Broadcasters set to carve cake
25 September 1998Radio and television rights-holders from around the world - who collectively paid nearly $1billion to broadcast the Sydney Olympics - will gather this weekend for the first world broadcaster meeting.
More than 200 delegates from 80 countries will be briefed by the host broadcaster, the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation (SOBO).
SOBO is responsible for producing television and radio coverage of every Olympic event. Its coverage is then passed on to rights-holding broadcasters, who package the coverage for their own countries.
The meeting will include formal presentations by SOBO and by the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games on areas such as transport, accommodation, technology, accreditation and marketing.
But the delegates, from more than 100 broadcasting organisations, will lobby hard to gain the best possible camera placement and commentary positions for their broadcasters.
The meeting's importance is reflected in the seniority of those attending, including the head of sport at American network NBC, Mr Dick Ebersol.
SOBO's chief executive, Spanish sports broadcaster Mr Manolo Romero, said the six-day meeting was the most important step so far for broadcasting the Sydney Games.
"The success of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games broadcast relies on SOBO and the rights-holding broadcasters working together to produce an outstanding coverage of Sydney and the Games," Mr Romero said.
"The first world broadcaster meeting is the first opportunity we've had to meet with many of the rights-holders who plan to be in Sydney in 2000."
The task of broadcasting the Sydney Games is reflected in SOBO's estimates of personnel and equipment involved: more than 780 cameras, 3,500 personnel, 1,600 commentary positions, 55 television outside broadcast units and 70,000 square metres of space within the International Broadcast Centre at Homebush.
The Australian rights-holder, Channel 7, plans to halt all production around the country for a month and bring staff to Sydney to work on the Games.
Seven's director of sports and Olympic Games, Mr Alan Bateman, said the network would lobby hard at the meeting for extra privileges.
"We're looking for rights over and above what the host broadcaster will provide," Mr Bateman said.
Having paid so much for the privilege, broadcasters want everything, especially commentary and camera positions on the finish lines.
"Everybody's trying to maximise their own results and their own positions," Mr Bateman said. "They're all trying to get to the same area."
Mr Bateman, who has more than 20 years' broadcasting experience and is a member of the SOBO board, described televising the Olympics as "the equivalent of making three or four feature films".
The Olympics pushed the boundaries of technology, leaving a legacy for broadcasting, he said.
"It's a commercial venture first and foremost but it leaves a legacy. Each Games presents a new level of technology which other sports take and develop to a new stage."
