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Sochi 2014 Olympic Media Updates


DamC

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I am critical of the of the idea of severe restricting media access of TV, online, radio, magazines, and newspapers that don't have the official rights to the Olympics Games and thus are restricted to outside the Olympic zones. I don't think it's democratic. But I believe it's something that the IOC is doing supposedly in the name to help boost its monetary value with increasing rights fees over the past four decades once it became lucrative. Surely, there's got to be greed involved. I strongly feel there should be national laws installed to show as much video footage to overturn that punitive IOC policy of restricting them to, what, a few seconds or minutes of moving images a day as much as possible to cover the events (including from past events) instead of non-rights holder left to photos. It's not going to harm and lose value to the Olympic product this way. Well now, Sweden has gotten imbroiled in this controversy with a political debate brewing whether major sports events should be restricted from pat-TV with MTG's Viasat now the current Olympic rights holders up to Rio De Janeiro 2016 and longtime former holders SVT and TV4 (aired some select basketball and soccer games from Athens 2004) are restricted in their Olympic coverage with no accreditation, so they can't send its reps to Sochi, and refused out of the MTG plan for more minutes of reporting with more money and are concerned there won't be critical and objective coverage in contrast to the Swedish Olympic Committee's very open media policy. Indeed, SVT's omission from the Olympics is on the cover to today's Expressen. Maybe the Swedish government could impose a law like their Finnish neighbors in making sure both Olympics are only shown FTA TV and on public broadcasters. Which raises its own issues. We might know come November 15 with the Swedish government issuing its events list exclusive for public broadcast.

Oh boy. Durban, a couple of things here, and this is more in general rather than to the specifics of this case involving Sweden..

First off, as someone who has been accredited media at an Olympics, I'll tell you that the media facilities at an Olympics (and I only saw it for a Winter Games) are massive. It's the IOC's job to provide workspace for the world's TV, radio, and print journalists. As such, it can't be a free-for-all where anyone and everyone can come in and use that space.

This isn't the old days where you flash a hat that says press and you go wherever you want. You say that's not democratic? Considering the safety concerns that are involved with an Olympics, among other things, they better restrict access. But we'll get into that in a sec.

Do you really think this is an IOC thing? As if other organizations, both international or otherwise, act any differently? TV networks pay money to be rights holders for the Olympics. The IOC and the host broadcaster spend the money to produce the world feed at every venue. Why should everyone get free access to that? That's not greed, that's the IOC owning a product that they're under no obligation to give away for free. Should non-rights holders get free reign to air as much video from the Olympics as they'd like? I don't think so. It does diminish the value for those TV networks that paid money for the rights to the Olympics.

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TV networks pay money to be rights holders for the Olympics. The IOC and the host broadcaster spend the money to produce the world feed at every venue. Why should everyone get free access to that? That's not greed, that's the IOC owning a product that they're under no obligation to give away for free.

Agreed. Provided the IOC is not tempted to relax its Charter policy of "fullest coverage" + "widest possible audience" then any national broadcasting arrangements which meet those criteria should be acceptable. Given that we have now reached a situation where a single national/regional broadcaster can provide live and on-demand playback coverage of absolutely every event, there is good justification for continuing exclusivity.

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A small surprise from Johnny Weir. He is actually a better commentator than he is a skater. He gives rather precise analysis (in the Dick Button vein) and even does a a good voice impersonation of his former coach Tatiana Teresova(?) which took Gannon by surprise.

Agree, he's doing a great job. Really hope he's the future of NBC skating commentary.

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Add Maria Sharapova with Nastia Liukin as one of NBC Sochi 2014 Olympic reporters who can bridge both Russia and the US. I think Maria, like Nastia, holds dual US-Russian citizenship. Maria's coming back to her hometown! Since it's her home city, she's got to do some promotion work at least in the leadup for NBC with 500+ promos up its sleeve. SI's got some interesting ideas for her to do.

Maria Sharapova Joins NBC's Sochi 2014 Olympic Team As Correspondent

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I could see Sharapova being one of the final torchbearers. Interesting to note that in both Vancouver and London, one of the final torchbearers was part of the host nation broadcast team and was on tv just prior to the OC (Le May Doan for CTV in Vancouver, Redgrave for the BBC in London.)

