Sochi 2014 Olympic Media Updates

[Durban Sandshark]

Get ready for NBC, NBC Sports Network, and NBC Sport Live Extra to provide US Olympic fans a combined 34.5 hours of the 2014 US Olympic Trials in various Winter Olympic sports starting Friday, November 15 with curling!

NBC, NBC Sports Network, and NBC Sports Live Extra coming at you with 34.5 hours of the 2014 US Winter Olympic Trials coverage

All ending with short track in early January.

Many of us here, including myself, do indeed criticize NBC's perrenial tape delayed coverage of the Olympics, even when it was located in a more favorable time zone for the US, like Vancouver so that American viewers can Lindsay Vonn's attempts at gold with the biggest possible audience of eyeballs during primetime for example. But I understand it along with a few others like Quaker2001. NBC proper went mostly tape delayed in London. And guess what? It got massive ratings, most-watched American broadcast of the Summer Olympics ever! All those hoping for a change to entirely live, well NBC is giving you the finger once again! NBC doesn't care about "the vocal minority" on social media. Forget it, for now. With so much advertising dollars at stake, it needs the ratings. Plus, it's proven to work. It's in Sochi, Russia this time with greater chance of that partly because of that massive time zone gap from the US East Coast. At some point in the long run with technology and access getting better and viewer habits changing, NBC can't go on under this strategy forever.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-06/nbc-ignores-criticism-of-tape-delayed-olympics-to-smash-records.html

Another former Swedish Winter athlete turned SVT sportscaster Viasat poaches. Emelie Ohrstig joins Per Olafsson for Viasat's cross country skiing Sochi Olympic coverage on Viasat's Olympic broadcast team.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.viasatsport.se/os/press/ohrstig-ansluter-till-viasats-os-team/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.viasatsport.se/os/press/ohrstig-ansluter-till-viasats-os-team/%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D929

http://www.viasatsport.se/os/press/ohrstig-ansluter-till-viasats-os-team/

Quite possible the MTG group of Swedish free-to-air channels (TV3, TV6, TV8, and TV10) could have more than one of its channels, if not all, sharing the 600 hours of coverage there from the Opening to Closing. Won't be any concern of commercial breaks interrupting coverage like Norway's TV2 endured and since reached; they'll be carefully placed. Swedish sportscasters all the way. Also, channel Viasat TV 14 HD will go on until February.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.viasatsport.se/os/sa-ser-du-os/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.viasatsport.se/os/sa-ser-du-os/%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D929

[BTHarner]

I do not have a problem with NBCs programming strategy as long as the events are live online. However the experience in 2012 with the high profile sports such as athletics and swimming was just awful with the feeds buffering constantly. It was almost as if they deliberately provided an inferior online service so that you had to watch prime time to actually see the event.

[Durban Sandshark]

I'm with you completely, BTH. As long as there's the online outlets are live, it's OK. But this time, i would like for NBC to utilize its broadcast team more fully instead of just relying on the IOC's World feed English commentators in that realm, except when there's an Olympic sport not assigned by NBC to cover like sailing was last year in London. I didn't get a chance to watch much of London due to work and not having a strong TV reception, let alone online, and only caught brief glimpses playing on TVs at stores or restaurants when I was about during those days. That said, I can see the constant online buffering being awful during London to protect its daily primetime TV coverage. Broadband in the US definitely getting better and more powerful in the US (still lagging South Korea and France though), so NBC even has less of an excuse now to conduct that.

A (translated) look at one Finnish forum of posters pondering and debating who would make up YLE's Finnish 2014 Olympic hockey broadcast team. A strong consensus among them says Niki Juusela is a lock as the play-by-play man for hockey. Given how big hockey is there, YLE's hockey structure will have a studio reporter and possibly a former coach and a ex-player as analysts as part of its team like the CBC/Radio-Canada and NBC all will, even yes for its Swedish language coverage on YLE5. Very much YLE will keep it in-house with its team not importing anyone who comes from the likes of MTV3. Debate also rages about the merits and demerits of studio analysts, play-by-play men, rink analysts and possibly a sideline reporter. Names bandied about include Kimmo Porttila, Antti Mäkinen, JP Gold, Pepe Jürgens, Miten, Mika Saukkonen, Mika Kortelaista, Kaj Kunnaksen, Kimmo Porttilan, Ville Nieminen, Lauri Marjamäki, Tapio Suominen, Ville Peltonen, Ville Nieminen, Petteri Sihvonen, Lauri Marjamäki, Thomas Tuokkola, Mikko Hannula, Anti Ennikari, Pertti Lindegren, Riku Salminen, Ilkko Palamaki, Toni Lönnroos, Kölli Kortelainen, Pasi Nurmisen, Ville Niemisen and Karri Kiven, Jutta Saaristaa, and Jussi Saarinen

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fi&u=http://keskustelu.jatkoaika.com/showthread.php%3Ft%3D56148&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dolympialaiset%2B2014%2Byle%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D856

[Quaker2001]

I'm with you completely, BTH. As long as there's the online outlets are live, it's OK. But this time, i would like for NBC to utilize its broadcast team more fully instead of just relying on the IOC's World feed English commentators in that realm, except when there's an Olympic sport not assigned by NBC to cover like sailing was last year in London. I didn't get a chance to watch much of London due to work and not having a strong TV reception, let alone online, and only caught brief glimpses playing on TVs at stores or restaurants when I was about during those days. That said, I can see the constant online buffering being awful during London to protect its daily primetime TV coverage. Broadband in the US definitely getting better and more powerful in the US (still lagging South Korea and France though), so NBC even has less of an excuse now to conduct that.

