"Everyone" at the BBC will be involved in one capacity or another in the UK public-service broadcaster’s coverage of next year’s Olympic Games in London, with every hour of every sports event being shown live on at least one of its platforms, according to Roger Mosey, director of the broadcaster’s Olympic Games coverage.
Speaking at an Around the Rings ‘newsmaker breakfast’ in London this morning, Mosey said: "We’ll be using our global, national and regional platforms, on television and online.
"The key thing is about delivery. Every venue will be live from first thing in the morning until last thing at night. In Beijing [at the 2008 games], only about half of the events were shown live and 2,500 hours of action was not broadcast.
"In London, if you want to watch table tennis from first to last, you can do. Editing moves from us to the viewer. There is a multiplicity of platforms. We’ll have 24 live screens on the BBC website at its peak. You’ll be able to watch any time, anywhere of your choosing. It’s the first time people will really have Olympic choice."
However, both Mosey and Gary Fenton, his counterpart at Nine Network, the Australian commercial broadcaster that will show the games, were cautious about committing themselves to extensive 3D coverage of the games, with Mosey saying: "We’re having a discussion this week about 3D. The decision is not made yet. There isn’t the unalloyed enthusiasm that there was for HD.
Fenton added: "We’re still looking at it, but we will do some 3D. It’s interesting, but HD was a major move forward. I’m not sure 3D will match HD."
With one year to go before the games, Mosey was asked whether there is a danger of the BBC reaching saturation point with its coverage. He said: "Interest in 2012 has kept building steadily in last few months, but we don’t want to bore people into submission. However, 75 per cent of the UK population watched live coverage of the Beijing games. With the smaller time difference in Athens [in 2004] it was about 80 per cent. We expect 75 to 80 per cent for London."
Fenton said that, with the exception of the Beijing games and the 2000 games in Sydney, Australian television has traditionally had to deal with a significant time difference, but that Nine’s schedule would be "dictated by the competition schedule."
As a commercial broadcaster, Fenton denied that the size of rights fees involved means that the Olympics must be regarded as a loss-leader for Nine, saying: "We’re on track to refinance [the rights fee], and I believe we will finish OK. The advertising market has come around, and most of the packages have gone."
Mosey stated that the Olympic torch relay around the country in the build-up to the games would provide a focus for the BBC pre-games coverage, including that of its regional channels. He said: "We’re going to be with it every mile of the way, with 75 per cent of it being covered live. Local stations will do special coverage."
Mosey denied that the fact that the games are centred on London would mean that it might be difficult to motivate and involve viewers in other parts of the UK, saying: "According to our research, the part of the UK that is most favourable to the Olympics is Northern Ireland. It’s not true that the rest of the UK is not interested in the games. I think the UK really will come together."
Both Mosey and Fenton said that they thought that the biggest challenge facing organisers is likely to be transport, although this is a problem that is common to all Olympics.
Mosey said: "Transport is a challenge for London. I don’t know how it will be managed, but I suspect holidays mean that the number of people travelling will go down. In Sydney, it often took an hour and a half to get out of the Olympic Park
Fenton added: "We’re pretty comfortable with the way it’s going. It’s a magnificent setting for a games."
One measure of the enthusiasm that broadcasters would show towards the games, he said, was that he has "been approached unsolicited by five times more people looking for jobs on the Olympics than for previous games."
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