Sochi 2014 Olympic Media Updates

[GoNutz]

NBC's streams are locked behind an authentication wall, that can only be accessed by paying for a cable subscription, something I have no need for (I have Netflix and Hulu, I can't even think of one of my closest friends who has cable or Directv either, so for us, if we want to watch the streams it's no dice for us.) And really? I'm pretty sure I watch NFL on my iPad, and I could get basketball on there too, but if you say we will always and forever be watching sports via the old fashioned rights holder television model, I guess you're right.

[JMarkSnow2012]

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

Before they present the athletes and the sport, Olympic broadcasters have one major hurdle to overcome, expressed within the BBC promo in the concept of "heroes vs nature".

In summer Olympics, the dominant events are about head-to-head confrontation: running; cycling; swimming; rowing; boxing; volleyball; basketball etc. Most of the exceptions, where only one nation is in action at a time, are short and sharp: jumping; diving; throwing (synchro swimming being a notable oddity). In the winter Olympics, by contrast, not only does there seem to be a smaller proportion of head-to-head confrontations (some ski and skating events; ice hockey etc.), the one-at-a-time events take longer: ski jump; slalom; bobsled / luge (not to mention ice dancing).

Much of the sheer continuous thrill we find in summer events is thus not matched in winter. Hence the new BBC approach- start by selling the product you're actually providing, and emphasise that it has its own pleasures. There's plenty of time yet to sell the individual sports and the athletes.

[Barcelona_'92]

NBC's streams are locked behind an authentication wall, that can only be accessed by paying for a cable subscription, something I have no need for (I have Netflix and Hulu, I can't even think of one of my closest friends who has cable or Directv either, so for us, if we want to watch the streams it's no dice for us.) And really? I'm pretty sure I watch NFL on my iPad, and I could get basketball on there too, but if you say we will always and forever be watching sports via the old fashioned rights holder television model, I guess you're right.

NBC is not the only broadcaster that requires authentication. If I want to watch something on ESPN3, I have to sign in through my TV provider. If I want to watch March Madness online, I have to pay. I don't have a problem with authentication, though it would be nice if NBC would provide a subscription package for people who don't have cable. The bottom line is that if I didn't have cable/satellite, my options for live sports would be pretty limited (not to mention, I like watching sports in HD on my big screen).

[Quaker2001]

NBC's streams are locked behind an authentication wall, that can only be accessed by paying for a cable subscription, something I have no need for (I have Netflix and Hulu, I can't even think of one of my closest friends who has cable or Directv either, so for us, if we want to watch the streams it's no dice for us.) And really? I'm pretty sure I watch NFL on my iPad, and I could get basketball on there too, but if you say we will always and forever be watching sports via the old fashioned rights holder television model, I guess you're right.

Not to rehash Barcelona's post since he said a lot of what I was going to say.. authentication is the wave of the future. The idea is that if I pay for content (i.e. cable television), I should be able to view that content on whatever platform (mobile, tablet, etc.) that I want. So yea, NBC requires authentication for Olympic events because they treat it as premium content. I know that's different than how other countries operate, but that's how other networks like ESPN work here. Okay, so you and your friends are cord cutters. Nothing wrong with that, but when an event like the Olympics comes along, I'm not going to feel sorry for you that you can't access that content because you choose not to pay for it. I'm sure you and a few other people out there will try and circumvent those measures, but you're a blip on the radar in the grand scheme of things, not some revolutionary movement that some folks like to talk about every Olympics how illegal streaming is going to overwhelm NBC and their dinosaur of a business model won't work anymore.

And in an effort to echo Barcelona's last comment.. good for you that you can watch the NFL on your 10 inch iPad. I guess I'll have to settle for watching on my HDTV with superior quality. And a lot of people feel the same way, especially when it comes to live sports. That's something that Hulu and Netflix are not well set up to deliver, and we saw what happened with NBC's streaming last Olympics.

Bottom line.. there will always be "content providers." In order for those companies, be it a TV network or a cable distributor or an IP-based system, to provide you that content, they have to pay for it. And if order for you to access that content, for the most part, you have to pay them. Again, you can circumvent those measures to your heart's content, but you still represent a minority of folks who are doing that. So yea, for the foreseeable future, the old fashioned rights holder television model is going to be in place and is not going anywhere.

[baron-pierreIV]

And who watches something larger-than-life as the Olympics on an iPhone or an iPad...and brags about it?? Missing the point entirely. I bet it's the same people who will pay $12 to go see an IMAX film but spend half the time surreptitiously looking at their phones. Not multi-tasking but...multi-distracted. His name.. "Go Nutz" says it all.

[JMarkSnow2012]

I don't have a problem with authentication, though it would be nice if NBC would provide a subscription package for people who don't have cable. The bottom line is that if I didn't have cable/satellite, my options for live sports would be pretty limited (not to mention, I like watching sports in HD on my big screen).

I think even many "cord cutters" would be happy enough paying for NBC online streaming of Olympic events if they could buy a package which covered just that (or maybe pay-per-view), rather than a full cable/satellite subscription.

And in an effort to echo Barcelona's last comment.. good for you that you can watch the NFL on your 10 inch iPad. I guess I'll have to settle for watching on my HDTV with superior quality. And a lot of people feel the same way, especially when it comes to live sports. That's something that Hulu and Netflix are not well set up to deliver, and we saw what happened with NBC's streaming last Olympics.

Question: have any American GBers successfully streamed BBC HD content via a VPN? Most online streaming services in the UK are set up to work in HD when appropriate.

[Tony E Loves Architecture]

I think even many "cord cutters" would be happy enough paying for NBC online streaming of Olympic events if they could buy a package which covered just that (or maybe pay-per-view), rather than a full cable/satellite subscription.

Question: have any American GBers successfully streamed BBC HD content via a VPN? Most online streaming services in the UK are set up to work in HD when appropriate.

