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Net Still Not At Olympics
angkor writes "It's two years later and the net is still largely shut out of the Olympics It seems like we were talking about this in relation to the last Olympics yesterday."
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You'd think the Olympic board would be eager to establish an "Exclusive Internet Broadcasting" license to bring some more money their way...or at least up the price that the bidding networks paid.
mailto:<?=implode("@", array("chris", implode(".", array("php", "net"))))?>
You know, I could care less about listening to Olympic reports online. What I do care about is not being able to listen to the BBC World Service just because the damn Olympic committe makes them block the stream just in case they mention the world Olympic on their boadcast. Nazi bastards.
Its a good point, and you're correct that Canadian law *should* in theory have allowed this. If you want an example of what happens in practice though, check out the "icravetv.com" story and the resulting effect...
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172941.html
Once again, it doesn't matter who's right... it matters who has more money. As long as you can buy... I mean *lobby* the CRTC and/or a good number of MPs, you can just get the offending law changed.
The Olympics are nothing more than a greed fest, as this little tidbit from the featured article points out:
'Nuff said.
Well, of course. This is slashdot. We probably were talking about it yesterday.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Granted, this is NBC we're talking about, (which has all but given up on nbci.com ) but many streams now feature ads before they start to run.
They themselves admit that sports, next to pr0n, drives traffic--so why not use the relationship NBC has with MSN (barf) to sell me a Team Canada Patrick Roy jersey after streaming to me his five best saves?
The Chinese will host in 2008.
Yes, I dig movie88.com too!To have a whole bunch of people with digital video cameras all sending video to the net via a wireless feed? With the size of cameras these days, it would be possible to hid them in coats, bags, etc. The unoffical "press" would than stream the video to a free-net type location-- or even put it right onto a file-sharing network. It wouldn't take long before the IOC would give up their rules against the internet... because they would be useless. Please, somebody start something like this. Isn't this what the internet is about?
toddg
The old "amateurs only" thing was so only the idle wealthy (or those who had wealthy benefactors) could participate. Now, the NBA players can participate, too!
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
It is about money, advertising, and taking performance enhancing drugs. Payoffs, bribes, sexual favors, and professionalism.
Now you are up to date with your World Wide Web Olypic News!
Few people (read: International Olympic Committee) realize the power of the net. Those that do are often terriffied of it. The multi-million dollar corporations are as likely to be scared of internet broadcasts of the olympics as the IOC and justifiably so. The Olympics mean $$$$$$ and the threat of the net taking away money from the IOC and the television industry is real and growing everyday.
Eventually I believe all broadcasts of any kind (be it data, voice, radio, TV, etc.) will be linked to the net and this will disappear. As televisions and computers merge (a not-too-distant possibility in many wealthier households) television and internet companies will merge. We've already seen that with AOL/Time Warner haven't we?
When ABC, CBS, BBc, etc. begin to merge with broadband vendors, we'll see internet TV replace mainstream TV, but untill then, people with money will fight to keep the little man (in this case the net), out of his business.
Slackware forever. Honestly, what else would you trust when it absolutely positively has to be stable, secure, and easy
http://www.saltlakecity.com/ has no information at all about the olympics... It's a shame :(
I have a television, I don't really need streaming Olympics on my computer.
Sure it's all driven by greed, and it's easy to take a cynical view, but what's new? Money and power have always been nearly synonymous. Corporate fat cats milking the Olympics for profit is only to be expected. We may not like it, but at least we can still watch for free.
What surprises me is that any geeks care about this. I don't view the Internet as the medium of choice for hugely popular events and promotions. It just doesn't scale as well as television. A couple more generational upgrades of bandwidth and more sophisticated multi-casting technology and I might be convinced to lament the lack of Olympics coverage.
hold up. the rules of the olympics have been very strict regarding political statements at the games. The IOC was rather generous in allowing first Rudy carry the torch in NY, the first politician allowed to carry the torch. They also decided that they would allow the Ground Zero Ensign into the ceremonies. Don't tell me that wasn't a political statement either. I was all in favor of it and it got me a bit misty but it was still a break with the rules of the games. I doubt we'll see anything like it again which makes it that much more powerful. The nations of the world decided to honor us and our dead in a way that no other nation has been honored before. As for the bribe scandal don't forget that it was americans doing the bribing in the first place. as for not hearing the results thats fine. pisses me off when i hear results before i see the event.
also did anyone catch the french with their half french half US flags? that was nice. mayeb they don't hate us after all. the comments I've seen so far seem to be the usual slashdot conspiracy crap. enjoy the games, root for the home team when they're in an event, root for the underdog when they're aren't.
