[Other Sport] BBC Olympics Coverage- why its not very good this time.

The last few Olympics have been covered brilliantly by the BBC, with literally every second of every event available on TV, Red Button or IPlayer.

This time round there is comparatively very little available to watch. I appreciate most is on in the wee small hours, but even the BBC main coverage shows are full of filler, flashy graphics covering up a lack of content. Yesterday the main evening show was mainly interviews with families and friends, very disjointed "highlights" of the triathlon, and Mountain Bike race , clips of the swimming and diving. Even the medal ceremonies were not shown

Well for those wondering why its an "ITV" style coverage here is the reason. Its a shame because one thing the BBC do very well is big sporting events like Olympics, Euros,World Cups

I expect this is just the start

BBC Coverage of Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Ron Chakraborty
Lead Executive, Major Events at BBC Sport
Published: 7:35 pm, 26 July 2021
This morning reminded us all of the magic of the Olympic Games. Gold medals in swimming and mountain biking and Tom Daley winning his first gold medal at his fourth Olympics. Moments that unite the nation. Moments that inspire the next generation. Moments that become the national conversation.

We know that our audiences love the Olympics and we set a high bar for ourselves with our London 2012 coverage and since we began on Friday, there’s been lots of noise around our perceived lack of coverage for the Tokyo Games. Whilst we’d love to still have 24 live streams and our ‘never miss a moment’ offer from London and Rio in 2016, our new rights deal simply doesn’t allow it. In 2016 we announced that the IOC had awarded the pan-European rights for the Olympics to Discovery, meaning that free-to-air broadcasters across Europe had to carve out their own sub-licence deals with Discovery. The result for all European broadcasters was less coverage of the Games, and for us, it means that we’re allowed two live streams - one on BBC One and one that is available to play out on BBC iPlayer, red button and the BBC Sport website.

Whilst we might not have every moment, we’re confident that we can still be the home of the big moments - as we were this morning. We’ll need to be agile and will often have to make difficult decisions about which sports to show and when to leave one sport to join another. Priorities will shift as we follow the stories of our Team GB athletes and we might need to jump in and out of sports to ensure we bring as many of the big moments as possible. We know this can be frustrating but with 350 hours of live sport across BBC One and BBC Two, plus the second stream on iPlayer we hope we can bring the magic of the Olympic Games to as many people as possible.

And of course, BBC Radio 5 Live has Olympics coverage for all seventeen days of the Games, while the BBC Sport website and app are providing up-to-the-minute coverage of events as they unfold.

We understand the importance of bringing the Olympics to the widest possible audience, particularly those who cannot afford the extra cost of subscription TV. These national moments have a profound cultural and social impact. The benefits of sport to the UK are maximised only when it’s available to and watched by the widest possible audience. We’ll do our best to ensure that as many of the big moments and medal wins are live on the BBC.

Team GB are already doing their bit to inspire and unite people, we want to give the whole nation the chance to cheer them on.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/articles/2021/olympic-games-moments?fbclid=IwAR1-29cM1LioXp4oBGhs4dkWcVR5DQBkG2ppy58xWmKSp3WakTbFXTo3dF8

Discovery+ have a lot of the Olympics, Eurosport have some too, perhaps it's a bit diluted as three broadcasters/platforms are sharing it?

Superphil said:

Discovery+ have a lot of the Olympics, Eurosport have some too, perhaps it's a bit diluted as three broadcasters/platforms are sharing it?

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The IOC gave the pan European rights to Discovery, all the European broadcasters have to take their coverage packages from Discovery.

It's one of the problems with the wider media platforms. Polarised coverage.

We live in an international environment and sadly there is little that can be done.

I think Discovery have moved into cricket too, which is bizarre.

Superphil said:

Discovery+ have a lot of the Olympics, Eurosport have some too, perhaps it's a bit diluted as three broadcasters/platforms are sharing it?

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Another explanation here - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/26/olympic-viewers-urged-to-be-patient-as-bbc-forced-to-juggle-live-streams

Olympics should be a protected category of event which can't legally go behind a pay wall.

Yes, aside from the lack of spectators (which obviously adds to the whole atmosphere of the games), this coverage is pretty disappointing, in comparison with all the previous ones.
It feels very disjointed and pretty hit-and-miss as to what you're going to get, and I really hope this isn't going to be the case for all future Olympics, as it's truly taken the shine off, for me.

It's all about the money for the IOC.

Smacks of FIFA, UEFA etc.. rights go to the one with the biggest chequebook. Who cares from there

Brighton Lines said:

I think Discovery have moved into cricket too, which is bizarre.

