Countdown Beijing -- Tiananmen Square TV Rules, Sarkozy on Olympic Poltics

The one-year-to-go ceremony last August 8 was carried live in China and around the world from Tiananmen Square. (ATR)IOC, Beijing Reach Broadcast Compromise

Olympic broadcasters will be able to report live from Tiananmen Square, but only for six hours a day, according to reports from Beijing.

The schedule permits the live signals from 6am to 11am and again from 9pm to 11pm. That schedule effectively rules out prime-time broadcasts for most of Europe.

A spokesman for BBC News tells Around the Rings that the directive from Chinese authorities about Tiananmen Square does not represent much of a change from past practices.

"We generally can't do 'lives' from Tiananmen Square unless there are special circumstances where the authorities grant us permission by arrangement as happened with the Olympic torch ceremony," he said.

And he dismisses a report in London's Times newspaper Thursday suggesting BBC bosses are fuming over the restrictions because live link-ups with correspondents from the square will be missing from its prime-time news programs.

"We will work within the restrictions," he confirms.

"All other broadcasters are operating under the same restrictions. That's the situation and that's how we are reporting."

In much of the western hemisphere, the live broadcast times coincide with at least a few hours of prime time.

The restrictions represent a half-way point between broadcasters and Beijing. The media sought the right to broadcast live 24 hours a day. Beijing attempted to restrict the square from all live broadcast.

The IOC defends the arrangement.

"Whilst we understand there may be frustrations on the part of some broadcasters that they cannot transmit live around the clock from Tiananmen Square, we recognize that this iconic location is much in demand ... and that consequently some time constraints for live access were needed to be given by the Chinese hosts," says spokeswoman Giselle Davies.

Sarkozy Explains Decision to Attend Opening Ceremony

French president Nicolas Sarkozy defends his Olympic RSVP in front of the European Parliament. Earlier this week he announced he would attend opening ceremony on August 8. Nicolas Sarkozy went to Strasbourg just after meeting Chinese president Hu Jintao and other world leaders at the G-8 Summit in Japan. (EP)

"I happen to think that humiliating China is not the best way to respect human rights," Sarkozy said during a July 10 address in Strasbourg. Opposing Sarkozy was Green leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a one-time radical who has made repeated calls for a European leadership boycott of the Games. Cohn-Bendit predicted Sarkozy would regret his decision when the time comes to write his memoirs.

Sarkozy, who holds the presidency of the European Council for the remainder of the year, replied that he plans to engage China on human rights, not boycott the country.

"I don't think you can boycott 1.3 billion people, a quarter of the world's population."

After the parliament session, Sarkozy told reporters he asked Cohn-Bendit to compile a list of Chinese human rights abuses for him to present to Beijing.

Condaleezza Rice for Closing Ceremony

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will attend the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on August 24. The announcement follows confirmation from President George Bush that he will attend the opening ceremony of the Games.

A spokesman for the State Department says Rice is hoping to see some of the events in the final days of the Games, such A queue of peopleinthe central China city of Wuhan wait for their branch of the Bank of China to open so they can get a just-issued commemorative Olympic 10-yuan note. (Getty Images)as basketball and athletics.

Beijing Briefs...

A director of Australian broadcaster Seven says companies that broadcast on free-to-air TV are at a disadvantage for IOC broadcast contracts. In an interview with The Australian, Ryan Stokes says the IOC is more likely to award Games contracts to companies that operate both free-to-air and a pay TV channels. Seven will broadcast the 2008 Games, but lost 2010 and 2012 rights to a consortium of the Nine Network and pay-TV channel Foxtel. Stokes, until recently a member of the IOC Radio and Television Commission, says his company will bid for the 2016 Games rights, likely with a pay-TV partner.

China has detained 82 suspected Uighur terrorists in the last six months, according to a July 10 state media report. The tally was presented by police in Xinjiang just two days after state media reported the police shot five suspected terrorists in an apartment raid in Urumqi. China accuses separatists in the far western region of using violence to achieve their aim, and is on guard against a Games-time attack. "I would like to stress that there are terrorist activities in Xinjiang, and when it comes to counter-terrorism, the Chinese government's attitude is very solid," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters at a regular briefing after the tally announcement.

Written by Maggie Lee.

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