[opendtv] Let the Web Games Begin

  • From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: undisclosed-recipient: ;
  • Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 01:40:43 -0400

Let the Web Games Begin

By Ann Harrison
02:00 AM Aug. 13, 2004 PT

Among the unplanned international sporting events at the 2004 Summer 
Olympics could be the dodging of regional Internet broadcast 
restrictions and the unsanctioned relay of live online Olympic 
broadcasts to Americans.

The Summer Olympics, which began Friday in Athens, is the first 
Olympic Games to be broadcast from a collection of websites. The BBC 
and other European networks are offering live, on-demand Internet 
video streaming of Olympic events to broadband viewers. But the BBC 
and fellow members of the European Broadcasting Union are required by 
their Olympic broadcast contracts to block U.S. Internet users and 
others from outside their home counties.

NBC paid $793 million for the exclusive U.S. Summer Olympic broadcast 
rights, and NBCOlympics.com is the only U.S. website licensed by the 
International Olympic Committee to broadcast video coverage of the 
games. The network is offering 1,210 hours of Olympic coverage -- 
live and tape-delayed -- on NBC, CNCB, MSNBC, Bravo, USA, Telemundo 
and a high-definition channel.

Despite its contractual lock on Olympic footage, NBCOlympics.com is 
offering only highlights of selected events after they have been 
broadcast on one of the network's TV channels. U.S. customers of AT&T 
Wireless' mMode information service will also get video clips. By 
contrast, those online in the United Kingdom can watch live simulcast 
coverage from BBC TV's five video streams.

American TV stations not affiliated with NBC can show up to three 
2-minute Olympic video clips a day. But U.S.-based Internet news 
sites that are not backed by NBC are barred from showing any 
competition video and can only air news conferences with a 30-minute 
delay.

...

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,64562,00.html

 
 
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