest of the CONCACAF realm at the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament live on Universal Sports, mun2, concacaf.com, universalsports.com, (and Rogers Sportsnet Ontario/East and Sportsnet One in Canada--those will also involve to see the Canadians attempt to qualify starting with El Salvador tonight)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/soccer-insider/post/us-soccer-begins-olympic-quest-with-concacaf-qualifying-tournament/2012/03/22/gIQALOYaTS_blog.html

Remember in the Beijing version of the this thread when I mentioned briefly about Sri Lanka's Olympic coverage? Rupavahini, the state-owned national broadcaster for the South Asian Commwealth island, currently has the Olympic TV broadcasting rights. A couple days ago, Sri Lanka's sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage announced Rupavahini will not sell the Olympic broadcasting rights to Carlton Sports Network, a sports and lifestyle network and the only domestic sports network exclusively in the nation supposedly owned by President Rajapaska's sons, even though it may offer more comprehensive coverage than what Rupa may do. Last time, it and The Eye only did several hours a day with a 30-minute highlight show with the emphasis on Sri Lanka's Olympians in its broadcast. Aluthgamage says he wasn't even aware of CSN's plans to do so from SLRC. Maybe SLRC and CSN could work out an agreement in time. If it is exclusive on SLRC, expect more of the same with maybe a little more of the coverage.

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2012/03/20/olympic-rights-will-not-be-transferred/

RTVE's London Olympic webpages with archival footage of past Spain's Olympic moments and a Barcelona 1992 reunion along with typical material involving Spain's own Olympians leading up to London: http://www.rtve.es/deportes/londres-2012/

With Spain's economy taking a hit these days, a quarter of the staff that was in Beijing four years ago will stay put in Spain instead of heading to London covering the Games to cut costs under a new budget plan. The RTVE Board of Directors supported the move. Look for this to happen with many nations' broadcasters coveraing the London Olympics with this global recession going on--like most notably Greece and Portugal.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.vertele.com/noticias/recortes-olimpicos-en-tve-para-londres-2012/&ei=lnprT8iRJsipgwfFr42RBg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CGcQ7gEwBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Drtve%2Bolimpicos%2Blondres%2Btv%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26prmd%3Dimvns

There's only so much sports TV networks can absorb for the summer. Some nations will grant greater priority and coevrage to the London Summer Olympics more so than other and even then, they won't cover exactly anything. Thankfully, the Internet and increasingly apps will take care of all that aspect. And the latest to do so happens to occur in The Netherlands with NIS and NOS offering a "zommersport" app for not just the Olympics but the likes of Euro 2012, Tour De France, and the Paralympics on tablets, Smart TV and smart phones.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=http://www.totaaltv.nl/nieuws/8388/NOS_sportapp_blijft_ook_na_sportzomer_in_gebruik.html&ei=mH1rT_7yF4r5ggel_tWoBg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCQQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.totaaltv.nl/nieuws/8388/NOS_sportapp_blijft_ook_na_sportzomer_in_gebruik.html%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26prmd%3Dimvns

I talked to someone from Montevideo, Uruguay yesterday whom I bonded with and asked him what channels the London Olympics could aired on there. He responded it will likely be on Canal 4 (Monte Carlo TV) and Canal 12. I'll check on those in the coming weeks.

[Brekkie Boy]

Thanks for all your updates Durban - I for one enjoy reading them and find the media/broadcast side of the games just as interesting as anything else.

Foxtel have announced today their games package (of 8 HD channels) will be available free to current sports subscribers. They'll announce fees for other customers plus full broadcast details on April 18th.

Here is what Foxtel offered for Vancouver: http://www.pushbutton.tv/work/winter-olympics-itv-app/

Have never been able to find even just screencaps of the service for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, but I know they offered six channels. It'll be interesting to see how interactive TV develops worldwide for London 2012 - it does seem to have somewhat stalled in many places in favour of broadband streaming, which for me is a shame as I'd much rather watch events in front of the TV rather than sat at a computer.

[Durban Sandshark]

Thanks for all your updates Durban - I for one enjoy reading them and find the media/broadcast side of the games just as interesting as anything else.

Foxtel have announced today their games package (of 8 HD channels) will be available free to current sports subscribers. They'll announce fees for other customers plus full broadcast details on April 18th.

Here is what Foxtel offered for Vancouver: http://www.pushbutto...ympics-itv-app/

Have never been able to find even just screencaps of the service for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, but I know they offered six channels. It'll be interesting to see how interactive TV develops worldwide for London 2012 - it does seem to have somewhat stalled in many places in favour of broadband streaming, which for me is a shame as I'd much rather watch events in front of the TV rather than sat at a computer.

