Just Like Being There ... Almost

Its origin, I must rather sheepishly admit, escapes me at the moment. Especially because it's a phrase I've heard a thousand times.
Perhaps you've heard it, too: It's the next best thing to being there.
Yes, there's nothing spectacular about it. But it seems the best (and simplest) way to sum up the coverage that Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium brought into this country's living rooms from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games over the past 17 days.
Grumble about the work of some of the CTV/Rogers commentators if you will. Harp on some of technical glitches that cropped up at times. But this much can't be denied: The consortium promised it would deliver the most comprehensive Olympic viewing experience ever to Canadians and on that count, it surely came through in the hugest of ways.
Whether it was on your television screen or your computer screen, Canadians literally had their choice of what to watch and when. We were handed ultimate control over the big clicker and, if you're like me, you wore it out big time over the course of these Games.
The consortium was criticized early on — and rightly so — for not exactly doing the best job of directing traffic in terms of what was on where. But the point was, chances are if you weren't enamoured with what was on CTV, something more to your liking could be found on TSN or Rogers Sportsnet. And if you had your eyes on two faves, tough decisions weren't needed. Just put one on the big screen and fire up the other on CTVOlympics.ca and you were all set. Simple as that.
And in today's day and age, it says here that viewers should expect nothing less. On that count alone, the consortium's work deserves much more than a passing grade. But it wasn't always a smooth ride.
Indeed, it might be suggested that the consortium's work mirrored that of Canada's athletes — a little slow to get out of the gate but oh, did they bring it home in a big way. And Canadians ate it all up, tuning into Vancouver 2010 television coverage in extraordinary numbers.
The CTV/Rogers group was at is best when Canada's athletes were at theirs, though the red and white pom-poms were out a little too much at times. But some might suggest that attitude was merely reflecting that of a nation, which celebrated Olympic success like never before.
As might be expected, the Games sports that matter most to Canadians — hockey, curling and figure skating — were consortium strengths in terms of coverage, with voices familiar to all of us doing their usual fine job. And it was no surprise that the booming voice of Rod Smith, for example, would stand out at the long-track speed skating venue.
The Olympics wouldn't be the Olympics without the venerable Brian Williams and it was good to see him back where he belongs, in the prime-time anchor's chair. It also shouldn't surprise anyone that James Duthie sounded like just the right guy to succeed him someday.
That is, of course, if the consortium is in this for the long haul. They signed off with a 'see you in London' message tonight (in reference to the 2012 Summer Games) but after that, it's open season. Canadian TV rights for Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 should hit the table within the next year and there's no doubt CBC wants back in the Games. Whether CTV/Rogers wants back in without the lure of another Vancouver ... well, we'll see just how much they 'believe' in the five rings.

From The Outside Looking In

Canada's former Olympic network, it would appear, seems determined to find its own way to stay in the Games.
The thought comes to mind as I watch Vancouver Welcomes The World, a preview of the 2010 Winter Games on the CBC — you know, the network that will not be Canada's eyes and ears of the Olympics for the first time in 16 years.
But while we tune into CTV, TSN, Rogers Sportsnet and a host of other channels that form Canada's Olympic Media Broadcast Consortium to follow the many stories of Vancouver 2010 over the next two weeks, our public broadcaster wants you to know it might be bitter about being elbowed aside for this one — but it isn't folding up its tent completely.
The venerable Peter Mansbridge is taking The National to Vancouver for the duration of the Games. CBC.ca has a Toronto-based crew on duty to fill a dedicated Olympic website with stories and photos that chronicle what figures to be the biggest sporting spectacle ever to land in Canada.
Granted, all of this will surely pale compared to the 4,800 hours of television/web coverage the consortium will present from Vancouver (every second of every event live, we're being promised. More on that in a future post). And one might suggest the CBC's presence at these Olympics is merely acknowledgement that this is the story Canadians will care about most while the Games are on — in other words, exactly what we'd expect from our taxpayer-funded public broadcaster.
But still, it strikes me as interesting that the CBC would put in much more than a token effort. After all, there was no shortage of bitterness at the Mother Corp. when the CTV/Rogers consortium snagged the rights to Vancouver 2010 (and London 2012, don't forget) away from CBC, which had aired each of the past seven Olympic Games. And the normal response when you haven't invested a lot of money into such events is to pretty much ignore it (think anybody but NBC is going to go overboard on this south of the border?).
The message here, it would appear, is that while the CBC is gone from the Olympic picture, it hardly intends to be forgotten. Count on them pushing hard to get back in the Games (officially, that is) when the bidding for Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 begins in the next few years. The question is, with the jewel that is Vancouver no longer part of the picture, how much will the CTV/Rogers gang want to push back?