Still amuses me that for all this Olympic broadcasting news and information you post, you still consume your Olympic media through over-the-air TV and in storefront windows. How very 1950s of you!

As for NBC, the rhetoric is the same now as it has been for the last few Olympics. It's a business decision on their part, and from that standpoint, a smart one. It's not NBC giving everyone the finger so much as it is knowing everyone's viewing habits. What people say they'll do on social media is a lot different than what they actually do. And as the story goes, how many of these people posting on Twitter are then tuning into the NBC primetime coverage they're complaining about? That's why it still works. We've heard for years how viewer habits are on the brink of changing and that NBC has to adapt. Well, it hasn't happened yet. Until it does, NBC can very much continue under this strategy.

[Barcelona_'92]

As for NBC, the rhetoric is the same now as it has been for the last few Olympics. It's a business decision on their part, and from that standpoint, a smart one. It's not NBC giving everyone the finger so much as it is knowing everyone's viewing habits. What people say they'll do on social media is a lot different than what they actually do. And as the story goes, how many of these people posting on Twitter are then tuning into the NBC primetime coverage they're complaining about? That's why it still works. We've heard for years how viewer habits are on the brink of changing and that NBC has to adapt. Well, it hasn't happened yet. Until it does, NBC can very much continue under this strategy.

Exactly--there is absolutely no reason for NBC to change its strategy given the success of its London coverage. Provided that NBC can manipulate the schedules in 2018 and 2020, this is going to be the last "taped" Olympics in the U.S. until 2022, so I don't see any reason for NBC to take a huge risk in changing the format of the coverage this year. A couple of years ago, I had thought the Sochi would be a ratings disaster no matter what, but if key U.S. athletes are successful, I now think NBC actually has a shot at matching or beating the Vancouver ratings. NBC is certainly expecting to do so, as they've promised an average primetime rating of 14.0 to advertisers, which is a significant increase over the 11 that it averaged for the Torino Games in 2006.

[baron-pierreIV]

will it be carried on The Shopping Channel?

[Durban Sandshark]

Actually I'm in complete agreement with you two in the NBC's Olympic broadcasting assessments regarding Sochi, Quaker2001 and Barcelona_92. I assumed it was going to be understood by now with at least us American and Canadian posters here about my implications on NBC, which I completely understand and support now that there are alternative live viewing routes on the NBC cable networks and online. Let me make myself clear: I'm not griping about its present structural plans whatsoever. No doubt NBC continues to plan on the Olympic scale with the tape delayeing is a business move. NBC "giving the finger" was sarcastically meant as an object to the likes of those constant voices like in social media who do one thing there and conduct another outside of it when they'll watch on tape-delayed primetime. The business model works for now and always had for it, I know. No risk involved. I too surely know that happens--even though I'm not on social media yet (unless these boards are counted too). A key thing happens, as Barcelona_92 notes, when the American Olympians in Sochi start becoming serious medal contenders and are successful. Obiviously US ratings will jump and people get excited. Never thought Sochi would be a ratings disaster, partly because of the allure and gravitas Russia has, and of the fact US Olympians--and NBC--will finally be present on Russian soil. I too surely believe it could equal or surpass Vancouver on the average primetime ratings of 14.0 to advertisers.

As far as the changing US viewing habits go, I know it's a still work in progress and such change, as rapid as the technology has been, like this will not be overnight as the risks aversion regarding them in NBC's eyes remains too high at this time with many people still going by the familiar viewing habits, especially from casual Olympic fans and with advertising. Failed to project a timetable for NBC's changes to reflect that on my last post, but I too am thinking circa 2022-2024. Sorry for the clumsiness.

For years Westwood One Radio handled the US Olympic radio broadcasts. London's American Olympic radio broadcast, as mentioned on the London version thread to this, was done by Dial Global which merged with the powerful Westwood One and utitlized the same broadcasting structure as ever before. Incidently, there was plans of NBC taking over Dial Global and rebranding it as NBC Sports Radio well before Sochi, IIRC. Back in 1987 just after Westwood One Radio went public, it bought the NBC Radio Network and serves as its current successor from the 1980s. But since London, just before September, Dial Global Sports decided to bring back the familiar Westwood One name to start its NFL football coverage. During this span of the last two months (September 4 to be exact), NBC Sports Radio fully came onto the scene with daily 24 hour programming. You could assume that with NBC owning the US TV rights, maybe they could also own the radio ones but allows Westwood One as a distributor to various sports radio stations? All this change that just happened is admittedly confusing to me as far as the US Olympic radio rights is concerned. Maybe it would be promoted as NBC Sports Radio coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics presented by Westwood One. Or the Olympics still be just under the Westwood One brand? Surely we'll know as we get closer to Sochi with a press release forthcoming.