Thanks for that! Indeed, the Olympic media developments are very interesting. It's certainly one thing I enjoy doing here, among others. I for one do agree that TV should also maintain the interactive TV portions that came as early as Sydney 2000, albeit in a primitve form like what Seven had, as much as the broadband streaming, especially for those with no personal computers at their disposal. Apparently aside from apps for various media outlets, we haven't heard much from in the demand for smart TVs for the Olympic Games this year as much as 3DTVs. I guess that's assumed and understood there.

Those interactive FOXTEL menu and screenshots for Vancouver (and certainly for London) would definitely not look out of place on a Blu-Ray or a standard DVD.

Canadian sports TV coverage of the CONCACAF Olympic men's soccer qualification in Nashville and Kansas City on Rogers Sportsnet: http://canadiansportsfan.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/mens-olympic-football-qualifying-on-sportsnet/#comments

Now that I mentioned Rogers Sportsnet, ironically was a CTV creation back in the 1990s before being sold to Rogers Media, some of those Blue Jays games could end up on Sportsnet ONE for the duration of the London Olympics while the chief Sportsnet would just televise the Olympics all day. That could upset some people, but this is temporary. Again, I would like to see the aforementioned Rogers Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet World to get involved with the hours in some way to provide some balance with the other Canadian English sportschannel TSN for this because of the immense amount of sports involved rather than in Vancouver two years ago.

Singapore's SingTel's mioTV secures the cable TV rights to the 2012 London Olympics. MioTV will air every live event that Team Singapore athlete is involved plus an interactive search function to take the guesswork of search all 13 of mioTV's channels. Plus, SingTel will sponsor Team Singapore atheles all through up to London at key events. It is also mentioned that ESPN Star Sports Asia will air over 680 round-the-clock hours of Olympic coverage and programming from London over 13 channels (10 ESPN Star Sports channels for the Olympics plus ESPN, Star Sports, and ESPNEWS. No word will Mediacorp will air the free-to-air portion on its Channels 5 (or will there be any Chinese or Hindu coverage in any of them). So no more Star Hub.

http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.php/2012032320818/singtel-sews-up-singapore-olympic-broadcast-rights.html

[Durban Sandshark]

CCTV will get on the 3DTV bandwagon for the Olympics along with NBC, BBC, and very likely NHK for London. CCTV-5, the sports channel, is going to be anchor of course for the Chinese coverage, but there will be other CCTV channels involved--CCTV-1 and CCTV-7 will also be a part of this. Supposedly 5 channels will ultimately be involved out of CCTV for London.

http://translate.goo...%26prmd%3Dimvns

[CanadianSportsFan]

In regards to Jays games during the Olympics... Sportsnet One is showing 12 games between July 27 and August 12. Sportsnet One is showing less Jays games than last season (and more are on the main channel), so complaints should be at a minimum. Besides, the Jays will be out of the playoffs by then anyway (I kid, maybe).

The Jays games that will air on the main Sportsnet during the Olympics are @ Oakland on August 3 (10pm ET start), @ Tampa Bay on August 7 (7pm ET start), @ Tampa Bay on August 9 (1pm ET start) and vs. New York on August 10 (7pm ET start). The August 9 game is what I find curious, since it will interrupt live Olympic coverage. The others will simply limit Sportsnet's primetime coverage, so they aren't a big issue.

TSN has 8 CFL games during the Olympics. One on July 26, one on the 27th and two on the 28th. The two on the 26th and 27th are primetime games that won't affect any Olympic coverage. On the 28th the first game is at 6pm ET, so TSN will go straight from live Olympic coverage to CFL on the first day, with no Olympic Primetime.

The next two weeks are bye weeks. TSN has games on Friday August 3 (8:30pm ET) and Monday August 6 (5pm ET). The first Monday in August is a holiday in much of Canada. They also have games on Thursday August 9 (7pm ET) and Friday August 10 (9:30pm ET). It seems to me that Chris Cuthbert will stay behind to work most of the CFL games. Gord Miller may also be free to call two games on the 26th/27th/28th because athletics doesn't start until the next weekend.

There is one major (well kind of) conflict though. TSN will have the second round of the Canadian Open from 3-6pm ET on Friday July 27. The opening ceremony is from 2:30-5:30pm ET. That means the Opening Ceremony will air on CTV and Sportsnet (and a number of other networks), but not TSN.

