IMAGINE watching the London 2012 Olympic Games 24 hours a day, every day for its duration.
That’s what the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), in collaboration with International Media Content and SportsMax, will be offering Barbadians from July 25 to August 12 next year.
During the launch of the Olympic programming yesterday morning at The Grille Restaurant, Hilton Barbados, Oliver McIntosh, president and CEO of SportsMax, announced the unprecedented coverage.
“In the past, the coverage has really come from the NBC (National Broadcasting Corporation) feeds that come into the region. That is something that we do not believe in because they do not focus on what we want to see.
“We want to see the Caribbean athletes and the sports that we are interested in whether it is track and field, swimming or football,” McIntosh said.
“We will have a 24-hour regional channel with an unprecedented 396 hours of coverage. That is twice as much coverage that has ever been presented in the region.”
Barbados is one of 19 regional countries receiving the feed.
The 90-member SportsMax crew will have production facilities in London, and there will be Caribbean presenters and analysts with Olympic experience, with Lance Whittaker being the lead presenter.
McIntosh said there would be live broadcasts of key events, replays, unmatched access to athletes and daily 30-minute and 60-minute news broadcasts.
Live coverage will begin at 4 a.m. through to midnight, with replays to 4 a.m. daily.
Additional coverage will be on MCTV in high definition and none of the other cable channels will be able to provide coverage.
In a video presentation CBC’s director of sports Mark Seale said his department would begin the lead-up with athlete profiles, key moments in Olympic history, knowing the rules, as well as facts, feats and figures of the Games.
Cammie Burke, assistant secretary general of the Barbados Olympic Association, welcomed the coverage.
“We are delighted that Barbadians will have the opportunity to witness first-hand their national competitors compete at what is the world’s greatest spectacle,” said the chef de mission.
“Normally, our competitors receive little or no attention unless they are in the winner’s circle. Indeed, it can be devastating and demotivating for an individual who has achieved a national record and performed at a high standard within the context of his country to receive no publicity whatsoever and be allowed to languish from the media glare with only the support of other team members.
“Also, it is not unusual during the Games’ Opening Ceremony for Barbadians to be glued to their television sets to witness their team’s entry only to see a commercial instead.”
Burke said there were no qualifiers to date and the Pan Am Games, which begin on Friday, should make that picture clearer.
The event was attended by CBC’s acting general manager Rod London and other CBC executives MCTV’s Andrew Greene, members of the board, sponsors and Olympic swimmer Nicky Neckles.
