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BBC Host Broadcaster Olympic Coverage 2012


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You could basically watch whatever you wanted on the BBC this year, and indeed EVERY session of the Olympics from EVERY venue is still available on BBC iplayer until the middle of next year.

Wow! I hadn't realised that. I'd assumed that it had disappeared after a week or so. Thanks for pointing that out!

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Time to start to recording that stuff from there if you so very like. Haven't visited the NBC counterpart in quite some time, so I have to wonder if NBC Olympics' (and CTV's) videos disappeared. We can make our own London multidisc set if we so very like

5 discs in tow for the BBC 2012 Olympic DVD set. I'm thinking in how it's organized disc 1 is the Danny Boyle director's Opening Ceremony cut, disc 2 is part one of the Olympics highlights of the first week (prinicpally Team GB), disc 3 is part 2 of the highlights from the second week, disc 4 is possibly more of the same or maybe the official London Olympic video/top international highlights with disc 5 the closing ceremony. Elbow's First Steps will be ubiquitous on those discs as the music.

I would like to see as a nice good bonus feature among the discs regarding that very good torch relay across the UK and Ireland.

I agree with the allowance of better access of other rights broadcasters like allowing their live streaming during the Olympics (or allow them online after the Olympics) and thus have the IOC change its media policy after the new IOC president settles him/herself in. I may get interested in the Olympic-related programming from other nations during that. But you better talk to NBC and those billions it spent regarding that.

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well - of course I can take every other national broadaster, which was host broadcaster in the past, but e.g. NBC is the national broadcaster for the USA - let's say the visitors could have watched the live-streams of e.g. ARD, ZDF, CBC, BBC or ORF in Salt Lake City 10 years ago...

Do you think that US-citizens would have watched ice hockey or figure skating on CBC, ORF, BBC or ARD/ZDF? I doubt that US-citizen would be interested in the coverage of the other broadcaster...

The visitors from Canada, Austria, United Kingdom or Germany would have had the possibility to follow their teams in SLC during the time of the Games much better, if they had the opportunity to watch the live streams of CBC, ORF, BBC or ARD/ZDF.

NBC doesn't rely on the money of the visitors, who are in SLC during the Games

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well - of course I can take every other national broadaster, which was host broadcaster in the past, but e.g. NBC is the national broadcaster for the USA - let's say the visitors could have watched the live-streams of e.g. ARD, ZDF, CBC, BBC or ORF in Salt Lake City 10 years ago...

Do you think that US-citizens would have watched ice hockey or figure skating on CBC, ORF, BBC or ARD/ZDF? I doubt that US-citizen would be interested in the coverage of the other broadcaster...

The visitors from Canada, Austria, United Kingdom or Germany would have had the possibility to follow their teams in SLC during the time of the Games much better, if they had the opportunity to watch the live streams of CBC, ORF, BBC or ARD/ZDF.

NBC doesn't rely on the money of the visitors, who are in SLC during the Games

Sorry, but I don't see the point... if you want to watch the Games on your national broadcaster... you could stay at home !

To watch the local broadcaster is part of the Games' experience...

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Sorry, but I don't see the point... if you want to watch the Games on your national broadcaster... you could stay at home !

To watch the local broadcaster is part of the Games' experience...

:huh:

First of all I didn't travel to London to sit in front of the TV-set and watch BBC or ARD/ZDF. I tried to take television as a source of information during the Olympic Games. Like I have already said I am a huge fan of the BBC and I esteem it as a very good/reliable broadcaster, but I would have wished that I could get more information of the performance of the German team at London than what the BBC offered...

Since I am aware that the BBC has to take care of the British public and has to focus on the home team I think it would be great if the visitors from around the world were able to go to the websites of their home broadcaster to watch some video/live streams - e.g. after the German eights had won gold I would have loved to watch the victory ceremony on Aug 1st, but that was not possible, since the BBC was not interested in showing it and at the same time I couldn't watch it on the ARD/ZDF website, since it is blocked in the UK...

I am quite sure that many visitors in London were in similar situations - and I really wonder about your remark of "To watch the local broadcaster is part of the Games' experience..."

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I think all visitors will see some of the host broadcaster's output in any case since that's what will be on in most bars/restaurants and in most 'live sites'.

It would be good if they could also find a way to see 'their' team more though. Perhaps a future broadcaster with 24 HD channels could use some of them (when there's no live action on them) to show particular nations; they could use that country's highlight show from the night before which would get round having to spend time producing lots of shows but still allow that country's spectators to see more of their athletes.

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The only national house I popped into during the London Games was the Danish one at St Katherine's dock, where me and CAF had lunch on my last day in London. It was showing the Danish national feed, so I guess that's one way to get it.

For Oz, though, there was no official "Australia House" at London as far as I know. I know they had an unofficial pub meeting point at Weymouth for the sailing, and I guess there's popular expat pubs for Aussies in London, but I wonder if they managed to get a Channel 9 feed.

