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 October 13, 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]

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.^[3]

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).^[4]

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.^[5]

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.^[6]

Broadcast rights history

Sport	Event	Broadcast Partner(s)	Major Hosts	Date
Summer Olympics	Beijing 2008	SBS Television	Bruce McAvaney, Johanna Griggs, Sandy Roberts, Matthew White	8–24 August 2008

Sport	Event	Date	Reason/Subsequent Broadcasters
Summer Olympics	Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004	1992, 1996, 2000, 2004	Outbid: Nine and Fox Sports
Winter Olympics	Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2002, Turin 2006	1998, 2002, 2006	Outbid: Nine and Fox Sports

See also

• Australia at the Olympics

References

1. ^ "Seven & SBS to Broadcast Beijing Olympics". SportBusiness. 2007-04-04. http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/161653/seven-sbs-to-broadcast-beijing-olympics. Retrieved 2007-06-28. 
2. ^ "Nine, Foxtel to broadcast Olympics". Herald Sun. 2007-10-13. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22578683-5005961,00.html. Retrieved 2007-10-13. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ http://www.olympic.org/uk/news/olympic_news/full_story_uk.asp?id=1187
4. ^ http://www.olympic.org/uk/news/olympic_news/full_story_uk.asp?id=1995
5. ^ Lulham, Amanda (2008-08-12). "Channel 7 stumbles on Beijing Olympic Games coverage". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24163544-5001030,00.html. Retrieved 2007-08-17. 
6. ^ "Seven Net scores with Olympics". Hollywood Reporter. 2000-09-19. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20070930183608/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/google/article_brief/660472. Retrieved 2007-06-27.