There are no other conflicts I can think of. TSN2 is showing a bunch of Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and golf. The Whitecaps have two games (both on Citytv Vancouver), The Impact have 3 (all on TVA Sports) and Toronto FC has 3 (all on GolTV).

[Durban Sandshark]

Just this morning the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium from Bell Media and Rogers Communications announced more additions for the London 2012 commentary talent team, as reported by Canadian Sports Fan: http://canadiansport...road-to-london/

If you follow the Canadian sports talent broadcasting media, Donovan Bailey, Vic Rauter, Kara Lang, Gerry Dobson, and Jaime Campbell are no brainers. I'm starting to think Waneek Horn-Miller (water polo) will not be a part of this. In CSF's blog, he presumes Sam Cosentino will take over Blue Jays games on Rogers Sportsnet while Campbell is away in London calling the cycling. Some, like Bailey, George Gross Jr., and Curt Hannett are borrowed from the CBC's Olympic coverage.

All various platforms on the Olympic consortium will have two Olympic highlight and storytelling programming to build up Canadian awareness and knowledge of its Olympic athletes and others: Olympic Alert and its own Road To London weekly series.

Sportsnet ONE and Radio-Canada are broadcasting the Canadian Olympic swimming trials in Montreal starting today: http://canadiansport...ndon-this-week/

We don't know as of yet how Sportsnet Radio The FAN 590 AM will deal with their own Olympic broadcasting. I'm thinking it won't take precedence over Blue Jays games, for one thing.

TSN could put the Opening Ceremony on tape delay following its golf, NASCAR, Formula 1, and IndyCar broadcasting.

Sydney's talk radio station 2GB AM 780's Olympic coverage starts July 27 and, as a reminder, will have live swimming and track and field action during Australian breakfast hours. Not much to see presently. For those who don't know, Australian broadcast laws require the 3-4 number-letter combo call name, particularly in radio, to have a number to beginning it, based on the state/territory code. In this case, 2 is New South Wales/ACT, 3 is Victoria, 4 is Queensland, 5 is South Australia, 6 is Western Australia, 7 is Tasmania, and 8 is Northern Territory.

http://www.2gb.com/i...8245&Itemid=157

[Durban Sandshark]

For once, I can best Wikipedia for London 2012 Olympic broadcasters. We touched on the USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, China, Brazil, Israel, Mexico, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Norway, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Chile, Colombia, Jamaica, Austria, Venezuela, South Africa (and the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa), India, South Korea, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Russia, Peru, West/South/and Southeast Asia (ESPN Star Sports Asia primarily), Argentina, Greece, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, The Philippines, and Uruguay so far. Some of which we will get into more as time goes by

But let's start this post regarding Romania. I expected that Telesport in Romania will do the Olympics like it has previously and with the World Cups, coincinding with TVR. Turns out though that contract expired on Telesport and TVR hooked up with late last year Dolce Communications/Rotelcom, using Dolce Sport that hit the cable airwaves in December 2010, to co-broadcast both Euro 2012 and the London Olympics. TVR 1, TVR 2, TVR HD, and Dolce Sport will both broadcast the Olympics, Euro 2012, and the 2012 World Cup in Brazil. Dolce Sport during the Olympics will only cover the team sports--basketball, handball, soccer, water polo, volleyball, gymnastics, and field hockey. Meanwhile, TVR will be, naturally, more Romanian-centric in its own coverage. If Romania is in a team sport, both entities will share it.

A Dolce Sport commercial promoting its coverage of both the London 2012 Summer Olympics and EURO 2012. No need for me whatsoever to mention that the guy in question on his bed is living high on the hog with his abundant Dolce Sport coverage.

Poland's coverage of the "Igrzyska Olimpijskie Londyn" will be broadcasted by state-run TV Polska with over 800 hours through TVP 1, TVP 2, TVP Sport (in its fifth year of existence), TVP HD, TVP INFO, and TVP's website online, fresh off the heels of another major sporting event in the 2012 sports calendar that Poland is co-hosting with The Ukraine. A certain known as EURO 2012. Though it won't be as extensive in its production and likely programming like with EURO 2012, TVP will send a 40-person team to London with 150 others staying put in its Warsaw headquarters. It already has Olympic Magazine showing on its TV and online. TV Polska's commentating team will be announced in June. The sports are to be determined, though some posters fear some sports like field hockey and water polo will be given the short shrift. Furthermore, there's cautious hope the broadcast will be better than it was four years ago.

http://translate.goo...%26prmd%3Dimvns

TVP's Olympic webpage: http://sport.tvp.pl/...kie-londyn-2012

It definitely says something at this point that TVP will cover more hours of coverage than Germany's ARD/ZDF combined.

