BlogHer - olympics - Comments

That's amazing!

Sarah Granger — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:04:00 -0500

Thanks for sharing.

So cool!

sylinthecity — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:39:34 -0500

I am an American who is actually visiting Seoul right now and watching the event in Korea was so special b/c we could just see the pride on the faces of all the other people in the place (a street market down the street from our hote). Even drunk young men were entranced by the figure skating program, something I don't recall ever seeing guys do in America. Everybody was glued to the flat screen TVs throughout the market, and when her final score was revealed, there was such a great feeling in the air :-)

http://www.somewherethesunisrising.com

Sasha Cohen and other stars

LadyM — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:21:13 -0600

I didn't get to see Nationals, but Stars on Ice was in town last week and there were some great performances. Some pix:

http://tinyurl.com/aft8pd

Lady M blogs at http://www.empress-m.com/

Thank you for these reports!

Maria Niles — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:47:46 -0600

I've been far too busy lately to keep up with skating even if it were shown on TV so thank you for these reports.

And your descriptions are wonderfully vivid - when you described a skater sticking her leg out at spiral height for her toe jumps - I could totally see it!

BlogHer Contributing Editor
PopConsumer
Beyond Help

Not Everything Has To Be Live

Megan Smith — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:52:41 -0500

But it's really much more exciting when it is live. And though ping pong and badminton are not my thing, I wouldn't have minded NBC switching out a couple of nights of beach volleyball for some table tennis or some tennis court tennis.

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Late as usual

JenInShanghai — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:36:18 -0500

But I couldn't help laughing about the differences in viewing experiences. I think that I have seen more ping pong table tennis in the past two weeks than in my entire lifetime. Here in China its around the clock coverage (and now replays) of ping pong, badminton and air rifles. There are 5 different channels that showed events live (all CCTV channels) and I never knew the variety of sports that were in the Olympics. While I don't find it necessary that all the sports be broadcast live, (badminton, ping pong) it would really be nice for the US to expand its coverage to include the rest of the worlds teams. If nothing else the kids watching would get a much needed geography lesson!

Off to watch re-runs of the tumbling toddlers team win!

A Three Year Contract?!

nannygoats — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:06:49 -0500

What, did you get the diamond encrusted super snazzy phone that dices and slices for free? I'm heading over to your blog, cuz I like your writing style....

Margaret

Nanny Goats In Panties (www.nannygoatsinpanties.com)

olympic coverage

NurseBarb — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:08:23 -0500

I'm also looking for a way to see other countries and athletes. Have you found another channel or website?

I did enjoy the men's beach volleyball, but must have missed the women's soccer final. Did anyone see that?

All Good Questions

Megan Smith — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:14:05 -0500

I'm not sure of the answers but if I find out, I'll let you know.

Many times for big national events, the American networks will share a pool feed---which can be several camera angles but is directed from one place---and then they can supplement with their own cameras and technicians depending on their access and their budget.

I would think the Olympics is very similar. The BBC, etc could be using an NBC feed and supplementing with their own footage of certain events. And then of course using their own commentary.

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

I'm pretty sure every broadcaster paid through the nose...

zchamu — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:11:41 -0500

BBC, CBC, ABC, whoever else.. they all ponied up a lot of money for the rights, I'm sure, so I doubt NBC had any more say than anyone else unless they were broadcasting a certain event, much like the Aussies did the pool.

I'd be interested to find out exactly how it works. All events seem to broadcast a single feed, so I wonder if each broadcaster gets a "host" feed for a certain event and then they are able to set the camera angles and whatnot. I can't seem to find any information about it though.

Edited - aha, found this: Beijing Olympic Broadcasting is the host broadcaster for the whole games. So all feed comes from them. http://www.bob2008.com/indexen.aspx So my claim that the Aussies did the pool was incorrect - however, now i'm wondering what the hell they were talking about on CBC? Hrm.

Visit my blogs at ThreeSeven (all that's irrelevant and amusing) and ecochick (all that's green, cool and Canadian).

Olympic deprived in Oxnard

abyrne — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:41:45 -0500

The only reason I stay up is to see if they will actually show what they listed. And I still haven't learned that NBC is bait and switch. Now that the athletics have started I am glued to the 3 channels (NBC, USA, MSNBC) in hopes that I'll see maybe a throw or a jump or even a heat without an American. I wouldn't waste my DVR on 90 mins of commercials and 5 mins of Olympics.

You could be right about the

Megan Smith — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:35:40 -0500

You could be right about the camera work, but even if the work was outsourced to other crews, considering the amount of money they paid, I'm pretty sure NBC has a final say on where every camera and every technician, is placed. If NBC wants six underwater cameras, they either put them there themselves or hire the people who will do it for them.

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Cameras

abyrne — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:33:16 -0500

Yeah - NBC had nothing to do with the set up. They are just the recipients of the smarts of the great camera angles set up by people who know what's important. If NBC had set them up they would have been in the hotel rooms, bars and walk ways around China to show the 'important' stuff.

One more thing...

zchamu — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:24:54 -0500

You said:

"Congratulations to NBC on some incredible camera angles like ... the wonderful, crystal clear,super slo-mo shots that showed the one hundredth of a second difference between Michael Phelps and second place finisher, Serbian Milorad Cavicin the 100 meter butterfly."

From what I understand, all camera work in the pool was done by the Australians and fed to all other broadcasters. That's what they said on the CBC, anyway.

Visit my blogs at ThreeSeven (all that's irrelevant and amusing) and ecochick (all that's green, cool and Canadian).

Things I've noticed about NBC's coverage...

zchamu — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:15:22 -0500

NBC was covering almost nothing 'live' unless it was in North American waking hours. A few nights I couldn't sleep, and was able to get live coverage on CBC, but NBC was showing taped stuff from hours before. They did cover live stuff in the evenings but that seemed to be it.

Costasaaaaaagh.

I also did have issues with the USA commentary. I had to turn the channel a few times just because it was making me quite annoyed. One example was this morning in the women's basketball match the commentators were going on and on about how in the end it wasn't even close, that the American team was simply an epic team, that the American dominance of the sport continues, etc. It seemed very chest-thumpy... to me, a very non-sportsmanlike attitude.

Finally, I also find it very interesting how NBC is ranking the medal statistics and who's in the "lead" in the medals.

On BBC it's ranked according to golds:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/medals_table/default.stm

Same on Canada's CBC (although it does have an option to sort by total medals):

http://stats.cbc.ca/olympics_medals.asp?sort=gold

Same with Australia's The Age:

http://www.theage.com.au/olympics/beijing-2008/medal-tally/

But on NBC, it's ranked according to total medals.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/medals/index.html

Which is interesting, since if you rank by golds, China is first, but if you rank by total medals, USA is first. I have to wonder if the USA would sort differently if the situation was reversed.

Visit my blogs at ThreeSeven (all that's irrelevant and amusing) and
ecochick (all that's green, cool and Canadian).