I'm in London, England, so HD on BBC is fine for me obviously.

[Barcelona_'92]

In 2012, I knew a lot of people who signed up for cable just for the Olympics and then cancelled it immediately after the Games were over. If a streaming package were available for $50-60, I'm sure many of those people would have bought that package instead of signing up for cable.

[GoNutz]

And who watches something larger-than-life as the Olympics on an iPhone or an iPad...and brags about it?? Missing the point entirely. I bet it's the same people who will pay $12 to go see an IMAX film but spend half the time surreptitiously looking at their phones. Not multi-tasking but...multi-distracted. His name.. "Go Nutz" says it all.

Haha where is an Imax movie only $12 around here movies start at $12 and Imax is $15 or higher. Anyway this is a dumb argument, ok so you guys all support NBC and their anti-consumer ways that's fine. In the long run broadcasting the way the networks and cable is doing it now even live sporting events is dead. TW just lost over 200,000 subscribers in the 4th quarter. Nevertheless I'm not interested in being piled on, so I'm conceding, ok

[Brekkie Boy]

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.

I do think ESPN would have been the best of both worlds. ESPN would have offered most things 100% live, while ABC would continue with the primetime strategy. It's how well the two combine which is the question. In TV you need to take the risks to get the rewards - yet NBC haven't been willing to step out of a model which is half a century old and just not suitable for TV today. The way the West Coast is penalised is ridiculous too - they could have primetime live coverage at 10pm every night.

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.

Well it was one of the games best kept secrets but up until 2012 viewers in Europe could watch other countries coverage on Eurovision Sports - and in an increasingly mobile world it's understandable they'd be a small audience wanting to watch coverage from their home country focusing on their national stars. I'd hate to have to watch the games on a non-UK broadcaster.

Anyway, bringing it somewhat back on topic the IPC have confirmed they will stream 5 live HD streams on ParalympicSport.TV (which sadly now is a Youtube channel - was much better when it was it's own website!) There will be one stream each for Sledge Hockey, Curling, Alpine Skiing and Nordic Skiing, with a fifth multisport stream covering the pick of the action. All 5 will have English commentary. Presumably these won't be geoblocked.

C4 have yet to confirm plans here in the UK - they'll have covered more from these games than the BBC did from the last by the time we're half way through the opening ceremony and I think have pledge for something like 50 hours of coverage. It is also the Cheltenham Festival that week so that rules out afternoon coverage most days on C4 itself, though I suspect some will be on More4. I'd imagine C4 will therefore air coverage from around 6am to 12.30pm most days, and probably also simulcast the IPC channels on their website. The Cheltenham Festival rules out Clare Balding for most of the week too - though I suspect she'll front the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and maybe a little bit more if coverage is anchored in London rather than Sochi.

The IPC press info:

http://www.paralympic.org/news/ipc-livestream-over-300-hours-sochi-2014-paralympics

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced it will provide the most comprehensive online coverage ever for a Winter Paralympics this March when it broadcasts over 300 hours of live sport from the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games via www.paralympic.org.

In addition to covering both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies live from Sochi in HD, the IPC website will feature four HD channels showing live and uninterrupted daily coverage of alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling. A fifth HD channel will broadcast a mixture of all sports and all five channels will feature English commentary.

Following the conclusion of competition each day, all the sporting action including individual matches from ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling, will be made available as video on demand via the IPC's YouTube channel ParalympicSport.TV. Highlights packages from each sport will also be made available.

Supporting the live and on-demand video streams will be live results, whilst a team of writers will produce daily in-depth previews and reviews of all five sports, together with interviews with leading athletes. It is estimated around 150 stories will be uploaded to the IPC’s website during the Games.

[Barcelona_'92]

I do think ESPN would have been the best of both worlds. ESPN would have offered most things 100% live, while ABC would continue with the primetime strategy. It's how well the two combine which is the question. In TV you need to take the risks to get the rewards - yet NBC haven't been willing to step out of a model which is half a century old and just not suitable for TV today. The way the West Coast is penalised is ridiculous too - they could have primetime live coverage at 10pm every night.

Once again, this year, for the second Olympics in a row, NBC will be streaming EVERY event live. In addition, for the first time, they'll be showing many marquee events live on NBCSN. Yes, the primetime coverage is still the most important broadcast, but this year, not only will all of the primetime events have been streamed live earlier in the day, but many of them will have been broadcast live on NBCSN. NBC has received a lot of deserved criticism for its coverage in the past, but it's ridiculous that people refuse to acknowledge that they actually HAVE changed their coverage model considerably, and they are not just using the traditional coverage model anymore. NBC took the risk of showing everything live online in 2012, and they were rewarded with the highest primetime ratings for the Summer Olympics in over 20 years, as well as the most-watched TV event in U.S. history. Yes, the coverage could be shown at the same time across the country instead of being delayed for the west coast, but the data has shown consistently that NBC gets higher ratings for the Olympics in the Mountain and Pacific time zones, so why should they change their strategy?

ESPN likely would have used ABC very little if it had won the rights to Olympic coverage. Since 2006, Disney has moved almost all of its sports properties from ABC to ESPN. All of the live coverage would have been on ESPN, ESPN2, and probably ESPNU and/or ESPNews, and my guess is that most of the primetime coverage would have been on ESPN as well (scheduled with inconsistent timing around college basketball coverage), just as ESPN did with the World Cup primetime coverage in 2010. ABC probably would have had no weekday daytime coverage, maybe 2-3 hours per night in primetime, and possibly some daytime coverage on the weekend. IMO, this type of coverage would have been very bad for expanding viewership of the Olympics in the U.S.

[Quaker2001]

I do think ESPN would have been the best of both worlds. ESPN would have offered most things 100% live, while ABC would continue with the primetime strategy. It's how well the two combine which is the question. In TV you need to take the risks to get the rewards - yet NBC haven't been willing to step out of a model which is half a century old and just not suitable for TV today. The way the West Coast is penalised is ridiculous too - they could have primetime live coverage at 10pm every night.

