Tokyo Olympics 2020 on BBC and Eurosport

[Brekkie]

With 100 days to go broadcasts now beginning to firm up their plans. We already know the BBC will be hosting from Salford. Not sure what Eurosport plan.

NBC will be in Tokyo with an open air panoramic set.
https://deadline.com/2021/04/nbc-tokyo-o...234733340/


Whilst Seven in Australia, which is only an hours time difference from Tokyo, will host from Melbourne with 2 HD channels then 43 channels via their streaming platform. Sadly the BBC will be limited to two thanks to their deal with Eurosport.

https://www.mediaweek.com.au/seven-revea...-olympics/

[DamC]

France Télévision will host coverage from Paris with a virtual set mimicking a dome floating in Tokyo Bay.

You can look at renderings and some test footage there:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMDH7g_Ki-g/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMDII4YqD1_/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CG15OVgqDY8/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIBUwHvAkch/

I'm not a fan of virtual sets but this looks good, and this is the year to do it with all the travel restrictions.

Let's hope they still have some on-site presence for part of the studio coverage. During Rio 2016 most of the day was hosted from Paris except for athletes interview segments coming from the Club France in Rio. 2012 was entirely done from London and 2018 from Pyeongchang.

[aaron_scotland]

The top of the dome effecting the backdrop like it would in real life is quite neat, Not sure I get the whole point of it though why would you have a studio there.

[ConorM98]

France Télévision will host coverage from Paris with a virtual set mimicking a dome floating in Tokyo Bay.

You can look at renderings and some test footage there:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMDH7g_Ki-g/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMDII4YqD1_/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CG15OVgqDY8/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIBUwHvAkch/

I'm not a fan of virtual sets but this looks good, and this is the year to do it with all the travel restrictions.

Let's hope they still have some on-site presence for part of the studio coverage. During Rio 2016 most of the day was hosted from Paris except for athletes interview segments coming from the Club France in Rio. 2012 was entirely done from London and 2018 from Pyeongchang.

As for 2022 in Beijing next year, hopefully travel restrictions may be eased though it might bring uncertainty as you know, COVID originated from China.

[James Martin]

There's serious resistance from the locals, however we do have two significant "test cases" coming up with Eurovision and Euro 2020 +1 (I like that!) having delegates and some commentary teams etc who will travel to the host nation(s) but not fans.

[Brekkie]

France Télévision will host coverage from Paris with a virtual set mimicking a dome floating in Tokyo Bay.

You can look at renderings and some test footage there:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMDH7g_Ki-g/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMDII4YqD1_/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CG15OVgqDY8/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIBUwHvAkch/

I think the idea is there but the execution somewhat lacking I feel - considering it's virtual I don't see the need for the dome really. I think that cheapens it and makes it look slightly dodgy rather than it just being an open air floating platform. Of course most of the coverage though will be looking out of the dome rather than looking into it, which should look pretty decent.

[IanJRedman]

I wonder if the BBC will be able to offer UHD streaming via the iPlayer? Does OBS source the raw feeds in UHD these days?

[Brekkie]

Assume the plans are the same as last year with 7 sports and the ceremonies in 8k and three more in UHD.

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/...rage-in-8k

[Medianext.MX]

In the case of Mexico (my country), the rights for the Olympics are held by two different groups: a consortium of the country's three main broadcasters, Televisa, TV Azteca and Grupo Imagen hold FTA rights, and América Móvil, who holds the subscription and digital rights.

In the case of the FTA rights holders, they have a tried-and-tested presentation model of covering the Olympics which differs to the more serious approach to the games most rights holders do. Alongside live broadcasts and highlights, they integrate heavily sketch comedy skits, lots of fly-on-the-wall interviews and voxpops, some musical performances, cultural and travelogue fillers, and many unexpected segments. The broadcasters also tend to be very biased in favour of the Mexican national delegations, specially when covering soccer matches. The result is more of a pot pouri and a light entertainment show rather than a sport programme, and has received some criticism recently in Mexican media circles. All three broadcasters are doing the same tried-and-tested model for this year's Olympic coverage, by leveraging each group's sports anchors, news anchors, actors and comedians for the content of each coverage.

In the case of Televisa, coverage will be spread across three channels: the flagship Las Estrellas channel (which will offer Olympic coverage on weekends, as it has been the case for most of the time Televisa has offered its coverage), its younger-skewing Canal 5 (which will offer such coverage on most weekdays) and the more populist Canal Nu9ve (which will offer coverage of long-form and minority sports). There will be some coverage available on digital services, mostly in the form of highlights.

For TV Azteca, coverage will be shown on Azteca 7, which has been the home of their sports coverage since 2014. After a succesful stint as an Olympic-centered channel in London 2012, where most of the channel's schedule was focused on the Olympics, the channel will repeat the same procedure for TV Azteca this year. Coverage, however, will be heavily scaled down in contrast to 2012, with Olympic coverage being offered three times a day, inserted within the existing schedule, with additional highlights on digital platforms.

