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Asia Buzz: Virtual Games
Welcome to the Internet Olympics. Not!
By ERIC ELLIS
September
19, 2000
Web posted at 2:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 2:30 a.m. EDT
I flew down to Sydney last Friday to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Summer 2000 Games. At $800 a ticket, plus the airfare, it was an expensive indulgence. But it was either that or suffer through the uninformed commentary of Singapore television--and that is a fate I'd never wish on anybody.
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I would've been happier watching it via the Internet. America's NBC and Australia's Channel 7 network have extensive broadband-enabled websites, and exclusive Olympic accreditation. And if there's any event primed to test the theory that these days you can watch Belarus TV in Bhutan and Polish TV in Peoria, it's got to be the Games.
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ASIAWEEK |
Intelligence
The story behind today's news from the editors of Asiaweek
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The Opening Ceremony was sensational. Some 110,000 people inside the stadium,
another three billion watching at various times around the world, and some
125,000 mobile phone calls made from the stadium by spectators and athletes
alike. It was a technological masterpiece, right? Wrong!
The Games aren't live on the Net, unless you like reading about Ian Thorpe's
huge feet hours after he's paddled them to gold. I tried logging on to the very
sophisticated MSNBC site, only to get a screen scroll that says the cable
operator that provides the signal chose not to broadcast the Games. Oh, so it's
the cable operator's fault? Australia's Channel 7 beams some of the world's most
technologically sophisticated TV, including something called Australia TV, which
broadcasts in Asia via satellite. But the dynamic Australia we saw at the
opening ceremony didn't make it to Channel 7's Asia feed. That's because it
impinges the rights of the Asian Broadcasting Union, and thus we are left with
clueless commentators.
The Internet is virtually banned from these Games. No radio, no moving images,
no dotcom accreditation... It's as if the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
is pretending the Net doesn't exist. That's bad for the IOC (we've gotten used
to them being bad), it's bad for the viewer and it's bad for the growth of the
Internet.
Blame NBC and Americans. The Games mostly take place while America sleeps. But
NBC's programmers don't let the little matter of geography get in the way. Thus
we get the bizarre scene of NBC anchors Matt Lauer and Katie Couric presenting
the Today show in daylight from Sydney as Americans prepare for work--as if
Sydney was on the same time zone as Syracuse. But the Internet doesn't respect
time zones and that's why the IOC has shut it out of the Sydney Games.
No dotcom company can afford the broadcast package NBC bought from the IOC, not
even Yahoo! And it's a vicious circle. No dotcom will ever be able to afford it
while advertising remains unproven on the Net. Billions of Net users might make
people like John Chamber of Cisco Systems all nice and fuzzy, because it means
he sells kilometers of fat pipe, routers and switchers. But as long as viewers
want the Net for free, the world's biggest event takes place, and will continue
to take place, when old-economy broadcasters and the IOC decide it will. They
believe the Internet could destroy their version of the Games.
But imagine how it could transform. Not only could we watch when we want to, we
could watch what we want, as well. At the moment, if you are a canoeing fanatic,
but the finals clash with the 100m men's dash, you don't have much choice. The
Net, however, could let you watch the canoeing 24 hours a day if you want, and
give you comprehensive statistics, descriptions, even a chance to click and buy
that funky North Star anorak your favorite canoeist is wearing.
That way Senor Samaranch, the IOC President, could sell rights not only to NBC
but to Macy's, Patagonia and Takashimaya as well. The day of the Internet
Olympics may well come, but don't hold your breath that it will arrive by the
next Summer Games roll around in Athens in 2004. Four years is an eternity in
Internet time, but not if you are an IOC member.
Eric Ellis is the Southeast Asia and Technology Editor of the regional
finance portal AsiaWise.com
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