ss_blog_claim=5f03e3e7fa6ca8c951b6fbd30fa71c10 Olympics | Digital Pivot

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Olympic Media Convergence: Closing Thoughts

Okay, I admit, I’m a hopeless junkie for the athletic excellence of the Olympic games – summer and winter. But Beijing 2008 should have excited even those media and new media junkies the least interested in athletics. NBC’s standard setting closing credits video montage alone was a must see for any video editor. But most significant was how NBC’s multi-platform presentation combined broadcast, cable, Internet, video-on-demand, and pay-per-view while also delivering video as it was captured in Beijing to three screens: TV, PC, and smartphone.

The many promises of digital new media are incalculable. But its gold medal event can’t happen without more advanced technologies. So…

Multi-Media’s Olympian Future

NBC Universal’s unprecedented multi-platform coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics, like its successful multi billion dollar bidding to cover future summer and winter games, offer a fairly clear glimpse of media’s transition toward full multi-platform convergence.  NBC’s Olympics rights include broadcast, cable, Internet, video-on-demand, pay-per-view, and other services.  The International Olympic Committee’s preference for NBC is not limited to the financial attractiveness of NBC Universal’s bids.  The IOC cites NBC as “obviously” the “best choice in terms of the audience, the platforms, (and) the reach ….”   

Before and following its merger with Universal, NBC adeptly honed a multi-media presence after…

Digital Game Point: Olympics for TV, PC, and smartphone

NBC’s presentation of more than 3,600 hours of broadcast coverage during the 17-day Summer Olympics is one of the single most ambitious media projects in history. Some tedious whiners among the punditry have, well, whined that the coverage is over saturation that nauseates them. Time will tell if there is an overkill point for covering events via multi-platform media convergence. For now, it’s exciting to see a great summer games equaled by historic firsts for media, digital new media, and digital technology.

Of particular note, Internet Protocol (IP) video network infrastructure and video-encoding is enabling NBC personnel in New York and Los Angeles to…