I hope they do so for Rio - though I'm don't think we have a big tradition of it. The only Oz House I can recall for a Games was in Atlanta (at some historic theatre which I can't remember the name of now - US members, any clues?). And I assume that was mainly to promote 2000 - I didn't go, my schedule was too busy there.

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I've just read through all of the pages in this thread and I have to defend the BBC from some of the, frankly, absurd criticism that has been levelled at it here.

The BBC is the public service broadcaster for Britain. It is paid for by British citizens (albeit at an astonishingly cheap price) and predominantly watched by British people.

The Olympic Games were being staged in Britain for the first time in 64 years. It was inevitable that the BBC, with it's remit of satisfying a predominately British audience, would concentrate it's coverage on it's main channels in providing coverage of British performances.

In order to satisfy anyone's interest in other sports not being covered on the main channels, the BBC provided live feeds online and on TV of every sport at every venue. All of this remains available until mid-2013.

Sorry but to criticise this vast level of coverage is simply churlish. You may have the odd criticism that the coverage was biased but you also have to remember that the British team performed outstandingly well. For a relatively small country to have finished 3rd in the medal table shows a remarkable ability to 'punch above it's weight.'

The TV coverage reflected this as well - and rightly so. Imagine the outcry from the British TV audience (who pay for the coverage!) if British successes had been ignored in favour of foreign nationals with little or no chance in various events.

People need to place the coverage in context. In the context of the BBC providing more channels and options than any other broadcaster in history and then come back if they feel their criticism remains valid; I'm almost sure it won't be!

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@mjb22,

you got it totally wrong...

There is absolutely no need to "defend" the BBC-coverage of London - of course I understand that BBC has to focus on TeamGB - and that is fine!!!

I challenge something completely different: the media policy...

Let's take an example in the future - you are a British visitor of the Olympic Games 2096 in Tahiti...

The home broadcaster is offering a 24 hour program of the Olympic Games - you are enjoying the Olympic Games in Tahiti very much - Tahiti is a brilliant host and you have no ticket for the morning, since you need a rest or you didn't get a ticket for an event - you switch on the Tahitian TV - the Tahitian TV shows the event, which you were interested in getting tickets or in a sport which you like - it is a tight race in which Team GB finally wins - USA second - Tahiti third...

The Tahitian broadcasting company switches to another event, since a Tahitian athlete is to win another gold medal...

You are celebrating that Team GB won and you are looking forward to watch the medal ceremony - you recognise that the Tahitian TV won't show the medal ceremony on its first channel or on one of its other digital TV channels - you go to your laptop and you open the website of the BBC - there you can watch the live-stream/video of the medal ceremony of the event in which Team GB won...

This is not possible today - since the videos/live streams on the BBC-website are blocked in Tahiti...

And that is what I challenge - the visitors of Olympics/Paralympics should get better access to the videos/live streams of their national broadcaster in the host city during the Games.

I don't criticise that the home broadcaster focus on the home team or its coverage in general...

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CAF, I agree with you in the main, but I also think you are in danger of being just a little disingenuous. Your Tahiti analogy is flawed as it did not acknowledge that the Tahitian Broadcasting Service had made all the events available online, if your visitor had bothered to look. I was watching the BBC rowing stream and saw the German eight victory ceremony together with the 'drowning' of the cox (albeit with the sound down for your National Hymn which is a bit of a tradition in my family). Whilst I think your proposal for people perhaps to 'buy' a pass to their national broadcaster whilst abroad has a lot to recommend it, I think your criticism of the host broadcaster would be more robust if the BBC site had not made the OBC livestreams of every sport available via their web portal. The rowing was available on the 'red button' - that's how I watched it. Whilst I am appreciative that people who do not regularly live in the UK may have found using the additional olympic digital channels, or the bbc websites unwieldy, it was also not rocket science! I hope you've managed to see the medal ceremony since, I do remember thinking that the Canadian cox was extremely short, and one of the Germans was staggeringly tall, with a good few cms on all the other 2 meter oarsmen. It was comical. The British were terrible losers, scowling and walking off asap. That was comical too.

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@mjb: But wasn't there criticism about the too strong British-centrism of the BBC broadcasts even in Britain itself? I'm not taking a dig at BBC, because it was particularly difficult for them at these Games due to the big number of British athletes and British medal chances. I'm just asking whether one could still provide a better mix of international performances and still not miss a British performance, maybe sacrificing one or two talk segments per day.

@CAF: It's true, though, that you had chances to watch the international feeds of the events online in London. Besides the BBC, eurovisionsports.tv provided live streams, and the IOC's YouTube channel apparently did, too. I have to admit, though, that I didn't know about eurovisionsports.tv myself until shortly before the end of the Olympics. And while there are internationally accessible websites providing live streams of British and US TV channels, such websites probably also exist for German TV channels.

