Mainstream Web Watch: The Olympics & Online Video
The Beijing Olympics starts in a few days and what better test of the mainstream web is there than the world's biggest sports event. This is the first in a series of posts that will look at the Web technologies powering this year's Olympics.
One of the most obvious ways the Web will be utilized with the Beijing Olympics is with online video coverage. In the US, NBC has teamed up with Microsoft Silverlight for 2,200 hours of live coverage. Meanwhile in China, Adobe has teamed up with a Chinese network.
The New York Times reported today that NBC will stream 2,200 hours of live events across 25 sports on NBCOlympics.com. For context, at the Athens Olympics four years ago there was less than 100 hours of on-demand video. According to the NYT, NBC will use the Internet to "send out mass quantities of video in high resolution". The only catch is that the coverage will only be available to users in the United States, because that's the only place where NBC has rights to broadcast the Olympics.
Despite the geographical limitations, NBC is promising lots of 'new media' features in its Web coverage. These include:
- Users have the ability to watch whatever sport they want, unlike on TV where you get what the broadcaster dishes up.
- There will be 3,000 hours of "on-demand encores of full events and highlights".
- Users can switch between up to 4 live streams.
- Users will see the standard world feed that is sent to all broadcasters, so there will be no network TV commentators. Instead, the NBC expects to see bloggers "serve as play-by-play voices and analysts" (free talent!).
- Users will have access to statistics, biographies and other information.
As the NYT notes, NBC's coverage of the Olympics online is the culmination of NBC's "multiple-network strategy, which began in 2000 with the addition of CNBC and MSNBC to the mix." The upshot is that coverage of the Olympics becomes an on-demand, 24/7 experience -- although unfortunately not worldwide in NBC's case. This is possible because the "cyber-pipelines" infrastructure is largely in place now, in the US, to support such extensive online video coverage.
NBC's coverage online will be powered by Microsoft Silverlight and Windows Media player. CNET reports that Limelight Networks is being used to route the video streams to Internet service providers. NBC was originally planning to use Adobe's Flash, but CNET noted that NBC "was convinced by Microsoft earlier this year that Silverlight would allow it to stream more high-quality video than would have been possible using Flash."
It seems China's TV networks didn't buy that line, as Adobe has partnered with CCTV.com to bring Olympics online video to mainland China.
CCTV.com and Adobe Partner for Internet Coverage in China
Today, Adobe announced a partnership with CCTV International Networks Co, Ltd. to deliver Web coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to fans throughout mainland China and Macau. CCTV.com owns the online video rights to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games for mainland China and Macau. CCTVOlympics.com plans to provide 5,000 hours of "on-demand protected streamed video content including full event replays, highlights, features, interviews and encore packages." This is made up of 3,800 hours of worldwide broadcast Olympic Games video and 1,200 hours of CCTV's own video.
Choosing Adobe as a partner, as with NBC and Silverlight, is a hint that Chinese Internet viewers can expect a rich interactive experience. The press release trumpets "an unprecedented Web experience created with Adobe Flex and delivered via Adobe Flash technology".
Unlike NBC though, CCTV is not eschewing commentators and replacing them with bloggers. CCTV promises "expert analysis from CCTV's Olympic media team". However it also will be diving into the social web via "social networking features that will enable fans to share aspects of their Olympic experience with friends."
Conclusion
The 2008 Olympics is set to be the first to have a mammoth online video presence. Up to 5,000 hours of coverage would be enough to satisfy even the most rabid of Olympics fan. What's possibly even more interesting to watch will be the performance of interactive Web technologies such as Silverlight and Flash in this coverage. Which one will end up better? Although I guess if you're in the US, you'll never know about Flash - and vice versa for the Chinese regarding Silverlight.
Further coverage from the RWW Network:
last100: Roundup: The most digital of all Olympic games is well underway
last100: NBC Olympics on the Go will allow (some) fans to download events to watch on their computers
ShareRelated Entries
3 TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.readwriteweb.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/4591
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteWeb posts
In the UK online coverage is coming from the BBC which is free from most of the restrictions U.S users are getting.
WebTVWire.com has a summary of the olympics coverage online.
The NBC video player, powered by Silverlight, was programmed by Schematic, a digital agency.
~alex
you can watch how to see the olympics live at
http://beijing-olympic-online.blogspot.com/
The website itselfis buil by deltatre, an italian company specialized in sport websites wordlwide: uefa.com, fifa.com, iaaf.org.
Excuse me. The olympics start in 4 days. Where did you get a couple of weeks.
NBC has also teamed with TVTonic for a meadiacenter integrated video experience. you shedule events of intterest and space limits.
Well we're also trying to make it possible to watch it, of course through better more reliable means. The problem with cctv is that they censor what you get to see with a 5+ minute delay so that China's government can censor out stuff that happens.
I’m watching every minute. Just installed the Olympics Toolbar. Kinda cool - links to news, video, photos, results, etc. across all major networks.
http://2008SummerGames.OurToolbar.com
donv69, nice catch - corrected!
