How CBC is Covering Vancouver 2010

Comments 11 by Rebecca Bollwitt

This is the first year in my lifetime that CBC has not been the official broadcaster of the Olympic Games in Canada. Although CTV is doing a fine job, it’s almost like watching Hockey Night in Canada without the original theme — something’s missing.

I walked around the CBC broadcast centre in Vancouver yesterday and got some thoughts from nightly news anchor, Ian Hanomansing.

CBC Tour

Not being the official broadcaster of the Olympics comes with many restrictions. “The big thing is that when it comes to the footage of the actual events, what the Olympic Movement calls the field of play,” explained Hanomansing. CBC cannot use images without heavy restrictions such as a wait period of 24 hours before posting any footage from that field of play.

“It’s frustrating for us at the CBC because we’ve so often been the Olympics rights holder in the past but the thing now is that we’re in a position that many other broadcasters are in. CNN is in this position, Global is in this position and so we find a way to still cover the sports with still pictures and a little bit of footage after that 24 hour period is over.”

Hanomansing wasn’t completely disheartened however, he’s continued to tell stories, do interviews, and really capture what’s been going on in the city. “The other thing you do is you focus on the story outside of the field of play – so the story about the city, the story about the pavilions, about people trying to get tickets, today I’m doing a story about the cauldron,” he said. “So there are tons of things you can do especially when it’s in your hometown.”

Having covered five previous Olympic Games, starting with Atlanta in 1996 so I asked what was his favourite part of being a broadcaster is during these times, whether as an official rights holder or not. He immediately brought up the athletes.

“The Canadian Olympians are everything you would hope Canadian Olympians would be. They are almost without exception humble and just you know they have fascinating stories.” On his new nightly program The City he’s been able to interview past Olympians as well such as Daniel Igali and Ross Rebagliati. “They fit that stereotype perfectly. They’re just so interesting to talk to and so nice and yet they were at one time, the best in the world at what they do so that’s been the fascinating thing about the Olympics.”

I know many people are missing the CBC as the official broadcaster but rest assured, they’re hard at work bringing you even more stories, from the crowds and from the public side of the fences, continuing to tell our stories.

They’re broadcasting nightly from the corner of Georgia and Hamilton from the plaza as well as their street-side studio. Spectators are very welcome.

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11 Comments  —  Comments Are Closed

  1. MladenWednesday, February 17th, 2010 — 4:40pm PST

    I like CTV as the broadcaster I think they are doing a great job. Plus you have the events spread out over ctv, tsn, and sportsnet so all the events can be viewed simultaneously. Their set up on robson square is pretty great too and draws large crowds.

    If CBC won the bid wouldnt that be like the taxpayers paying to watch the games we paid for? CBC is funded by us right? haha

  2. DanWednesday, February 17th, 2010 — 6:31pm PST

    CBC LOST the Olympics????? I was just telling Maggie how much I miss their live coverage of the games. NBC’s offering down here sucks compared to the top shelf job CBC did while I was up there.

  3. JordanaWednesday, February 17th, 2010 — 9:30pm PST

    I do like that with CTV, we can now watch the games on 3 different channels, but I find the reporting by CTV not as good as the standard set by CBC. They seem a bit more biased towards Canada, whereas I could always count on CBC to provide a broad range of stories

  4. roseThursday, February 18th, 2010 — 12:09am PST

    CTV is so amature at covering the Olympics. Their ethics are down the guttters as they kept showing footages of the luge accident. I’m a huge Olympics fan though…

  5. YingThursday, February 18th, 2010 — 12:18pm PST

    CTV is not good at this at all. We are seeing some very unrecognized faces on CTV trying. CBC was the best in terms of providing unbiased coverage. And now CTV is worse than the american networks in covering the Olympics.

  6. Sara PereiraThursday, February 18th, 2010 — 12:57pm PST

    Great post…its nice to see what the media are up against and what is going on, on the other side of the fence.

  7. Yup YongThursday, February 18th, 2010 — 7:43pm PST

    CTV is one step above Global…and ten steps behind the CBC when it comes to their broadcast.

  8. BlueFur.com » Blog Archive » In the Sphere: Little More on the OlympicsFriday, February 19th, 2010 — 12:44pm PST

    […] Bollwitt had the opportunity to speak with some people at CBC about how they are covering the Games. For years, CBC was the official broadcaster of the Olympics, but that switched to CTV for 2010. […]

  9. A LFriday, February 19th, 2010 — 3:53pm PST

    At my station, I don’t feel it’s a big deal we’re not covering the Olympics live. Yes, we can’t show many video highlights, but we’re enjoying covering the stories behind the podium.

  10. CelesteSaturday, February 20th, 2010 — 11:27am PST

    I think this sucks! Not every Canadian has CTV and if you don’t you are missing the Olympics!

    The whole thing is a ridiculous embarrassment! My kids can’t watch live Olympics when its in our own country?! Instead they get to hear about the luge man who died in the news. Thanks A lot CTV & CBC for the terrible coverage.

  11. GaryMonday, June 14th, 2010 — 3:27am PDT

    why does CBC have to get rights to everything? Besides, they bid for it and it means we as taxpayers have to pay for the CBC and their bid.

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