I am not a hypocrite. Yes, i find the bbc's lack of coverage of xenophobic. Please provide me examples of my xenophobic comments in particular about Americans.
I admit that I am critical of usa's foreign policies but to suggest that this is xenophobic is ridiculous and warrant any political discussion about the us policies in third world nations as baseless, useless...
I linked to an example post once. I quoted the relevant piece from it once. You made like you had no idea what I was talking about. So, third time lucky: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?p=70566505&postcount=92 nobody suggested criticizing a country's political stance is xenophobic.
However to quote you: "Americans?! -enough said..... Wouldn't give them two pennies for their 'opinions'." Those were your words. That's nothing to do with foreign policy.
Indeed; once you give the viewer the choice of watching any sport at any time it's hard to offer them less for subsequent events because they now expect and demand everything.
I think this level of coverage is pretty much justified for the Winter Olympics because they are smaller and less significant than the Summer Games but I don't think it will be for Rio 2016; if the BBC doesn't offer up the equivalent of the 24 dedicated channels it created for London 2012 then I think it will deserve and attract criticism.
This is kind of what I was getting at! Obviously the W.O. is a much smaller event especially for Britain, but the fact that the only place you can get the full 6 streams in HD is connected red button and its only available to a few is appalling!
I understand the BBC want the service to take off ect, but for something like this it would be worth putting the 6 streams in SD and HD on Dsat at least, as then people could get a compatible freeview HD box if they use freeview, TiVo for Virgin (may require an upgrade for some people I suppose but would push things on for freeview and Virgin ect!) and then Sky and freesat would get it broadcast (on temporary streams that could maybe later be used for BBC 1 HD regions!)
We had re-run for London 2012 despite iplayer and such. Why not for Sochi? The fact that it is on the same flipping continent as us is relevant. (What has the USA got to do with this, being critical of American Foreign Policy does not mean being Anti American- I much prefer the states in may respect than the UK)
OK, I will put this in simple terms to explain, as you are obviously struggling to grasp the point I was making.
The summer games are more than twice the size of the winter games.
So, as a result, the coverage would be around half of the summer games if it wanted to go into overdrive.
BBC 1 had 300 hours of programming, BBC3 had around the same. The winter games are being hosted on BBC2 and they are devoting over 200 hours of broadcast time to it. I would say that is a fair amount to be shown.
Geographically, your reasoning is just as valid as saying that the coverage should be the same because it is on the same planet as us.
Why is it more important to show something from the continent of Europe than say Asia? Surely there should be no difference where it takes place? Or again, is this more of a subtle own goal on your part following on from previous comments you have made on these forums?
Why weren't there extensive coverage? This nation was built on Russian Money so nowt for them. Disgusting! For London 12 we had daily coverage on the torch. What makes Sochi so different?
Care to tell us where this money has been spent? Last I checked I was not aware of Russian money financing major infrastructure or social developments. I would certainly ask you to prove proof to your statement?
The coverage of the relay, which by the way was 90% done online, was produced by the BBC with permission from the OBS. They were the broadcaster in the nation where the event was being held, so provided this service to whoever wanted to watch. It is up to whoever is producing the torch relay in Sochi to provide the same level of coverage, have you thought of contacting the IOC on that one?
Who are you to judge what is a small audience? Even if that is the case, this small audience pay their licence fee.
I'm not judging at all. Just stating fact. You are right, they do, however that is no justification for an unrealistic level of programming. Again, this just shows your ignorance of how the media works.
Asians, Africans and Eastern Europeans, and South Americans are to be put at a disadvantage despite paying the licence fee as they can not see their favourite winter sports in their own language.
oh?!
OK, think you are now just starting to sound a little bit stupid. Please can you remind yourself what the national language is of the BBC? Should people wish to enjoy the games in the native tounge, they can very easily use a number of international broadcasters who will provide that service.
Also, why is it that you think the BBC should only broadcast multilingually and not any other broadcaster in the UK?
I feel I could be asking quite a dumb question but just wanted to confirm anyway, will there only be the 2 streams on Sky? I would have thought that the additional streams they mention would have turned up on there but are these online only?
I feel I could be asking quite a dumb question but just wanted to confirm anyway, will there only be the 2 streams on Sky? I would have thought that the additional streams they mention would have turned up on there but are these online only?
I think thats true! Also they wont be in HD, I think the 6 extra streams will only be in HD via the 'connected' red button! I think that the 6 streams will probably be SD online, but people will be wanting them on TV and in HD so most will miss out!
As a few have pointed out, you can't compare winter olympics with summer olympics, so let's compare Sochi 2014 with Vancouver 2010..
The BBC had 6 streams on satellite for Vancouver
2 for Sochi, technically 1 if HD and SD would show the same event..