For the Summer Olympics and related programming, Eurosport is doing 900 hours of it with the Games proper having 400. I have already mentioned the typical live daily programming time slot on Eurosport going from 9:00 to 23:00 GMT and the monthly installments from January to July Olympic Dreams and the 15-minute Together To London. But what I haven't mentioned yet with the rest having the daily Eurosport (later expanded) live half hour in-studio Olympic show Together To London and, after time-shifting for 30 minutes, the best highlights of the day will be on from 1-7 followed by Breakfast News, which will be Olympic-oriented of course. All the swimming and track and field heats through the finals will be live. Did I mention that Sydney 2000 Olympic champs Maurice Green and Pieter van den Hoogenbond will offer their expertise on the day's action for Eurosport? Photo Finish is also airing now on Eurosport with, coming in mid-May, Jeremy Buxton trying out various Olympic sports on JEZ. Not to mention all of the international championships in track and field, weightlifting, cycling, swimming, diving, rowing, and artstic gymnastics. This is all part of that lovely interactive digital Eurosport press guide.

http://2012tvguide.eurosport.com/#12

Ikimonogakari reportedly was just chosen by NHK to record its Olympic theme song for the Japanese Olympic broadcaster for London:

http://www.tokyohive...pic-theme-song/

Back down in Australia, Nine taunts FOXTEL with, "You may have better HD quality presentation and production in sport. But do you plan to have 3D Olympic coverage like we will?"

http://smarthouse.co...dustry/X8G4U7B4

This is how the BBC English Regions are going to broadcast the Olympic Torch Relay on TV, online, and radio: http://www.newsonnew...orch-relay.html

Sara Carbonero, the girlfriend of Spanish goalie star Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, Spain's national team) joins Televisa for its Olympic coverage as well as the Sunday sports show The Play (La Jugada) to bring some imported star power: http://www.periodist...ada-debut.shtml

http://www.laprensa....ha-por-Televisa

http://www.excelsior...s-leido&cat=412

[Durban Sandshark]

There won't be as many Canadian Olympic hopefuls attending this year's Juno Awards up in Ottawa like it did in Vancouver over two years ago, either as presenters or fluff reporters, on CTV. But divers Alexandre Despatie, likely chosen because of his good looks, longtime familiarity through his sport, and his high Q-rating among the Canadian public, and Jennifer Abel will be there at Ottawa's ScotiaBank Place (Place Banque Scotie in French) as award presenters on April Fool's Day Sunday. An awards show hosted by none other than William Shatner! Guess there has to be balance in both English and French Canadian Olympians.

http://bellmediapr.c...14938&yyyy=2012

The Bell Media CTV Olympics press release from this morning announcing the newest members of the Olympic broadcasting team and the upcoming Olympic programming:

http://bellmediapr.ca/olympics/

Finally, some new Olympic TV broadcasting developments made public from Canada's Commonwealth cousins down under New Zealand: From SKY TV, Kiwis will get five standard definition channels with eight HD channels and a 24-hour Olympic news channel (just like with Vancouver). And a mosaic channel showing all the other ones at once. So that's 13 channels in all to subscribe, far more than what TVNZ did for Beijing with four. Talent is yet to be made known. SKY TV's CEO Chris Felt adds that PRIME TV will show 22 hours a day of Olympic coverage with only two hours devoted to news of course. SKY TV's pay subscriptions shot right out 43% when NZ hosted the Rugby World Cup that the All Blacks won and turned a NZ$62.7 million half year profit. So hopes are high the Olympics will repeat that feat in luring more customers. SKY realizes how important live sports are to Kiwis with the option to pick and chose. No problems should arise from them. But will New Zealand residents are willing to stay up to watch all that unprecendented extensive coverage (by NZ's standards) on SKY with NZ 12 hours ahead of London?

http://www.radionz.c...-more-customers

Don't forget the 2007 announcement of the New Zealand Olympic TV rights going to SKY and PRIME that includes streaming with Vodafone:

http://www.throng.co...-prime-and-sky/

But what about the Pacific Islands?

RTE Ireland showed another field hockey Olympic qualifying final, this time the Irish women faced the Belgians on RTE One, RTE Radio 1 Sunday Sport, and rte.ie Coverage began at 3.20pm on RTÉ One, with updates and live reports from the match Radio 1 Sunday Sport. Peter Collins joined in studio for analysis by Joe Brennan with commentary from Ger Canning and Graham Shaw.

