Vancouver Day 10: Big ratings here, but Americans pine for CBC

 The CTV-Rogers Olympic production is drawing huge ratings in Canada, but many Americans are longing for the CBC,

According to a report in the New York Times, a lot of Americans accustomed to Canadian coverage are upset because their cable packages don't include CBC, They prefer the Canadian style and the fact that everything is live, which isn't always the case on NBC.

But some aren't happy because they don't like CTV's way of doing things. A Detroit lawyer has started a Facebook page calling for CBC to return to Olympic broadcasting. Kurt O'Keefe says he misses CBC. ``They covered the Games as if they were about the athletes and the competition and not self-promotion of network personalities," he writes. Others have decried what they see as un-Canadian flash.

Canadians apparenty don't agree, at least not if the ratings mean anything. CTV averaged 5.6 million viewers in prime time Saturday, an impressive number considering there was no hockey involved. The biggest audience was for the men's 1000 short track speed skating, which averaged 7.4 million and peaked at 8.3 million.

 THE GOOD: There are plenty of technological toys in use during these Games and two of the best were in use Sunday. The best of all is the virtual leader line utilized in speed skating. It shows instantly where the skater is in relation to the leader. Almost removes the need for an announcer. The other, the helmet-cam used in Sunday's ski cross, isn't as important, but provides some pretty cool shots. Especially when somebody wipes out, which somebody always does. ... James Cybulski got a great interview  with speed skater Denny Morrison, getting Morrison to clarify an earlier statement that appeared to criticize the Own The Podium program. Cybulski asked a lot of good questions and as a result got some great answers. ... Katherine Dolan did a similarly good job with ski cross competitor Davey Barr. ... Great idea to carry Melissa Hollingsworth's press conference live.  ... Great line by Brian Williams on these being ``the Spring Olympics,"

THE BAD: Is it just me, or is Brian Williams being underused? He's had a couiple of interviews -- a good one with VANOC head John Furlong and a so-so one with IOC boss Jacques Rogge, but this is what he does best and he doesn't seem to be doing much more than directing traffic. .Speaking of questions, when is somebody  (Williams?) going to ask the Own The Podium people why they made so many outrageous predictions about our medal chances? ...  CTV has done a great job of story-telling but every story needs an ending. The network spent much time Saturday building up the short track medal hopes of the Hamelin brothers. That was fine. But when they finished out of the medals, we never found out what happened because CTV never interviewed them. ... Here's why you need all those channels: There was some pretty good biathlon coverage (yeah, when did you ever think you'd hear that?) on Sunday, but the main network was showing the reporter known as The Toaster trying to find out which nation produces the hottest chicks. 

Comments

[Tpup]

I think the guy in Detroit is upset because they don't get CTV there, not because he thinks TV's coverage is lacking

[Hub]

Given that there is no choice in watching the Olympics but CTV affiliated channels, how can the ratings mean anything about the quality of CTV's broadcasting. It is bad coverage vs no coverage.

If only one could mute the commenters and keep the rest of the soundtrack, it would already be of much higher quality.

[Kathy Leslie]

Wow I thought I was watching the Maple Leafs tonight and then I realized that Ron Wilson was on the opposite bench and I was watching the Canadian Hockey Team. If Martin Brodeur wants to be out of the net as much as he was tonight, perhaps he's in the wrong rink, maybe he needs to go to the other one, the one with the the twirls and jumps, you know the figure skating arena. So how depressing was that game Canada? Even Ron Wilson defected.

[Krister]

Canadians doesn't have a chance to disagree with the CTV coverage because there is no competition - so we get stuck with the 'flash' the Hammer and all the CTV self promotion. The good in technology is the world feed which doesn't have announcers. THAT is a neat feature

[Allan Leggate]

"team Canada Fails to make the Medal Round"

I wished I'd have put a bet on the US because the loss looked very likely to me because you don't win games with verbal diarrhea and that's all I've heard in the media. Don't get me wrong, I'm a pround Canadian and Scot. Golf and Curling both came from my native land and the Scots don't dominate either sport so why does Canada think that hockey gold is a foregone conclusion. They could conceivably miss the medal round because there are a lot of talentented NHL'rs on the other teams, ie. this is not 1972 and though Team Canada could learn something from watching the first 4 games of that sacred series, the plot is much more complicated.
However the '72 series showed that hard work not superstars or older slower players is required against a well coached team on an unwavering mission (to win gold on Canadian soil). How many of the heroes of '72 were superstars going into the series?
Now this is a good gold medal to win!

Allan leggate, Toronto

[Studmuffin69]

who is the toaster?

[Marie]

If you want to see what is happening at the olympics - CTV expects you to pay for it! Everything is carried live on their pay channels while they spend HOURS in the morning self promoting and yacking and gossiping on the main one, only showing a few clips from the events of the day before and some events live in the afternoon! No wonder they were able to outbid CBC - they expect Canadians to pay to see the events. Well, except for hockey... They'd be a riot if they tried to charge for that.

As for their website, you could watch some things (HD is forced on you to make everything especially slow and eat up you bandwidth. As of a few days ago, if you want to watch you are FORCED to upgrade to the silver browzer.

I've given up. I hate CTV.