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A market of a billion people in India says otherwise...

B-right-on said:

It's all about the money for the IOC.

Smacks of FIFA, UEFA etc.. rights go to the one with the biggest chequebook. Who cares from there

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Sadly, I fear you are correct.

birthofanorange said:

this coverage is pretty disappointing, in comparison with all the previous ones.

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Its different but this all you can eat coverage (from the BBC) is relatively new. It wasn't until 2012 (and again in 2016) that the BBC offered a don't miss a moment style coverage with multiple pop up channels and streams. For 2021 its not possible due to Discovery owning the rights.

I sensed it was all a bit piecemeal but thought this was because it was taking place in another time zone plus I tend to drift in and out of the coverage until about 10.30pm when I can devote some proper time to it for a couple of hours. But now I understand the reason why.

Notwithstanding that, the studio set seems a little odd. I guess they would normally be in Tokyo but they seem to be in some sort of wooden cabin with house plants dotted about? It's like they're hosting the olympics from [MENTION=232]Simster[/MENTION]'s home office. (If the trampolines exhibit signs of 'fox damage' then I suppose we'll know they are).

chaileyjem said:

Its different but this all you can eat coverage (from the BBC) is relatively new. It wasn't until 2012 (and again in 2016) that the BBC offered a don't miss a moment style coverage with multiple pop up channels and streams. For 2021 its not possible due to Discovery owning the rights.

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Fair point, but it still feels lacking in comparison with Games pre-2012. Maybe it just feels that way, to me?

Money talks….. I was really surprised that you could only listen to the ladies football against Canada as we could do well and have qualified for the next round.

I was wondering why the hosts are just wittering on rather than showing some action.

Still don't understand why they can't broadcast action on BBC4. it sits there all day doing SFA until it finally wakes up at 7pm. Bloody red button is shocking (same as iplayer) sticking and jumping about. Wanted to watch mountain bike riding this morning but had to put up with falling into a swimming pool from a long way up.

It's all disapointingly messy and yet another example of why the BBC shouldn't be allowed to "do sport".

rippleman said:

I was wondering why the hosts are just wittering on rather than showing some action.

Still don't understand why they can't broadcast action on BBC4. it sits there all day doing SFA until it finally wakes up at 7pm. Bloody red button is shocking (same as iplayer) sticking and jumping about. Wanted to watch mountain bike riding this morning but had to put up with falling into a swimming pool from a long way up.

It's all disapointingly messy and yet another example of why the BBC shouldn't be allowed to "do sport".

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BBC do sport very well but they can only broadcast what they have the right to broadcast. I love the Olympics and had to pay for Discovery/Eurosport but it's not an easy website to find your way around and still doesn't have as many replays as the BBC did for the last two Olympics.

rippleman said:

I was wondering why the hosts are just wittering on rather than showing some action.

Still don't understand why they can't broadcast action on BBC4. it sits there all day doing SFA until it finally wakes up at 7pm. Bloody red button is shocking (same as iplayer) sticking and jumping about. Wanted to watch mountain bike riding this morning but had to put up with falling into a swimming pool from a long way up.

It's all disapointingly messy and yet another example of why the BBC shouldn't be allowed to "do sport".

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The others being?

I'd say they are the best qualified to do it out of any of the providers

With BBC 4, they are using the same bandwidth, (that's the wrong word, someone will correct me) as CBeebies, which runs until 7pm

rippleman said:

I was wondering why the hosts are just wittering on rather than showing some action.

Still don't understand why they can't broadcast action on BBC4. it sits there all day doing SFA until it finally wakes up at 7pm. Bloody red button is shocking (same as iplayer) sticking and jumping about. Wanted to watch mountain bike riding this morning but had to put up with falling into a swimming pool from a long way up.

It's all disapointingly messy and yet another example of why the BBC shouldn't be allowed to "do sport".

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they are only allowed to show 2 live streams in total (BBC 1/2 + iplayer/red button and 350 hours in total as part of the deal. The IOC have given DIscovery - and their channels (eg: Eurosport and Discovey +) the UK rights to show multiple streams/channels which arent. free to air.

rippleman said:

...falling into a swimming pool from a long way up.

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Tom Daley would love you.

The BBC can't win.

Go all out and pay the going rate for the Olympics and people complain about the amount of it on the various different platforms or that the standard of other output has gone down (the cost of the rights were the equivalent of the annual budget for BBC One or all of the BBC Radio stations) – or don't pay for the full package and people complain it's not enough.

Personally I think it's been fine. I've seen plenty during the evening shows and bits and pieces online.