Imagen is the newcomer to the coverage, as this third national network was only established in 2016. However, it has since developed a sizeable sports service, poaching talent out from its competitors, and by even having the rights to three soccer teams. For the coverage, Imagen will be also sticking to the tried-and-tested model, even if the broadcaster has not the same vast resources as its competitors. However, this could be the breakthrough moment for the broadcaster, which, even if it has not surpassed the ratings of its competitors, it has already developed a following in the national media landscape.

América Móvil, by the way, is trying to increase the leverage of its Claro Sports channel, which has been, so far, distributed only by some minor cable companies. However, there will be extensive coverage on the channel's digital services, including dedicated streams available on Claro Sports' website, on YouTube, and on América Móvil's OTT services Clarovideo and Claroplay, as well as an additional third-party local OTT service. Coverage will be available on the main Claro channel, and four dedicated streams will be activated thru all the aforementioned distribution methods.

[RhysJR]

Few press releases from NBC providing more detail of their Olympic coverage.

Over 300 hours of coverage between Telemundo and Universo in Spanish
https://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2021/...-universo/

And there will be four new shows daily during the Games exclusive to Peacock
https://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2021/...o-peacock/

[Col87]

While we wait for official confirmation I would think while all presentation is done from Salford they will still be a same team sent over especially the likes of Steve Cram and Andrew Cotter and Simon Brotherton for the bigger sports like Athletics and swimming and cycling with a few reporters like also been there. We know the BBC usually help the world by providing some coverage in some sports so they are likely to be camera operators and producers there. I think TV and 5live will share presenters and commentators more this year as well to save costs.

With only one channel and red button steam this year though they is likely to be less presenters so I would think the main presenters will be

Claire Balding
Mark Chapman
Dan Walker
Hazel Irvine
Gabby Logan
Jason Mohammed

Full live Coverage will likely only focus on the main stuff of Athletics Gymnastics Swimming and Cycling and rowing. Where possible I would think they would try to show full coverage of Britain’s woman team in Football and the British team in most other sports such as hockey, netball, volleyball, basketball with dip in and out of British athletes in Boxing Tennis and the other sport.

I would think full coverage from the start in morning to the 6 PM with ea 2 hour highlight show on BBC one or Two depending on the days action between 7 -9 and then a light hearted round up/ interview show for an hour to an hour and a half after the 10 o Click news. I not sure if Iplayer can show stuff in full on a delay once Eurosport has shown it but if they can then I would think that option would be used as well. Either way be interesting to see if the BBC no longer able to provide full coverage of everything how they fit everything onto a channel and a single stream.

[Brekkie]

I'd imagine other than perhaps the blue ribband sports most will be called from the UK this year. TBH I think even with commentators on location for many of the smaller sports at least they might be calling them from the IBC in regular years anyway.

Coverage will be seriously diminished this year - and of course it'll be those who shout loudest about the BBC sending hundreds of people to cover an Olympics every 4 years that'll be shouting the loudest about the reduced coverage this year.

[XIII]

I doubt the BBC will have two hour highlights of the Olympics on BBC One, BBC Two perhaps but I'm not sure if anyone would watch it in high enough numbers.

[Brekkie]

Usually 60-90 minutes on BBC1 when no live action, though if EastEnders and Holby are still running shortened episodes I suspect they'll be adjusted accordingly. TBH a one hour block on BBC1 followed by 2-3 hours of extended highlights on BBC4 may work best.

Nine hour time difference so would expect live coverage from around midnight to 2pm, then "best of the rest" afternoon coverage on BBC1. Will avoid a full fantasy rota but wouldn't be surprised if Clare did both a live shift from around 11am-2pm and the evening highlights.

[RhysJR]

Nine hour time difference so would expect live coverage from around midnight to 2pm, then "best of the rest" afternoon coverage on BBC1. Will avoid a full fantasy rota but wouldn't be surprised if Clare did both a live shift from around 11am-2pm and the evening highlights.

That would be similar to the 2018 Winter Olympics when there was an hour of highlights at 19:00 on BBC Two with extended highlights afterwrds on BBC Four, which I remember worked well enough.

Will avoid a full fantasy rota but wouldn't be surprised if Clare did both a live shift from around 11am-2pm and the evening highlights.

Once again the same happened in 2018 with the Olympics and Commonwelath Games with the lead presenter (Clare for the Olympics and Clare then Gabby for the Commonwealths) on air 1000-1400 then doing the highlights later that evening. In many ways those events have become an almost full scale test event for what this summer will be like now most probably.

Nine hour time difference so would expect live coverage from around midnight to 2pm

Those timings may be a little earlier as some events, like triathlon, are starting very early in the morning (traithlon at 06:30 Tokyo/22:30 London) to avoid the potentially dangerous heat in the middle of the day (major sporting events in extremely hot conditions looks to be a running theme for the next 18 months). The 1964 Olympics were held in October, but TV companies' demands are the important thing these days. TV (NBC) also to blame for the swimming finals to be in the Tokyo morning (middle of the night UK) not in the evening as is usual.