Sochi 2014 Olympic Media Updates

[Durban Sandshark]

Oh great. NBC never learns. I get that it meant a bit to throw a bone to the non-Olympic fans who want to watch NBC entertainment But on a Friday?

Of course with NBC Sports Network now on the scene, NBC doesn't need to do as much heavy lifting like in the recent past for both Olympics, so the amount of non-primetime repeat hours going down is expected. But it will have its distinct edited presentations like with figure skating compared to its cable channels.

Sochi Main IBC Media Center opened its doors earlier this week to the first wave of media residents from over 70 nations

http://www.sochi2014.com/en/news-the-main-media-center-in-sochi-opens-its-doors-to-the-first-representatives-of-the-media

Like to know who will call the Olympic hockey for Ten for Australians. Likely will be a feed taken from the BBC, CBC, or NBC.

TVP will start its TV coverage by having the Opening Ceremony simulcasted live on TVP1 on 16.30-20. But TVP Sport, SPORT.TVP.PL and TVP Strem will all share the start coverage at 16 and will go to 20.20. Also, we have the first two days of the Sochi 2014 coverage on essentially all members of the TVP family (streaming included). The BBC only comes in for TVP with Olympic Evening. Once TVP has the full schedule, I'll post it here.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.mmwroclaw.pl/469487/2014/1/7/soczi--transmisja-tv-online-gdzie-obejrzec-zimowe-igrzyska-olimpijskie%3Fcategory%3Dsport&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dzimowe%2Bigrzyska%2Bolimpijskie%2B2014%2Bw%2Btvp%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D907

Sochi 2014 coverage very much is exactly the same through the Baltic nations on Viasat and its channels with the same structure. For Lithuanians who like to see their best medal hopes in figure skating pair Isabella Tobias and David Stagniunas, they can also see them on MTG's TV3 and TV6 with online coverage on TV3's Play Portal.

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.15min.lt/naujiena/sportas/ziemos-sportas/socio-ziemos-olimpinems-zaidynems-specialus-visa-para-rodomas-olimpiniu-naujienu-kanalas-295-396083%253Fcf%253Ddf%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D907&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=lt&u=http://www.15min.lt/naujiena/sportas/ziemos-sportas/socio-ziemos-olimpinems-zaidynems-specialus-visa-para-rodomas-olimpiniu-naujienu-kanalas-295-396083&usg=ALkJrhhZBVpuv13TeIURzdEVlfWD7FpSLg

Haven't discussed about Panorama, the official Russian host broadcaster, in a while. But yesterday it announced it's the official national broadcaster for the Sochi Olympics production-wise. From February 6-23, Panorama will provide the national TV signals to the Russian Olympic broadcasters Russia 1 and 2, Channel One, and NTV Plus with the focus and profiles on and reactions from, of course, the Russian athletes, coaches, trainers, fans, and VIPs that will replace up to 30% of the international footage from the unbiased international OBS, which will act once again as the basis of the Olympic coverage. Panorama is going all out with the latest technology at Sochi, including CGI and its state-of-the-art fleet, in the Russian coverage. Even tapping into the old Soviet Olympic era.

http://www.panoramahd.ru/en/news/1738

TVR will show over 500 hours of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics live with all 15 events through TVR1, TVR2, TVR3, TVR HD, and online at TVR+

http://www.tvr.ro/jocurile-olimpice-de-iarna-de-la-soci_6495.html#view

Discussions were afoot to submit 100 hours of SKY Italia's Sochi 2014 coverage to Italia 1 back in November. However, that would mean SKY have to give up even ending its coverage plans to Cielo, which it designated as the Team Italia Azzurri Olympic Channel. Italia 1, part of Silvio Berlusconi's media empire, was keen on obtaining some of those events for its TV since it failed to reach an agreement how state-run RAI would get the Olympics TV rights, usually through RAI 2, as is mandatory to give them to terrestrial broadcasters. Now RAI is restricted to just highlights; we've seen this trend coming since SKY took over the rights. But anyway, you get a bit of a general look of what SKY will do with the full Sochi coverage, including its speciality channel Cielo (Sky in Italian) and six designated Olympic channels.