Another one of Viasat Sweden's latest Sochi Olympics promos shows a handful of Swedish Olympic athletes in very challenging training in preparation for Sochi set to music supplied from Swedish electro music superstar Avicii (real name: Tim Bergelund) with his hit "Wake Me Up" with Viasat proclaiming "The Preparations Has Begun--Watch the Olympic Games Only on Viasat", showing more of the Olympics on Swedish TV than ever and more than SVT ever did. All part of an awareness campaign that the Olympics are exclusively now from the Modern Times Group and not SVT, following a Sifo survey revealing that 80% still thinking the public broadcaster is still doing them. Some, not all, of this from the Swedish public has to be a deliberate protest to the change of broadcasters.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.resume.se/nyheter/reklam/2013/10/07/viasat-i-os-kampanj-med-avicii-hit-/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dviasat%2Bos%2B2014%2Bavicii%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D856

http://www.resume.se/nyheter/reklam/2013/10/07/viasat-i-os-kampanj-med-avicii-hit-/

[Durban Sandshark]

"See It" coming to intergrate with Twitter this November through Comcast with the 2014 Winter Olympics, one of the premier events involved among NBC stable of programming, to showcase social TV viewing for Comcast's Xfinity customers

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12063933/1/twitter-comcast-join-forces-in-social-tv-push.html

NTV+ sportscaster and its sports editor Dmitri Guberniev believes that Channel One (Perviy Kanal) and Russia 1 will share the broadcast of the Sochi Opening Ceremony. Before that, Guberniev, if I read this piece right because of the somewhat challenging Google translation from Russian I took, will cover the biathlon in Sochi for NTV Plus.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://sobesednik.ru/sochi-2014/20131005-dmitrii-guberniev-nuzhno-byt-polnym-idiotom-chtoby-dumat-chto-rossiya-na-olimpia&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.sobesednik.ru/sochi-2014/20131005-dmitrii-guberniev-nuzhno-byt-polnym-idiotom-chtoby-dumat-chto-rossiya-na-olimpia%26biw%3D1350%26bih%3D957%26tbm%3Dnws

[Durban Sandshark]

Gotosy just announced this on the Rio De Janiero version thread. I'll do this here. For our fellow Kiwi posters, your news about the Kiwi Olympic TV rights development is now official: SKY Network now nabbed the right to both Sochi 2014 and Rio De Janiero 2016 for not just New Zealand but for Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, Kiribati, Western Samoa (still call it that), Palau, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia, Vanuatu, and the Marshall Islands. Surely, PRIME TV will return for the FTA part down in New Zealand since it's owned by the same conglomerate.

http://www.worldscreen.com/articles/display/2013-10-15-sky-olympics

[Durban Sandshark]

For those of you who didn't notice the awesome Viasat 2014 Winter Olympic Games commercial with Avicii's hit Wake Me Up that accompanied the Resume newspaper article about it, it's now uploaded on YouTube.

Now that advertising slogan saying "Watch The Olympic Games Only on Viasat" is under criticism from Swedish politicians like MP Per-Ingvar Johnsson, who plan to put it to the parliamentary constitution commission, for consumer misleading because MTG's free-to-air-owned channels are supposed to have the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics on TV and supposed to be significantly shown on FTA like SVT used to do and not just pay-TV. Also says TV6 will be the MTG free to air channel for the majority of the Sochi broadcast. Some misunderstanding is afoot on both sides.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.dagensmedia.se/nyheter/tv/article3779234.ece&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.dagensmedia.se/nyheter/tv/article3779234.ece%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D855

[Durban Sandshark]

We're rapidly approaching the 100-day mark before Sochi. So I seriously think we will get lots of details from broadcasters all over the world in their plans.

NBC gets ready next Tuesday in their Sochi 2014 Olympics promotion with a multiplatform 20-channel Roadblock promotion. Interesting choice NBC recruited (underrated) actor Giancarlo Esposito (Buggin' Out in Do The Right Thing, Gus in Breaking Bad) in narrating four spots on Olympism's positive values. But a great one! The NBC Peacock with the Olympic rings "bug" will appear on all NBC's networks starting next Tuesday. It will also promote the breath and depth of its Sochi digital streaming online coverage. In the three and half weeks before Sochi, the NBC will undergo an Olympic advertising blitz with hweavy promotion all over the NBCUniversal family for February 6-7

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2013/10/21/nbcuniversal-celebrates-100-day-countdown-to-2014-olympic-winter-games-with-20-channel-promotional-roadblock-881401/20131021nbc01/