Darnit Barcelona.. stop making the exact same post right before I was about to post it!

It's the same chorus every single Olympics how NBC's model no longer is working and they need to embrace change. The thing is.. the model IS still working even after all these years. Anyone who thinks it's not needs to take a longer look at the big picture. Every single time, those claims get proven wrong when the viewership is there. How else do you explain that as many people and more watched the London Olympics, entirely on tape in primetime, than watch Beijing which was full of live coverage. And as Barcelona noted, NBC is absolutely taking risks. They're streaming everything live now (sort of.. I know the authentication issue). There's more coverage on cable than there's ever been for a Winter Olympics, including a marquee sport that's being covered live virtually in its entirety. NBC's coverage has evolved over the years. I don't know why people think otherwise. It's like all those folks who complain how NBC doesn't show things live because they want to focus on the key events NBC is saving for the bigger audience in primetime. Forgetting even all the live streaming from London, that's discounting the vast majority of the cable and NBC daytime coverage that was most definitely live. But no, since the swimming and gymnastics and track & field is on tape delay, nothing else that NBC shows live counts for anything.

And I'll echo Barcelona's sentiments on ESPN/ABC as well. Even if they did throw some coverage on ABC, it wouldn't be the focal point. ESPN would make sure of that. They also have their tonnage of basketball to deal with, so any primetime coverage on the ESPN networks would be minimal. Like I said earlier, ESPN *could* do justice to the Olympics if they could clear their schedule of their usual slate of programming that is what really brings in the money for them. But that's not something they would be interesting in doing. So the Olympic simply wouldn't work for them, and if they tried to squeeze in the coverage in and around the rest of their programming, viewership would drop like a rock and that's the last thing the IOC wants to see.

[Durban Sandshark]

Away with the arguments over what if ESPN had the Olympics (I agree wholeheartedly with Barcelona) and of the NBC broadcasting structures in relation with the Olympics, for now.

NBC's got your full Sochi 2014 talent roster right here ready to go for Sochi:

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/01/14/nbc-olympics-announces-talent-roster-for-sochi-olympic-winter-games/229432/

We can just forget about Telemundo getting involved abundantly in the Winter Olympics again; without having to read the press releases and judging from the past attempts from Torino and Vancouver, it would just be a daily highlights show (not yet confirmed). One would think with the growing presence of US Hispanic Winter Olympians in recent Winter Olympics (Jenny Rodriguez and Scott Gomez)--and even Puerto Rican ones until 2002, coinciding with the rise of the US Latin/Hispanic population, the Spanish language TV coverage would surely grow as the interest grows with perhaps there's a chance now to witness the first Winter Olympics medal for a Latin American nation. Of course, these Olympics aren't as big in terms of interest like the Summer Olympics with its soccer, basketball, boxing, volleyball, swimming, track and field, diving, gymnastics, cycling, and taekwondo (largely because of the Lopez family in the last case) among them. And will continue to be so for the forseeable future. No doubt for example, there's some pro hockey radio games called in Spanish for a few teams, NHL and minors leagues ones. Guess it's a matter of "relevance" from a business/research standpoint with general penetration into that community insignificant.

Worth experimenting on expanding the Spanish Winter Olympics coverage from the daily highlights in the future, even if it's just having the sportscasters calling the events in Spanish at a New York or Miami TV studios on HDTV monitors for Telemundo on TV and online. Even calling both ceremonies in Spanish would be satisfactory. Allowing another Spanish broadcasting entity doing the Games is out of the question. Not with the NBC behemoth also dealing with Puerto Rico. Getting Spanish radio stations involved in major Spanish markets in the US would be nice too.

Speaking of Puerto Rico, it seems as though it will get just the NBC coverage and not from Puerto Rico TV and PRSN outside of Telemundo's daily highlights, according to the IOC Sochi 2014 broadcasters list. Not sure if it might get America Movil's Claro Sports and the UnoTV's online coverage. In fact, for much of Latin America (excluding Brazil) with the exception of Mexico, Sochi 2014 is going to be only on Claro Sports and UnoTV online for the very reason of not much public general interest in the Winter Olympics there. Though it could change, but not likely, in the last few weeks. Neither Claro Sports nor UnoTV have revealed yet what their Sochi coverage plans are. But that will be made known in the coming weeks.

Seems as though RTR will have the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics broadcasting up to 75 hours daily between the three channels with Russia 2 getting the bulk of them as the designated 24-hour Olympic Channel with the biggest Olympic event broadcasts. Russia 24 will become the quick Olympic news channel. Sport will mostly deal with of the broadcasting on Sochi for all the days as Sport 1 goes all HD on them. For the biathlon, dozens of HD cameras will come from the rails, helicopters, ropes, and airships.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://kubantv.ru/smi/57978-vgtrk-gotovitsja-k-glavnomu-sportivnomu-sobytiju-goda/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvgtrk%2Bsochi%2B2014%26start%3D20%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D930

That comment about Russia 1 showing the Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Sochi with RTR Sports Editor Dmitry Guberniev and Nastya Chernobrovin? Amend that to include simulcasting on Channel One, like what the CBC will do with TSN and Rogers Sportsnet in Canada for those (and CTV with TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, and OLN in Vancouver). Guberniev also adds that Russia 1, as part of its small portion of the Sochi coverage, will have full biathlon races that Guberniev will cover and almost full coverage in skiing, figure skating, and hockey as part of Russia 1's Sochi Olympic Games Diaries. Sportbox.ru will provide the online Olympic coverage. As will Vesti.ru and rutv.ru deliver news and analysis. VGTRK/RTR will work closely in association with radio stations Mayak, Lighthouse (focusing only on daily Olympic news called "Diaries"), and 24-hour Olympic broadcasting Vesti-FM and channels Sport and Sport 1.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.sports.ru/sochi2014/155387977.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvgtrk%2Bsochi%2B2014%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D930