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.tvblog.it/post/482329/sochi-2014-olimpiadi-in-chiaro-su-cielo-dal-7-al-23-febbraio-alla-rai-solo-le-paralimpiadi%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D907%26tbm%3Dnws&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=it&u=http://www.tvblog.it/post/482329/sochi-2014-olimpiadi-in-chiaro-su-cielo-dal-7-al-23-febbraio-alla-rai-solo-le-paralimpiadi&usg=ALkJrhheCZH53yh4MJww_f46vvGVqOPWyg

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.tvblog.it/post/482329/sochi-2014-olimpiadi-in-chiaro-su-cielo-dal-7-al-23-febbraio-alla-rai-solo-le-paralimpiadi%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D907%26tbm%3Dnws&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=it&u=http://www.tvblog.it/post/431805/sochi-2014-sky-cede-le-olimpiadi-a-italia-1&usg=ALkJrhhb74njm3L1WX5a2TDhsAeQUeQ8lQ

Cielo just released its new Sochi 2014 Olympic promo for its 100-hour coverage starting February 7

Claro Sports, the new sports TV channel in Latin America created by America Movil that replaced MVS Communications-owned Viva Sports, is your destination for the Sochi 2014 coverage across Latin America (excluding Brazil) and follow your Latin American Winter Olympians, which will likely get a greater presence and even may win its first medal for that region in it. Unlike a lot of Olympic TV broadcasters worldwide, its coverage will start on February 6. Promos like this one were made by production company Pinhole, specifically produced by Gustavo Ramírez and directed by Santiago Arau

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9LaqgsdNxU

[Quaker2001]

Confirmation that NBC will premiere its new comedy "About a Boy" at 10:30pm Eastern on Friday, February 21st, thus cutting primetime to 2.5 hours that night:

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/01/10/nbc-sets-premiere-dates-for-about-a-boy-growing-up-fisher-believe-crisis-more/228397/

Excluding the primetime repeats, NBC will have 124 hours of coverage during the Olympics. That's down quite a bit from 2010. Since a decent amount of the coverage on NBC will actually be edited repeats of the live NBCSN coverage, the number of original hours on NBC is probably quite a bit less than 100.

Wow. I'm almost not angry anyone. This is just sad. That NBC feels their primetime lineup is in such shambles that they need to premiere not 1, but 2 shows during the Olympics? Almost makes you wonder how much of that $775 million investment gets pissed away that they're killing off a couple of hours of primetime they could have otherwise sold ads for. And yes, it definitely angers me how inefficient the schedule is between NBC and NBCSN. Almost makes me want to move up to Canada! Thankfully though, there are Canadian VPNs to cover such things :-)

[Brekkie Boy]

Can't be done. There's more than 300 million people in the United States, a lot of whom have little to no interest in the Olympics. If a network, be it NBC (or one of the other broadcast networks) or a sports network like NBCSN were to turn over virtually their entire programming day to the Olympics, they'd lose a lot of viewers who would head elsewhere. And these days in the United States, there are a lot of elsewheres for sports fans to turn. Bottom line is that there are a much higher percentage of Canadians who will be thinking nothing but Olympics when it comes to sports in February than there are Americans. And even NBCSN has other programming commitments, including a bunch of college basketball and hockey games that they will be showing in February. That's just hte reality of television in the United States that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the business side of things that makes things completely different here than anywhere else.

Don't really agree with that - if they can afford to give primetime up for the Olympics then giving up hours out of peak for live coverage shouldn't be a problem. Why not have live action in the Today slot rather than presumably the Today hosts talking about what NBC screened the night before. The ceremonies is just ridiculous - NBC treat them as just a TV broadcast when really they're much bigger than that - they're an opportunity for the world to come together in one moment, and NBC's stance means that the US just isn't at the party.

Anyway, on to the BBC who are giving more hours over to the Winter Olympics than ever before - I've never known them to have continuous coverage from dawn to dusk before of the Winter Games. The full trailer has now been released - looks absolutely stunning.

[Barcelona_'92]

Wow. I'm almost not angry anyone. This is just sad. That NBC feels their primetime lineup is in such shambles that they need to premiere not 1, but 2 shows during the Olympics? Almost makes you wonder how much of that $775 million investment gets pissed away that they're killing off a couple of hours of primetime they could have otherwise sold ads for.

