I really don't know how to respond to Clay's article. First he's disappointed with the TV coverage and then he's annoyed that there's no streaming video on the web. Then he overlooks some of the better Olympic sites and chooses a site produced by the biggest sports marketing company in the world and proclaims that it captures the "Olympic experience".
Obviously, Clay did not take a closer look at nbcolympics.com, that had thorough coverage of his two favorite sports. There he could have read bios of table tennis champion David Zhuang and view picture shows of actual games- although not actual video.
I particularly felt that nbcolympics.com captured the real Olympic experience through it's unique design and wealth of stories, picture shows, athlete interviews and chats. Yes, you can find this on the nike site. But I doubt you will find compelling stories from table tennis athletes or the true heroes of the Olympics such as Rulon Gardner.
Though I liked the nike site, I just couldn't help but think that I was just buying into another promotion for it's overpaid and heavily endorsed athletes - something that I would rather not experience when it comes to the Olympics.
I thought I'd respond by thanking those who agree with the article and by pointing out to those who don't that I appreciate their criticism. I did look carefully at both the official NBC- and IBM-produced Web sites and found much information about every represented sport and many of the participants. But I was looking for action and only found it with a heavy Nike bias. This is a design perspective. Practically speaking, I agree that the more traditional sites have more information to offer, but in a decidedly uninteresting package. Nike was not pretending to offer complete Olympic coverage, but they did feature their sponsored athletes in a very dynamic way. I should have made this distinction clearer.
games footage is barred for everyone, by rulings of ioc. this reviewer obviously has never been to nbcolympis.com, as there is extensive badminton and table tennis coverage, not to mention that the live viewer offers live images and commentary. the nike site is all fluff, no content, and the reviewer obviously values design over content.
Like you, I looked on the net for live coverage and got disapointed. Those NBC broadcast were way too selective. Many sport events have not been shown at all (pieces on early childhood of american athletes seem to matter more). Besides, it was almost exclusively about american athletes... so much for the "international" spirit of the games and the performances of other non-american athletes. 2 thumbs down for NBC...
Clay's certainly right about the coverage that goes to air. I just wanted to clarify how the Games broadcasting works.
Every Olympic event is captured on video by "SOBO", the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation, otherwise known as the "Host Broadcaster". SOBO is a specially-put-together TV producer (for a few weeks, the largest in the world!). SOBO includes specialist crews and directors from around the world (and several hundred final-year Aussie media students in support roles).
The IOC sells broadcast rights by geographic area to the highest bidder: NBC in the USA, Channel 7 in Sydney, etc (including multi-channel consortia for Eastern Europe, parts of Africa etc).
These all have access to SOBO's feeds, including English-language commentary, which they supplement with their own studio shots, commentary, and location camera work.
The big problem with live Web coverage is the geographic breakdown of the rights. Because the rights payments pay most of the costs of the Olympics, the IOC doesn't want the Web to compete with its precious NBC etc - and no-one on the Web is willing to put up the $750 million that NBC has!
The Olympics will go live on the Web when they've figured out a way to make it pay for the Games. Until then, we're stuck with the decisions of NBC etc.
Here in Sydney, Channel 7 is broadcasting Olympics 23 hours/day. It's also running on two cable channels.
By the way, SOBO records everything they shoot and logs it all to form a vast archive for the IOC.
Hope this sheds a little light on things.
David Glover
Sydney Australia
Submitted by David Glover on Wed, 09/27/2000 - 14:47.
Interesting perspective
I really don't know how to respond to Clay's article. First he's disappointed with the TV coverage and then he's annoyed that there's no streaming video on the web. Then he overlooks some of the better Olympic sites and chooses a site produced by the biggest sports marketing company in the world and proclaims that it captures the "Olympic experience".
Obviously, Clay did not take a closer look at nbcolympics.com, that had thorough coverage of his two favorite sports. There he could have read bios of table tennis champion David Zhuang and view picture shows of actual games- although not actual video.
I particularly felt that nbcolympics.com captured the real Olympic experience through it's unique design and wealth of stories, picture shows, athlete interviews and chats. Yes, you can find this on the nike site. But I doubt you will find compelling stories from table tennis athletes or the true heroes of the Olympics such as Rulon Gardner.
Though I liked the nike site, I just couldn't help but think that I was just buying into another promotion for it's overpaid and heavily endorsed athletes - something that I would rather not experience when it comes to the Olympics.
Author's response
I thought I'd respond by thanking those who agree with the article and by pointing out to those who don't that I appreciate their criticism. I did look carefully at both the official NBC- and IBM-produced Web sites and found much information about every represented sport and many of the participants. But I was looking for action and only found it with a heavy Nike bias. This is a design perspective. Practically speaking, I agree that the more traditional sites have more information to offer, but in a decidedly uninteresting package. Nike was not pretending to offer complete Olympic coverage, but they did feature their sponsored athletes in a very dynamic way. I should have made this distinction clearer.
Have you tried this site?
http://english.sydneylink.com/
reviewer obviously hasn't visited the site
games footage is barred for everyone, by rulings of ioc. this reviewer obviously has never been to nbcolympis.com, as there is extensive badminton and table tennis coverage, not to mention that the live viewer offers live images and commentary. the nike site is all fluff, no content, and the reviewer obviously values design over content.
Bad Olympic Broadcast
Like you, I looked on the net for live coverage and got disapointed. Those NBC broadcast were way too selective. Many sport events have not been shown at all (pieces on early childhood of american athletes seem to matter more). Besides, it was almost exclusively about american athletes... so much for the "international" spirit of the games and the performances of other non-american athletes. 2 thumbs down for NBC...
How the Games broadcasting works
Clay's certainly right about the coverage that goes to air. I just wanted to clarify how the Games broadcasting works.
Every Olympic event is captured on video by "SOBO", the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation, otherwise known as the "Host Broadcaster". SOBO is a specially-put-together TV producer (for a few weeks, the largest in the world!). SOBO includes specialist crews and directors from around the world (and several hundred final-year Aussie media students in support roles).
The IOC sells broadcast rights by geographic area to the highest bidder: NBC in the USA, Channel 7 in Sydney, etc (including multi-channel consortia for Eastern Europe, parts of Africa etc).
These all have access to SOBO's feeds, including English-language commentary, which they supplement with their own studio shots, commentary, and location camera work.
The big problem with live Web coverage is the geographic breakdown of the rights. Because the rights payments pay most of the costs of the Olympics, the IOC doesn't want the Web to compete with its precious NBC etc - and no-one on the Web is willing to put up the $750 million that NBC has!
The Olympics will go live on the Web when they've figured out a way to make it pay for the Games. Until then, we're stuck with the decisions of NBC etc.
Here in Sydney, Channel 7 is broadcasting Olympics 23 hours/day. It's also running on two cable channels.
By the way, SOBO records everything they shoot and logs it all to form a vast archive for the IOC.
Hope this sheds a little light on things.
David Glover
Sydney Australia