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2008 Beijing Olympics - CCTV Joins Hands with Adobe, Enthusiasts Lose Money Over Fake Tickets & Media Village Houses Expensive Internet for Journos
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The webosphere seems to be abuzz with Olympic news. The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, will be celebrated in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, from August 08 to August 24, 2008. 10,500 athletes are expected to compete in 302 events in 28 sports, just one event more than was on the schedule for the 2004 games.
Owing to the immense popularity of the Games, hundreds of conglomerates have been looking forward to make a quick killing during the event. One very notable tie up, in this regard, is between CCTV International Networks Ltd (CCTV.com) and Adobe Systems Inc, in their efforts to deliver the Games’ coverage through the web. Since CCTV.com happens to own the online video rights to the Olympic Games for mainland China and Macau, it promises to deliver the coverages to millions of sports fans in that area through their “Olympic Network TV Station”, a next generation online TV station based on Adobe Flash and Flex technology.
CCTV.com plans to include Olympic results, statistics, comprehensive bios, rules and expert analyses pairing up with social networking features, enabling fans to share their favorite videos, moments and even comment on the Games. It also promises to broadcast around 5,000 hours of on-demand protected stream video content that includes replays, highlights, features and interviews.
Apart from this strategic alliance, Adobe has also confirmed that its AIR technology drives BBC Spots’ Desktop Monkey which offers up-to-date news and information about the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games directly to the desktop.
Although NBC has exclusive rights to broadcast Olympic Games live on the internet, these rights are applicable only for a few countries. As for the rest, it seems Youtube has come to the rescue. YouTube has dedicated a separate channel for the sports enthusiasts in countries like South Korea, India, Iraq and Nigeria, who will enjoy 3 hours of daily highlights and video recordings that are made available through the International Olympic Committee. However, these videos shall not be shown in countries where the rights have already been sold to other online broadcasters.
In the middle of all this excitement, there are a few families who shall be cursing their own fate for trying to save a few extra bucks while buying tickets for the Games. Times of India reports that a fraud website, named beijingticketing.com, has been identified to sell unauthorized and fake tickets for the opening ceremony at a “very competitive” price. Although such web sites have hastily been shut down, nothing but sympathy could be offered to the affected families.
It seems that China’s Great Firewall has gone nuts, thanks to the news broadcasting spree from the country and it seems to have reflected on the Media Village where no free internet is being provided to the journalists. On the contrary, the media houses are getting charged astronomical amounts for the service.
Well, among all the hullabaloo, all we still hope for is a few medals for India, with great hopes on the Indian Hockey team.
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