I totally missed that they are premiering another show during the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, since that has worked out so well for them the last two times... I guess they'll break away at 10:30pm Eastern and then come back at 11:30pm after the local news for the final wrapup of the Games.

Don't really agree with that - if they can afford to give primetime up for the Olympics then giving up hours out of peak for live coverage shouldn't be a problem. Why not have live action in the Today slot rather than presumably the Today hosts talking about what NBC screened the night before. The ceremonies is just ridiculous - NBC treat them as just a TV broadcast when really they're much bigger than that - they're an opportunity for the world to come together in one moment, and NBC's stance means that the US just isn't at the party.

There's no way that NBC will pre-empt the Today Show for Olympic coverage. Even though Today no longer beats Good Morning America in the ratings, it's still one of NBC's most profitable enterprises. They need the boost in viewership that they get during the Olympics in order to demand higher commercial rates for the show. NBC also has to give a certain number of hours per day to the local NBC affiliates for news and syndicated programming, so they can't just overtake the entire day with Olympic coverage like CBC does in Canada. The bottom line is that the way NBC's presents Olympic coverage in the U.S. is hugely profitable for the network, its news programs, and the local affiliates, so the style of coverage that we get is not going to change unless the Olympics were to go to cable networks only.

[Quaker2001]

Don't really agree with that - if they can afford to give primetime up for the Olympics then giving up hours out of peak for live coverage shouldn't be a problem. Why not have live action in the Today slot rather than presumably the Today hosts talking about what NBC screened the night before. The ceremonies is just ridiculous - NBC treat them as just a TV broadcast when really they're much bigger than that - they're an opportunity for the world to come together in one moment, and NBC's stance means that the US just isn't at the party.

It's not a matter of giving primetime up. They still need to fill those programming hours with something, but it sitcoms or reality shows or news magazine shows or whatever. They don't get that programming for free. If NBC ordered the standard 22 episodes of a scripted show, they're not giving up primetime hours for that, they're simply airing 2 fewer reruns of the show than they normally would have to accommodate the Olympics.

Comcast and NBC paid $775 million for Sochi. They'd have paid the same whether they showed 1,000 hours or 100. It costs them nothing extra to broadcast that extra hour or 2 of primetime they're cutting over to premiere their new show. That premiere costs NBC more than nothing. Obviously that doesn't mean NBC should broadcast more hours than they can sell or else the law of diminishing returns would kick in.

As for the Today Show, Barcelona hit the nail on the head.. that's a franchise that's going to be going on after the Olympics, so NBC needs to keep that on the air and capitalize on the audience they get from it. The truth of the matter is that a lot of the content will be Olympic-related, it just won't be actual event coverage.

[4gamesandcounting]

Unfortunately that link to the BBC trailer isnt working, ah well will just have to wait until 8.30 tonight

Edited January 12, 2014 by 4gamesandcounting

[adrianme17]

Unfortunately that link to the BBC trailer isnt working, ah well will just have to wait until 8.30 tonight

As if by magic it's now working -post 8.30pm - superb looks great - good job to the Beeb!

[TheOtherRob]

BBC Trailer...

[Mr Tickle]

Very slick from the BBC as always

[Barcelona_'92]

So I've been watching the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on NBC all weekend, and they have not had a single promotion for the live figure skating coverage on NBCSN during the Olympics. No commercials, no mention from the commentators. One would think that NBC would want to advertise this coverage to the people who are most interested in the sport...

[Quaker2001]

So I've been watching the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on NBC all weekend, and they have not had a single promotion for the live figure skating coverage on NBCSN during the Olympics. No commercials, no mention from the commentators. One would think that NBC would want to advertise this coverage to the people who are most interested in the sport...

I'm really curious to see how this is going to work between NBC and NBCSN. Figure skating is a little different because it's 2 separate announce crews, but I still get the sense that NBCSN is going to look and feel like its own production, somewhat like what they did in London. I said it on another forum and I'll say it here.. can't wait for the legions of people posting on Twitter who are looking for figure skating on NBC and unaware it's actually on NBCSN instead

And on the news front, there's this revelation..

NBC halts Sochi ad sales for now

Sounds like they're holding back some inventory in case they need to offer up make good ads. The person who wrote the article said on a podcast that Lindsey Vonn pulling out of the Olympics may have a lot to do with that since she would have been in action for 5 nights and now won't be competing at all.

