The end of Olympic broadcasting as we know it

[Matabele]

I seethed through another night of Chanel 7's jingoistic, over the top, celebrity driven rubbish last night.  It reminds me why I only watch around 20 hours of their content on an annual basis in a non-Olympic year. 

Via twitter a friend who was at the softball had been giving updates on Australia's game vs Japan and 3 hours later Ch 7 tried to pretend they were showing "live" footage.

It made me realise that by 2012 internet streaming wqill be at the point where it will be impossible for one domestic channel to throttle the coverage as 7 have done this year.  In 4 years's time internet will provide choice of broadcaster and action - and frankly it can't come soon enough.

 

[clontaago]

They will still sell the rights to one channel though.

 

[Matabele]

They will still sell the rights to one channel though.

But the internet will provide the ability to pick and choose globally. 

 

[Narcissus]

[quote author=clontaago link=topic=178149.msg193141#msg193141 date=1218582870]
They will still sell the rights to one channel though.

But the internet will provide the ability to pick and choose globally. 
[/quote]
In theory, maybe, but they'll geo-locate you and restrict your viewing to your local provider. Even now I reckon you'll probably have a hard time watching it live from nbc.com or something similar.

 

[Fro]

Channel nein already have the rights to London, and we all know what they are like with a monopoly on a sporting event these days.

 

[Dan]

who cares. I am so incredulously astounded that anyone watches the **** at all

 

[Canteen Worker]

What Mata is saying is right about live streaming - it isn't. Of course they are wanting to maximise their investment by showing as many events as possible. Most daytime/night-time events are on at the same time and they can't show everything simultaneously. At this point swimming is the priority (morning finals for the Americans of course)due to ratings but it might improve slightly once they are done.

I have quite enjoyed the full games of less popular sports shown on SBS rather than 3 minutes of a 90 minute game.

 

[Jatz Crackers]

Channel 9 has gone downhill since Packers departure but nothing is quite as fluffy (no offence to poster of same name) and lightweight as the way channel 7 presents itself.

 

[Matabele]

The BBC have the same facility as Fox Sports do with Viewers Choice - but with multiple channels.  It's hardly rocket science.