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.News is getting more generic. For example there is News Blaster, a bot that uses AI to generate news summaries based analysis of stories over several days. It is actually semi decent, and better then at least half the writers out there.
The end result is to devalue local writers and generic content. having something like this for Slash would probably inprove content no end.
This trend has been going on for years, and of cours the IOC is being conservative with broadcasts, since these make up the majority of their income. Why should they give away their bread and butter free?
Personally I would not mind if they made things like this available online a week after the fact. Same thing for other venues, like court trials, etc. Then folks will be able to see it if they want, but there is no conflict with the interests of the broadcasters. Deals could be made.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
So we pay the IOC $342 million in order to have the olympics happen here at all and then we get screwed on how we watch it - it seems for $342 million I should get a little more than that.
It's not available in the USA, of course - it's only available in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Belguim and the Netherlands. You could always try signing up using one of the the European numbers. It's being done with Eurosport, a pan-European free-to-air (over satellite) sport channel - the info is here. Of course, I'm assuming that the OP is American, which isn't necessarily true, but the point that this service is only provided in Europe stands.
Paranoia isn't an infectious condition, it's a way of life
Most of it revolved around some sort bizarre Ice Capades show starring "The Child of Light."
I didn't know that Belgarion could ice skate!!!
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
During the olympics there should be a total ceasefire declared by all participating countries, including the hosting country.
:)
This year, that did not happen.
Thus, this is not the olympics.
I refuse to consider these games _olympic_ games.
Of course, that aside, yes, the games should of course have a net-feed. It will, given some time. I guess they've got a demand for everything going smooth, and that nobody really can deliver the necessary bandwidth for net-wide feeds yet.
"Rune Kristian Viken" - http://www.nwo.no - arca
I hope you've got cable... I think most of the hockey is going to be on CNBC.
Ever seen footage of how Hitler turned the 1936 Summer Games in Munich into a Nazi three-ring circus? How many of the athletes from foreign nations were forced to acknowledge the Fuhrer with Nazi salutes? Not exactly the Olympic movement's finest hour.
Perhaps you would be happy for the Stars and Stripes to be plastered all over this year's Winter Games, but would you be so happy if China was to push its political agenda just as vigorously when they host the Summer Games in 2008?
No, I didn't think so.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
During the olympics there should be a total ceasefire declared by all participating countries, including the hosting country.
This year, that did not happen.
Thus, this is not the olympics.
I refuse to consider these games _olympic_ games.
Yeah! And they should be held in Olympia.
And they shouldn't have any of these silly-ass modern winter sports either.
I refuse to consider these games Olympic either.
All employees must wash hands before seeking equitable relief.
Actually that's because every year, NBC simply decides that you only REALLY want to see any sport where Americans will probably (99.9% chance) get a medal, preferrably a gold.
Happily for you, this year an American seems to have a good chance at a biathalon medal, possibly a gold. So that means that most likley they will be broadcasting the biathalon to a much greater extent - or at least his portion of it. They had a longish ad about it last night after the opening ceremony which seems to indicate a good chance at least of some coverege.
Probably the coverage will be fairly short, but hopefully you'll see SOMETHING.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Sure, the IOC is evil. Nike and Bud constantly advertising is evil. There are a lot of things about the way the Olympics are run that is evil.
But, seriously folks... Have some respect here. The Olympics are a wonderful event--and probably the crowning moment of many of the copetitors lives, no matter if the win anything or not.
That fact that thousands of athletes are coming together from a plethora of countries to compete in a fair, civil way is definitely no small feat. Not to mention that the people competeing in the Olymipics, by and large, have trained for most of their life to get there.
Just because they won't allow webcams and the IOC takes bribes, somehow "the Olympics suck"?! Give me a break. Forget about sticking it to "the man" for a moment, and enjoy what is a wonderful event that millions of people worldwide cherish for *the event itself*. Nobody cares about the IOC, or the Nike commercials. I watch the Olympics because of the competition and spirt of the games--that's all.
Of course...since I'm not bitching about something or another, I'm sure I'll get modded down for being "Offtopic" or something. Feh.
-Jayde
What's a sig?