[FYI]

BBC Trailer...

Since when did the IOC move the Winter Olympics to July! Are they pulling a FIFA & switching seasons now.

[Tony E Loves Architecture]

Since when did the IOC move the Winter Olympics to July! Are they pulling a FIFA & switching seasons now.

That's how we write our dates here in England. 07/02/14. Day, Month and Year.

[TheOtherRob]

shakes his head at American obstinacy

[FYI]

That's how we write our dates here in England. 07/02/14. Day, Month and Year.

I know that already. I was just being facetious.

[baron-pierreIV]

So I've been watching the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on NBC all weekend, and they have not had a single promotion for the live figure skating coverage on NBCSN during the Olympics. No commercials, no mention from the commentators. One would think that NBC would want to advertise this coverage to the people who are most interested in the sport...

What's there 2 say?? Why would they just promote one sport at this point? Do you think US/FS audiences will just come out of a cave and wonder if there's any FS coverage at all??

[JMarkSnow2012]

Since when did the IOC move the Winter Olympics to July! Are they pulling a FIFA & switching seasons now.

Interesting that the BBC trailer isn't geoblocked on YouTube. It's almost as if they want to encourage foreign viewers to invest in VPNs before February!

[GoNutz]

I'm really curious to see how this is going to work between NBC and NBCSN. Figure skating is a little different because it's 2 separate announce crews, but I still get the sense that NBCSN is going to look and feel like its own production, somewhat like what they did in London. I said it on another forum and I'll say it here.. can't wait for the legions of people posting on Twitter who are looking for figure skating on NBC and unaware it's actually on NBCSN instead

And on the news front, there's this revelation..

NBC halts Sochi ad sales for now

Sounds like they're holding back some inventory in case they need to offer up make good ads. The person who wrote the article said on a podcast that Lindsey Vonn pulling out of the Olympics may have a lot to do with that since she would have been in action for 5 nights and now won't be competing at all.

Uh oh, maybe the time of increasing ratings for Olympics in the US is winding down. This could end up being pretty good for the viewer, maybe? Like, Comcast in the long run isn't willing to open the purse, another bidder gets in like ESPN, and their strategies revolutionize American coverage?

Interesting that the BBC trailer isn't geoblocked on YouTube. It's almost as if they want to encourage foreign viewers to invest in VPNs before February!

Geo-location IP blocking is one of the worst things ever. While I feel fortunate to live in the US, seeing stupid blocks for stupid stuff in other countries gives me a tiny taste of the frustration others must feel when approaching American content. It's not hard to see why "other" options thrive, with such a terribly fractured and totally crappy marketplace out there.

[Brekkie Boy]

I'm surprised it's even permitted in the EU considering there is supposed to be freedom of trade etc.

Visually the BBC ad looks spectacular, but I'm not quite sure it really does sell the games as well as it could.

[Quaker2001]

Uh oh, maybe the time of increasing ratings for Olympics in the US is winding down. This could end up being pretty good for the viewer, maybe? Like, Comcast in the long run isn't willing to open the purse, another bidder gets in like ESPN, and their strategies revolutionize American coverage?

Ratings for the Olympics ebb and flow. You really can't draw trends from 1 Olympics to the next because the ratings will always be heavily affected by time zone issues, among other things that don't remain constant. Comcast still projects they'll make a profit on Sochi, so I don't think they're that alarmed about the ratings, especially since ad sales have looked very good for them thus far.

And it'll be at least 2022 before another network has a shot at the Olympics. Who knows what the television/media landscape will be 8 years from now. 1 thing I am sure of though.. if ESPN had the rights to Sochi (and until the day of decision, it was far from a guarantee that NBComcast was going to bid as much as they bid and win the rights), they would have gone with a very different strategy than NBC has all these years. And it would have been an abject failure. It would have set the course of Olympic television in this country back decades if ESPN had come in and thought people were going to watch their cable-heavy live coverage in the same numbers that watch NBC. American coverage doesn't need to be revolutionized. It needs to be tweaked.

Geo-location IP blocking is one of the worst things ever. While I feel fortunate to live in the US, seeing stupid blocks for stupid stuff in other countries gives me a tiny taste of the frustration others must feel when approaching American content. It's not hard to see why "other" options thrive, with such a terribly fractured and totally crappy marketplace out there.

