Genre: Forum

That's because Seven was so short on money (the network were saving up for a likely bid for the 2007-11 AFL rights, which they got), they couldn't afford to send all of their commentators to Athens back in 2004, so they sent only Bruce McAvaney, Raelene Boyle, Phil Liggett to call the games from Athens, while the majority of their commentary team called the Olympics from a studio booth in Melbourne.It'll be interesting to see what will happen when Nine/Fox Sports takes over the Olympics TV rights from Seven in time for the 2012 Olympics from London. In fact Nine's likely Olympic team could be like this: Channel 7 is sending a lot more commentators and production team to Beijing that the rubbish they did in 2004 and had them calling from a studio in Melbourne. The fact that China is in our time zone and that most finals will be on in peak ratings time means they will do it. Also as of a couple of months ago 7 still had $2bil in the bank after selling off half their equity to KKR at the end of 2006.And supposedly their new studios wont be finished in time to co-ordinate such a big event. This was reported last October. Because of the Olympic coverage he will have to miss out on calling three rounds of AFL, however the talk around Seven seems to be heading in the direction of Dennis Cometti hosting the coverage on his own of those three rounds with the assistance of the special comments team. A few weeks ago it was announced Bruce will be doing the swimming with Duncan Armstrong and Daniel Kowalski , so like Athens, he will double up with swimming and athletics and call 79 of the 302 finals at the Olympics. Dennis called the swimming for 7 at the Atlanta and Sydney games and in between that he did the 98 World championships in Perth for 7. I wondered if 7 would handball their footy coverage over to Ch 10 for 3 weeks, but looks as if the will try to do both. The footy coverage will be interrupted during the Olympics if an Aussie is the chance to win a medal. Shouldn't happen on a Sunday arvo but a chance on a Friday night. These are the AFL games that will be on Seven while the Olympics is in progress: AUGUST 8: Melbourne v Geelong AUGUST 10: Adelaide v Richmond AUGUST 15: Port Adelaide v Collingwood AUGUST 17: Carlton v Kangaroos AUGUST 22: Western Bulldogs v Essendon AUGUST 24: St Kilda v Adelaide So it'll be interesting to see what Seven will do re AFL coverage. Will they decide to bring these matches I've highlighted from delay to live in case of a clash with their Olympics commitments? Also interesting to see that SEN (who hold the commercial radio rights) will stick with the footy ahead of the Olympics. What will happen if Jana Pittman is a gold medal chance at the athletics and is getting ready to run in the Olympic final, and at the same time Port and Collingwood are dead level at 3 qtr time? Would you stick with the footy, or cross over to Beijing? Most of the Olympics stuff is going to be held in the morning (the finals). The heats would held in the evening (almost in the afternoon here) so would lead into the news. The footy will be okay - and I think Dennis is not going because of his work on the footy with 3aw as well. Wrong, the only thing that has changed for TV is swimming. There are 302 finals. Close to half of the finals are at night time. Maybe Aussie sports fans aren't interested but apart from the road events all other track and field events are at night, as is track cycling, gymnastics, boxing, all the team sport finals, taekwondo, judo etc Some events will be early morning China time ie 7am to 10am so add 2 hours for EST, ie road athletics events, rowing, canoe/kayak events and the swimming finals will start at 10am Beijing time. I can't remember what Seven did last time, and of course the time difference was greater so there were less clashes. But I think footy kept priority in footy markets. Seven will be glad to show no footy in NSW and Qld; but what the contractual obligations? They might just put the footy on 7HD and Olympics on the main channel - that would cover any contract regarding "free to air", even if a large portion of the population don't have the equipment to access it. Seven also are the only commercial network that wanted multi-channelling and have 3 or 4 different versions of their main channel. It is possible this might be used during the Olympics to broadcast different events on each "view"; or to have one interrupted by AFL coverage to meet contracts. (That will only be an issue for Sundays, Friday nights can be safely shown after the Olympics have finished their night sessions; even at 3am if need be. or they could be like Nine were in NSW and Qld during Wimbledon or any other event and not show games at all.) In 1988 when the Olympics were in Korea and therefore in our time zone, ch 10 had the Olympics so there was no clash. But as the Olympics started in mid September they would have only clashed with the PF and GF if ch 7 had the rights. In 1992, ch 7 didn't cover all 7 games (ie 15 teams), so the night games were midday to early afternoon in Barcelona and a minor clash, and for the arvo games it was early am in Barcelona. Similar in 1996 at Atlanta. No clash for night games and some minor clashes for afternoon games. Also ch 7 still weren't covering all 8 games. In 2000, the footy season was finished, and in 2004 ch 7 didn't have the footy. But more important than Dennis not going has anyone heard definitely whether or not Roy and HG are going?? Might be hard to schedule, as in Oz they come on between 11 and 12 at night depending on when the coverage finished. But 11pm Beijing time when the sessions finish is 1am EST. Hopefully they get say, the 6.30pm to 7.30pm gigs when there might be a lull in the afternoon schedule. But more important than Dennis not going has anyone heard definitely whether or not Roy and HG are going?? That is the real question. From what i've heard there won't be another Dream unless something is worked out very soon. Also, how could they not show the footy live? IIRC, it'll almost be 24/7 olypmics on seven with a few exceptions ie news and afl. This means no better homes and gardens so it makes sense to push it forward. These are the AFL games that will be on Seven while the Olympics is in progress: AUGUST 8: Melbourne v Geelong AUGUST 10: Adelaide v Richmond AUGUST 15: Port Adelaide v Collingwood AUGUST 17: Carlton v Kangaroos AUGUST 22: Western Bulldogs v Essendon AUGUST 24: St Kilda v Adelaide So it'll be interesting to see what Seven will do re AFL coverage. Will they decide to bring these matches I've highlighted from delay to live in case of a clash with their Olympics commitments? Also interesting to see that SEN (who hold the commercial radio rights) will stick with the footy ahead of the Olympics. What will happen if Jana Pittman is a gold medal chance at the athletics and is getting ready to run in the Olympic final, and at the same time Port and Collingwood are dead level at 3 qtr time? Would you stick with the footy, or cross over to Beijing ? I cant stand Jana Whatsername, but her event only lasts a minute, like most Olympic Athletic events. Id probably only miss a quarter of footy for the 1500m