In case I didn't mention it earlier, Russia 2 and Russia 1 have a pre-Sochi 2014 TV series centering on the 2014 Russian Winter Olympic hopefuls similiar to what was previously shown on Russia 2 for London. Hosted by Guberniev.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.sports.ru/sochi2014/154015499.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.sports.ru/sochi2014/154015499.html%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D930

Vasili Utkin, fresh from Sport.ru, and Anna Dmitriev will co-host NTV Plus' coverage of the Sochi 2014 Opening and Closing Ceremonies and biathlon

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.sports.ru/sochi2014/155227772.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.sports.ru/sochi2014/155227772.html%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D930

Men's gold medal hockey final--and maybe even the women's one--will definitely be on RTR, likely Russia 2 if not also Russia 1

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.sports.ru/hockey/155261900.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.sports.ru/hockey/155261900.html%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D930

[FYI]

Anyway this is a dumb argument,

You can say that again.

[Quaker2001]

Haha where is an Imax movie only $12 around here movies start at $12 and Imax is $15 or higher. Anyway this is a dumb argument, ok so you guys all support NBC and their anti-consumer ways that's fine. In the long run broadcasting the way the networks and cable is doing it now even live sporting events is dead. TW just lost over 200,000 subscribers in the 4th quarter. Nevertheless I'm not interested in being piled on, so I'm conceding, ok

Last thing I'll say on this.. I don't support NBC's business strategy because I like it as a consumer. But I understand what they're doing, why they're doing it, and why they're gonna continue to do it when people keep saying they can't do it anymore. Has nothing to do with what I want or what I wish they'd be doing. They're hardly the first corporation and industry to profit by being anti-consumer. When the airline industry started tacking on fees and nickel and dime'ing passengers to death, they consider it a big success because it makes them money. So yea, it sucks for us that NBC is more concerned about satisfying their shareholders than satisfying their viewers, but to that point, all those folks on social media and forums like this lose some of their credibility in calling for NBC to change their ways when they continue to consume NBC's supposedly crappy coverage. If you want to pronounce the death of cable/satellite television, go right ahead, but I think you're probably a good 10-20 years premature on that one.

Oh, and as a side note.. baron's claim of paying only $12 for movies, you're forgetting that's with his senior discount

[baron-pierreIV]

Oh, and as a side note.. baron's claim of paying only $12 for movies, you're forgetting that's with his senior discount

No need to get personal & bring that in. Frankly, I don't know what IMAX admission costs becuz I don't go. And I don't think you should be making light of 'senior discounts' regardless of who's involved. U will get there yourself someday...and see if u think it should be made light of then -- esp in such an infantile forum as this.

[intoronto]

Senior IOC member criticizes US choices for Sochi

ROME (AP) — A senior Italian IOC member criticized the United States on Wednesday for including openly gay athletes in its official delegation for next month's Sochi Olympics.

"It's absurd that a country like that sends four lesbians to Russia just to demonstrate that in their country gay rights have (been established)," Mario Pescante said at an Italian Olympic Committee meeting in Milan on Wednesday, in comments widely reported by Italian media. "The games should not be an occasion and a stage to promote rights that sports supports daily."

The Italian Olympic Committee would not confirm or deny Pescante's comments, but his speech was reported by the Gazzetta dello Sport and the ANSA news agency.

Asked for clarification later by The Associated Press, Pescante said he is not against gays.

"Of course not," the 75-year-old Pescante told The AP by telephone. "I just wanted to make the point not to let politics interfere with the Olympics."

For the first time since 2000, the U.S. delegation to the Olympics will not include a president, vice president or first lady. President Obama is sending three openly gay athletes — tennis great Billie Jean King, figure skater Brian Boitano and hockey player Caitlin Cahow.

The naming of the U.S. delegation followed a furious backlash in the West over the Russian law banning gay "propaganda," which has tarnished Russia's international reputation heading into the games.

As head of the IOC's International Relations Commission and a former IOC vice president, Pescante said he will put forth a proposal at the IOC session in Sochi so that in the future when the Olympic truce is signed at the United Nations it also will have a section devoted to political protests.

"We've seen boycotts, concerns over Aborigine rights in Australia, the Tibet issue in China. It's enough already," Pescante told The AP. "There are always going to be issues wherever the games are held, but the best way to combat these issues is by letting the games unfold and sending thousands of journalists to these places to report on what is going on there."

Pescante was the Italian government's supervisor for the 2006 Turin Games. Among his accomplishments he has brokered peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian Olympic officials over the past few years.

Source

If those athletes qualified I see no reason why he got so angry. However if they were just picked because of their sexuality I think that is wrong.

[Durban Sandshark]

For those seeking to see the nicely done TV3 and TV10 Vinter-OS 2014 promo embedded here, here it is in the full 45 second version. Must be noted that there are two other versions including :15 and :30 ones. Furthermore, I misnamed Ola Wenstrom, and both of the later two promos omit Helena Ekholm (she appears when the biathlete's bullet flies past her Matrix-style) for some reason. Look forward to seeing the Summer version for Rio De Janiero.

SVT never came close to what MTG's Viasat, TV3, and TV10 offers for its Olympic coverage in terms of hours, event replays included, even with its own respectable amount of TV hours on SVT1, SVT2, SVT 24, and SVT Play in recent Olympics winter and summer. It has never been in the thousands for the Winter Olympics. Surely Viasat's coverage should be solid just like SVT did over the decades with my only small concerns centers on when the commercial breaks come on. Viasat Sport's Olympic channels will be commercial-free, and I believe TV3 and TV10 will allow them when there's no action and there's a lengthy pause going on like between hockey periods. Don't think they will emulate TV2 Norge's commercial length of 12 minutes per hour and would be shorter. Or be even between the events coverage themselves.

