He just couldn’t miss the Games Bruce! That’s why he’s nicknamed “Mr Olympics”.
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Some great finds. The full Women’s 400m Final is there. Wonder if 7 will replay the Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony in full on 15 September on one of its multi channels.
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They did replay it in full prior to the Athens 2004 Olympics Games Opening Ceremony.
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Hopefully they will. Official DVDs of the Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony go for $100 on ebay at the moment.
I actually found a VHS copy that I recorded myself of the Opening Ceremony. I wonder how well the tape has survived after 20 years though. I haven’t got my old Panasonic VCR connected at the moment to check it.
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Could just download it:
https://ia800501.us.archive.org/3/items/bryanpinkall_gmail_G/2000%20Opening%20Ceremony%20(revised).mp4
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7’s Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony coverage is here:
The coverage was criticised that year for using only one channel and showing AFL coverage instead of Olympic action on 7 on Sundays during the Olympics.
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Coverage was also split with SBS.
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If I remember correctly, Sunday AFL would not be shown at all in Sydney and Brisbane on August 17 and 24.
Yes. Having some sports on SBS was a good PR exercise for Seven. They could say that the coverage was available free on two HD channels. In the end SBS didn’t rate any higher in network shares, but that was because of the numbers that were watching Seven.
The highest rating event on SBS was the Women’s Road Race that got approx double anything else that was shown with 677,000. Australia V Ivory Coast soccer got almost 400,000 as did The Archery Gold Medal.
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More people were watching 7 than SBS but SBS provided coverage of long-form events and non-marquee sports.
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Media Watch criticised the lack of digital live streaming in 2008 when 7 had the rights and shared TV coverage with SBS
Good find. That article also expands upon the laws restricting multi-channeling. It wasn’t until 2009 that they were allowed to do HD breakaway programming.
Think you mean 2007. The first commerical multichannels (Go, 7Two, One HD) launched in 2009
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Thanks for clarifying! 
That makes more sense now as the article instead mentions the reason was because there was an anti-siphon list limitation that prevented the 2008 Olympics airing on a breakaway channel ie. 7HD.
What a ludicrous law at the time, surely as long as the main coverage continued on 7 they could have provided alternate coverage on 7HD. But I guess they were in fact restricted by this law. Hence why 2004 and 2008 used SBS.
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Single channel coverage meant all events was shown on only two channels.
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Kerry Stokes, executive chairman of Channel Seven, which shows the Olympics in Australia, pointed out in a letter to Rogge that the last time the IOC moved events around to suit broadcasters, in Seoul in 1988, 'the decision led to empty stadia, the resulting images around the world damaged the IOC’s image, and the media were fiercely critical of the perceived US
Kerry Stokes was angry and the BBC was mad at the IOC when Beijing 2008 Summer Games organisers moved swimming events to daytime so NBC can air it in primetime to attract ratings.
I’m pretty sure things were simulcast on 7HD in 2008…
Yes simulcast. But not breakaway alternate coverage.