Whoa. The "Watch Olympics" site seemed a little sketchy, but asking people to install a native-code "toolbar"...!?
You guys may be legit, but you're acting the way an infecter would act. Maybe provide a bit more information on your sites to prove otherwise...?
why do you say the site is sketchy ? there are resources there to show how to watch the Olympics online
In Denmark a the cellphone carrier Sonofon and the ISP Cybercity (both owned by Telenor) are providing free online live and on demand video from the Olympics.
I don't know anything about the technical implementation, but it'll go live tomorrow, and I'm gonna check it our for sure.
It's interesting to see how widespread the online video is at this years Olympics, around the world.
It may NOT be a good time for Internet Service Providers if too many users choose to watch the games online (at the same time). :-)
The "Olympics Toolbar" mentioned above seems unfinished and kinda confusing. There IS a big button that takes you to an online clothing store selling $18 tee shirts (takes 3 pages to find out the price).
The toolbar here is much better:
http://www.bivot.com/
Links to each Olympic sport, along with RSS feeds that are constantly updated. Also some nice gadgets, including a "Medal Counter" and a "Mini Olympics" game where you can try archery, weightlifting and diving without having to visit a web site. Great for keeping up to date when you're stuck in the office.
olympic fans social networking? visited a social network focus on olympic, http://www.olympic-network.net/
Great article. I found this webpage which has several good tips on where to catch the olympics online:
http://www.tiphub.com/ViewTopic.php?topicId=92
Head over to my site, we're syndicating the videos as they're found.
Forget NBC folks!! This is the site you need!
24/7 LIVe streaming straight from Beijing!
I'm watching the ceremony as we speak from FL, USA! (9:06am EST)
It's Awesome!!
http://itsgametime.tv/OlympicsLive.html
Watch online Opening of the Olympic Games here:
http://flaxxvid.com/index.php?q=Olympic-Games-2008
Best quality & high speed!
Enjoy!
HEY GUYS!!! watch the OPENING OF the Olympic Games NOW!!! >> http://dijgg.com/news/play.php?w=Olympic_Games_2008_Opening
AWESOME!!!
Unfortunately, NBC requires the Mac user to install a Windows software to view the videos.
Sometimes corporate deal-making really gets in the way of the original intent.
ummm. this shows da future olymoics....
creepy
First I thank you for this a good site, and this a useful link to watch the olympics games online
http://satellite-tv-online.blogspot.com/2008/08/watch-beijing-2008-online.html
I've just uninstalled Silverlight. Video didn't work for me. I am so pissed off I couldn't watch Opening Ceremony Online.
This sucks. It only works for Intel Macs. Now I can't watch the Olympics on my computer. Thanks a bunch, NBC.
nbc sucks. i can't watch it on my mac either.
Try out
http://watch-olympics-online.co.cc/watch-live.php
It has the best places to watch them, albeit pirated.
Watch the olympics live here with your computer. Its free if you have Yahoo bar
http://hothot.ath.cx:8080/special/olympics.html
I installed Silverlight on a Win XP box. After that, it asked me who my Cable TV provider was. It said my CATV provider was not an approved partner.
LIE...tell them you have DIRECTTV. Then, they'll let you stream live video. Dumb.
In the UK, the Beijing Olympics are predicted to be the first truly online ones. The reason - the eight hour time difference translates into a sometimes 24 hour gap between an event and a printed paper - see http://johnwelsh.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/daily-digital-news-from-the-uk/
I was just hoping that the 2008 Olympics would mark the turning point for the online video EXPERIENCE. An experience that allowed us to both lean back and watch the NBC drama unfold AND lean forward to self-produce our own Olympic channel.
Instead, we have two distinct experiences a traditional TV broadcast directed by NBC and a website that is a tribute to online video 1.0 – short clips, a cluttered UI and more links than there are stones in the Great Wall of China. Sure, we can watch lots of live streaming video on the web and easily swap between multiple feeds, but there’s nothing inventive about the online experience and there’s no continuity between it and the broadcast feed.
In this blog post, I've offered a few ideas for improving the Olympic viewer experience: http://www.permissiontv.com/about/blog/10/2008-08-09-2008_olympics_defining_moment_for_video_20_or_opportunity_lost
Watch Match Review Beijing Olymic Games 2008
http://beijing2008-olympic.info
olympic fans social networking? visit the social network focus on olympic, http://www.olympic-network.net/
Beijing olympics 2008 live...
High quality video streaming, updated frequently..
Is there any online website which we can watch the olympics online?
I decided to fly over and see this stuff for myself!
I'm really impressed with these Chinese!
photos on my blog
Watch Beijing Olympics Live online free...
http://olympicslive2008.blogspot.com/
Quality Video streaming, frequently updated...
Now you can watch Michael Phelps’s winning lap at the Olympics, anywhere, anytime, on your mobile phone. Skyfire, the free internet browser for mobile phones, streams you videos of Olympics coverage provided by NBC (and also on Youtube, Break.com, etc.) For a limited time only, Skyfire is available- at the beta code, type: “Michael8”. Catch The Games on your mobile for free at www.skyfire.com/sign-up