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That's possible. But I would imagine there will be Russian Winter Olympic medalists (including those from the Soviet era) who would be higher up in the priority ladder for the torch lighting than Sharapova (more of a Summer Olympian). Like Vladislav Tretiak, Viacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov, Ilia Kulik, Galina Koukleva, Sergei Folkichev, and Irina Slutskaya. I would even think the surviving members of the Soviet Red Machine hockey team would light the torch like the 1980 Miracle On Ice team did in Salt Lake City.

LeMay Doan was also involved with CBC Sports in Beijing. Like with SI, I could see Sharapova and her friend Liukin do a late night NBC Olympics show and make silly fun with regards to Russian culture and some Russian humour and allow for Russian speaking with subtitles. One of Masha's favorite things is immersing herself into other cultures and the two could act as guides. If that's the case, could Milla Jovovich get involved somehow (yes, she and Mila Kunis are Ukranian-born, but Jovovich views herself as Russian because of her Russian actress mother. Kunis also does speak Russian)? How about Masha teaming up with Mary Carillo? That would be fun too.

Elemental Technologies high production for Internet streaming multichannel content and rapid expansion is recognized as a finalist in four categories of the Streaming Media Readers’ Choice Awards

http://www.sys-con.com/node/2872842

Eurosport may not carry the Olympics for this Sochi-Rio De Janeiro cycle, but it does offer several Winter Olympic competition to air, especially in the Australian version that started last month

http://au.eurosport.com/all-sports/alpine-skiing-cycling-rugby-union-and-basketball-live-on-eurosport-australia_sto3976901/story.shtml

http://au.eurosport.com/all-sports/road-to-sochi-2014-kicks-into-gear-live-on-eurosport-australia_sto4005919/story.shtml

Canal 22 and America Movil's official announcement of Sochi 2014 hitting the Mexican cultural and educational TV channel with both splitting the advertising revenue profits. Online and mobil coverage will come through America Movil's UnoTV channel portal. Doesn't say at the press conference what the coverage will be like, but we'll know later. Other companies like TV Azteca and Televisa are still free to be involved.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.proceso.com.mx/%3Fp%3D357232&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcanal%2B22%2Bmexico%2Bolimpicos%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D884

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.razon.com.mx/spip.php%3Farticle195106&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcanal%2B22%2Bmexico%2Bolimpicos%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D884

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.rumbodemexico.com.mx/index.php/nacional-articulos/47250-amovil-firma-acuerdo-con-canal-22-para-transmitir-juegos-olimpicos&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcanal%2B22%2Bmexico%2Bolimpicos%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D884

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.laopinion.com/slim-pacta-canal-cultural-mexicano-transmitir-olimpicos_&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcanal%2B22%2Bmexico%2Bolimpicos%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D884

Bob Cole isn't expected to be at Sochi although he's with the CBC. Chris Cutbert can't be due to his acrimonious parting of the ways to TSN since the CBC will send its (and only its) hockey sportscasting team. Don Wittman is no longer with us. But I still think Brian Williams could still be in Sochi as a TSN studio anchor maybe for TSN Olympic Primetime with the network as a junior partner with perhaps one final go-round at his age, unless publicly mentioned otherwise. These are just some of the longstanding Olympic voices that will be missed in Sochi on Canadian television even with the CBC back as the Canadian home of the Olympics

http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/2012-summer-games/Olympic+voices+miss+Sochi/9154578/story.html

Sweden's premier consumer agency issues investigational complaints regarding the Viasat's misleading Sotsji OS 2014 advertising and marketing campaign. Yes, it is a little misleading to say the Sochi Winter Olympics will only be on Viasat, because it's all on pay-TV even when the Modern Times Group had yet at the time to designate the FTA channels to show it on terrestrial TV--TV3 and TV10. But if the press releases and announcements were read then from the Viasat website, there were plans to show them on the channels. But it's not quite going to be as comprehensive, far-ranging, and complete like Swedes will see on Viasat's designated Olympic TV channels; TV3 and TV10 will be more favoring Team Sweden in plenty of cases with its hours but will overall be very nice. In this case here, the impression is that the consumer, through marketing, is free to order a Viasat TV subscription for three months and then get the Winter Olympics upon purchase, and the customer can then decide whether it wants to continue to subscribe or not. Like he or she will get the Winter Olympics free under a consumer trial run.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.vk.se/1034688/ko-kritiskt-till-viasat-reklam&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.vk.se/1034688/ko-kritiskt-till-viasat-reklam%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D884%26tbm%3Dnws