But again, it all ends in heartbreak at the final hurdle to see their Irish Olympic field hockey dreams dashed--a 4-1 defeat. RTE sure knows how to pick them, doesn't it?

An English language report of what SKY Italia Sport will do with its coverage of 1600 hours:

http://london2012str...rs-tv-channels/

ERT will get involved for the Olympics in Greece with possibly Sport/Cine+ joining it. Sport+ did supplemental coverage for Vancouver with NET on winter sports that don't garner mass Greek attention like ice hockey. Since Vancouver Sport+ was obliged to merge with Cine+ because of the arrival of ERT HD last April. Hence Cine/Sport+. Perhaps with Nova, ERT may do a joint coverage affair by having at least 5 extra Olympic channels under the Olympic name banner. Or Nova Sports could set it up on its own Olympic channels to subscribers. Problem is, with the Greek economy so rotten as it is with no recovery in sight and more austerity, how many Greeks are willing to pay with their purchasing power cut so harshly?

It's worth noting that from 2004 until June 1 2008, Nova Sports, Greece's first premium sports service, was known as SuperSport, just like it is in South Africa, which is owned by MultiChoice South Africa and even owned Nova Sports. In fact, some events are still taken from SuperSport using the SuperSport feed and logo, normally rugby union and golf occassionally with a second audio with English and Afrikaans replaced by Greek there. Very likely Nova's comprehensive coverage will come to Cyprus' way later, though Nova Cyprus doesn't get the sports highlight and news channel.

[Sir Rols]

Here's a development to keep your eye out for, Durbs:

Ian Thorpe considering TV commentating gig at London Olympic Games

IAN Thorpe has dismissed the critics who claim his attempted comeback was financially driven.

The former Thorpedo also revealed he was considering working as a TV commentator at the London Olympic Games.

The superfish - whose return to the pool was backed by serious sponsorship deals from Audi and Virgin Australia and significant grants from the government - said he struggled to understand people who believed he left retirement for the money.

"I find it a little odd that people try and reduce something that I love doing down to dollars and cents when it never was anything or something that motivated me," he told Confidential at the unveiling of his Charles Billich portrait on Monday.

"When you're committed and you're passionate about swimming you don't think of it in that way. For me it's like practising a musical instrument - spending time trying to perfect intricate moves so you can put a performance together."

The five-time gold medallist is working out what role he may play at the Olympics after bombing out of the Australian swimming trials in Adelaide.

"I'm not 100 per cent sure what I'll be doing during the Games but I really want to see my friends race," he said.

"I would love to do (TV) and if it happens it will definitely be for the Australian broadcast."

News.com.au

[Durban Sandshark]

Two new CTV Olympic promos narrated by Ellen Page hit days ago with everyone, young and old alike, swept up in the Olympic fever from Portugal to China to Poland to Canada (specifically Halifax--Ellen's hometown--and Montreal still aglow from Vancouver):

CTV Olympic Promo 1: Portugal, China, Halifax

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcaOjz4C2wU

CTV Olympic Promo 2: China, Poland, Montreal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4-MSyENrHA

Surprised there wasn't any French uttered in the Montreal footage, even the "I believe" that gets uttered at the end.

I would like to add two others that are structured like this. But there's a two-video limit to each post, so I can't upload them here.

[Durban Sandshark]

Here's a development to keep your eye out for, Durbs:

Given his iconic status down under Rols, I thought he would've done something like this already for Seven's coverage in Beijing. Maybe FOXTEL, but Nine might call him over if the network really wants him with their swimming sportscasters already announced. With his underperformance, it was almost like seeing Babe Ruth playing and managing for the Boston Braves.

[Durban Sandshark]

RTVE's Olympic promo for the London Summer Olympic Games capturing a lot of the action from Beijing in various sports--and the elation and sometimes the struggle. It decided to go away from the music and the slo mo used for the Vancouver promos and went for a more rocking one. Officially, it will be TVE, RNE, and rtve.es covering the action.

http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/londres-2012/juegos-olimpicos-londres-2012-rtve/1362512/

Unfortunely, those aforementioned cuts at RTVE could very well spell the end of its sports channel Teledeporte after the Olympics if not beforehand. RTVE already announced it will cut down its number of staff from what it had in Beijing 2008 at 200 to 25% off of that for London with the ones staying will in RTVE's Madrid studios. Last October in attempt to prevent an imbalance and mismatching on its budget, RTVE tried in vain to get Spain's private TV channels like Telecinco, Canal + Espana, and Cuartro to get involved and share in the broadcast rights and revenue. But they all passed on that, afraid of the further drain of economic misfortunes it could bring. This London endavor in terms of production and coverage will cost RTVE at least 4 million euros, a fifth less than in its Beijing costs. The major competitions, both ceremonies, and popular faves will be shown on TVE 1 and on TVE HD. Costs to the Olympics for RTVE will be round 70 million euros with little in the margin for saving, although most is for allowances. 200 million euros were cut from RTVE's budget and the network will carry the burden alone. Bad all around in Spain.

