Olympics on Seven

The Olympics on Seven is the branding for Olympic Games coverage produced by Seven Sport.

Overview

Seven has exclusive Australian free-to-air, pay television, online and mobile telephony broadcast rights to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The live telecast of the XXIX Olympiad was shared by both the Seven Network and SBS Television. Seven broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies and mainstream sport's including swimming, athletics, rowing, cycling and gymnastics. In stark contrast, SBS TV provided complementary coverage focused on long-form events such as football, road cycling, volleyball, and table tennis.[1]

On 13 October 2007, the International Olympic Committee announced that the Nine Network, in joint partnership with subscription television provider Foxtel, has secured broadcasting rights for the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics.[2]

On 5 August 2014, the International Olympic Committee announced that the Seven Network, has secured broadcasting rights for the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics.[3]

Awards and honors

During its time as the broadcaster of the Olympic Games, it has won the Olympic Golden Rings for the Best Television coverage for the best television programme during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.[4]

During the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Seven and NBC Universal were the major recipients of the Golden Rings; with Seven taking the Golden Rings for the best Olympic Programme, the Silver Rings for the best Olympic feature (NBC Universal received the Golden Rings), and the Bronze Rings for the Best Sports Coverage (behind SRG Switzerland and YLE Finland).[5]

Criticism

During Seven's coverage of the XXIX Olympiad, numerous complaints by the general Australian public were made to Network Seven for several reasons, including the lack of a broadcast of events to which Australia is not competing in, too many advertisements and at inappropriate times during events and poor commentating of events. There has also been media speculation about the editing of Olympic events by Seven; how live sound from events is faded and the commentary sound is the prominent sound feature.

Furthermore, Seven's coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics was widely criticized by many viewers, who were angry at the networks contractual obligation to show AFL football over the Olympics. Viewers also complained that many team sports were delayed, with the absence of Roy and HG further angering viewers.[6]

Ratings

Due in large part to their coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, the Seven Network won the ratings year for the first time in almost 20 years, just missing out on a clean sweep across the country - something that was rectified in 2007. The opening ceremony was one of the highest-ever rating television programmes in the country, with 6.5 million viewers.[7]

Broadcast rights history

Sport Event Date Reason/Subsequent Broadcasters
Summer Olympics Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2016, 2020
Winter Olympics Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2002, Turin 2006, Pyeongchang 2018 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018

See also

References

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