Meanwhile, SVT starts saving up and vows to take back the Swedish Olympic TV rights after Rio. Viasat keeps mum and focuses on the task at hand. Why couldn't they work together in the future like Australia has with Nine and FOXTEL had? Once the cooler heads prevail soon after, a bridge can be built that can pave the way for it.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.expressen.se/sport/os-2014/svts-besked-vi-ska-forsoka-ta-tillbaka-os/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.expressen.se/sport/os-2014/svts-besked-vi-ska-forsoka-ta-tillbaka-os/%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D884%26tbm%3Dnws

Maybe SVT and Viasat/MTG could learn some worthy lessons from their western neigbor Norway with how NRK and TV2 hammered things with handling access to Olympic media rights that one has as opposed to the other that led to a TV war in Sweden. Step One: Have and maintain a good, strong dialouge

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.expressen.se/sport/vintersport/norska-svaret--efter-det-svenska-tv-kriget/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.expressen.se/sport/vintersport/norska-svaret--efter-det-svenska-tv-kriget/%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D884%26tbm%3Dnws

http://www.expressen.se/sport/vintersport/norska-svaret--efter-det-svenska-tv-kriget/

Yes, Sochi-bound accredited journalists you can actually take as many still photos as you like on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! Instagram away!

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/11/ioc-spokesman-journalists-free-to-instagram-at-sochi-olympics/

http://nutech.nl/internet/3626214/sociale-media-journalisten-toch-toegestaan-tijdens-spelen.html

This is quite interesting. Etihad Airways will show broadcasting of the 2014 Winter Olympics (and the FIFA World Cup, Formula 1 racing, EuroLeague Basket, The Masters, and the Ryer Cup) along with other live sports, news, and entertainment in-flight through several live TV channels like the BBC World News, BBC Arabic, Euronews and Sport 24, available from November 1. CNBC, Japan’s NHK World Premium, and CNN, will be introduced during November and Sky News Arabia. Where would the Olympic broadcasting directly come from? Would it come through the IOC world feed?

http://www.financialmirror.com/news-details.php?nid=31503

Adidas has a blog with several of its Russian Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic hopefuls and endorsers training that I'm just now starting to read. You can even see some of the Adidas Sochi Olympic-influenced gear they sport but is not from Bosco.

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvgtrk%2Bsochi%2B2014%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D884&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ru&u=http://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/zimagory/&usg=ALkJrhhjRX0MJBzR-fakdLUzmWWgpS3dVw

Western Carolina University students Roger Cote and Monica Papworth will work as part of NBC's Sochi 2014 team, gaining experience

http://news-prod.wcu.edu/2013/11/wcu-students-will-be-on-the-job-for-nbc-at-sochi-olympics/

RTP wasn't as interested in the Portuguese Winter Olympics broadcasting because of a lack of established Winter Olympics infrastructure and a lack of strong Portuguese Winter Olympic contenders

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://sol.sapo.pt/inicio/Sociedade/Interior.aspx%3Fcontent_id%3D90780&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://sol.sapo.pt/inicio/Sociedade/Interior.aspx%253Fcontent_id%253D90780%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D884

Slightly more detailed info on how TVA Sports will provide 311 hours of coverage at a rate of roughly 19 hours daily with its experienced sportscasting team like Jean Page, Paul Houde, Jean Louis, expert NHL hockey colleagues Renaud Lavoie, Guy Boucher (headman in ensuring full coverage of the Olympic hockey), Dave Morissette and colleagues (from the show The Match will be involved in animated intermissions meetings that will be offered to fans), Karine Champagne (news), and Michel Godbout and duties will be to ensure full coverage of the big Olympic events as fellow Quebecor mates Le Journal de Montreal and Le Journal de Quebec sending their own respective teams to cover the action in Sochi

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.tvqc.com/2013/11/sochi-2014-tva-sports-va-presenter-19-heures-par-jour-de-programmation-olympique/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtva%2Bsports%2B2014%2Bolympiques%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D884

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Bob Costas now going to host the late night Sochi portion of the NBC coverage is surprising in some ways and not surprising in others. Don't forget he used to host Later from 1988-1994 when it was that intimate one-on-one setting with the jukebox nearby before the studio audience era of that show later evolved into (Greg Kinnear, Cynthia Garrett, Ali Wentworth, and a batch of guest hosts). No question the conversations will be intense like they were back then. Gonna miss that bit of irreverence and fun that the late night Olympic segments tend to get since CBS had the Winter Olympics like with Pat's Home Videos we American Olympic fans come to expect. Actually, hope to keep that in some way there but perhaps still allow room for highlights and news.