But the IOC folks took it. It's funny - the Olympics are clearly about money (corporate sponsors) and its OK to have McDonalds emblems posted all over the place, but it's not ok to have political emblems? What if the US gov wanted to pay to support an event, then could a flag be positioned as such? My point is, if you're going to sell out in one way, is it right/fair to not sell out in other ways?
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
"The change is that the IOC is willing to stick its toe into the water and take a look at streaming video online," said Steve Klein, co-founder of SportsEditor.com. "It's a breakthrough but it's a breakthrough that won't see any changes until 2008, when the IOC negotiates new contracts."
Wow. That's six years from now. Six years ago, we were in early 1996 (yes, the year of "push" technology and Ellison's NC's.) It's incredible to realize how much the Internet has changed in six years, and in another six years, who knows what will happen? I don't think TV will be dead, but the way we watch TV will dramatically change.
These long Olympic contracts are out of touch with reality. The reality is that the computing world is rapidly changing. In six years I imagine that wireless Net access everywhere will be common and that a lot of people will be using Tablet PCs and PDA's. If these people can't stream the Olympics from their local PPV server, they won't watch it, and the Olympics will not be a huge deal.
Perhaps we're seeing that the peak of excitement for the Olympics has already passed (a few decades before this, even.) The long, unbreakable contracts are going to make the Olympics even less of an event than it already is. Either the IOC is going to have to re-negotiate before 2008, or else they will alienate their remaining viewers.
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
I think it's all about money and power.
.com failures have cast considerable doubt on the validity of using the Internet as a media outlet (particularly in the context of generating advertising revenue).
I'd be very surprised if the IOC didn't get a freaking ton of money from the "official" distribution of olympic broadcasting.
From the money side, the IOC can use the dough. We already know that they are funded in part by the media. The media want nothing more than to protect their interests and ability to sell advertising. I would guess that this is one of the reasons why there isn't a great deal, if any, Intenet coverage of the games (in a live format, anyhow).
As another poster has commented, there *were* live feeds several years ago of the summer olympics. What happened? I would suggest
Also, I imagine that there is considerable reluctance on the part of the reporting organizations to put out media that can easily be reproduced around the world without their consent.
I suppose I can't really blame them for the lack of interest in doing anything on the net. There's no significant monetary benefit to the networks distributing the information (at significant cost, mind you) on the net when they have guarantees on advertising and IOC revenues doing things traditionally. Besides, it helps to maintain the value of their current media outlets.
Anyhow, that's my 2 cents.
Oh, are the Olympics on again? I hadn't seen anything on the Net about it. Don't have a TV.
In a few years not only will the olympics be into the net. But programming could be a sport. Cm'on I'm serious! Heck they made Bridgea demonstration sport(I think Canada won the gold:)!!! Why can't we have the C++ finals (or C# if Microsoft got it's way, which it probably would) or even the typing preliminaries(although this would just be secretaries). Just code hard and soon every uncoordinated emancipated geek will see that he too has a chance at olympic glory! (or at least at hacking the web page and giving him self a bunch of medals)
I stole this Sig
I am glad to hear your story. When my home town (Toronto) was bidding for the 2008 games (and also when they were bidding for the 2000 games back in the late eighties/early ninties) I tried to express to most folks about my concerns with what the games seem to becoming, plus the associated costs (taxes, inconvienence, legacy of unneeded sports facilities located downtown, etc). Most people did not seem to belive me or care, they were simply caught up on Olympic fever. I was very glad (but also aware not to publically show it) when Toronto lost the bid to Beijing.
Your story helps eliminate any regrets and/or moments of self doubt regarding my feelings. I understand the Toronto Bid Commitee is thinking about charging up the machine for 2012. Yipes!
Try any of the "live" broadcasts and you'll find that CBC have suspended their web broadcasts entirely, until February 24th. The IOC enforcing srict rules over "their content" is one thing; forcing a public broadcaster to roll over and muzzle their entire output is quite another.
Gratuitous comments about the power & corruption of the IOC too obvious to even bother with...
My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush
- Jonathan
Just before the 2000 Olympics I put up the official Olympics Suck website. It's not much really, but mention it anyways for those who feel the Olympics suck! :-)
Olympics Suck
Actually.. your DirecTV thing is wrong.
And the thing about 'divulging what you see' is common myth, but not true either.
The deal with satellite TV has generally been this:
Many satellite broadcasters do NOT have license to sell their service within Canada.
Now.. in Canada, a company can get you for descrambling, or 'stealing' their service.. but the thing is..