Though most Swedes will follow the Olympics on TV through Viasat, TV3, and TV10, Viasat will debut its own OS 2014 app in mid-January, modeled by NBC Sports', in a matter of days with all the expected characteristics in it for tablets and smartphones.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://norran.se/2014/01/sport/skraddarsy-os-tittandet-med-ny-app/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://norran.se/2014/01/sport/skraddarsy-os-tittandet-med-ny-app/%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D862%26tbm%3Dnws

The entire Viasat/TV3/TV10 Olympic TV schedule is now out! What's interesting here is that its Olympic TV programming starts February 2 and not on February 7. But it all starts on the 3rd when TV3 has a one hour Studio Sotji from 13-14:00 (and starting from the 5th OS-studion). At 16-17:00 Viasat 14 HD has OS-studion with again on the next day with that and the Drommen on Sotji series sandwiching that before becoming an Olympic News Channel. Competition starts with the men's snowboard slopstyle qualifications Heat 1 live on Viasat OS 3 HD. TV10 starts its coverage with the 30-minute doc Putin's Winter Olympics on the 6th. As for the Opening Ceremony, it will be simulcast live on TV3, Viasat Sport (with a replay at 15-18:05), and Viasat OS 2/4/6 HD. The last three will show that from 10 to 22:59. TV10 will show that in a replay at 23:00 and Viasat OS 3 HD will show that on 23:10. Even Viasat Hockey will take part in the overall coverage. Plenty of event replays on the Viasat OS channels.

http://os.viaplay.se/tv-tabla/index.html

Just paid a visit to NTV Plus' forums (translated of course) in the hopes of seeing a thread about further info on what NTV Plus would form its Sochi coverage. Starting off with the preliminary roster of the sportscasters of the events on Channel One (Perviy Kanal), RTR, and NTV +. Found a familiar Olympic face in the world of swimming in Denis Pankratov--some complain he's boring--in the bunch:

While preliminary alignment for core as follows:

Hockey

First - Gusev, Golovanov

RTR - Tkachev, Skvortsov, Gimaev

NTV-Plus - Denis Kazan, Boris Mayorov

Biathlon

First - Terekhov

RTR - Dmitry Guberniev

NTV-Plus - Vasily Utkin

Skiing

First - Kurdukov

RTR - Dmitry Guberniev

NTV-Plus - Denis Pankratov

Figure skating

First - Golovanov + expert (?)

RTR - Alexei Vasiliev + expert--maybe either Grishin and Nikolai Popov

NTV-Plus - Vasily Solovyov

Speed Skating

First - Terekhov

RTR - Grishin

NTV-Plus - Sweden Viasat feed

Luge/Skeleton and bobsleigh

First - Gomel

RTR - Osin

NTV-Plus - Deryabkin

Ski Jumping/Freestyle Skiing (?)

First - Kurdukov

RTR - Osin with maybe Tvaltvadze

NTV-Plus - Agapov

Also later in the forum one poster says Pankratov will also do alpine skiing, if I saw that right. Alexsey Andronov will be NTV Plus' studio anchor. Lisa Kozhevnikov could perform play-by-play skiing duties. Igor Shvetsov might be involved in speed skating. But this is the point in the Olympic broadcasting calendar that the roster should be solidified. However, we don't really have Russian posters here among us who can help out and clear up some details about what those three entities will do.

http://forum.ntvplus.ru/showthread.php?s=ed587e6b82d3b13ad6666bbf660e6a0b&t=141681

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://forum.ntvplus.ru/showthread.php%3Ft%3D141681&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://forum.ntvplus.ru/showthread.php%253Fs%253Ded587e6b82d3b13ad6666bbf660e6a0b%2526t%253D141681%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D844

PRIME NZ plans to devote 10 hours of daily Sochi 2014 coverage with SKY TV devoting 4 channels on the pay-TV end as part of PRIME/SKY NZ's 2014 television plans.

http://nz.entertainment.yahoo.com/tv/blogs/b/-/19923773/prime-reveals-new-shows-for-next-year/

As I mentioned a couple of months ago, Nova TV had to sell off its lucrative Sochi 2014 Olympic hockey coverage to CT due to its financial concerns in the Czech Republic after having it for almost a year from Sportfive. But that doesn't mean Nova won't still be a part of the Czech Olympic media coverage. In case you haven't heard, Nova TV sold much of the hockey there, where the more appealing hockey matches goes to CT Sport and will be covered by Jaromír Bosak and Barbora Černošková with the less publicly appealing ones going to CT2, but is still allowed to have some Olympic hockey games on Nova Sport and keep its online streaming coverage on Voyoz.cz.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=cs&u=http://oh.idnes.cz/hokej-ze-soci-v-ceske-televizi-dko-/zoh-soci-2014.aspx%3Fc%3DA131118_161611_zoh-soci-2014_cig&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dnova%2Btv%2Bzoh%2B2014%2Bsoci%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D844

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=cs&u=http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/sport/zoh-2014/250964-olympijsky-hokej-bude-vysilat-ceska-televize/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dnova%2Btv%2Bzoh%2B2014%2Bsoci%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D844

Few of the things Nova TV was planning to do, from disappointed Nova TV hockey play-by-play man Jan Valert, in its attempt to distance itself from the infamously poor Vaclav Tittelbach-Paul Poulicek era in the minds of Czech hockey fans associate with dating back from Nova's start in the 1990s to show improvement was to build a TSN-inspired Olympic hockey TV studio with innovative technological uses (to Czechs) like a 3D pen, two commentators plus an analyst having underwent an intense summer program digging up archival footage and building context, Valert does defend not just those two but also fellow Nova TV hockey sportscaster Robert Zaruba.