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Bob Costas now going to host the late night Sochi portion of the NBC coverage is surprising in some ways and not surprising in others. Don't forget he used to host Later from 1988-1994 when it was that intimate one-on-one setting with the jukebox nearby before the studio audience era of that show later evolved into (Greg Kinnear, Cynthia Garrett, Ali Wentworth, and a batch of guest hosts). No question the conversations will be intense like they were back then. Gonna miss that bit of irreverence and fun that the late night Olympic segments tend to get since CBS had the Winter Olympics like with Pat's Home Videos we American Olympic fans come to expect. Actually, hope to keep that in some way there but perhaps still allow room for highlights and news.

Costas hosted the late night shows from Sydney, so this isn't a first. And that was 6 1/2 hours of television each night. Sochi coverage probably be more like 5 hours. Considering that late night probably won't have much, if any serious event coverage, they might as well have Costas there to do interviews and show medal ceremonies and the like. I don't think NBC would be able to pull off the type of late night show that CBS had with Pat O'Brien, so if the alternative is an extra hour or so of Costas, I can live with that.

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Michelle Tafoya and Al Truatwig co-hosted late night portion of the final CBS Olympic broadcast in Nagano 1998.

Maybe NBC doesn't have it in them to go that route. However, we shouldn't be surprised it would reserve some events for late night showing--gotta be an event that has a cult following in that time slot. But it will be made certain when the NBC Sochi 2014 Olympic schedule comes out. Forgot that Costas performed late night duties for Sydney too. But overall, I'm thinking like you as far Sochi late night programming goes. Costas is a master and can weave a narrative extremely well. But part of me faintly hoped we could get a Sharapova-Liukin Russian show. Haha.

Sportfive sells the latest European territory of the Sochi 2014 coverage to the Hungary Olympic Committee. They apparently in turn made an agreement with Hungary's MTVA, the home of MTV, to pay HUF 200 million for the Hungarian coverage. The Olympics has always been on Hungary's state public broadcaster. MTV will show no less than 100 hours for Sochi, as per IOC broadcasting rules. The 100+ hours will be a mixture of mostly live and and some tape delayed events perhaps on M1. Furthermore actually, that's an agreement reached between the two for a partnership with that amount. Sorry for any confusion due to the translation attempt.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=hu&u=http://hvg.hu/sport/20131111_200_millios_megallapodast_kozott_a_MOB_az&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://hvg.hu/sport/20131111_200_millios_megallapodast_kozott_a_MOB_az%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D885

http://hvg.hu/sport/20131111_200_millios_megallapodast_kozott_a_MOB_az

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Michelle Tafoya and Al Truatwig co-hosted late night portion of the final CBS Olympic broadcast in Nagano 1998.

Maybe NBC doesn't have it in them to go that route. However, we shouldn't be surprised it would reserve some events for late night showing--gotta be an event that has a cult following in that time slot. But it will be made certain when the NBC Sochi 2014 Olympic schedule comes out. Forgot that Costas performed late night duties for Sydney too. But overall, I'm thinking like you as far Sochi late night programming goes. Costas is a master and can weave a narrative extremely well. But part of me faintly hoped we could get a Sharapova-Liukin Russian show. Haha.

2 things to remember..

1) NBC only did the Summer Olympics from 1988-2000 and that was largely without cable. So there was plenty of room for event coverage in late night rather than turning it into an interview/highlights show like CBS did. To that end..

2) Also remember that CBS's Olympic Late Night show in `94 and `98 came on after David Letterman. So it made a lot more sense for them to have a show like like that.

So it's not that NBC doesn't have it in them, it just doesn't make sense. That we now know it's Costas hosting, expect late night to be an extension of primetime.. interviews, recaps, some medal ceremonies, and maybe some event coverage of whatever they didn't get to during the day. And that all is fine by me. The big thing I hope for (and again, we'll know when the full NBC broadcast schedule is out) is that NBCSN is heavy on event coverage rather than focusing primarily on hockey and curling like the cable nets did from Vancouver.