The BBC cannot justify calling the coverage of the Sochi Olympics an improvement if they have less streams and are making the games available to a lesser audience
I have access to the internet but i don't want to watch the olympics on my monitor, i have a 55" TV for that, but it isnt a connected one.
There is a simple solution you spend the money which is our licence fee payers money to purchase the rights to the winter olympics then you should make it available to as many people as possible, otherwise you have just wasted money on purchasing an event only a few can see..
You are overlooking the changes in internet access over those 4 years, as well as the growth in tablet, smartphone and mobile access.
And why use LF money to create additional broadcast streams when those very streams are very expensive 9and therefore are not cost-effective). Is that a good use of scarce LF resources?
And technically, if they have shifted focus from broadcast streams to IP-delivered streams, and expanded those streams, it is an improvement (although I am sure that you won't see it that way).
I have SKY, and want to record the Winter Biathlon events. I will be very disappointed if they are only on red button, and therefore cannot schedule recordings through SKY+.
And why use LF money to create additional broadcast streams when those very streams are very expensive 9and therefore are not cost-effective). Is that a good use of scarce LF resources?
Because everyone pays the same license fee and therefore the BBC should be striving to make its services available to the highest possible number of viewers at the same time, rather than super-serving a small number and ignoring the rest.
I have SKY, and want to record the Winter Biathlon events. I will be very disappointed if they are only on red button, and therefore cannot schedule recordings through SKY+.
Those events will be way, way down the list of BBC priorities for network coverage when broadcasting the Olympics.
I have SKY, and want to record the Winter Biathlon events. I will be very disappointed if they are only on red button, and therefore cannot schedule recordings through SKY+.
Me too, best event for me is the Biathlon, love it on Eurosport on a weekend. I think BBC will give coverage if Ole Einar Bjorndalen is in with a shout of a medal of course. If I recall in the last Olympics the BBC had Rob Walker and Eurosport's Patrick Winterton doing commentary on it
Because everyone pays the same license fee and therefore the BBC should be striving to make its services available to the highest possible number of viewers at the same time, rather than super-serving a small number and ignoring the rest.
Well, when we went digital and gained extra channels eg news 24, the BBC didn't provide us with a free box so everyone could get those channels immediately!
Those events will be way, way down the list of BBC priorities for network coverage when broadcasting the Olympics.
What makes you think that??
R/e recording red button streams on Sky - you could with freesat boxes during the 2012 Olympics, so why not with a Sky box? Anyway, they should be available soon afterwards in the BBC's vault.
I just hope, this time, they make everything a darned sight easier to find, their Olympic website was an ugly dog's breakfast last time >:(
Do you really need an explanation? The BBC arent going to devote BBC TWO to show hours and hours of biathlon, which is the reality of the situation. Other events will take priority.
For the record, I actually dont mind watching it too much.
As a few have pointed out, you can't compare winter olympics with summer olympics, so let's compare Sochi 2014 with Vancouver 2010..
The BBC had 6 streams on satellite for Vancouver
2 for Sochi, technically 1 if HD and SD would show the same event..
The BBC cannot justify calling the coverage of the Sochi Olympics an improvement if they have less streams and are making the games available to a lesser audience
I have access to the internet but i don't want to watch the olympics on my monitor, i have a 55" TV for that, but it isnt a connected one.
There is a simple solution you spend the money which is our licence fee payers money to purchase the rights to the winter olympics then you should make it available to as many people as possible, otherwise you have just wasted money on purchasing an event only a few can see..
One typical day http://tvlistings.thetvroomplus.com/listing-4478.html
The red buttons were available also
Of course the time difference meant a lot of the games were overnight (11pm - 3am) so normal schedules wouldn't have been effected much.
Me too, best event for me is the Biathlon, love it on Eurosport on a weekend. I think BBC will give coverage if Ole Einar Bjorndalen is in with a shout of a medal of course. If I recall in the last Olympics the BBC had Rob Walker and Eurosport's Patrick Winterton doing commentary on it
Good news for you. RT's online listings indicate live coverage of Men's 10km sprint in the Biathlon at 3.15pm on Sat 8 Feb.
Because everyone pays the same license fee and therefore the BBC should be striving to make its services available to the highest possible number of viewers at the same time, rather than super-serving a small number and ignoring the rest.
But it should also spend that LF revenue wisely, and get the best possible value. Would you not agree?
Good news for you. RT's online listings indicate live coverage of Men's 10km sprint in the Biathlon at 3.15pm on Sat 8 Feb.
Actually, the official Olympic schedules have been staggered in such a way that straight medal events are usually given priority are mostly only competing with long-term events like curling or ice-hockey prelims, so I'm optimistic that there will be decent coverage for biathlon and cross country (now that we have a credible medal contender) on the main channel.