Still, it will supply SAPEC ALTUM HD encoders for London: http://translate.goo...%26prmd%3Dimvns

According to the Portuguese version of Wikipedia, RTP's channels for the Olympics will br RTP1, RTP2, RTP Informacio (formerly RTPN), RTP.pt, and RTP Mobile.

The French version of the Bell Media press release announcing the new wave of Canada's Olympic sportscasters for London:

http://www.bellmedia...14957&yyyy=2012

The glamourous CCTV press conference announcing its plans for coverage of the London Olympics. http://newscontent.c...p?fileId=134237

Found in this German London Olympic board that both ARD and ZDF are forgoing their digital channels for their London Olympics broadcast and instead offer Internet streaming. How many and what plans for them are unknown at this point, but they will likely be through either Eurovisionsports or the OBSL.

DirecTV is definitely interested in Ultra-HD TV (or 4K): http://www.digitaltr...a-hdtv-signals/

http://www.ecoustics...les/705747.html

[Baptista]

According to the Portuguese version of Wikipedia, RTP's channels for the Olympics will br RTP1, RTP2, RTP Informacio (formerly RTPN), RTP.pt, and RTP Mobile.

That´s correct!!

[Durban Sandshark]

According to the Portuguese version of Wikipedia, RTP's channels for the Olympics will br RTP1, RTP2, RTP Informacio (formerly RTPN), RTP.pt, and RTP Mobile.

That´s correct!!

Any news yet about if Sport TV will offer complimentary coverage to RTP, Baptista?

Andrew Pipes brings forward what BBC Olympic consumers would expect from its BBC Olympic Service online. He adds later there will be further tweaks and other developments that will improve the online experience that will be made known to the public soon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...ice_update.html

Roger Mosey was speaking at the UK Sport Tech Summit in Lord's today and he appears on his blog speaking the BBC will pledge to keep the Olympic news coverage impartial despite the doubts and cynicism from posters. The complainers surely won't be reassured.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...news_cov_1.html

It looks as though with ORF in Austria that it could get ORF Sport+ involved in the London Olympics. Days ago on Sunday, ORF Sport+ aired a Countdown London with documentaries from the Road to Olympic Glory--the Sprinter (featuring Usain Bolt), the Middle Distance Runner, and the Swimmer and Golden Moments of the Olympic Games. The new also digital ORF 3-Kultur and Informatien might get involved too like its German counterparts to the north did. Look for Internet streaming through ORF too.

http://tv.orf.at/orf...tories/2526168/

This report from the Czech Republic mentions the London Olympics will be broadcasted through Ceska Televize's CT1, CT2, and its sports channel CT4 with the HD coverage on CT1 HD that hit in 2009 with a possible CT4 HD, going for 24 hour coverage.

http://www.satcentru...-hry-v-londyne/

I noticed a number of posters from the Beijing version of this thread aren't around this time, particularly the Chinese ones, Pinoy, and Nikolaij (Denmark). Where are they? What happened to them? It's likely they moved on or forgot the passwords. Maybe they see all this and think to themselves, "Durban does do such a great job here, why do I feel the need to contribute?" As much as I enjoy really much doing this thread, I can't do this all by myself or be there all the time. There are bound to be blind spots and angles that I can't cover and overlook as I search. We could always use plenty of more help around here, and I greatly appreciate any contributions--and even spark discussions--coming from others when they arrive. Maybe it will when things get closer to our equivalent to Christmas morning on July 25-27. So this is a call more for them (or newbies) to come back if you have somethings.

