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August 6, 2021 2:11 pm  #1


The Misery Of Watching Olympic Stories On Other Networks

Now you see it.
 
Later you don’t.
 
That may be the best way to sum up Olympic coverage on other channels, especially if you missed an event and want to see the highlights on your local news.
 
Many stations led with the Canadian women’s soccer gold on their newscasts Friday. It can certainly be argued that’s a worthy top story.
 
My problem with it is there’s no real way to cover it. The International Olympic Committee, certainly the most spoiled, entitled and greedy brats in the world of sports, has made absolutely sure you will never get a chance to watch the highlights anywhere but on the networks that spent millions for the rights to the Games, in this case NBC and CBC. That seems fair since they doled out the big bucks. But the problem is if you missed something or want to see it again, a lot of their newscasts are pre-empted for ongoing coverage. So you turn on your Global or your CTV to watch it.
 
And what do you see?
 
Stills.
 
Not Crosby, Nash or Young. Just stills.
 
In previous years, the I.O.C. had very specific rules against any station using even a frame of video from any events at least until 24 hours later. And even then, you were limited to about two minutes. Any longer and you'd get a letter from an I.O.C. lawyer lickety-split. But at least you had something to show – even if it was a day late. Now it appears the rules have changed and not for the better. No other station can show any video from any event, regardless of how long ago it happened.
 
As a result, other networks and local stations are reduced to putting the “pics” in the Olympics. Take the soccer win. On CTV and Global’s noon newscasts, there were breathless descriptions about a nail-biting match, some unbelievable saves and a few amazing goals. But as the old Bay-Bloor Radio ad used to go, “if you missed it, you missed it.” They were reduced to showing still photos of the match, and no matter how often they switched to another frozen shot, you never really got to see anything. Not even the on-field reaction. Instead, you're treated to video of people watching the thing from a bar or a house and cheering at some play you can’t see. Again, in any other context, these would be cutaways at best.
 
But you never get to view the actual game-changing save or the amazing winning goal. And it’s been that way for the past two weeks. Not to mention the past several decades.
 
The Olympics is the ONLY televised sport that does this. Not even the avaricious NFL plays by these draconian rules. I believe they won’t allow any highlights of the Super Bowl until the game is over. But you can use some of it then and replay it the next day.

The MLB and the NHL only demand an on-screen video credit to use their highlights and you can run them even as the game is being played. I’m no fan of the Olympics and I really don’t watch the coverage. But if it did matter to me, I’d be pretty unhappy. And in my TV newsroom, it's always created a great deal of resentment.
 
I know why stations lead with these things – a Cdn. gold medal win is pretty rare and compelling. But I wish the media would boycott Olympic highlights of any kind, beyond say, a copy mention, to protest this idiotic embargo. Especially when the powers-that-be insist on taking the “see” out of the I.O.C.  

 

August 6, 2021 3:30 pm  #2


Re: The Misery Of Watching Olympic Stories On Other Networks

I love the idea that you only get stills on non-rights holders.  CTV doesn't bid for the rights anymore because they can't make money as they would lose putting American crap in primetime.  That's also why the don't bid for the NHL package.
I remember boxing used to just allow stills on some of the bigger fights.  That would get you to the theatre or arena for the next closed circuit telecasts.
Anyway, I would rather watch the events live.  You can always use your PVR.  It sure beats watching Ben Mulroney reading a script to summarize the events.

 

August 6, 2021 5:11 pm  #3


Re: The Misery Of Watching Olympic Stories On Other Networks

I did see one highlight on CTV and that was Andre de Grasse and his gold medal performance.  A graphic also said courtesy of CBC.  That has been the only real highlight I have seen on a competing network, all the rest have been photos.  Actually I don't mind the photos, gives a different perspective.  But naturally people really want to see the actual highlight of the event.  That old saying applies here....he who has the gold makes the rules...in this case, the gold is held by the rights holders, CBC and NBC.  They paid for it and they get the benefits.

TSN and Sportsnet are showing highlights because they are teamed up with CBC.  Still is odd seeing CBC promos sometimes on TSN and Sportsnet.  I really like the way they cross promo each other and there is always about four or five different events going on at the same time on the various networks. This is the only time that TSN and Sportsnet mention each other on air or show the logo of the other network.

Excellent coverage in my opinion, and most of the commentators for the various events have been first rate.  Although I wish Steve Armitage would stop referring to New Zealand as "The Kiwi's" all the time.  Once in a while is alright, but he says it too much and it gets annoying.  

 

August 6, 2021 5:39 pm  #4


Re: The Misery Of Watching Olympic Stories On Other Networks

I love CORUS Global TV celebrating Canada's gold medal successes with still images and fluffy tales because they clearly weren't in the game $$ wise.    However, why the heck did I need my VPN to see Andre De Grasse's Gold medal on NBC because everything about it, even on CBC news was embargoed until the evening?

Oh well.   No real complaints here.   

