Olympic online video rights restrictions

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farcus

1554 posts

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#107085 6-Aug-2012 23:27

How ridiculous are the Olympics online video rights restrictions?
I'm not sure if it is the Olympics or SkyTV who responsible for it - but nobody other than sky are allowed to show any video content from the Olympics online - not even for the sake of news reporting.
For all of last week TV3 didn't even bother putting their 6PM news bulletin online. This week they have resumed but edited every single Olympic sporting event out of the online bulletin cutting what is usually a 40 minute plus online bulletin down to approx 23 minutes.

For a long time I have had no respect for Sky and their use of sports to suck in subscribers. If they are responsible for this then they are responsible for killing off sport in a small way and making it ALL about the money.
If it is not Sky who are responsible for this but the Olympic committee then they are guilty of doing the same.

As I am out of the country I have not been able to view one single piece of video coverage of a New Zealander competing at the Olympics. Not even in a news report.
Thank goodness photographs don't suffer the same restriction - but I wont be surprised if they do bring in that kind of restriction in the future.

mattwnz

20141 posts

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#668655 7-Aug-2012 00:07

I think it is a global thing. The olympics is some of the most protected video content anywhere in the world.
TVNZ tends to just be just showing fading in and out photos of events rather than much in the way of video content.

farcus

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#668663 7-Aug-2012 00:56

I'm not confident that it is a global thing.

Take fairfax for example - publishers of online news in Australia and New Zealand.

SMH and the Age websites both have reasonably extensive Olympic video coverage (although The Age uses geoblocking).
Contrast that with Stuff which has nothing.

edit: oops - I may be wrong in regards to stuff. It looks like they may have some video but it is hard to tell as they also use geoblocking and I am not in NZ.

kyhwana2

2566 posts

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#668664 7-Aug-2012 00:58

farcus: I'm not confident that it is a global thing.

Take fairfax for example - publishers of online news in Australia and New Zealand.

SMH and the Age websites both have reasonably extensive Olympic video coverage (although The Age uses geoblocking).
Contrast that with Stuff which has nothing.

Oh, you should hear about all the americans complaining about how crap the NBC coverage has been!

floydbloke

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#668673 7-Aug-2012 07:27

I suspect it's a global rights thing. I like to watch the Dutch news, all Olympics video footage is geo-blocked.
Seems it's very hard to see your compatriots in action if you're not watching in your home country.

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

mattRSK

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#668675 7-Aug-2012 07:32

Yes it's absolute crap. You should see how good BBC I player is, if you can get access to it.

Coverage of sport in NZ is rubbish. I have seen 3 super 15 games this year, 2 at a pub and one live. All it does for me is make me disconnected from the competition and ultimately not interested.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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#668723 7-Aug-2012 09:59

This is not a Sky issue, the rights and how footage can be used is dictated by the Olympic Committee, which seems to be very strong about how things are used - just see how they have officials going around London chasing up open WiFi hotspots, because BT is the "official telecommunications provider".

Yes, they are like that...

Behodar

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#668742 7-Aug-2012 10:21

freitasm: just see how they have officials going around London chasing up open WiFi hotspots, because BT is the "official telecommunications provider".

Yes, they are like that...

Is that legal? I can't imagine the Olympic Committee having management rights for 2.4 GHz...

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stevenz

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#668772 7-Aug-2012 10:54

They forced a restaurant which had already been in London for a while, called "The Olympic" to change its name to "The 'Lympic". They have pretty much been given total power.

Forcing pubs to only advertise the one brand of beer that is a valid sponsor.
Forcing fish & chip shops to only be able to sell chips if it's with fish as well as McDonalds are the approved supplier of chips. (Why they can't get around this claiming a difference between "French fries" and "chips" I'm not sure, probably don't want to risk the 30000GBP fine).
Not allowing any stores to sell ANY olympic-themed merchandise unless it's from an approved manufacturer (no cakes with the rings on them etc)
No stores allowed to display any words that might be construed as having anything to do with the Olympics, of which "London" is apparently one. In London. WTF?!

It's all about the money. The Olympics are irrelevant IMHO, virtually all of the events represented already have their own world-championships. A massive waste of resources.

@KnightNZ

crackrdbycracku

1168 posts

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#668862 7-Aug-2012 12:36

Have you tried YouTube?

We missed the opening ceremony and found a 'full edition' which runs just under an hour. You never know what someone might have posted.

Q: What is the best way to circumvent the controls/rights of a corporation?

A: Find another corporation with an interest in doing it for you.

As far as the way the Olympic Committee manages rights go I'm actually not that bothered. The money generated by selling the rights, or at least some of it I have heard, goes to help teams from poor countries get to the Olympics. As far as uses for money generated by the Olympics goes it doesn't get much better than that.

I personally think that the whole issue of brand protection in regards to this kind of stuff, such as gorilla marketing, is becoming irrelevant. Basically the 'lympic Cafe' is probably going to see a boost in patronage because they are now front page news. But there is no tighter grip than a dying industry grasping at straws, see music industry and digital distribution.

Didn't anybody tell you I was a hacker?

old3eyes

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#668865 7-Aug-2012 12:40

stevenz: They forced a restaurant which had already been in London for a while, called "The Olympic" to change its name to "The 'Lympic". They have pretty much been given total power.

Forcing pubs to only advertise the one brand of beer that is a valid sponsor.
Forcing fish & chip shops to only be able to sell chips if it's with fish as well as McDonalds are the approved supplier of chips. (Why they can't get around this claiming a difference between "French fries" and "chips" I'm not sure, probably don't want to risk the 30000GBP fine).
Not allowing any stores to sell ANY olympic-themed merchandise unless it's from an approved manufacturer (no cakes with the rings on them etc)
No stores allowed to display any words that might be construed as having anything to do with the Olympics, of which "London" is apparently one. In London. WTF?!

It's all about the money. The Olympics are irrelevant IMHO, virtually all of the events represented already have their own world-championships. A massive waste of resources.

Agreed. I think that they are past their use by date. I'm not sure how Brazil is going to afford to host the next ones..

Regards,

Old3eyes

John2010

532 posts

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#668923 7-Aug-2012 13:27

old3eyes:...I'm not sure how Brazil is going to afford to host the next ones..

Well if they can't afford it then there is not much hope for the Olympic Games being held anywhere.

Brazil's economy is one of the largest in the world, about 6th or 7th largest. And, if you are thinking in terms of GDP/capita it is more than twice that of China's, and China managed just fine.