Daily Archives: August 7, 2004

Olympics Online – Just not in the US!

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How ironic, given that Madison’s All City Swim Meet is available via internet video stream, that Non US internet users will be able to watch the olympics online, via streaming video; while captive American sports fans are stuck with cable/broadcast TV…. Anick Jesdanun summarizes the money and politics behind this absurdity (I’d be happy to pay for a real time video stream).

After conducting trials involving about 100,000 homes during the past two games, the International Olympic Committee is permitting more than a dozen broadcasters to show video of the Aug. 13-29 Olympics online.
But the footage will be highly restricted to protect lucrative broadcast contracts, which are sold by territory — $793 million paid by NBC alone. Web sites must employ technology to block viewers from outside their home countries, so U.S. Web surfers won’t benefit from the BBC’s live coverage. They’ll have to settle for highlights posted after NBC broadcasts, which are already largely tape-delayed.
On top of that, U.S. viewers must verify their identity using a credit card from Visa — an NBC advertiser — though they will not be charged.
Not a Visa cardholder? You’re out of luck.