August 13, 2004

O-SPAN: A C-SPAN for the Olympics

I wish there were an O-SPAN cable channel (or even O-SPAN I, O-SPAN II, etc) modeled after C-SPAN.

Imagine: C-SPAN style coverage of the Olympics. No fluff pieces, no heart-rending human-interest stories, no mindless chatter, no cutting from one event to another just because no American is the potential winner, no commentary, none of the ugly commercialism that American television has become so focused on. Just the games. Let the games be the games, and the athletes be the athletes, and may the best competitors win.

After the 2000 Olympics coverage, I simply don't trust NBC to do a good job with the games. I'm hoping I can catch some of the games on Telemundo and other international cable channels.

Posted by brian at August 13, 2004 10:14 AM

Comments

There is a channel like that. Or a bunch of them. They're the raw feeds that the host broadcaster provides to all the other international broadcasters who take the particular events they want, and mix the international feed with their own commentary, and their own cameras.

So if, say, the Malaysians want to focus on the badminton, they can take the main badminton feed, and add close-ups of their own team.

But of course, this is all inside stuff. Each broadcaster has paid for exclusive rights to the Olympics in their country, so nobody else can have access to the International feed.

Posted by: John Ross at August 14, 2004 05:03 PM

Here in the UK we are lucky enough to have the BBC - no advertising breaks, nothing to sell you, just pure unadulterated coverage of the events from 10am to after midnight. Those lucky enough to have a Digital TV package can also choose from a menu of events to watch live, or they can stick with the general coverage.

Since we are hardly the top sporting nation {!!} we are also fortunate that the BBC focuses on whatever or whoever are amongst the best athletes, last night celebrating the US 1,2,3 in the men's 200m as if it were one of out own [or should that be 3 of our own ...]

Sometimes it has advantages living in the UK ... the BBC almost makes up for everything else!

Posted by: Mike WIlliams at August 27, 2004 04:02 AM

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