NBC in all of its platforms, including its connection to YouTube will broadcast over 3600 hours of coverage, much of that all live in the Internet portion

is going to be among the top ones from all the nations worldwide in terms of coverage. But the BBC tops everyone with 5000 hours. Now with a lot of the broadcast rights holders, it must be pointed out there will be repeats of ceremonies and specific events during the Olympics. Why is the BBC gets the most not just as the hosts at 5000 hours? What will it have in those 1400 hours that NBC won't carry? I'm presuming the live coverage of the torch relay throughout the British Isles and the pre-Opening Ceremony show with the warmup entertainment at the Olympic Stadium. Also, I'm thinking the Cultural Olympiad, which the BBC plans to cover too--don't know if this is the first time ever the Cultural Olympiad was ever televised even online. I sincerely hope NBC through its live and on-demand streaming will broadcast the Pre-Opening ceremony show. But I'm still thinking more stuff to fill it up like more interviews, profiles, and analysis. Some might say why not Canada's own 5000 hour contributions. Well, that's because, if you look at it through breakdown in languages--English, French, and multilingual--it's not that large after all although English will make up the majority of Olympic hours.

Another thing I noticed is, now with seemingly the end of the EBU's pan-European broadcasting relationship with the IOC after London. This has been in the works for a few years now as the IOC drove up the asking prices for the media rights fees. This WILL obviously impact the lower-tiered European nations below the UK, France, Russia, Spain, and Germany as the public broadcasters make way for the private TV channels. The again, with concerns of costs spiraling out of control, those big nations are looking to either share the coverage or give it to the private/pay-TV channels for future ones. Italy is a notable top-tiered exceptions with SKY having bought the rights years ago and later selling some of its share to RAI to fufill free-to-air Olympic TV requirements. EBU broadcasters holding the Olympics continent-wide is a dying breed. We're already seeing that with FOX Turkey taking over with 2014. ATV in Austria will air both ceremonies of Sochi 2014 and possibly the same for Rio 2016. SVT lost the rights to the Modern Times Group. Maybe YLE will give it to MTV, a Finnish Olympic Committee sponsor. Norway's Olympic coverage will go from NRK to the likes of TV 2 Norge, just to name a few examples. Just going to have to take some getting used to on this front.

SporTV's new Olympics TV promos. The first is at the velodrome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsQorkKqbFY

TV control room at the IBC directing the action at the velodrome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-MIb9-NDWU

[Durban Sandshark]

All the sights and sounds of London interspersed with Olympic action on SporTV:

2012: The year in sports for SporTV, not just the London Olympics. Lots of soccer, naturally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LbU5VSSx4Y

I understand with the Philippines, the cable broadcasters for London 2012 will be not just be Solar Sport, which will be the 24/7 anchor, but Basketball TV and TALK TV getting involved with recaps and analysis.

[Durban Sandshark]

The CTV Believe promo set in London, The Philippines, and Alberta narrated by Ellen Page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz1hIVo1AsA

SporTV, the channel of champions

[Quaker2001]

NBC in all of its platforms, including its connection to YouTube will broadcast over 3600 hours of coverage, much of that all live in the Internet portion

is going to be among the top ones from all the nations worldwide in terms of coverage. But the BBC tops everyone with 5000 hours. Now with a lot of the broadcast rights holders, it must be pointed out there will be repeats of ceremonies and specific events during the Olympics. Why is the BBC gets the most not just as the hosts at 5000 hours? What will it have in those 1400 hours that NBC won't carry? I'm presuming the live coverage of the torch relay throughout the British Isles and the pre-Opening Ceremony show with the warmup entertainment at the Olympic Stadium. Also, I'm thinking the Cultural Olympiad, which the BBC plans to cover too--don't know if this is the first time ever the Cultural Olympiad was ever televised even online. I sincerely hope NBC through its live and on-demand streaming will broadcast the Pre-Opening ceremony show. But I'm still thinking more stuff to fill it up like more interviews, profiles, and analysis. Some might say why not Canada's own 5000 hour contributions. Well, that's because, if you look at it through breakdown in languages--English, French, and multilingual--it's not that large after all although English will make up the majority of Olympic hours.

That number is going to go up for NBC, I am very confident of that. NBC broadcast 3,600 hours from Beijing having completely cut out several key sports. We know those sports will be included for London and I can't see NBComcast making cuts elsewhere. So expect that number to climb over 4000 this time around.

Either way though, these numbers are just estimations, in large part based on how much online coverage there is. Up through 2006, it was easy enough for these networks to have an accurate inventory of their coverage. Now with all the online coverage, it's all just a guessing game. No one knows how many hours will be out there. Not NBC, not the BBC, not anyone. So don't get so hung up on comparing them to one another (as you seem to do every Olympics). I bet NBC doesn't know how many hours NBC actually covered from Beijing.

[Durban Sandshark]

That number is going to go up for NBC, I am very confident of that. NBC broadcast 3,600 hours from Beijing having completely cut out several key sports. We know those sports will be included for London and I can't see NBComcast making cuts elsewhere. So expect that number to climb over 4000 this time around.