 

August 6, 2021 6:10 pm  #5


Re: The Misery Of Watching Olympic Stories On Other Networks

SpinningWheel wrote:

I love CORUS Global TV celebrating Canada's gold medal successes with still images and fluffy tales because they clearly weren't in the game $$ wise.    However, why the heck did I need my VPN to see Andre De Grasse's Gold medal on NBC because everything about it, even on CBC news was embargoed until the evening?

Oh well.   No real complaints here.   

Yes, just watching local CTV news and they are showing family and friends cheering watching the women's soccer, which is great, but no video of the actual game.  CBC was showing De Grasse's race after he won the gold, with Donovan Baily dissecting Andre's performance so not sure what you mean by embargoed, I saw the highlight quite a few times, after the race live.  

 

August 6, 2021 7:03 pm  #6


Re: The Misery Of Watching Olympic Stories On Other Networks

Ale Ont wrote:

CTV doesn't bid for the rights anymore because they can't make money as they would lose putting American crap in primetime.  That's also why the don't bid for the NHL package.

Bell did bid for the rights, but weren't able to get CBC on board as Rogers was, which pushed Rogers over the top. Bell winning wouldn't have had any real impact on US network simulcasts, as they likely would have only put Saturday night games on CTV, much as Rogers has done on CITY.

 

August 6, 2021 7:43 pm  #7


Re: The Misery Of Watching Olympic Stories On Other Networks

It would be a shame if Bell didn't bid on the Olympics after 2024.  Kind of think they will since they are one of the major sponsors of CBC's coverage.  CTV did a good job in their coverage when they had the rights.  NHL hockey will be really interesting.  But unless CBC is involved again, the viewer will be the loser.  Bell will put 95% of the games on TSN, and Rogers may schedule even more games on Sportsnet.  CTV likely wouldn't show the playoffs either than the Stanley Cup or the final few games.  But if American network programming continues to tank in the ratings, who knows?  And of course they do have CTV2.

I think you will see less simsub in the years to come.  Since COVID and with the scrambling of programming schedules, there hasn't been nearly as much simulcasting over the past year and a half.  US programming from the big four OTA networks are not bringing in the ratings.  Canadian networks may eventually opt for less US network programming and more from other sources like cable, which they already do from time to time.  And they can show much more daring programming compared to CBS,ABC,NBC or FOX who can't because of censorship and the threat of fines from the FCC.   

 

August 6, 2021 8:22 pm  #8


Re: The Misery Of Watching Olympic Stories On Other Networks

I actually think this is a very smart strategy. For one thing, you can't compare the Olympics to any North American league. People are invested in their favourite MLB, NHL, NFL team, which have regular schedules and as such their fans watch dozens of games, year after year. The Summer Olympics are only once every four years and not too many people watch swimming (for instance) outside of the Olympics. The IOC and its broadcasters gain nothing from allowing local newscasts to run clips of an event nobody would care about if it wasn't the olympics, especially an event happening at an inconvenient time of day, in another part of the world. Never mind that an NFL game is like 4 hours and a swim or a race could be done in 4 minutes. The IOC can't allow newscasts to show essentially half of a medal event for free. 

As for "if you missed it, you missed it" - no you didn't. 90%+ of Canadians have internet access, CBC has the clips for free on their site and social media accounts, and most people with TV have a PVR anyways. 

 

August 7, 2021 12:39 am  #9


Re: The Misery Of Watching Olympic Stories On Other Networks

paterson1 wrote:

It would be a shame if Bell didn't bid on the Olympics after 2024.  Kind of think they will since they are one of the major sponsors of CBC's coverage.  CTV did a good job in their coverage when they had the rights.  NHL hockey will be really interesting.  But unless CBC is involved again, the viewer will be the loser.  Bell will put 95% of the games on TSN, and Rogers may schedule even more games on Sportsnet.  CTV likely wouldn't show the playoffs either than the Stanley Cup or the final few games.  But if American network programming continues to tank in the ratings, who knows?  And of course they do have CTV2.

I think you will see less simsub in the years to come.  Since COVID and with the scrambling of programming schedules, there hasn't been nearly as much simulcasting over the past year and a half.  US programming from the big four OTA networks are not bringing in the ratings.  Canadian networks may eventually opt for less US network programming and more from other sources like cable, which they already do from time to time.  And they can show much more daring programming compared to CBS,ABC,NBC or FOX who can't because of censorship and the threat of fines from the FCC.   

I think you’ll keep seeing simsub. There’s no way to make money unless a Canadian network can get 100% of the audience for a show.
You don’t want to put too much premium content on over the air networks because you need content for Crave. I think the Canadian networks want to keep things the way they are for as long as possible until 5G matures and they can charge a lot more for data to make up for the loss of advertising revenue.

 

August 8, 2021 7:23 am  #10


Re: The Misery Of Watching Olympic Stories On Other Networks

I think once the Rogers NHL deal comes to an end, DAZN will become a major player.