Nova Sport's Olympic coverage will resemble morning to evening daily coverage with hockey coming in, likely running concurrently and share with those on the CT channels with more sports to choose from.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=cs&u=http://oh.idnes.cz/hokej-ze-soci-v-ceske-televizi-dko-/zoh-soci-2014.aspx%3Fc%3DA131118_161611_zoh-soci-2014_cig&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dnova%2Bzoh%2Bhokej%2B2014%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D844

Additional footage from the fun-filled France Televisions Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games press conference in Paris

Just a matter of days that USA Today will unleash its 2014 Winter Olympics guide. Only thing it needs is NBC's Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic TV guide to be fully released, which is probrably right about now or very soon actually. I strongly believe it will be more of the same structure as with the London edition in being more of that now-maligned "up close and personal" American profiles on a sport-by-sport basis throughout the pages, even with Sochi itself since many people worldwide are only starting to know about that place as we get closer to the Games. Yes, it will discuss the issues in Russia that we talk about here too like with the Russian LGBT community, Putin's power plays, and Pussy Riot and how they and other issues loom large Sochi and Russia as a whole. Surely were it not for Lindsay Vonn deciding to pull out last week, I can guarantee you she would appear on the cover as the face of US Winter Olympics like she was on SI's 4 years ago. But that what it's all meant to do: to entice casual American Olympic fans and Americans who aren't Olympics fans period at a time of fragmented and diverse media consumption tastes.

RUV and Iceland's massive private media giant 365 Media team up to provide ample coverage of Sochi 2014. Details surely are forthcoming soon. But I seem to think that primarily it will be on Stod 2 Sport, Stod 2 Sport 2-6, and Stod 3, giving it the most comprehensive Icelandic Winter Olympic TV coverage ever. No official details were announced though as of yet.

A reminder of ATV's live and exclusive coverage of both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at 16.35 Austria/CET time at Sochi's Fisht Olympic Stadium, hosted by ATV Sports chief Mark Michael Nanseck. Beyond that, it won't just be involved in them; there will be daily Sochi highlights news reports on ATV Sport at 19:30. All this, especially the ceremonies, are an Olympic first for Austrian private TV.

http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20140114_OTS0027/atv-uebertraegt-live-und-exklusiv-die-eroeffnungsfeier-der-olympischen-winterspiele-2014-in-sotschi

OTT Clarovideo will incorporate live Sochi 2014 coverage into its TV Everywhere with Claro Sports for customers in Mexico, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Chile, and Colombia at no extra charge

http://nextvlatam.com/ott-clarovideo-to-include-tv-everywhere-from-claro-sports-for-the-winter-olympic-games/?lang=en

Appears that RTP and Sport TV will both cover Sochi as official broadcasters with the former on the terrestrial front and the latter on pay-TV satelitte/cable in Portugal

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://www.dnoticias.pt/actualidade/desporto/416140-jogos-olimpicos-na-rtp-e-na-sporttv&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsport%2Btv%2Bportugal%2B2014%2Bolimpicos%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D844

Just announced a day or two ago. RTVS will broadcast 200 hours live from Sochi to Slovaks with approximately a 17-hour daily block with every sport save for hockey with Olympic Studio 2014. Meanwhile, Slovak co-holders TV Markiza will handle all the Olympic hockey games, including the Slovak ones with pre- and post-game analysis live and in HD with Pavol Gaspar calling them and intermission interviews performed by Dano Oceanas. Matus Kruty and Miro Hlinka getting involved in all the others non-Slovak games.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sk&u=http://sport.sme.sk/r/sport_oh/olympijske.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://sport.sme.sk/c/7062069/olympiadu-budu-prenasat-rtvs-a-markiza-hokej-komentuje-pavol-gaspar.html%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D844

http://www.teraz.sk/sport/olympiada-soci-2014-prenosy/70095-clanok.html

[SochiFanUsa]

And none of this leftist editorial coverage will contain much facts.

They will endlessly talk about how these three western leaders (Obama, Cameron, Hollande) are skipping it, without mentioning they all have approval rates in the toilet. While doing everything to cover up that Putin has an approval rate in the 60's.

Do you think they will say that Pussy Riot are Soros funded propagandists who disrespected their most sacred church. Oh wait, establishment can't say that most Russians are Christian, that would put a human face on them.

Do you think they will say that this law passed 436 votes to 0 and is supported by over 80% of Russians. And that in over 7 months only a few of these slap on the wrist fines have been handed out (some activists who were purposely get fined to make a story)

While at the same time of endlessly demonizing Russia (a country where homosexuality is legal) for having a benign law that protects children from nontraditional sexual propaganda, they will continue to whitewash two of the top ten mos populated countries in the world in the last month (India and Nigeria) making homosexuality a crime that carries a prison sentence.

They will run a bunch of human interest stories on gays there. Ignoring the reality that they are just using that as an angle to try to get citizenshp in other countires. The same type of false flags we see here such as the lesbian waitress writing a hate note on the receipt.

Then they run stories about cost of Olympics. Doing an embarrassing acting job of acting like they actually care about what Russia paid (all they care about is demonizing Putin). Then in the next breath continually try to poison the games which would just hurt the poor there and the numerous Western companies that are invested into these games.

Then will talk about security. Ignoring the Boston Marathon bombing, Atlanta Olympics bombing, Salt Lake Olympics happening 4 months after the biggest terrorist attack in history. Or that Chicago who was our last bid (which failed badly) has 35 murders a month. And their dream of having an Olympics in New York or Washington DC would be an absolute nightmare.

Of course they will downplay that without Putin, Snowden would be in prison being waterboarded for telling the truth about how our government eliminated the 4th amendment. And that without Putin we would likely be in another illegal war on the side of Al Qaeda.

NBC has on their team. The ultra leftist editor of the New Yorker as their "Russian expert". Thats so laughable its not even funny. And as their "Russian voice" a leftist atheist that hates Putin.

This is not journalism. Its just a leftist infomercial, propaganda.

