With the Olympics in South Korea this year, time zones have changed the way many people are viewing, or caring, about the Winter Olympics.
This time change difficulties itself isn’t a new thing. When they were in Nagano, Japan in 1998, the Games were presented in the internet age, with more of an emphasis on live events than ever before. There was still just one provider for the Canadian Olympic experience but it basically went around the clock, with Brian Williams constantly reminding us of what the time was in Vancouver, Toronto, and basically everywhere. It was good.
In the United States, NBC was totally happy with giving people late news and highlights packages, like reducing the biathlon to a few seconds at the finish line.
Now we live in a digital age where we five TSNs, CBC and any number of Rogers Sportsnet channels are covering the Games, which is generally a good thing. But when three of the TSNs are covering the same event, it makes one wonder of the value.
Nonetheless, this much exposure to live events at the Olympics gives us all a reason to tune in. Here has been my experience in watching the Games over the past few times:
Thursday, 3:45 a.m. Central: An event happens! An American has won a gold, a Canadian was won silver and someone from Norway has won the bronze. CBC has played the event live and has people at the scene covering it for English and French TV, radio, digital, CBC For Dogs, Cottage Life Network and a ‘zine that normally does Dinosaur Jr album reviews but got accredited.
Thursday, 3:46 a.m. Central: News of the event is splashed through the waves on CBC’s website and the country, or those who are awake, celebrate.
Thursday, 3:47 a.m. Central: Your overly enthusiastic friend who has taken a week off to watch the Games has posted this article on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and an MP4 of the video on Napster. “You should have seen this!” they virtually yell to the world.
Thursday, 3:50 a.m. Central: “Wait till you see what just happened at the event place,” CBC hosts back in the studio tease for what is already the fifth full replay of the event. “After the commercial, we’ll show you something amazing.”
Thursday, 4:30 a.m. Central: “Less than an hour ago, Canada, a Canadian just won a silver at the event centre,” CBC hosts gush. “Let’s see the replay of the event for the 43rd time.”
Thursday, 5:15 a.m. Central: “There’s a medal ceremony about to take place where a Canadian will be getting a medal, but let’s show you how she won the medal,” CBC hosts say. “This never gets old.”
Thursday, 5:40 a.m. Central: NBC is on the air at the Today Show, promoting the hosts, the events, the fashions, the sponsors, and the sports that will be in the highlights package later tonight, presented by ‘such and such’ credit card company.
Thursday, 6:15 a.m. Central: CBC has the silver medalist in the studio. She talks glowingly of teammates, isn’t sure about whether she’ll be in the Olympics next time, but gosh this is fun.
Thursday, 6:18 a.m. Central: CBC hosts: “And if you didn’t catch this earlier, here’s how she won…”
Thursday, 10 p.m. Central: NBC has a 12 second clip of the event, highlighting the American gold medal performance as “one of many through the day” and a fine part of an enjoyable day yesterday.
Friday, 8:30 p.m. Central: NBC’s Bob Costas delivers a 12 minute essay about What It All Means when it comes to this, the U.S.A’s ninth straight gold medal in this sport. The American athlete persevered over many obstacles despite being personally funded at a level most small universities would be eternally thankful for. He asks, Isn’t it great to be an American? ‘Such and such’ credit card company presents this event, with the help of ‘such and such’ soft drink company.
When it comes down to it, we’ve never had such comprehensive access to events like the Olympics than we do today. Enjoy the show(s).