Actually, this is one of those Giancarlo Esposito-narrated promos that actually premiered this past weekend discussing being the same in pursuing out objectives even when we're different and in different sports around the world. The four spots deal with dreams, dedication, and sacrifice. The companion article discusses this specific promotion as well NBC-Comcast's strategic promotional blitz to "make [TV viewers] care" about, prominently, US Winter Olympians like Shaun White, Lindsay Vonn, and Shani Davis

http://adage.com/article/media/nbc-football-jump-start-massive-olympic-blitz/244850/?utm_source=Media&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+AdvertisingAge/Media

TENPlay, that new on-demand online streaming app service and website from Network Ten Australia that arrived just before Homeland, apparently will have the Sochi 2014 livestream. How could it not? Certainly suggests that at the :48-52 mark on its ad on the Channel Ten Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/channelten#!/photo.php?v=530237100399698&set=vb.500197213403687&type=2&theater

http://techgeek.com.au/2013/09/29/tenplay-soft-launches-network-tens-new-catch-service-compare/

Uh-oh, TVR is in serious danger of losing the Romanian TV rights of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics because of the massive debts it amassed--even ceasing to broadcast itself, and is negotiating with the EBU as we speak to salvage them. Maybe TVR should've sold some of its rights with, say, Dolce Sport for perhaps more comprehensive Olympics coverage right from the beginning

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ro&u=http://ro.stiri.yahoo.com/tvr-risc%25C4%2583-%25C3%25AEnchiderea-ca-n-grecia-postul-public-160600955--spt.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://ro.stiri.yahoo.com/tvr-risc%2525C4%252583-%2525C3%2525AEnchiderea-ca-n-grecia-postul-public-160600955--spt.html%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D907

[Durban Sandshark]

The BBC surely learned a lot of lessons in its most ambitious and biggest media project in its existence last year with London 2012. So successful that was. It will adopt and expand even further with multilayered services with complimentary footage for not just Sochi but also the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, Glastonbury, the FA Cup, the Proms, and the Edinburugh Festival with the popular iPlayer, rebooting from a catch-up, on-demand service to a full fledged-entertainment destination like Network Ten is doing now down in Australia with TENPlayer. Pop-up channels, radio channels, personalized customization, text, stats, and 4KTV video are going to be among the features for the improved iPlayer for British viewers.

http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.php/2013100930210/bbc-reboots-to-base-tv-future-on-online-personalised-services.html

ORF Sport + is soon to face severe budget cuts "up to 70%" and cuttiong program from its shows outside of its costly broadcasting of Sochi and the World Cup, both of them force an internal budget allocation as ORF tries to minimize the impact for sports programming cuts that could have major consequences for various Austrian sports. Plus, no Austrian live Paralympics coverage from ORF.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://diepresse.com/home/kultur/medien/1466208/ORF-Sport-muss-Budget-radikal-kuerzen&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://diepresse.com/home/kultur/medien/1466208/ORF-Sport-muss-Budget-radikal-kuerzen%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D856%26tbm%3Dnws

Very, very silent from FOX Turkey as far as its coverage plans for Sochi to Turks is concerned since announcing the network got the rights to it and Rio De Janiero since back October 2008. No doubt we'll get somethings once we're officially in the 100-day mark. But FOX Turkey should've granted us by now at least something.

Unlike in Sweden, I'm seriously thinking the Viasat Sochi Winter Olympics coverage will be shared across the Baltics--Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania--all with the same amount of hours on the Viasat Sport Baltic channels, except that the languages will be regionalized. Likely there will be Olympic-specific channels for it. So far, no details yet from Viasat there.

[Quaker2001]

Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski, Tanith Belbin join NBC Olympics coverage

baron must be thrilled that he can continue to make Johnny Weir jokes at the Olympics this year

[Durban Sandshark]

I too believe Baron's thrilled on extending them too at least onto February.

CBC plans to celebrate the upcoming Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics 100-day countdown in style exactly one week from today at the Barbara Frum Atrium inside the CBC's Toronto Broadcast Centre headquarters. The entire CBC Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic broadcast team will be unvieled! Fans get to have their photo taken hoisting the Canadian maple leaf flag! Explore what will likely the new and heavily interactive cbc.ca/Olympics website using its large, interactive digital station and more! And all this as a part of this first event taking place on our brand new event stage and three-storey media wall.
No brainers will include Peter Mansbridge, Ron Maclean, Cassie Campbell, and the Hockey Night in Canada team. Surely the Radio-Canada Television Olympic team would be made public. Wonder that day will also be the one used for the other members of the new Canadian Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium to announce theirs.

https://www.facebook.com/events/172913989572938/?ref=5

http://www.cbc.ca/toronto/community/mt/2013/10/100-day-countdown-to-sochi.html

Hey, Sochi-bound 2014 Winter Olympians and Paralympians! Samsung plans to give away to each and every single of you Olympians and Paralympians for free in Sochi a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the official smartphone of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic and Parlympic Games, with help and endorsement from 80 Winter Olympians and Parlympians from 20 nations. (But must be used within the IOC's social media guidelines). I prefer the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the LG G2 as my smartphones.

