Re: I'm back......

[Kevin Vahey <crimson@channel1.com>]

I worked baseball and SOFTBALL......

Must admit it was fun seeing the US beat Cuba and I hope Fidel enjoyed our
production :)  My understanding is that MSNBC really hacked the coverage
in the US, while in Canada most of the games could be seen live on TSN who
was contracted to handle CBC's overflow.

The CBC knew that ratings would be low in the overnight hours BUT they
also knew that people would set their vcr's to then watch the action when
they could. The main sponsors were NOT guarenteed a rating but were sold
on the concept that over the course of the 24 hour day enough people would
see the ads to make an impression. 

One thing that has been overlooked is that CBC only paid $20 Million (US)
compared to NBC's $702 Million, and in all honesty CBC's payment was about
right for a nation of 31 million people. NBC really overpaid for these
games because they knew Rupert Murdoch wanted them badly for FOX, so NBC
wound up paying FOUR BILLION to lock up everything until 2008. Yes NBC's
ratings are down, yet they are still locking up all the spots in the Top
10. 

It's funny, Atlanta had streaming video ( in it's infant days) in 1996
where every clean venue feed was available but the IOC seems clueless on
what to do with the internet. 

BTW for those wondering, CBC relied heavily on the SOBO feed which is
provided by the host nation to any country that pays the IOC for rights.
Then you can add your own cameras to sweeten the feed for the home
viewers. CBC in return was asked to help recruit people to work on the
venue feeds and CBC handled baseball, softball and rowing for the world
feed. 

Overall I think it was done well and I was tickled pink to be a part of
it. Only complaint I had was we were forced to use Panasonic broadcast
equipment as they were the official sponsor and while their videotape
machines are fine, the broadcast cameras were a little funky. The system
was designed to send signals in both NTSC and PAL/SECAM.


  

On Fri, 29 Sep 2000 Chuckigo@aol.com wrote:

> a jetlagged Kevin wrote:
> >>...I saw someone in Kings Crossing wearing a OLDIES 103 shirt..... <<
> 
> Well, the country was originally settled by those deemed undesirable by The 
> Crown, eh?  (i'm kidding... just taking a cheap shot at the professional 
> competition.)
>    btw:  not sure which specific CBC productions Kevin was working, but we 
> did get to enjoy (probably) some of his work during the overnight "live 
> coverage" hours.  it's a shame America can't have an Olympic network with the 
> foresight to carry live events, even if they are on the opposite side of the 
> date line.  (the way i figured it, even 11pm edt, which is 2pm Sydney, was 
> still only 8pm on the west coast.  last i checked, 8pm was still considered 
> "prime time", right?)
> 
> - -Chuck Igo
>