This was 1 of the great questions of Olympic television in the 90s.. when video started making its way onto the Internet, how would all these rightsholders be able to protect themselves from either other. The BBC pays for the right to broadcast the Olympics to Great Britain just like NBC has the rights here and CBC has the rights in Canada, and so forth. You can't have every country's coverage of the Olympics viewable in every other country. This is the way it has to be, especially in the digital world.

[4gamesandcounting]

I'm surprised it's even permitted in the EU considering there is supposed to be freedom of trade etc.

Visually the BBC ad looks spectacular, but I'm not quite sure it really does sell the games as well as it could.

Agreed - hasn't made me excited enough about the athletes and the sport! Looks great and very moody though.

[Barcelona_'92]

Ratings for the Winter Olympics in the U.S. are also highly dependent on the position of the broadcasting network compared to other networks. NBC got killed in 2006 when they were in fourth place and CBS, ABC, and FOX counter-programmed the Olympics aggressively. ABC had lower ratings in 1984 and 1988 when they were in third place, as did CBS in 1992. NBC is in a better position this year than they were in 2010, and the other networks are weaker. There are maybe 2 or 3 shows that will challenge the Olympics this time, and I think there's a good chance that the Olympics will beat American Idol. Realistically, NBC will probably get ratings between the Torino and Vancouver ratings. I'll be pleasantly surprised if they beat Vancouver, but it will be tough without Vonn unless other American athletes do really well.

[GoNutz]

Ratings for the Olympics ebb and flow. You really can't draw trends from 1 Olympics to the next because the ratings will always be heavily affected by time zone issues, among other things that don't remain constant. Comcast still projects they'll make a profit on Sochi, so I don't think they're that alarmed about the ratings, especially since ad sales have looked very good for them thus far.

And it'll be at least 2022 before another network has a shot at the Olympics. Who knows what the television/media landscape will be 8 years from now. 1 thing I am sure of though.. if ESPN had the rights to Sochi (and until the day of decision, it was far from a guarantee that NBComcast was going to bid as much as they bid and win the rights), they would have gone with a very different strategy than NBC has all these years. And it would have been an abject failure. It would have set the course of Olympic television in this country back decades if ESPN had come in and thought people were going to watch their cable-heavy live coverage in the same numbers that watch NBC. American coverage doesn't need to be revolutionized. It needs to be tweaked.

This was 1 of the great questions of Olympic television in the 90s.. when video started making its way onto the Internet, how would all these rightsholders be able to protect themselves from either other. The BBC pays for the right to broadcast the Olympics to Great Britain just like NBC has the rights here and CBC has the rights in Canada, and so forth. You can't have every country's coverage of the Olympics viewable in every other country. This is the way it has to be, especially in the digital world.

Lol, are you an NBC spokesperson or a shareholder. Who defends a terrible model and strategy? It's no longer feasible for a network executive to say I decide what you'll watch, when you'll watch, and you'll be happy with it. The US media and television landscape is fragmented and vast, the Olympic Games used to be a huge special hallmark event in a world with only 4 channels, sure. But, maybe they really are a niche product and when people have a choice of hundreds of other programs and channels and aren't forced to watch, they'd rather choose to consume something else. ESPN is the most successful sports television property in the world, they know what they're doing, saying they'd be an abject failure is really underestimating their competence, when they've only shown that they excel in every other instance.

The whole concept of "rights holder" is what is wrong with media and entertainment today, in today's world the whole idea that you can divide up the world into separate little blocks is antiquated and becoming impossible. You can't go back, you can't force a past paradigm on a world that has already moved beyond it, it won't work. It's trivially easy to torrent, stream, or utilize a proxy server, and circumvent any measures that these corporations are using to try and impose their archaic model on the people of the world.

[Barcelona_'92]

NBC is streaming every event live and showing many marquee events live on NBCSN this year. Exactly how are they using an archaic model and deciding how people will watch and when they will watch it?

If ESPN truly thought their model would have been successful for the Olympics, they would have bid more than $1.4 billion for the rights to 2014 and 2016. They didn't bid more because they didn't think they could be profitable with their coverage model, and the person in charge of ESPN's bid even said that in 2011.