One typical day http://tvlistings.thetvroomplus.com/listing-4478.html
The red buttons were available also
Of course the time difference meant a lot of the games were overnight (11pm - 3am) so normal schedules wouldn't have been effected much.
Good news for you. RT's online listings indicate live coverage of Men's 10km sprint in the Biathlon at 3.15pm on Sat 8 Feb.
I had to look this up on the official Olympics website as given the time difference wouldnt this be on at 7.15pm local time, and therefore in the dark? Never seen a floodlit Biathlon before.
In any case the event starts at 6.30pm local time so the BBC TWO coverage will miss the first 45 minutes. It is benefiting from not much else being on at that time.
I had to look this up on the official Olympics website as given the time difference wouldnt this be on at 7.15pm local time, and therefore in the dark? Never seen a floodlit Biathlon before.
Not unusual or difficult to have floodlit biathlon ... the shooting range covers only about half the size of a football pitch while the cross-country trails just need the equivalent of strong street-lighting alongside any walking paths through your local park.
Many of the top cross-country ski-centres are designed so that their trails become running or cycling paths for summer use once the snow's melted so they effectively become a very scenic version of your local park during those warmer months ... the Canmore centre, built an hour's drive west of 1988 Winter Olympics city Calgary, is one of the best early examples of this all-year usage.
The Swedish round of the Biathlon World Cup at Ostersund in mid-December each year is mostly held under floodlights because it's so far north that the daylight's fading well before 3pm at that time of year ... and the first of the German rounds at Oberhof early in the New Year has several early-evening races to suit German-TV which is by far biathlon's most lucrative tv-market.
Given Sochi's 3 hours ahead of Germany (4 hours ahead of UK) for these Winter Olympics, it was always likely the biathlon would be a night-time event locally ... in fact, I'm surprised some of the start-times aren't a couple of hours later than is actually happening because then they'd land in the German early-evening rather than late-afternoon.
Remember there was a 9-hour-difference between Vancouver and Germany for the last Winter Olympics which put mid-morning to lunchtime in Vancouver perfectly into prime-time for German-TV so that's probably why you're more used to daylight biathlon.
Comments
I linked to an example post once. I quoted the relevant piece from it once. You made like you had no idea what I was talking about. So, third time lucky: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?p=70566505&postcount=92 nobody suggested criticizing a country's political stance is xenophobic.
However to quote you: "Americans?! -enough said..... Wouldn't give them two pennies for their 'opinions'." Those were your words. That's nothing to do with foreign policy.
This is kind of what I was getting at! Obviously the W.O. is a much smaller event especially for Britain, but the fact that the only place you can get the full 6 streams in HD is connected red button and its only available to a few is appalling!
I understand the BBC want the service to take off ect, but for something like this it would be worth putting the 6 streams in SD and HD on Dsat at least, as then people could get a compatible freeview HD box if they use freeview, TiVo for Virgin (may require an upgrade for some people I suppose but would push things on for freeview and Virgin ect!) and then Sky and freesat would get it broadcast (on temporary streams that could maybe later be used for BBC 1 HD regions!)
OK, I will put this in simple terms to explain, as you are obviously struggling to grasp the point I was making.
The summer games are more than twice the size of the winter games.
So, as a result, the coverage would be around half of the summer games if it wanted to go into overdrive.
BBC 1 had 300 hours of programming, BBC3 had around the same. The winter games are being hosted on BBC2 and they are devoting over 200 hours of broadcast time to it. I would say that is a fair amount to be shown.
Geographically, your reasoning is just as valid as saying that the coverage should be the same because it is on the same planet as us.
Why is it more important to show something from the continent of Europe than say Asia? Surely there should be no difference where it takes place? Or again, is this more of a subtle own goal on your part following on from previous comments you have made on these forums?
Care to tell us where this money has been spent? Last I checked I was not aware of Russian money financing major infrastructure or social developments. I would certainly ask you to prove proof to your statement?
The coverage of the relay, which by the way was 90% done online, was produced by the BBC with permission from the OBS. They were the broadcaster in the nation where the event was being held, so provided this service to whoever wanted to watch. It is up to whoever is producing the torch relay in Sochi to provide the same level of coverage, have you thought of contacting the IOC on that one?
I'm not judging at all. Just stating fact. You are right, they do, however that is no justification for an unrealistic level of programming. Again, this just shows your ignorance of how the media works.
OK, think you are now just starting to sound a little bit stupid. Please can you remind yourself what the national language is of the BBC? Should people wish to enjoy the games in the native tounge, they can very easily use a number of international broadcasters who will provide that service.
Also, why is it that you think the BBC should only broadcast multilingually and not any other broadcaster in the UK?