[Quaker2001]

And none of this leftist editorial coverage will contain much facts.

They will endlessly talk about how these three western leaders (Obama, Cameron, Hollande) are skipping it, without mentioning they all have approval rates in the toilet. While doing everything to cover up that Putin has an approval rate in the 60's.

Do you think they will say that Pussy Riot are Soros funded propagandists who disrespected their most sacred church. Oh wait, establishment can't say that most Russians are Christian, that would put a human face on them.

Do you think they will say that this law passed 436 votes to 0 and is supported by over 80% of Russians. And that in over 7 months only a few of these slap on the wrist fines have been handed out (some activists who were purposely get fined to make a story)

While at the same time of endlessly demonizing Russia (a country where homosexuality is legal) for having a benign law that protects children from nontraditional sexual propaganda, they will continue to whitewash two of the top ten mos populated countries in the world in the last month (India and Nigeria) making homosexuality a crime that carries a prison sentence.

They will run a bunch of human interest stories on gays there. Ignoring the reality that they are just using that as an angle to try to get citizenshp in other countires. The same type of false flags we see here such as the lesbian waitress writing a hate note on the receipt.

Then they run stories about cost of Olympics. Doing an embarrassing acting job of acting like they actually care about what Russia paid (all they care about is demonizing Putin). Then in the next breath continually try to poison the games which would just hurt the poor there and the numerous Western companies that are invested into these games.

Then will talk about security. Ignoring the Boston Marathon bombing, Atlanta Olympics bombing, Salt Lake Olympics happening 4 months after the biggest terrorist attack in history. Or that Chicago who was our last bid (which failed badly) has 35 murders a month. And their dream of having an Olympics in New York or Washington DC would be an absolute nightmare.

Of course they will downplay that without Putin, Snowden would be in prison being waterboarded for telling the truth about how our government eliminated the 4th amendment. And that without Putin we would likely be in another illegal war on the side of Al Qaeda.

NBC has on their team. The ultra leftist editor of the New Yorker as their "Russian expert". Thats so laughable its not even funny. And as their "Russian voice" a leftist atheist that hates Putin.

This is not journalism. Its just a leftist infomercial, propaganda.

Wow. There is just so much nonsense in here, I'm not touching this with a 10 foot troll.. I mean pole. No wait, I think I do mean troll. Clever of you to make this all about the media so that it makes sense in this thread, even though this is just a giant diatribe about your political views and your apparent intense hatred of the mainstream media. I'm gonna guess you watch a lot of Fox news, don't you.

You know what I'd like to hope NBC will talk about a lot during the Olympics?.. sports. I'm sure NBC news will have their views and opinions on the goings on in Russia, but I really hope the coverage of the Games themselves stays as apolitical as it possibly can. Either way, not taking the bait here.

[Durban Sandshark]

NOS Nederland 1's Sochi 2014 promo takes on a sports tech-like look with the unmistakeable NOS Studio Sport circle logo artwork resembling nimbuses on speed skaters like Sven Kramer and Ireen Wust, bobsledder Tim Dekker, and snowboarder Nicolien Sauerbreij in it. None of those orange Asics hoody wearing Dutch Winter Olympians jogging past great Dutch Winter Olympic moments this time. No doubt the speed skaters (both kinds), the snowboarders, and the bobsledding will get the bulk of the Dutch TV coverage starting on February 7.

Here's the list of international broadcasters that we can confirm so far there will be TV coverage starting on February 6 before the Opening Ceremony:

NBC

CBC/Radio-Canada

Viasat/TV3/

Claro Sports

TV2 Norge

Canvas

Surely the Russian Olympic broadcasters will start the Sochi coverage as hosts on February 6; we just don't know exactly who among Russia 1-2, Sport channels, Channel One, and NTV Plus.

SKY Italia's the only place where you can see full 100% event coverage of Sochi 2014 in Italy. Hours ago, SKY announced it will bring out 5 fully dedicated channels with 560 hours of live coverage, already free to Sky Sports subscriber, with an Olympic Mosaic Interactive Channel, mobile coverage on tablets and smartphones through Sky Go, social media on Twitter (under #SkyOlimpiadi) and Facebook, and association with RTL 102.5 FM. Alberto Tomba, Giorgio Rocca and Karen Putzer are among the voices for SKY Italia. The high definition channels (206, 207, 208, 210, 211), turned on 24 hours with Sky Olympics 1 HD--5 HD with Sky Sports HD images will be at the viewer's service. With the Olympic Mosaic Interactive, Italians can choose what to see at all times thanks to the five screens to reach the green button and thanks to the Medal Alert viewers will be notified when an event is going to contend for a medal on another channel. News and constant updates also on Sky Sport 24 HD, all the sports news on Sky. Sky Sports stories will join 'for the first time since the Games are broadcast on TV, Sky (DTT channel 26, Sky channel 126 and channel Tivu'Sat 19), along with the aforementioned info about Cielo and its 100 pro-Azzurri hours and associations with Telecom Italy/TIM.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.digital-sat.it/ds-news.php%3Fid%3D35875&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.digital-sat.it/ds-news.php%253Fid%253D35875%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D844%26tbm%3Dnws

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.asca.it/news-Sochi_2014__tutte_le_Olimpiadi_invernali_solo_su_Sky-1355047-SPR.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.asca.it/news-Sochi_2014__tutte_le_Olimpiadi_invernali_solo_su_Sky-1355047-SPR.html%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D844%26tbm%3Dnws

SKY Italia's Sochi 2014 coverage will also be available on Cubovision TV on-demand at the cost of 9 euros:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.digital-sat.it/ds-news.php%3Fid%3D35873&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.digital-sat.it/ds-news.php%253Fid%253D35873%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D844%26tbm%3Dnws

