Olympics on TV
Canadian stations earn broadcast gold

By Jayda Evans
Times staff reporter

DAVID GUTTENFELDER / AP CBC, thankfully, decided against exploiting British rower Matthew Pinsent's emotion during the medal ceremony.

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VANCOUVER, B.C. — I only asked one question: "Do you have CBUT-TV in the room?"

Once he said "yes," a midnight dash to Canada was made.

Tired of both NBC Universal's broadcast production of the Athens Olympics and bouncing around to different friends' homes to watch the Canadian station, I grabbed my passport and watched in a Vancouver hotel. Extreme, but since the city is hosting the 2010 Winter Games, consider it a preview of how the Canucks do it.

At least that's what I told the customs officer my business purpose was.

It only took three clicks of the remote control to find the Games already in action.

Live.

Great Britain's Matthew Pinsent and Co. won gold in coxless four rowing, edging the Canadian team. Then the CBC affiliate aired something unseen before — the entire medal ceremony.

Pinsent, normally a stoic person, according to announcers, was so overcome with emotion he could barely hold himself up. As his countrymen belted out the lyrics to their national anthem, he sobbed while looking at the floor.

Still, camera angles didn't zoom in on Pinsent's face, exploiting his genuine tears as NBC prime time has done with anyone who tears up, from athletes to parents. There was a balance of images, even though the Canadians took silver and could have been the sole focus.

On the French version of the station, Ukrainian Yuri Nikitin won in men's trampoline, but Germany's Henrik Stehlik was elated with the bronze. The cameras stayed on his camp's celebration, which added a different perspective. The event was made more enticing as the announcers went nuts for people not even from their country.
 
It's not just the visual storytelling, bur the Canadians seem to be better at letting it unfold on its own. They're critical of their own team. For instance, prime-time host Brian Williams told the Ottawa Sun, "We'd look like idiots if we tried to suggest everything is fine and we were just being cheerleaders," in reference to all the flak circling the Canadians' poor showing in swimming.

CBC also is more informative about what's happening — not because it has fewer local athletes, but because it seems to understand the Games' world concept.

Instead of breaking into coverage with a graphic directing you to the Internet to read a related story, CBC breaks in with actual updates of other events along the bottom of the screen and a television guide stripped down the side. NBC Universal has a guide graphic for its seven-station broadcasting team, but consistent updates have been spotted only on MSNBC.

Plus, you're not constantly flip-flopped between events, pulled into swimming, then gymnastics, then back to swimming, finally catching the final at midnight. CBC stays with a sport until the medals are given out, also cutting out repetitive trips to the host's desk where nothing is really said.

Teaming with CBC is TSN, The Sports Network. It aired Team USA's second debacle in men's basketball, a 94-90 loss to Lithuania yesterday. The stunner was capped this way by announcers: "Lithuania has done it! Folks believe it — the era of the Dream Team is long gone." The station otherwise is pretty dry with its coverage, or could it be I'm used to NBC's over-hype machine? Either way, the coupling of the two stations unveiled a sporty Olympics feel instead of sports-magazine-styled entertainment.

Canada's broadcasts aren't perfect. Some of the country's newspapers have written about blunders such as scores posted while events are happening during tape-delayed events, and too many sit-down interviews. Ratings on CBC are reportedly up 5 percent from the 2000 Sydney Games, but drop 14 percent during prime time because of the lack of Canadian medals and live events. On TSN, however, the prime-time numbers are up 7 percent.

Regardless, it's worth the trip.

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com