http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com/2013/10/22/samsung-smartphones-sochi-olympics-athletes-galaxy-note-3/

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/samsung-sponsors-sochi-winter-olympics,24806.html#samsung-sponsors-sochi-winter-olympics%2C24806.html?&_suid=1382566458537010550306035176887

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/22/4866214/samsung-giving-galaxy-note-3-to-sochi-2014-athletes

http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3-announced-official-phone-sochi-2014-winter-games

I believe this 100-day mark rapidly coming up will also be around the time that we can expect that the Sub-Saharan African Olympic media rights in all of its platforms to the Sochi 2014 and Rio De Janeiro 2016 Olympics will be announced. It's essentially the last big region that isn't taken cared of. We could expect the likes of Supersport, Octagon Media, and SABC will be involved in the broadcasting, selling, and the production of those throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Hopefully, SABC learned its lessons in handling the broadcasting and production of the 2014 Winter Olympics and allow Supersport to become more comprehensive in its coverage from Vancouver.

X2, a cloud-based DVR and program guide, coming to Comcast-NBC for Sochi 2014

http://www.fiercecable.com/story/comcast-sees-2014-olympics-marketing-opportunity-x2/2013-09-24

ORF1 reveals its Sochi 2014 broadcasting advertising rates. Not equal in terms of gender

http://derstandard.at/1381369431037/Bis-480-Euro-pro-Sekunde-fuer-Herren-400-fuer-Damen

Jean Page will be among the faces for TVA Sports' Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics portion of the French-Canadian TV coverage

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2013/10/16/jean-page-debarque-le-week-end-a-lcn&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.journaldemontreal.com/2013/10/16/jean-page-debarque-le-week-end-a-lcn%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D908%26tbm%3Dnws

http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2013/10/16/jean-page-debarque-le-week-end-a-lcn

Don't think this NBCUniversal longform Sochi 2014 promo detailing the multiplatform coverage and the prominent US 2014 Winter Olympiand and medal contenders was already posted on this thread. But anyway, it's here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8X9nv3KkB4

[ofan]

Durban, any predictions for CBC and NBC's team?

[Durban Sandshark]

Very much expect many of the same names from Vancouver appearing for NBC in Sochi: Bob Costas, Apollo Anton Ohno, Al Trautwig, Mike "Doc" Emrick, Al Michaels, Cammi Granato, Dan Patrick, Tom Hammond, Matt Vasgerian, Dan Hicks, Kenny Albert, Andrea Joyce, Mike Millbury, Ed Olcyzk, Joe Michelletti, Sandra Bezic, Scott Hamilton, Pierre McGuire, and Dan Jansen. If you noticed, Ohno, Lipinski, Weir, and Tanith Belbin have just been announced recently as new faces. Tim Ryan has retired. I sadly expect Ryan Seacrest to be there too.

CBC might be even less so after the CTV-led team from Vancouver. Don't know as much since I don't watch CBC too well. Still, I expect some who were at CTV in Vancouver will return to the CBC like Catriona Lemay Doan. Hope you read some of those names with the announcement of the CBC 2014 Olympics team on my last post. Scott Russell is very much a lock and likely be a studio anchor for it. Steve Armitage, Mark Kelly, and Elliott Freidmann are good possibilities. We'll definitely find out next Wednesday.

[Durban Sandshark]

Just last week Viasat Sverige created a whole new YouTube channel including several more of those Viasat Sweden OS Sotji 2014 promos all in the same vein like the one I showed you. Unfortunately at least for someone like me who's US-based, they are all geo-blocked from Viasat's channel. But I went to Vimeo and found what's really the exact same one only with English wording of the slogan and the Viasat OS logo.

For those who at least want to see these promos I'm referring to at Viasat Sweden's YouTube channel--very much all the same. Check this:

http://www.youtube.com/user/viasatsverige/videos?shelf_index=0&view=46&tag_id=UChuX2BgDog0siA_U70hJgGA.3.vinter-os&sort=dd

Puck Buddys interviewed BBC Sports World weekend radio show executive producer Matt Davies, who will also cover hockey in Sochi (among other sports for the BBC) about organizing the BBC's Sochi 2014 coverage plans. More of a comedown from London, as we would expect in some way from them, but still very significant as an event with Team GB widely touted as fielding one of its greatest Winter Olympic teams ever. Particularly in sports even many of its presenters are very unfamiliar with:

PB: What’s your role as EP at Sports World, both on a day-to-day basis and what will be your duties in Sochi?

MD: I am responsible for the overall sound and direction of the show. I am involved in the recruitment, development and appraisals of the Broadcast Assistants and Assistant Producers. They tend to be involved in the week to week production of the show. My view is more long-term on how we should develop the sound, the events we cover and how we can best use changing technology to connect with the audience. We are taking the show to Sochi for two weekends.