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How do Australians train for the Winter Olympics when their notoriously hot, dry nation has little snow, even less than New Zealand, when it's summer down there and still succeed medal-wise? If you're Alex "Chumpy" Pullin, Jana Pittman, Alex Ferlazzo, and Laura Peel, you do find alternatives within the nation and all they have to do is "just add snow". The BMP-created "Just Add Snow" Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics campaign was just launched by Network Ten days ago and is a lighthearted celebratory attempt on the training to get there.

http://www.bandt.com.au/news/advertising/ten-promos-winter-olympics

http://mumbrella.com.au/ten-kicks-advertising-blitz-winter-games-191466

Facebook and France Televisions will allow in their partnership conversations generated online through France Televisions' coverage for Sochi 2014 to interact daily with its programming and contact the sportscasters and audit all of them 9along with other France's major events next year like with the 2014 Municipals):

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://frenchweb.fr/partenariat-entre-facebook-en-france-televisions-pour-les-municipales-de-2014/133738&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://frenchweb.fr/partenariat-entre-facebook-en-france-televisions-pour-les-municipales-de-2014/133738%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D885%26tbm%3Dnws

Sal Masakela, son of South African musician great Hugh, is no stranger to covering winter sports with lots of youth appeal with him at the Winter X Games for ESPN. He joined the Peacock last year and will serve as a sports desk reporter in Sochi presenting features, for the Olympic Zone:

http://business.transworld.net/144504/news/sal-masekela-join-nbc-olympics-sochi/

The Russian voice of biathlon for years and now also VGTRK's sports director, Dmitry Guberniev, on getting prepared and being constantly busy with all that stuff on his plate for years, especially his love affair with biathlon and witnessing its growth in Russia, up to his defining moment coming with Sochi. Ready for his 7th Olympics to cover and his 4th Winter one starting with Salt Lake City in 2002 covering cross country skiing, biathlon, and later the closing ceremonies pumped about seeing KISS and Bon Jovi there!

http://biathlonrus.com/eng/main/2013/47329/

Grass Valley showed off its new live production gear it will supply to NTV Plus for Sochi at the NATEXPO 2013 convention at the Crocus Expo in Moscow, Russia, from November 19-21.

http://www.digitalproductionme.com/article-6847-grass-valley-shows-off-gear-for-sochi/

Here comes ORF Sport+ Countdown Sochi 2014 documentary series premiering today with host Michael Berger:

http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20131124_OTS0003/orf-sport-mit-der-dokumentation-countdown-sotschi-2014

TV2 Norge's alpine skiing analyst is 29-year old Lars Elton Myhre. So now the TV2 Norge sportscaster roster is complete:

http://www.tv2.no/sport/ol/lars-29-legger-opp-blir-olekspert-paa-tv-2-4159749.html

Thomas and Harald are taking their show Senkveld to Sochi, Russia on TV2 during the Norwegian Olympic coverage for 14 days--saying they're big there

http://www.tv2.no/underholdning/naa-flytter-senkveld-til-russland-4041931.html

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How do Australians train for the Winter Olympics when their notoriously hot, dry nation has little snow, even less than New Zealand, when it's summer down there and still succeed medal-wise? If you're Alex "Chumpy" Pullin, Jana Pittman, Alex Ferlazzo, and Laura Peel, you do find alternatives within the nation and all they have to do is "just add snow". The BMP-created "Just Add Snow" Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics campaign was just launched by Network Ten days ago and is a lighthearted celebratory attempt on the training to get there.

http://www.bandt.com.au/news/advertising/ten-promos-winter-olympics

Thanks for posting that. I saw the promo for the first time the other day, and was going to see if it was on YouTube to post here - uinfortunately, I was limited to my iPad at the time.

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Monumental deal for Rogers today in acquiring the rights to all NHL games broadcast nationally in Canada, with games now being subicensed to the CBC. Could we see a similar partnership for Olympic rights in 2018-2020?

Changes the landscape of hockey in Canada!

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NBC's Rebecca Lowe to host Olympics

NBC management has tabbed Lowe to be one of the hosts of its Sochi Olympics coverage. She'll serve as the live weekday and weekend host on NBC Sports Network. Lowe said in an interview on Friday that she did not lobby her bosses for the assignment. A couple of weeks ago, she received a call from Pierre Moossa, the NBC Sports coordinating producer in charge of the Premier League, telling her that management was interested in assigning her to the Olympics. Lowe said she discussed it with her husband, as well as Rebecca Chatman, a top producer in NBC's Olympics unit. She decided it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
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