[Quaker2001]

Lol, are you an NBC spokesperson or a shareholder. Who defends a terrible model and strategy? It's no longer feasible for a network executive to say I decide what you'll watch, when you'll watch, and you'll be happy with it. The US media and television landscape is fragmented and vast, the Olympic Games used to be a huge special hallmark event in a world with only 4 channels, sure. But, maybe they really are a niche product and when people have a choice of hundreds of other programs and channels and aren't forced to watch, they'd rather choose to consume something else. ESPN is the most successful sports television property in the world, they know what they're doing, saying they'd be an abject failure is really underestimating their competence, when they've only shown that they excel in every other instance.

[rant]Why is it that anyone who would say something in defense of NBComcast is most likely a spokesperson/shareholder? No, I'm neither. I will admit I did work as an intern for NBC Olympics one summer (and subsequently got to work as a researcher in Salt Lake in 2002.. that was an awesome experience), but that was a long time and several jobs ago. Anyways..

Why exactly is it a terrible model and strategy? Because some folks on social media say it is? In case you forgot, NBC drew some pretty darn good ratings for London 2 years ago. That's pretty impressive considering you're asking to hold people's attention for more than 2 straight weeks in the middle of the summer when they're not used to being in front of their TVs. And after losing a ton of money from Vancouver, they broke even on London. Not bad for a new set of execs considering it was Ebersol and company that drastically overbid years earlier. NBC and Comcast have only 2 objectives.. to try and draw people in to watch the Olympics and to make a lot of money doing it. In case you hadn't noticed, a LOT of people are still watching the Olympics. Far too many to consider the Olympics a niche product. NBC's model IS still working whether you think it is or not. Forced to watch? That's the most BS argument and it makes me want to bang my head against the wall every time I hear it. No one from NBC or Comcast is coming into your home and smashing your TV remote to bits so you have no choice to watch the Olympics. You have a choice. You could choose not to watch (or as you noted, resort to other means to get your Olympics). And maybe, just maybe, that all these people are still in fact watching in spite of this supposedly awful coverage, maybe there's something to the idea that NBC has done their job of promoting the Olympics and encouraging you to watch in the first place.

As for ESPN.. take a look at their programming schedule come February. Wall to wall basketball. I've heard the argument from some people that says that since the day in Sochi runs from about Midnight to 3pm on the East coast, it would fit in perfect with their programming schedule. Yea, except they stay have all that basketball to promote and produce. That's their bread and butter this time of year. Unlike NBC which can clear 18 nights of primetime and still reserve 1 of their cable networks for 12-16 hours a day, that's not something ESPN could easily do. If they were clear of other programming commitments and could put all of their effort and energy into the Olympics, then yes, they could do a good job. But as Barcelona noted, there's a reason their bid for 2014-2016 paled in comparison to Fox and NBC. They can't offer the network's full attention like NBC could. They certainly wouldn't be able to drive the viewership that NBC does. There would probably be fewer complaints about the coverage. But you'd have a lot fewer people watching. That's all but a mathematical certainty given ESPN's modus operandi.[/rant]

The whole concept of "rights holder" is what is wrong with media and entertainment today, in today's world the whole idea that you can divide up the world into separate little blocks is antiquated and becoming impossible. You can't go back, you can't force a past paradigm on a world that has already moved beyond it, it won't work. It's trivially easy to torrent, stream, or utilize a proxy server, and circumvent any measures that these corporations are using to try and impose their archaic model on the people of the world.

How exactly would you like it to work then? Someone has to produce these events and show them on their network. It can't just be a free-for-all where everyone sets up shop at an event like the Olympics and does whatever they want. All sports leagues work that way. The networks in the United States are invested billions upon billions of dollars to operate that way and yes it's driving up the costs for the viewing public, but this idea that the world has moved past that is ridiculously wrong. There's not as many people out there as you seem to think that choose to circumvent what you call an archaic model. Television as we know it isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Sure, there's a few cord cutters out there and some programming is slowly transitioning away from the traditional delivery models into new types of media. Not sports. When you're talking about a sitcom or some other show, that's a different ballgame than a live sports event. The old traditional archaic method for those broadcasts is alive and well, and I can assure you it's not going away anytime soon. The powers that be won't let it and a couple of torrents and proxy servers isn't about to change that.