I think thats true! Also they wont be in HD, I think the 6 extra streams will only be in HD via the 'connected' red button! I think that the 6 streams will probably be SD online, but people will be wanting them on TV and in HD so most will miss out!
The BBC had 6 streams on satellite for Vancouver
2 for Sochi, technically 1 if HD and SD would show the same event..
The BBC cannot justify calling the coverage of the Sochi Olympics an improvement if they have less streams and are making the games available to a lesser audience
I have access to the internet but i don't want to watch the olympics on my monitor, i have a 55" TV for that, but it isnt a connected one.
There is a simple solution you spend the money which is our licence fee payers money to purchase the rights to the winter olympics then you should make it available to as many people as possible, otherwise you have just wasted money on purchasing an event only a few can see..
And why use LF money to create additional broadcast streams when those very streams are very expensive 9and therefore are not cost-effective). Is that a good use of scarce LF resources?
And technically, if they have shifted focus from broadcast streams to IP-delivered streams, and expanded those streams, it is an improvement (although I am sure that you won't see it that way).
Buy a DVI/HDMI cable and hook up your PC to the Telly for the Olympics. Cost you all of a fiver tops.
Because everyone pays the same license fee and therefore the BBC should be striving to make its services available to the highest possible number of viewers at the same time, rather than super-serving a small number and ignoring the rest.
Those events will be way, way down the list of BBC priorities for network coverage when broadcasting the Olympics.
Me too, best event for me is the Biathlon, love it on Eurosport on a weekend. I think BBC will give coverage if Ole Einar Bjorndalen is in with a shout of a medal of course. If I recall in the last Olympics the BBC had Rob Walker and Eurosport's Patrick Winterton doing commentary on it
R/e recording red button streams on Sky - you could with freesat boxes during the 2012 Olympics, so why not with a Sky box? Anyway, they should be available soon afterwards in the BBC's vault.
I just hope, this time, they make everything a darned sight easier to find, their Olympic website was an ugly dog's breakfast last time >:(
Do you really need an explanation? The BBC arent going to devote BBC TWO to show hours and hours of biathlon, which is the reality of the situation. Other events will take priority.
For the record, I actually dont mind watching it too much.
How much time did BBC2 give to Vancouver?
One typical day http://tvlistings.thetvroomplus.com/listing-4478.html
The red buttons were available also
Of course the time difference meant a lot of the games were overnight (11pm - 3am) so normal schedules wouldn't have been effected much.
Good news for you. RT's online listings indicate live coverage of Men's 10km sprint in the Biathlon at 3.15pm on Sat 8 Feb.
Actually, the official Olympic schedules have been staggered in such a way that straight medal events are usually given priority are mostly only competing with long-term events like curling or ice-hockey prelims, so I'm optimistic that there will be decent coverage for biathlon and cross country (now that we have a credible medal contender) on the main channel.
Which again is major commitment by the BBC.
I had to look this up on the official Olympics website as given the time difference wouldnt this be on at 7.15pm local time, and therefore in the dark? Never seen a floodlit Biathlon before.
In any case the event starts at 6.30pm local time so the BBC TWO coverage will miss the first 45 minutes. It is benefiting from not much else being on at that time.
http://www.sochi2014.com/en/daily-schedule-day-2
Interesting to see how late the freestyle skiing is on at, is that an attempt to make things a decent time for Western European audiences?
Not unusual or difficult to have floodlit biathlon ... the shooting range covers only about half the size of a football pitch while the cross-country trails just need the equivalent of strong street-lighting alongside any walking paths through your local park.
Many of the top cross-country ski-centres are designed so that their trails become running or cycling paths for summer use once the snow's melted so they effectively become a very scenic version of your local park during those warmer months ... the Canmore centre, built an hour's drive west of 1988 Winter Olympics city Calgary, is one of the best early examples of this all-year usage.
The Swedish round of the Biathlon World Cup at Ostersund in mid-December each year is mostly held under floodlights because it's so far north that the daylight's fading well before 3pm at that time of year ... and the first of the German rounds at Oberhof early in the New Year has several early-evening races to suit German-TV which is by far biathlon's most lucrative tv-market.
Given Sochi's 3 hours ahead of Germany (4 hours ahead of UK) for these Winter Olympics, it was always likely the biathlon would be a night-time event locally ... in fact, I'm surprised some of the start-times aren't a couple of hours later than is actually happening because then they'd land in the German early-evening rather than late-afternoon.
Remember there was a 9-hour-difference between Vancouver and Germany for the last Winter Olympics which put mid-morning to lunchtime in Vancouver perfectly into prime-time for German-TV so that's probably why you're more used to daylight biathlon.
http://www.sochi2014.com/en/biathlon-schedule-and-results
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2550048/BBC-fire-sending-95-staff-Winter-Olympics-TWICE-number-competing-Team-GB.html#comments