photo: ODA
15 minutes of fame: the Olympian efforts behind showcasing London 2012
Making sure four billion viewers around the world can watch London's Olympics on their TV screens
The Olympic Games is the most prestigious sporting competition in the world. In 2008 4.4 billion people tuned in to watch the Beijing Olympics. A similar number of viewers is expected to follow the 2012 Games on TV. Expectations are high, with London, Britain, and its technical capabilities in the limelight for a short but intensive period.
Window into Britain
Television will be key to perceptions of Britain's success in hosting the Olympics because it will provide a window into Britain for billions across the globe. That represents a terrific opportunity, but also a major choke point. If the window is dirty or smudged – or, worse, has the shutters drawn in front of it – no-one will be able to see the triumphs of the athletes and of the country as a whole.
The threat of losing or delivering poor quality TV signal owing to bandwidth problems, signal disruption or submarine telecommunications cable cuts whilst transmitting the Games overseas – especially to Asia – is very real, and could neutralize the efforts that have gone into their preparation. Moreover, as the most visible element of the work surrounding the Games, failure here risks perceptions of competency everywhere else.
When faced with poor or no TV signal, viewers will rapidly lose patience; they could turn to alternate broadcasters or watch the Games streamed over the internet – or stop watching altogether. This would surely anger sponsors and advertisers, resulting in millions in advertising revenues being reduced or pulled immediately, or even lost for the next major event Britain hosts. Clearly, the organizers of the Games will want to prevent this at all costs.
Beijing Olympics
Even by the meanest of accounts, 2008 was a major success, and Britain could do worse than to benchmark 2012 against these accomplishments. The spectacular event was for the first time in the history of the Olympics broadcast in HD – the standard is now set. The digital TV transmission service provided from Beijing was high quality and stable from start to finish; not a single second of over 4,000 hours' coverage of the Beijing Olympics was dropped in transmission to an audience of 1 billion in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). This was possible because satellite transmission was bypassed in favour of the greater capacity and reliability of terrestrial-based fibre-optic networks, specifically those of China Netcom for mainland China, Russian TTK for carrying the signal untarnished across the entire length of the Russian Federation, and TeliaSonera, for distribution to EBU broadcasting centres.
Future Business
Sponsors and advertisers play an important role at every Olympic Games, helping through their capital to finance it, and to stimulate the economy of the country in which the Games are held. For 2012, sponsors are paying up to millions to advertise, and there is a huge risk that Britain could lose a lot of this if the TV signal degenerates at any point. It goes beyond the Games too: proving itself here boosts the chances of Britain hosting future events, such as the FIFA World Cup.
Olympics Role and Current Economy
2012 will cost Britain at least £9.3 billion on present projections. With a global economy in tatters, organizers must secure all revenues and look for cost savings. For this level of investment it is vital that everything works perfectly, and not having to worry about the TV signal could save millions.
Hosting the Olympics could be a catalyst for Britain's recovery in the current economic climate. The cost of holding the Games is an economic investment measured through revenue, investment and output streams. The bigger the investment is, the bigger the economic growth it should bring with it: a good show in 2012 will attract investment from foreign businesses and governments and get consumers spending again – all things that will help kick-start the economy. For Britain, hosting the Olympics is a chance to showcase a whole range of capabilities - the world is watching… or at least we want to make sure that they can be.