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It's JUST impossible to watch ALL the events. I mean, even the IOC president I am sure couldn't AND didn't watch all, what? 750 hours of ALL competition going on. And there are territorial boundaries involved...that is why one can't see the Lithuanian TV coverage in the Maldives, just as I am sure one can't see Maldivian TV coverage in Latvia or Lithuania.

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@mjb: But wasn't there criticism about the too strong British-centrism of the BBC broadcasts even in Britain itself?

Yes, but only because you can't please everybody all of the time. Any criticism wasn't at all widespread. Maybe the BBC will look to tweak the balance for 2016, but it'll only be that - a tweak.

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I didn't even know which rank Germany had in the medal table during that first weekend of the Paralympics because they only showed the Top 10 or even Top 5 positions on Channel 4. ;)

TV channels are often slow to update the medal tables. It's a shame I didn't know you were having trouble getting the latest information on Germany's medals or else I would have advised you to download and bookmark the Paralympic website medals table which I did. It was continuously updated for all countries and I used it for quick and easy reference. It was excellent!

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When the BBCcovers Wimbledon they capture the atmosphere of the event,

I thought the first weeks coverage of the Olympics was a bit clinical, it took till the second week for the bbc to start capturing the atmosphere of the Olympic park,

Then there is the comareson with Channel fours coverage of the Paralympics the BBC must be kicking themselves for missing out of the greatest ever Paralympics, Channel fours coverage was good, I actually preferred channel fours indents to the BBC CGI introduction.

Though the BBC had a great intro to there 10 O’clock show using the Queen and James bond,

But I thought Channel four used better shots of London during there coverage ,

The only weakness with channel fours coverage was the Marathon, I didn’t see any big truck of cameras following in front of David weir, as was the case for the Olympic marathon, just individual cameras on motorbikes it seemed the live coverage was only on the mall.

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TV channels are often slow to update the medal tables. It's a shame I didn't know you were having trouble getting the latest information on Germany's medals or else I would have advised you to download and bookmark the Paralympic website medals table which I did. It was continuously updated for all countries and I used it for quick and easy reference. It was excellent!

I knew that - I regularly checked the medal tables on the official website during both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. While I was in London, I avoided going online with my mobile phone, though - due to the high roaming costs. ;) So I was more dependent on the TV broadcasts.

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About C4's coverage of the Paralympics - the great thing (and this outweighs my negative point) is the considerable amount of multi-channel coverage that they gave to it.

The negative point was that it was far too Brit-centric. I'm all fine with wanting to show the Brit competitors a lot, but I think it went way too far. Too often, the winner of a race (from another country) would barely be acknowledged - maybe only half a second on screen - before C4 switched camera for the next 30 seconds to the GB competitor who came 4th in the same race.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Going to be curious if the BBC Olympic menus will be stylized and better organized than what has been said about NBC's. Will they emulate what Warner Vision Australia and Seven did for the Sydney Opening Ceremony DVD in having a country by country chapters for each nation marching in the Parade of Nations segment for the Opening Ceremony DVD?

Looking forward to seeing the final artwork too when released.

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  • 2 weeks later...

51eJovDOEaL.jpg

Behold the final artwork of the BBC 2012 Olympic DVD set (Blu-ray version here taken from the UK Amazon)!

I can safely assume some of you Brits and maybe some Irish got a hold of this already when it hit in late September. Hopefully soon, I'll get my hands on a copy of the Blu-ray and play on my future computer Blu-ray drive, since it's regionless (or zoneless). Makes a nice Christmas gift!

Still 5 discs with 15 hours of footage. Says it only now has only 7 hours of Olympic highlights rather than the original 8. What was deducted from it? Outside of the press release mentioning the upcoming release and of the Danny Boyle director's cut of the OC, there's very little advanced publicity of what's featured inside each and every disc in it and the chapters. Will it contain not just the BBC TV commentary but also that from BBC Radio 5 Live? For those who got it here on these boards, what do you guys think of it and what should we expect? I'm hopeful it'll be more modeled like the CTV/RDS Vancouver 2010 and Hockey Gold DVD sets--of which I don't own yet. Still gathering thoughts on this.

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Sorry, the release date was my mistake.

Does seem odd there's no actual London 2012 Olympic highlight video as of yet. Perhaps a lot of that focus nowdays goes towards the official film of London. But it has been able to accomplish both. Until there's official word on the highlights, we should just speculate.

Oh yeah, the press release for the upcoming DVD set is here at last! Takes a page from the Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony DVD in taking two discs just for that. Apaprently with all of that way too much artistic presentation going on, the director's cut will give ample time to what was going on. Like with the CBC Torino DVD set and 16 Days in September, the highlights will structured in days not by sports.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=9716

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