Belgium, like its BENELUX neighbors The Netherlands and Luxembourg, is a nation that's flat or at below sea level and lacks mountains, which makes it unlikely for it to host a Winter Olympics and won't garner as much mass interest in other nations. But that doesn't mean Belgian Olympians, with its small contingent, can't be competitive in the Winter Olympics. Talented Belgian athletes like Seppe Smits find alternatives to practice like with Australia and NZ in those sports when they lack a lot of snow and can even win medals. All that explains the Belgian Olympic Committee 2014 slogan, "We Don't Need A Mountain To Win A Medal". The following full and beautiful B&W 60-second Belgian Olympic Committee promo captures this, using Smits snowboarding down the fields and that slogan in Flemish (Dutch), French, and English with association from Sporza and RTBF, whom both are using as its Sochi 2014 Olympic promo commercial since late November with a French song by Jacques Brel "Le Plat Pays" that the Jacques Brel Foundation lent for use. There are versions in :20-:30 in all three languages. Following is in the Dutch version that's all directed by Arnaud Uyttenhove and produced by Caviar with the BBDO Agency.

Press release

http://press.bbdo.be/in-belgium-we-dont-need-mountains-to-win-a-medal

If we thought Vancouver was Canada's biggest Winter Olympic campaign thanks to CTV with Believe and Own The Podium being all over Canada back then, we apparently haven't seen anything yet. The Canadian Olympic Committee launched on New Year's Day looking into the new year with its #We Are Winter/Nous sommes l’hiver campaign to defend its hypothetical team gold medal trophy.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/canadas-olympic-ads-aim-for-shiver-of-recognition/article16139985/

[Sir Rols]

Wow. There is just so much nonsense in here, I'm not touching this with a 10 foot troll.. I mean pole. No wait, I think I do mean troll. Clever of you to make this all about the media so that it makes sense in this thread, even though this is just a giant diatribe about your political views and your apparent intense hatred of the mainstream media. I'm gonna guess you watch a lot of Fox news, don't you.

You know what I'd like to hope NBC will talk about a lot during the Olympics?.. sports. I'm sure NBC news will have their views and opinions on the goings on in Russia, but I really hope the coverage of the Games themselves stays as apolitical as it possibly can. Either way, not taking the bait here.

I used to think SochiFanUSA was just some looney tea-partier. Now I'm starting to conclude he's this year's version of maryjane from 2008 - the Kremlin's official delegate to GamesBids.

[breathesgelatin]

I think even many "cord cutters" would be happy enough paying for NBC online streaming of Olympic events if they could buy a package which covered just that (or maybe pay-per-view), rather than a full cable/satellite subscription.

Absolutely. We don't have cable in my household, but we subscribe to NBA League Pass. I don't have Ice Network this year but will likely get it next year as I expect television coverage of figure skating to be weaker in non-Olympic years. I would definitely pay to stream, but I have no desire to pay for cable at this point in my life. Maybe a couple of raises down the road, I don't know.

In 2012, I knew a lot of people who signed up for cable just for the Olympics and then cancelled it immediately after the Games were over. If a streaming package were available for $50-60, I'm sure many of those people would have bought that package instead of signing up for cable.

Yeah. I toyed with the idea of signing up for cable and then cancelling. I'm still sort of toying with it, because OMG LIVE COMPLETE FIGURE SKATING COVERAGE. WITH JOHNNY WEIR! Would be much better to just give NBC my $60 or whatever.

[FiveRingFever]

Darnit Barcelona.. stop making the exact same post right before I was about to post it!

It's the same chorus every single Olympics how NBC's model no longer is working and they need to embrace change. The thing is.. the model IS still working even after all these years. Anyone who thinks it's not needs to take a longer look at the big picture. Every single time, those claims get proven wrong when the viewership is there. How else do you explain that as many people and more watched the London Olympics, entirely on tape in primetime, than watch Beijing which was full of live coverage. And as Barcelona noted, NBC is absolutely taking risks. They're streaming everything live now (sort of.. I know the authentication issue). There's more coverage on cable than there's ever been for a Winter Olympics, including a marquee sport that's being covered live virtually in its entirety. NBC's coverage has evolved over the years. I don't know why people think otherwise. It's like all those folks who complain how NBC doesn't show things live because they want to focus on the key events NBC is saving for the bigger audience in primetime. Forgetting even all the live streaming from London, that's discounting the vast majority of the cable and NBC daytime coverage that was most definitely live. But no, since the swimming and gymnastics and track & field is on tape delay, nothing else that NBC shows live counts for anything.

And I'll echo Barcelona's sentiments on ESPN/ABC as well. Even if they did throw some coverage on ABC, it wouldn't be the focal point. ESPN would make sure of that. They also have their tonnage of basketball to deal with, so any primetime coverage on the ESPN networks would be minimal. Like I said earlier, ESPN *could* do justice to the Olympics if they could clear their schedule of their usual slate of programming that is what really brings in the money for them. But that's not something they would be interesting in doing. So the Olympic simply wouldn't work for them, and if they tried to squeeze in the coverage in and around the rest of their programming, viewership would drop like a rock and that's the last thing the IOC wants to see.

That's not correct. ABC would have shown a taped package in prime time much like NBC does.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/06/olympics-will-bidding-be-a-games-changer-for-u-s-networks/

[Quaker2001]

That's not correct. ABC would have shown a taped package in prime time much like NBC does.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/06/olympics-will-bidding-be-a-games-changer-for-u-s-networks/

So they said. If you read in the comments section, someone with ties to ABC (take that for what it's worth) said ABC wouldn't get anything. If ESPN had won the rights, at most they're putting a primetime show on ABC to placate the IOC and their desire for over-the-air coverage. But like I said, it would be far from the focal point of ESPN's coverage and ratings would drop like a rock as a result. Again, there's a reason ESPN's bid was so low.. the Olympics simply don't fit into the company's overall profile like the do at NBC. As such, they'd be doomed to fail.