PB: What are the wider BBC coverage plans for Sochi?

MD: BBC Radio coverage of a winter games is very small in comparison to the summer ones. UK Radio will be served by 3 staff. Television is a bigger presence.

One of the two main BBC television channels will carry over 100 hours of live networked coverage but via the website and the red button service on digital television you will be able to watch live action from any venue you wish.

So if you want to watch every minute of every ice hockey match, you can. More of the television production that previous games will be done at the BBC Sport headquarters near Manchester. Only presenters, commentators, reporters and key OB production staff will be in Sochi.

Budgets are tight, especially that the games fall in the same year as two of the biggest sporting events the BBC will ever be involved with – the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

PB: What will it be like covering hockey in Sochi, given that the sport isn’t especially popular with traditional BBC audiences?

MD: Well hockey is just of the sports that we will be covering when Sports World is presented from Sochi for the games. I don’t think any of my team are an expert on many of the winter sports. Luckily we have a great team of researchers who will produce a cheats guide to the sports, especially ice hockey. That should enable us to report on any sport with some knowledge although we would leave commentary to the experts. The BBC commentary on hockey in Sochi will be provided by Seth Bennett. It’s his first games and I know he is very excited. I am sure Seth would talk to you guys about hockey all day.

Davies also addresses covering the LGBT rights issue in Russia and how the BBC may deal with this in comparison to what NBC may do:

PB: A journalist’s job is to tell a story, but also decide which stories need telling. What are the stories that need to be covered at this Olympic games, and which are a distraction? Is the LGBT issue getting the necessary attention or is it overplayed?

MD: I think the LGBT issue is not going to go away. Remember Russia are also hosting the World Cup in 2018. They also have a terrible record on racism in football. Which makes Russia as a choice of country to stage these massive global events more surprising. It’s a story that will be covered, lead I think by the BBC.

PB: Who can cover the LGBT+ Sochi issue better, the news or sports desk? What strengths and weaknesses does each bring to the table?

MD: We are lucky at BBC Sport that we have a brilliant team of sports news correspondents who sit on that sometimes rather uneasy boundary between news and sport. That leaves our sports presenters and commentators to concentrate on the action and the correspondents on the stories around the games which would include the LGBT issue. It is something that I know they are already preparing for by making contacts with local gay groups and activists in Russia.

PB: What are some media outlets that have been doing a good job covering the issue?

MD: I think the BBC – and the UK media in general – lead the way in several areas of sports coverage and social issues. OK, I am blowing the BBC trumpet here but I don’t have to. It’s not a condition of employment. The BBC has played a massive part in the success of Paralympic sport, increasing the profile of women’s sport and highlighting racism and homophobia in sport. We have not just jumped on this issue because of Sochi. It was the BBC who questioned awarding the 2022 football World Cup to Qatar - a country where being gay is still illegal. It was the British media who questioned Sepp Blatter on this only to be told that gay people would be welcome in Qatar as long as they didn’t have sex. We are not the world’s biggest and most respected public service broadcaster for nothing.

PB: NBC as a US Olympics rights holder is already under pressure from advocates and activists to tell the “full story” during their coverage. Is the BBC seeing similar pressures? Are the journalists insulated from that?

MD: I haven’t heard of the BBC being under pressure like this. What I will say is that while the BBC are proud to be rights holder with the IOC it doesn’t make us cheerleaders. Where a story needs to be told it will be. We don’t shy away from stories just because it might not look good for the IOC. We heaped a load of flack on them in the build up to London where it was justified. I know some commercial broadcasters would never run such stories in case it impacted in their next rights contract. The BBC did a massive expose on FIFA in the week the bidding was announced for 2018 and 2022 World Cup. England lost the bid. Many said that was wrong of the BBC but I would always defend its right to do high quality journalism and not be pressured.

PB: What personal pressures if any do you feel as a gay man covering this story and how do you reconcile (or separate) those and your professional responsibilities?

MD: I keep separate and find it easy to do so. I think if anything I would always be more cautious about such stories as I don’t want to be seen to be this champion of gay rights. Sport is a bigger part of me than being gay. Where a story needs to be told like Sochi I will. We did it on the show a few weeks ago because we had some good material and a strong news line. Whether I am gay or not really doesn’t come in to it. I certainly don’t feel an extra responsibility.

http://puckbuddys.com/2013/09/26/out-bound-for-sochi/

This same interview notes that the brilliant BBC sportscaster Claire Balding is lesbian. She's very likely to be there in Sochi, don't know what sport as of yet because she prefers to be in front of the action instead of being a studio anchor. That will be determined. Methinks Balding feels like Davies in not being "a champion of gay rights" pitting her sexual orientation and her thoughts in relation to the whole Russian LGBT controversy and persecution along with her professional obligations. As for which BBC TV channel will do the Games for 100 hours, I'll say BBC1 because it was the majority FTA channel for the Olympics during London 2012. Could be wrong in the end though.

