Little to no soccer on Olympic Coverage

[djones]

Soccer a low priority

The CBC is proud of its comprehensive Olympic coverage, but it is giving short shrift to soccer.

In the United States, early round telecasts of the men's and women's tournaments start today on MSNBC and Spanish language Telemundo. But, in Canada, fans will have to wait for the playoffs in two weeks to receive any coverage.

Soccer is taking a back seat, because of the absence of Canada's men's team and the shocking failure of the women to qualify. It makes more sense for TSN, which is the CBC's cable partner and is focusing on team sports, to air softball and baseball, sports in which Canada is competing.

Depending on the scope of its broadcast license, the digital channel CBC Country Canada could have been used to show soccer. The CBC is planning to use Country Canada to air same-day telecasts of Olympic equestrian events.

Fans are out of luck if they are hoping to watch soccer on MSNBC. All Olympic content on U.S. cable channels will be blacked out in Canada.

Still, Rick Chisholm, the head of programming and production for TSN, said the network has the flexibility to increase its soccer coverage if a strong story develops. TSN will be using BBC announcers when it airs live coverage of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final for the men and the women.

Also heard that the next World Cup will only be broadcasted on HDTV and can only be seen on HD televisions. Apparently Phillips owns the right to Germany '06 and want to really make a splash in the HD television industry.

[Toze]

CBC and TSN's coverage of Soccer in the knockout rounds are vague. As I recall from Sydney, they simply went to the soccer venue for 5-10 minutes at a time and then would cut back to Fencing or Mountain Biking or whatever.

Anyone know if the matches are going to be show in their entirety. The websites seem to not be specific on this point.

[Keeper]

Also heard that the next World Cup will only be broadcasted on HDTV and can only be seen on HD televisions. Apparently Phillips owns the right to Germany '06 and want to really make a splash in the HD television industry.

Don't believe it. Can you imagine the public backlash? It'd be corporate suicide.

[djones]

2006 FIFA World Cup™ Germany in Widescreen (16/9) HDTV digital format

Frankfurt, Germany, 05. December 2003

During the HBS first Broadcast Information Meeting, Francis Tellier, CEO of Host Broadcast Services, has been proud to announce a major breakthrough in the history of FIFA World Cup™ broadcasting:
HBS will produce the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ Germany in Widescreen (16/9) HDTV digital format.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup Production Plan, unveiled by Mr Tellier, keeps most of the innovative production concepts developed by HBS for the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ in Korea/Japan, which were widely acclaimed. 2002 was the first fully digital World Cup and HBS used a record number of camera crews to deliver the most exciting football coverage to date.

In 2006, HBS will be operating a minimum of 20 wide-screen HDTV cameras at all 64 matches of the competition. A feasibility study undertaken by HBS in 2003 will be followed by extensive testing between 2004 and 2006 to find the best compromise between 4/3 -16/9 and to fine tune the training of production directors and their crews. Once again, international "Dream Team" camera crews will be in charge of ensuring 100% consistent coverage of all 32 teams, according to HBS production guidelines.

A fully owned subsidiary of Infront Sports & Media, FIFA's Television Partner, HBS has the exclusive responsibility for signal production.

FIFA President, Mr Joseph S. Blatter, was enthusiastic in his endorsement of HDTV. "Wide screen TV will offer the audience a fantastic view of the action".
Mr Oscar Frei, CEO of Infront Sports & Media added "This World Cup will set the standard in broadcast innovation for other international sports events".
Francis Tellier mentioned T-Systems and Philips and thanked them for their support. He said: "We are confident that our two technical partners will be ready to supply the facilities and equipment to enable HBS to deliver this major breakthrough to the full satisfaction of the 2006 Broadcast Partners and viewers worldwide.

The trend towards wide-screen and HDTV, already strongly established in Japan, Korea and the USA, is growing steadily in Europe where many wide-screen displays can offer HD quality viewing. HDTV is becoming a "must" for the home viewers of all leading TV channels and on demand from subscribers to digital platforms.

Whether it will only be seen on HDTV is vague in this article. The outcry from the third world countries would be loud! Since some of the more impoverished countries (most of the worlds population) is still watching black and white TV's, I can't see it being brought in.

You would think that this years Olympics would be in the same boat!

It could be that the advanced countries (US, Europe, Canada) will only be broadcasted in HDTV - especially when most sports stations are moving to have two channels to broadcast regular TV and HDTV....Mark Cuban (Dallas Maverick's owner) has his hand in this HDTV thingy and said that his company will be a major player in HDTV programming. Look for them to buy the North American rights to it. Just a hunch!

[5bigtoes]

I was searching the official Olympic 2004 website today and soccer is not even listed as an olympic sport???? WTF

I was checking to see if the games would be cover for the semi final and final???

[Dial 9-1-1]

As long as they continue to show women's beach volleyball on a consistent basis, I could care less about the soccer. I tell ya, I don't know how those two Canadian ladies were able to focus on the game and almost upset the Americans. They couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other! All that hugging and butt slapping and then more hugging and more butt slapping. Television at its best! Lionheart, do you concur?

[5bigtoes]

Dial 9-1-1,

I guess your right! Some of those VolleyBall gals are quite lovely! Plus you gotta love the gear....sand, ladies, skimpy gear, arse-slappin' just what the Olympics are about!

[Walks]

5bigtoes,

I've been tracking the Olympic soccer through here:

NBC Olympic Soccer Site

All the results and fixtures can be found through here:

Olympic Soccer Results and Fixtures

Women's 1/4 finals go on Friday and Men's 1/4 finals go on Saturday.

[Dial 9-1-1]

Walks...stay with the program. This is now the women's beach volleyball forum. Those tv camera guys come up with the best angles. Like we really care what finger signal they are giving each other when serving. I prefer the one finger signal since it doesn's skew too much of the picture. Top rears definitely go to team Azzuri.