Consortium reinvents how Games coverage will be delivered

Canadians to experience Olympic Games like never before

Record 4,800 hours of live Vancouver 2010 coverage

It’s a completely new way to experience the Olympic Games. With one month to go until the Opening Ceremony, Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium announced today the most ambitious media initiative in Canadian history.

The Consortium will deliver unprecedented choice and access in a broadcast plan that is unlike anything seen before anywhere in the world. The strategy is designed to allow Canadians to experience the Games on their own terms – to watch what they want, when they want and how they want. Viewers can access three levels of experience: Best of the Best (on CTV and V), Extended (on TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, RDS and others), and Complete (on CTVOlympics.ca and RDSOlympiques.ca). The Olympic Games experience will also be delivered by the Consortium via online, radio, print, mobile, VOD, theatre, and in person at local events.

“Throw away any pre-conceived notions you may have about an Olympic Games broadcast,” said Ivan Fecan, President and Chief Executive Officer, CTVglobemedia and Chief Executive Officer, CTV Inc. “We are giving consumers complete control of their Olympic Games experience, tailored for our digital age.”

“We have seen an evolution in the way Canadians consume media, and as content providers, we have an obligation to deliver on those desires and expectations. And that is precisely what we aim to accomplish,” said Keith Pelley, President, Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.

Viewers can choose the intensity of their Olympic Games experience:

Best of the Best – All the ‘big’ moments will be featured live on CTV and V (with French-language coverage produced by RDS). Viewers won’t miss any of these key moments from Vancouver 2010, as the two channels will provide live coverage of the top stories and most significant events at any given time, including every single Canadian medal victory. In addition to live event coverage, CTV and V will present highlights from events happening concurrently on other channels, directing viewers to additional networks for extended coverage of certain events.

Extended - Companion networks, including TSN, RDS and Rogers Sportsnet, will present live coverage of key events from start to finish. Full hockey games, curling matches, alpine skiing races, figure skating programs, speed skating, sliding events and more will air in their entirety on these channels.

Complete – Every second of every competition will be provided live on the Consortium’s two websites CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca. With up to 14 concurrent live streams available, the websites will host live feeds from five networks (CTV, TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, V and RDS) as well as the live host broadcast stream of every sport and discipline from beginning to end of competition. For coverage viewers don’t often get to see – such as the 65th-ranked alpine skier from the Cayman Islands – CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca offer access like never before. Viewers won’t miss a second of the action.

The Olympic Games transcend sports, and as such, the Consortium will roll out the red carpet for all the glamour and glitz as the ETALK and FASHIONTELEVISION teams cover the celebrity sightings, style, fashion and pop culture of the Games. MuchMusic also heads out west for a daily double dose of the music, sights and sounds of the Games with MOD Live @ The Base, as well as exclusive coverage of the star-studded nightly concerts from the Vancouver and Whistler Victory Ceremonies. CTV and Rogers’ industry-leading news organizations will also be front and centre with frequent daily reports on the politics, protests and topical issues of the Games.

In an Olympic Games first, the Consortium will deliver every second of every competition LIVE from Vancouver 2010, encompassing more than 4,800 hours of coverage in 22 languages on 12 television channels, 20 radio stations and two dedicated websites. In all, the Consortium will present more than 2,250 hours of coverage on television, 2,350 hours online and 200 hours on radio. The Consortium’s coverage of Vancouver 2010 on television alone is more than double the amount of Canadian television coverage made available in English and French for Turin 2006 (1,009 hours). Coverage of Vancouver 2010 will be produced entirely in High Definition and will be presented from February 12 to 28 across the following platforms:

- Television (English) – CTV, TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, OLN, APTN, MuchMusic
- Television (French) – V, RDS, RIS Info Sports, APTN
- Television (Multilingual) – OMNI.1, OMNI.2, ATN, APTN
- Online – CTVOlympics.ca, RDSolympiques.ca
- Radio (English) – Rogers Radio: THE FAN 590 Toronto, THE FAN 960 Calgary, Mountain FM Whistler, News 1130 Vancouver, 680 News Toronto, 660 News Calgary, News 95.7 Halifax, News 88.9 St. John, News 91.9 Moncton, 570 News Kitchener
- Radio (French) – Corus Quebec: CKAC Sports, 96.9 CKOI, 98.5 FM and Info690 Montreal, 102.9 Souvenirs garantis Quebec, 102.1 CKOI Quebec,
104.7 Souvenirs garantis Outaouais, 98.3 Souvenirs garantis Saguenay, 104.5 CKOI Estrie, 106.9 Souvenirs garantis Mauricie
- Print – The Globe and Mail
- Theatre – live coverage available in 64 Cineplex theatres throughout Canada during the Games, with CTV Olympic Games Broadcast at Cineplex
- Mobile – exclusive live video streaming on Bell Mobility, live coverage of men’s and women’s hockey, recaps, highlights and unique mobile features
- Video on Demand – details to be announced in the coming weeks
- CTV Olympic Celebration – details to be announced in the coming weeks