ARD's (Das Erste) Sotschi 2014 Winter Olympic advertising/business press kit. Interesting that neither Das Erste nor ZDF wants to touch the coverage on the Thursday before the Opening Ceremony with the snowboarding and the figure skating. Possible ZDF will conduct a highlights hour devoted to that day before the live airing of the Opening Ceremony with a possible interview with new IOC president Thomas Bach. When you look at the TV programming schedule, ARD and ZDF aren't quite as alternating like they have done in the past. ARD will come on February 8,11, 14, 16-17, 20-21, and 23. You'll also get a very idea of what will be shown on ARD on almost all those days with the pricing for designated sports and possible commercial breaks including within those time slots.

http://ard-werbung.de/showroom/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/Sport/Download_Olympia_2014.pdf

OK, I finally obtained some meaningful information regarding the host Russian Olympic broadcasters the First Channel, VGTRK, and NTV+ for Sochi 2014 that has just came out a couple of days ago from Moscow News. Kinda like a loose confederation among the channels in comparision to Canada's and what Mexico did for London. It's not known exactly how many hours a day Channel One (Perviy Kanal in Russian) will broadcast the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, but it will be a lot "enough to show all the fun" says its sports director Nikolai Malyshev with a lot in the afternoon. I'm guessing for Perviy Kanal it will be around up to 16 hours daily. That channel will field as usual its strong field of sportscasters, not including its external experts. Vladimir Gusev and Andrei Galovanov, two of the most recognizable sportscasters to Russian sports fans, will headline the team although we don't know yet what sport they'll get themselves with. Vladimir Topilski, Former Eurosport Russia sportscasters Dmitri Terekhov (biathlon for Eurosport RUS, will likely do that returning to the First Channel) and Sergei Kurdyukov (making his debut here). Cyril Nabutov may not be there with them for Sochi. Surely its coverage will not interfere with its famed evening news program Vremya (theme and all). In fact, don't be surprised to see a special Olympic edition of Vremya during the Games, possibly live from Sochi.

VGTRK will have Rossiya 1, Rossiya 2, Sport, Sport 1, RTR Internet, and its radio stations Vesti-FM and Lighthouse as its 2014 Winter Olympic media representatives, announced by RTR's sports director Dmitri Guberniev. Rossiya 2, notes Guberniev, will be the designated all-Olympic channel of that family. It's going to something like almost close to 22 hours a day for its coverage. If any Russian has noticed lately, Rossiya 2 (or Russia 2) has progressively moved more towards exclusively sports programming like it was before the rebranding from Sport to incorporate entertainment with Rossiya 1 doing some hours daily, surely more than what BBC2 did for London when BBC1 was on newsbreak. He doesn't officially say all who among his team he's leading will join him in Sochi. But Guberniev announced he will co-host both ceremonies with Rossiya 1 daytime news TV host Anastasia Chernobrovin, will call the biathlon and skiing, AND be the Rossiya 2 leading studio anchor. Imagine Bob Costas, Ron Maclean, and Hazel Irvine doing all that! Dmitri Guberniev is going to be the hardest working broadcaster in all of Sochi! Moscow News reveals that all the regular sportcasters there like premier soccer play-by-play man Vladimir Stognienko (already made known by Guberniev) will handle freestyle skiing and snowboarding. Alexei Vasiliev could get involved in figure skating but with his usual track & field partner Olga Theologikova (sp/trans?), who will be more likely a reporter at the venues with flash interviews. Alexander Grishin, who called speed skating in Vancouver, will reprise that in Sochi and maybe add short track and figure skating. Roman Skvortsov and Alexander Tkachev will call the hockey with Tkachev also doing the bobsled. Alex Osin will do bobsled and skiing. Its most experienced and longserving Rossiya 2, Nikolai Popov, doesn't have a portfolio as of yet but something will be there. Based on what is shown, I have the strong feeling we will see these sportscasters calling the action in front of HDTV monitors at the Sochi studios sharing sports instead of being at the venues like RDS did for its team for London. Just wouldn't be practical.

NTV+, the pay-TV channels, will send a 200-strong team to Sochi and will show everything from beginning to end. Its designated channels for Sochi 2014 will be Sport, Sport+, Sport Online, Football, and 2 HD sports channels. All organized starting its sports directors Anna Dmitrieva and later Dmitri Chukovskogo. Almost all of the Olmypic venues apparently will have NTV+ studios and correspondents at any site. NTV+'s soccer sportscasters Kiril Dementev and Konstantin Genich are going to come to Sochi with events if not as studio hosts. Beyond Vitali Utkin doing biathlon, no further announcements were made on that but will coming soon. Many of the sportscasters for Sochi will largely come from NTV Plus' vaunted soccer realm but will also come from NTV+ sports as they all prepare for "atypical" Winter Olympic sports. But Moscow News reports Denis Kazan will call hockey. Georgi Cherdantsev, who was the sportscaster for short track in Torino and Vancouver but didn't enjoy his experience much then, will be the studio host as well Barbara Barishev, if not co-hosting. The whole NTV+ Sochi 2014 sportscasting team is subject to change with the ongoing negotiations, which is why they're largely mum on the topic.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.mn.ru/sports/20131020/360460440.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.mn.ru/sports/20131020/360460440.html%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D855

Eurosport did not participate in the bidding for the Sochi 2014 and Rio De Janeiro 2016 packages for the pan-European market. And thus will not broadcast those Olympics. Why? Eurosport is currently undergoing a reorganization since it is no longer owned by TF1 and parted ways to sell itself to new owners.