Either way though, these numbers are just estimations, in large part based on how much online coverage there is. Up through 2006, it was easy enough for these networks to have an accurate inventory of their coverage. Now with all the online coverage, it's all just a guessing game. No one knows how many hours will be out there. Not NBC, not the BBC, not anyone. So don't get so hung up on comparing them to one another (as you seem to do every Olympics). I bet NBC doesn't know how many hours NBC actually covered from Beijing.

Yeah, I do expect there will be an increase in hours, at least to 4000. All the online hours are indeed subject to change leading up to July and how it will be organized and inventorized. If I understood it right, some that coverage will be shared with host broadcaster, the BBC.

An interesting look from a blog at the history of Malaysia's RTM covering the Summer Olympics since its first in Rome--on radio only--to now. RTM still has not announced what the coverage will be, but we can safely assume priority towards Malaysian London Olympians will be paramount. Tolcik also offers his wishes on how RTM can improve its coverage quality in London.

http://tokciktengok....s-over-rtm.html

Several of those SporTV Olympic promos that I uploaded lately are part of a narrative campaign with the help of production company Hungry Man designed to focus on the emotions of the same story told from different POVs all filmed in Rio. This press release explains more.

http://translate.goo...%26prmd%3Dimvns

BBC's Richard Cooper explains how the BBC will approach streaming their coverage of the 2012 London Olympics, like coping with the surely inevitable customer traffic to hit with events by expanding the capacity and production to watching the content online:

http://www.bbc.co.uk..._streaming.html

Yes, look for SVT to put all of its London coverage (and then some) on its SVT Play webpage to go along with what it has on its SVT channels like SVT 1, SVT 2, SVT 24, SVT HD, and possibly SVT Barn.

CVM, the Jamaican TV rights holder of the 2012 London Summer Olympics, struck a deal in November with Jamaican telecommunications leader LIME to offer the Games on its mobile TV service, much like Telstra will in Australia. LIME will present three new entertainment channels to its service like CVM Gold, where full coverage will be present with expert analysis, CVM Black and CVM Green, which will display fuller and extensive coverage of all the exents on LIME TV and Mobile TV. Jamaica does have the advantage of being six hours away from its Commonwealth mother, the UK, where there's a lot of Jamaicans. If you haven't figured it out, those three colors are on the Jamaican flag.

http://www.jamaicaob...pocket_11072937

[Barcelona_'92]

Two new CTV Olympic promos narrated by Ellen Page hit days ago with everyone, young and old alike, swept up in the Olympic fever from Portugal to China to Poland to Canada (specifically Halifax--Ellen's hometown--and Montreal still aglow from Vancouver):

CTV Olympic Promo 1: Portugal, China, Halifax

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcaOjz4C2wU

CTV Olympic Promo 2: China, Poland, Montreal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4-MSyENrHA

Surprised there wasn't any French uttered in the Montreal footage, even the "I believe" that gets uttered at the end.

I would like to add two others that are structured like this. But there's a two-video limit to each post, so I can't upload them here.

I really like all of these CTV/TSN ads--these are already one of my favorite pre-Olympic ad campaigns, up there with NBC's "We Are One" series for the Barcelona Games.

I've been really surprised at the lack of ads and promos so far on NBC. In the Ebersol days, NBC used to start running Olympic promos up to a year in advance of the Games, yet so far I've seen very few ads. The only ones I've seen have been during other sporting events, and I haven't seen any during NBC's primetime shows, not even during The Voice or Smash. I know a lot of the same people are still in place, but I'm a little worried about the quality of NBC's broadcast without Ebersol running the show. The few NBC promos I've seen have looked a bit amateurish, and I would hope the ads and promos will start picking up this month with less than 4 months to go to the Olympics.

[agreatolympicfanforlife]

On the "Today" show this morning, NBC announced that Meredith Viera will be hosting the opening ceremony along with Bob Costas and Matt Lauer.

[Quaker2001]

NBC Sports Network Eyes Gold with Record Number of Olympic Cable Hours

In an announcement that I'm sure will get Durban's attention.. NBC Sports Network is poised to air up to 300 hours from London. That's up a little bit from what we were expecting (in the low to mid 200-range). Not sure where the extra hours are coming from, but it does make sense for NBCSN to be up pretty much every day all day except for primetime.

Also, in addition to Viera, it appears that Ryan Seacrest of American Idol fame may also have a role during the Olympics.. Ryan Seacrest Is Said to Be Close to New Deal With Comcast