Many of these companies CANT sue you, because you ARENT stealing because it is ILLEGAL for them to sell it to you anyway.
It's a grey area of law; don't kid yourself into thinking it's totally legit; it's not.
You are correct. Icrave was incorporated in the US, and was sued in the US. What they were doing was legal by canadian law.
There was a slight missquote here:
"When technology allows us to add the same model (of licensing on the Internet as television), we will push that as quickly as possible," Aikman said.
What Aikman actually said was:
"When technology allows us to add the same model (of licensing on the Internet as monk written manuscripts), we will push that as quickly as possible".
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Actually, that's not really true, especially with regard to conflict between states. The idea that wars stopped for the ancient games is shown by historian Harvey Abrams by to be a modern misunderstanding.
Obviously in the long run NBC is worried about losing these viewers, but because of bad timing (the big switch just happened 12/31), they have not had time to do anything about it yet, so San Francisco gets screwed.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
FWIW, I guess the tickets for events at the Winter Games are less expensive than the summer games, the event I am attending tomorrow (luge) has very reasonably priced tickets, at $45, and IIRC the Hockey tickets are ~$100. Granted the tickets for the Opening Ceremonies were rather steep (the tickets my family had were $875, I couldn't justify spending that much), but it was a cool show. I watched the fireworks display from my front lawn and it was quite spectacular.
There are even events that are (almost) free. You can go to Snowbasin and with a lift ticket purchase you are allowed to ski up to watch the events being held there. I hope to get up there and watch some Super G and downhill skiing (check HERE for more information).
Argue if you will that the Olympics are too commercialized, but bitching about the ticket prices isn't going to work for these Olympics.
Enigma
Anyway, here's a more positive observation about Olympics coverage: after watching tonight's broadcast on NBC, it's looking like this year's TV coverage is going to be an order of magnitude better than any US Olympic coverage in the last 20 years. They're showing competitor, competitor, competitor with almost no features, soap operas and sob stories and drastically scaled-back jingoism.
(I was just interrupted by my wife coming in to say, "I can't believe how much better the TV coverage is!" ;-)
Apparently, the Sydney broadcast was such a disaster with male viewers that they came up with the bright idea of treating it as a sports event.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
They are selling shoes.
There seems to be an attitude among some on /. that commerce is somehow evil by its very nature. When you grow up, you may learn that all this commerce is what makes civilization possible.
"Not to mention Kermit The Damn Frog!!!" --Jimmy James
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
If people want to ruin the Olympics, maybe then I'll start watching TV. Call me a passive terrorist or whatever the label they've given to rebels, but like many of you I'm sick of all this mass-media bullshit. The olympics are just another parade of fake people getting richer, and honest people getting shafted, just like movie and music awards ceremonies.
Remember folks, we're all paying for this crap every time we spend a single penny in a world megacorp (and when we pay taxes). The olympics aren't about sports anymore (have they ever been ?); they're about the sheep effect : if you can convince enough weak minds to see and hear your crap, a whole bunch of other people will blindly follow them around and soon you have a worldwide mob of brainwashed credit-card-carrying fools. TV, music, fast-food and religion, it's all the same.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
I was at the Atlanta olympics, as part of the DOD security detail, and what surprised me the most was the stuff you'll never see. The general public has no idea how hard the "mass media" realy works to put out their polished production. The crews don't just show up and shoot good because they are "pros", they are pros because for every minute of air-time, they've done nine minutes of rehersal. If there is a bunch of "mass media" crap on your TV, its because that's what sells so blame yourselves.
The olympics are just another parade of fake people getting richer that's where I see the internet streaming broadcasts being useful. Sure everyone gets to see the favorite for the gold on TV, what we don't see is that the vast majority of athlete's there realy aren't much better than most of us; seriously most olympians are not some kind of engineered super-human,
And yes everyone found the money thing offensive, but the problem is things still have to be paid for to hae the olympics, and if the IOC don't get it some other bunch of dirtbags will anyways
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
http://www.univrel.auburn.edu/tiger/video.html Ok so it is only a clip of their bird flying, but it is clearly from the NBC feed. It appears there are ways to get clips on the web after all.
Killing ? I didn't say anything about killing. I'd rather give them a daily beating for the rest of their lives. That's for filling our heads with false needs and retail obsessions.
Or we could just not watch and let their revenue stream dwindle down. Being shallow capitalists, that would probably hurt them more then a few broken bones.
-Billco, Fnarg.com