[Durban Sandshark]

Wednesday could very will be the day we will know more about the CBC/Radio-Canada Television 2014 Olympic coverage, the involvement with the digital channels in the French ones like Explora, the CBC Sports Olympic websites and streaming and apps for mobile devices, and perhaps its partnership with the other members of the new consortium. Both ceremonies will be shown there. I'm believing coverage will be 22 hours a day and will reveal what programming blocks during the Olympic day--Olympic Morning, Olympic Daytime, Olympic Evening, and Olympic Late Night and the hours. Surely this has to be great news for Americans who live across the border in Seattle, Detroit, and Buffalo and prefer the live action as it unfolds to the tape-delayed broadcasting of the Olympics on NBC because they couldn't get quite that type of access when CTV did that for two years (though I do think in those cities they could get CTV too like in Seattle, as mentioned in the Vancouver thread). Can't wait!

The CBC 100-Day Olympic Countdown coverage will be shown live online at the CBC's website.

CTV, TSN will show 2013 Skate Canada International full coverage starting this weekend

http://www.tsn.ca/figure_skating/story/?id=434926

For the Russian Olympic channels, I wonder will journalist Vladimir Pozner will be a part of them like he was with Vancouver

[Durban Sandshark]

After re-reading that Toronto Star article that broke the first significant news about the CBC coverage, I need to make my own corrections to what I just wrote. Social networking and tablet/smartphone coverage will no doubt play an important role in the CBC Olympics coverage, after having learned from what the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium did from Vancouver, and more frequently, London. MacLean, Russell, Cherry, Heather Hiscox, and Diana Swain are all the faces for both the CBC's coverage in Sochi and Rio De Janeiro. MacLean undoubtably will get the CBC Olympic Evening chair with Russell hosting the daytime version. Everything from the CBC in Sochi will be live and on-demand including a second screen platform for the social networking integrated. How about for online and tablets multicamera viewing and watch from view in at any Olympic venue? Will we see 3DTV Olympics for Canadians? I can see Swain hosting the weekend daytime coverage. Hiscox will be there for the CBC News Network as an anchor. Coverage will have to be tailored with all the networks involved because of the time zone difference, that's the biggest challenge for the CBC with Sochi eight hours ahead of Toronto and Montreal but it will be 24/7.

[ofan]

I think Swain will host morning coverage, or it might be someone like Andi Petrillo. Wouldn't be surprised to see Brian Williams on the TSN coverage, and Don Cherry is Rio is very unlikely.

[rio2016man]

For those who remember NBC's coverage of the 2006 Olympics USA Network had a figure skating program called Olympic Ice each night at 6pm ET I'm wondering if we'll see something along those lines in Sochi

[Quaker2001]

For those who remember NBC's coverage of the 2006 Olympics USA Network had a figure skating program called Olympic Ice each night at 6pm ET I'm wondering if we'll see something along those lines in Sochi

Was actually asking that exact same question on another forum. I think they will. I can't imagine they're adding all these figure skating analysts just to have them do a couple of reports. NBC will probably want something to fill those early evening hours, so that could be it.

[Barcelona_'92]

Was actually asking that exact same question on another forum. I think they will. I can't imagine they're adding all these figure skating analysts just to have them do a couple of reports. NBC will probably want something to fill those early evening hours, so that could be it.

I don't think there are any plans for another Olympic Ice program this year, unfortunately. I believe Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski will be doing commentary (with Terry Gannon) for the streaming coverage on NBCOlympics.com.

[ofan]

I think Terry Gannon will be taking over on tv too. I could see Tom Hammond in maybe a hosting role or on speed skating to replace Dan Hicks.

[Barcelona_'92]

I think Terry Gannon will be taking over on tv too. I could see Tom Hammond in maybe a hosting role or on speed skating to replace Dan Hicks.

Tom Hammond is still doing figure skating this year with Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic, and Tracy Wilson. I think this will be Tom's last Winter Olympics. He turns 70 next year, and he renewed his contract with NBC last year in a reduced role through 2016. He's not doing Notre Dame football anymore and is just focusing on figure skating, track & field, and horse racing. I agree that Terry Gannon will likely take over the figure skating coverage after 2014--he's more or less been the voice of figure skating in the U.S. since the mid-90s. It will be interesting to see who is going to do long-track speed skating this year--maybe Ted Robinson will pull double duty with short-track and long-track since none of the sessions overlap and the venues are next door to each other.