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[IP] Let the Web Games Begin





Begin forwarded message:

From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 16, 2004 1:40:43 AM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Subject: Let the Web Games Begin


Let the Web Games Begin

By Ann Harrison
02:00 AM Aug. 13, 2004 PT

Among the unplanned international sporting events at the 2004 Summer
Olympics could be the dodging of regional Internet broadcast
restrictions and the unsanctioned relay of live online Olympic
broadcasts to Americans.

The Summer Olympics, which began Friday in Athens, is the first
Olympic Games to be broadcast from a collection of websites. The BBC
and other European networks are offering live, on-demand Internet
video streaming of Olympic events to broadband viewers. But the BBC
and fellow members of the European Broadcasting Union are required by
their Olympic broadcast contracts to block U.S. Internet users and
others from outside their home counties.

NBC paid $793 million for the exclusive U.S. Summer Olympic broadcast
rights, and NBCOlympics.com is the only U.S. website licensed by the
International Olympic Committee to broadcast video coverage of the
games. The network is offering 1,210 hours of Olympic coverage --
live and tape-delayed -- on NBC, CNCB, MSNBC, Bravo, USA, Telemundo
and a high-definition channel.

Despite its contractual lock on Olympic footage, NBCOlympics.com is
offering only highlights of selected events after they have been
broadcast on one of the network's TV channels. U.S. customers of AT&T
Wireless' mMode information service will also get video clips. By
contrast, those online in the United Kingdom can watch live simulcast
coverage from BBC TV's five video streams.

American TV stations not affiliated with NBC can show up to three
2-minute Olympic video clips a day. But U.S.-based Internet news
sites that are not backed by NBC are barred from showing any
competition video and can only air news conferences with a 30-minute
delay.

...

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,64562,00.html

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