TV Execs Agree -- London 1st Digital Olympics

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Olympic TV executives say the 2012 Olympics will be the first true digital Summer Games. They spoke at the Around the Rings Newsmaker Breakfast on "The Changing Face of TV Broadcasting for London 2012".

"Everyone says this is the first digital Olympics. I think this is the first time people are going to have unlimited choice", said Roger Mosey, director of London 2012 for the BBC.

The rights holding network in the U.K. will leave no live event from the Games uncovered by its cameras, with 24 platforms for the Olympics.

"It’s a huge summer for Britain and for the BBC," said Mosey, noting that the network will cover the Queen’s Jubilee the month before the Games as well as the Olympic torch relay that starts in mid-May.

Mosey said the BBC are prepared to deliver the Games in a way to be viewed with iPads and other portable multimedia devices.

"There are all sorts of devices that people can watch and see sport on. The sense of the games ‘anytime, anywhere at your choosing’ will really come to fruition in London for the first time.

"For the first time we can broadcast every venue live from first thing in the morning to last thing at night. That’s a real contrast to Beijing where we broadcast about half of that content.

"The editing moves from us to the consumer - we bring people together for the big moments on BBC1 but if people want to go watch and make their own Olympics they can do. The main part of our coverage is the BBC website which will offer viewers 24 live screens to watch."

Gary Fenton, the director of Olympic coverage for Australia’s Nine Network, said the change from Sydney 10 years ago is dramatic.

"In Sydney, there was only a limited amount of widescreen available for instance. Now we have widescreen, we have HD TV, and of course there is 3D coming into play for London 2012.

"Those developments in terms of at the venues, tracking cameras, overhead cameras are all miniaturized and our coverage will be over many platforms," says Fenton, who added that 3-D may not be as important a technology for TV at the Games as the advent of H-D signals.

For LOCOG, the emergence of multiple platforms gives the organizing committee wider exposure and attention in the lead-up to the Games, says Jackie Brock-Doyle, director of communication for London 2012.

"In the lead up to the Games you need the greatest exposure," she says.

"We look across all of the networks to carry the message but you have a special relationship host nation broadcaster [BBC]. Where we tend to focus is on set piece events and the BBC has such a great reach across radio and TV so it does make sense for us to have a good relationship with them," said Brock-Doyle.

"Everybody understands the need to share news, what we try to do is create the news opportunities for everybody. Everybody can have a part of it and everybody can get their own story," says the London 2012 exec.

Asked whether the BBC was prepared to cover calamities that might strike London outside the Olympics, Mosey confirmed that there were "contingencies" in place were anything unexpected to occur during the coverage of the games.

"Our main channel BBC1 will be entirely sport and news. There are times when you flex coverage between news and sport, and we alwayshave contingencies. In 2012, people want a complete London 2012 experience and that is something we are just used to doing and flexing."

If there was any rivalry over which team does better in the medals table, Australian Fenton said broadcasters will always want the home nation to do well in the Games, as it "lifts the whole Olympics". Australia and Great Britain are expected to go head-to-head for fourth place in the medal tally.

Fenton also dismissed any notion that people in Australia would be inconvenienced by the time-zone difference to London, as some events will occur during the night Australian time. He said that while the programming is "dictated by the scheduling", because of the growth of content over the past 20 years fans will be able to see a lot of action.

"There are gold medals, there’s rowing, triathlons, marathons all in the morning or late morning. Most countries in the world come up with a pretty acceptable competition schedule on your own network no matter where the games are held."

For the BBC, Mosey hopes that the audience interest in London 2012 keeps on rising. According to Mosey, the percentage of people who watched the Olympics in Beijing was 75 percent, while 80 percent watched Team GB in the Athens Olympics. For London 2012, Mosey believes the figure will trend higher.

Biggest event to cover for London? The 100m dash is the unanimous choice of the panel, especially for the drama that goes into the build-up for the 10-second race.

The breakfast was sponsored by the Concerto Group, London’s leading venue and event specialist and Westfield Stratford City, the new shopping mall that is one of the gateways to the London Olympic Park.

Written and reported in London by Christian Radnedge .