You should see the Thai coverage. Thais aren't generally very good at swimming or athletics so Thai TV doesn't really cover these, nor any of the sports like rowing, kayaking, yachting. No, Thai TV will show weightlifting, boxing and maybe volleyball. Not much else.
I think every country does that. If it’s not important to them either culturally or because they have no participants at the top level there’s no interest.
I lived in Ireland during the 2012 Games. The coverage reflected Irish interest and Irish hopes of medals. I remember lots of boxing a bit of rowing and hardly anything else. So when I talk to people about 2012 I’m out of the loop when it comes to the British national memory of the Games.
Yep. As a good example, handball at the Olympics gets huge coverage in Denmark (given that they’re among the best in the world and it’s also the 2nd most popular sport in Denmark), where I doubt a single second will be shown on UK TV.
I think pretty much every second of every event is shown live on BBC.
You should see the Thai coverage. Thais aren't generally very good at swimming or athletics so Thai TV doesn't really cover these, nor any of the sports like rowing, kayaking, yachting. No, Thai TV will show weightlifting, boxing and maybe volleyball. Not much else.
I think every country does that. If it’s not important to them either culturally or because they have no participants at the top level there’s no interest.
I lived in Ireland during the 2012 Games. The coverage reflected Irish interest and Irish hopes of medals. I remember lots of boxing a bit of rowing and hardly anything else. So when I talk to people about 2012 I’m out of the loop when it comes to the British national memory of the Games.
Yep. As a good example, handball at the Olympics gets huge coverage in Denmark (given that they’re among the best in the world and it’s also the 2nd most popular sport in Denmark), where I doubt a single second will be shown on UK TV.
I think pretty much every second of every event is shown live on BBC.
OK, my bad. I guess they’ll show it all on iPlayer? My point was more around the main channels, where I can’t imagine they would show handball.
The BBC doesn't have as much coverage as per previous games, as Discovery/Eurosport are the prime rights holders
Even previously, I'd be surprised if they showed every event live (on the internet or red button) as there's so much going on at the same time
Still seems very comprehensive though. Only had a flick but it looked as though it was on either BBC 1 or 2 from midnight until around 6pm with highlights then from 7.30 - 9pm. Something available online or red button pretty much every minute of the day.
I can’t think of anyone under the age of 40 I know that cares about the Olympics, tbh. It’s for old people. Maybe a few here in the US will want to see Simone Biles and some will want to see the USA Men’s BB team. That’s it. I predict record low ratings. When I was 18 years old I was riveted by the Games. Your average 18 year old now probably can’t name a single Olympian.
That’s because the US coverage of the whole event is absolutely dreadful. Trying to shoehorn backstories and emotional nonsense into every event like it’s an episode of Pop Idol. Not forgetting cutting away to ad breaks in the middle of a race etc.
Get a broadcaster who treats it like the BBC does and I guarantee the US viewership numbers would increase overnight.
For the last three Olympics there have been 3-4 channels showing the Olympics all at once, and for 16 hours a day, not one channel just in prime time. One channel will show 6 straight hours of live gymnastics while another shows track, swimming, whatever. Only the main channel in prime time does all the human interest crap nowadays. People can see whatever they want to see, whenever they want. And yet ratings continue to drop with every Olympics. And will continue to do so.
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Even previously, I'd be surprised if they showed every event live (on the internet or red button) as there's so much going on at the same time