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Olympic broadcasters appear to get their way

Thursday, 10th July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

Three weeks after Canada's CBC News announced that it had re-secured permission to broadcast live from Tiananmen Square during the Olympics, more announcements have come out indicating that BOCOG is moving toward giving games broadcasters more freedom to report in Beijing this August.

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This Wall Street Journal report says an agreement was reached Wednesday that will allow broadcasters to air coverage live from Tiananmen from 6 to 10 a.m. and from 9 to 11 p.m. The agreement also will allow NBC, CBC and others to "roam freely with satellite trucks around Beijing and other cities co-hosting the Games," according to the Journal.

For those of you who like to count things, NBC, the network that owns Olympic rights for the U.S. market, will carry 2,900 hours of Olympic coverage. According to math whiz and USA Today reporter Michael Hiestand, "Those live hours, spread across NBC and its cable TV outlets, top the total U.S. TV hours — 2,562 — for all previous Summer Games combined."

NBC will be distributing programming across its stable of channels, including Oxygen (female-oriented), MSNBC (business-focused) and Telemundo (Spanish broadcast). It will be using the Olympics as a test ground for new media, experimenting with updates and broadcasts via mobile and online platforms. U.S. Olympic coverage has historically been loaded with heartwarming profile stories that can frustrate die-hard sports fans who would rather watch actual games than a tearjerker piece about an athlete's childhood. Maybe all this coverage will allow viewers to see more of what they want.

Also announced today, and of more interest to those of us on the mainland, CCTV's Olympic channel says it will air its coverage without its usual 30-second delay, so it can coordinate with global feeds.

Link: NBC's Olympic broadcast schedule

Tags: CCTV, foreign media, NBC, Olympics

Olympic Broadcasters Get Tiananmen Rights

Friday, 20th June 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (3)

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TV networks with Olympic broadcasting rights seem to have re-secured the right to broadcast live from Tiananmen Square. According to Canada's CBC News, broadcasters held two days of negotiations with BOCOG officials late last month. NBC is declining comment on the story.

Aside from this news, it's been a somewhat rocky period of late for BOCOG's international media relations. Here are some of the things that are frustrating the foreign press here to cover Olympic preparations:

Foreign broadcasters say they are facing more red tape than at previous games, making it difficult for them to get their equipment into the country and begin logistical set-up.

Non-Chinese journalists are saying they were only allowed limited viewing of the actual torch relay in Xinjiang this week. BBC correspondent James Reynolds' blog includes some observations on the relay in Urumqi (Xinjiang's capital), as well as some background on the historical issues in the region. A few foreign journalists have been invited to watch the relay in Lhasa Saturday.

More Beijing-based journalists are complaining about the lack of access they have had to Chinese athletes. Instead of meeting athletes, they are touring venues and watching "mei nu" practice presenting medals.

Tags: BOCOG, foreign media, torch relay