To help viewers navigate their Olympic Games experience, CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca offer an all-encompassing interactive digital Viewers’ Guide, presented by Bell. Launching February 1 at CTVOlympics.ca, RDSolympiques.ca and as a mobile application, the Viewers’ Guide is fully customizable offering Canadians complete control over their Vancouver 2010 experience. The Viewers’ Guide also enables and instructs fans to set reminders and alerts as well as program their Bell TV PVR by specific sport or event, ensuring they don’t miss any of the action or results.

Source: CANADA’S OLYMPIC BROADCAST MEDIA CONSORTIUM – OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES – ENGLISH

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) reallocated the medals won by Marion Jones at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

The IOC disqualified Jones on 12 December 2007 from the five Olympic Games events in which she participated at the Sydney Games, and one event she competed in at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens after she admitted to using a prohibited substance prior to, during and after the 2000 Games.

The medals are allocated as follows:

100m, where Jones placed 1st:
Gold: Not awarded
Silver: Ekatirini Thanou (Greece)
Silver: Tanya Lawrence (Jamaica)
Bronze: Merlene Ottey (Jamaica)

200m, where Jones placed 1st:
Gold: Pauline Davis-Thompson (Bahamas)
Silver: Susanthika Jayasinghe (Sri Lanka)
Bronze: Beverly McDonald (Jamaica)

Long Jump, where Jones placed 3rd:
Bronze: Tatyana Kotova (Russia)

The reallocation of the medals for the 4 x 400m relay and 4 x 100m relay, where Jones’ teams placed first and third respectively, is still pending the outcome of an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

This feature is exclusively on Playboy.com. This pictorial is NOT a feature in Playboy magazine

Playboy.com today launched a new pictorial featuring Playboy models wearing the most technologically advanced swimsuits, in celebration of the 2008 Summer Olympics. The new feature (www.playboy.com/swimsuits) reveals a 12-image slideshow of Speedo’s official Olympic swimsuits over the past six games — dating back to 1988 — shot poolside at a fitness club in Chicago.

“Olympic swimmers are known for their beautiful, toned bodies which always are highlighted by their sleek suits,” said John Thomas, Editor for Playboy.com. “We are excited about this unique opportunity to showcase Speedo’s official Olympic swimsuits over the past decade, with the story behind the suits adding a new layer of interest about the victorious swimmers who wear them.”

In the pictorial, the Speedo swimsuits are worn by Greenville, Michigan native Cassie Keller, 18, and Sharae Spears, 24, from Knoxville, Tennessee. Cassie is a Playboy “Special Editions” model who will be featured on the “College Girls” cover released on December 2nd and Sharae is the August 2008 Cyber Girl of the Month. The buoyant beauties wear the following swimwear: the Speedo Star Axcel (1988), Speedo S2000 (1992), Speedo Aquablade (1996), Fastskin Speedo (2000), Fastskin FSII (2004), and Speedo LZR Racer (2008).

Although both Playboy models wear the one-pieces, Sharae — who sports the latest Speedo — took almost 30 minutes to squeeze into hers, as also is the case for professional swimmers. This year’s suit — the Speedo LZR Racer — which independent testing has shown to be the world’s fastest, is the brand’s most hydro-dynamically advanced swimsuit to date. The NASA-researched suit reduces drag while swimming and compresses the muscles to reduce fatigue. Since its February launch, 48 out of 50 world records set have been by swimmers wearing the LZR.

No stranger to the beauty of Olympic swimmers, Playboy magazine previously featured seven-time breaststroke medalist Amanda Beard who posed nude last July and 100-meter backstroke swimmer Haley Clark, also nude, in September 2004’s “Women of the Olympics” cover story. Additionally included in this special issue were seven other Olympic athletes including U.S. pole-vaulter Mary Sauer and high-jumper Amy Acuff.

Source: Playboy Enterprises, Inc.