I am usually a little critical of the BBC, despite it completely funding my upbringing as my fathers employer for 35 years! However their Olympic coverage is amazing, and it appears the WSJ and others agrees:
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That’s not to say the Beeb, as it is affectionately referred to here, is beyond reproach. In the U.K., it can sometimes feel as if the BBC’s rich yet blanket offering — it reached, as of 2010, over 80% of all U.K. adults at least once a week across multiple platforms: radio, online, TV, etc. — is not an optional one; that its taxpayer-funded status encourages a uniformity of point of view; that its remit to provide the “best of everything to the greatest number of homes,” robs it of a certain amount of, well, diversity of outlook. It’s true, as Columbia University journalism professor Emily Bell told MarketWatch last year, that the Beeb fosters a form of national conversation around important topics that media organizations in other countries struggle to achieve. But it can also feel, at times, as if that conversation is the only one in town. So far, the BBC’s Olympic Games coverage is the purest form of rebuttal to the “single conversation” critique. It’s everywhere. On every format. By the roadside and poolside at every drama. It’s interactive. It’s retrospective. It’s dealing intelligently with the sports, providing riveting, but not hagiographic, details and back stories on the athletes. It’s heavy on data. It’s light on schmaltziness. It’s a marvel, quite frankly. If only the rest of the world could fully partake. The unabridged online version, which features 24 live streams covering “every sport, everyday” is for locals only and requires a U.K. IP address. Sorry, world. In the final reckoning, the BBC says is will broadcast 2,500 hours of Olympics coverage, which is 1,000 hours more than it carried four years ago from Beijing. Although, in some instances, it seems some global netizens are finding ways of scaling the citadel. Reuters reported earlier this week an example of a California resident going to great lengths to tap into a London-based server in order to access the BBC’s full coverage online. The International Business Times also has had reports on this phenomenon. CNN’s Piers Morgan is also on board. “I tell you who is winning…the BBC. Fantastic #Olympics coverage,” ran a tweet earlier Wednesday. – Kim Hjelmgaard/@khjelmgaard
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Drakemd
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Posts: 1904
Posted: 41 weeks 5 days ago
It's good because you don't have Ryan Seacrest. Do you want him? You can have him...we might even give you a little cash to take him.