Let The Games Begin!

The numbers themselves suggest something purely staggering. And right from this magic opening night in beautiful British Columbia.

According to Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics that you're now watching (instead of reading this blog, surely) will be available live on 10 television networks in 11 languages, two websites (CTVOlympics.ca and RDS Olympiques.ca), 24 radio stations and 64 Cineplex theatres across the country.

And it is merely the beginning of what has to rate as the most ambitious and comprehensive venture in Canadian broadcast history. Some 4,800 hours of coverage of Vancouver 2010 — almost equally split between television and web streaming — are being offered to Canadians on a wide array of platforms (and if you miss something, there's 700 hours of video on demand coverage available for you to watch at your leisure).

CTV's coverage alone averages 22 hours per day (374 hours in total) and it's where you'll see most of the 'big events.' TSN and Rogers Sportsnet weigh in with 296 and 306 hours of Olympic coverage, respectively, with the focus on full-event game action.

The consortium also includes OLN, two multi-cultural OMNI stations, the Asian Television Network (ATN), Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), MuchMusic and French networks V, RDS and RIS Info-Sports.

(in the interest of keeping this post from reaching novel-like lengths, you'll find the breakdown of what to watch and where right here).
All of this, it should be noted, is available in fabulous HD.
(the way God meant us to watch TV).
Can't get near a television? The consortium is promising "every second live" from Vancouver at the two above-mentioned websites, with up to 14 concurrent live streams. The massive digital offering also includes the requisite mobile content for those whose lives are contained in one hand-held device (and are perfectly fine watching things on a cellphone, iPhone or BlackBerry screen).
In short, there's pretty much no excuse for following all the goings-on (or just the ones that interest you) at Vancouver 2010. As to when you'll get some sleep ... well, that's on you to figure out. 
We'll do our level best to keep up on all of it right here in this blog. It may not be the stuff that makes all the headlines but well, that's what makes us different. We hope you'll think so, too, and stop by often.