Anyone who's watched the Americas' Cup knows it can be done
much better (and interfering less with the competitors,
too!). But before weighing into the BBC, I asked of my
erstwhile colleagues, and was shocked to find that most of
the coverage is NOT produced by the BBC at all, but by a
Spanish company.

Bluntly, some of it is pretty dreadful quality (not just
the sailing, which is frankly amateurish).

There's an article with the detail and reporting of the
anger in the UK industry, link at the bottom (worth a
read).

Below is a summary, so you know whom to complain to. You
can see the lion's share of the work has gone to foreign
broadcasters. IMHO, the comments about the setup being bad
for sports broadcasting here have already been proven true,
and are a real shame. It also partly explains why the BBC
"Olympic studios" pictures are rubbish too (the news looks
like student TV!).

S.

PS: re the sailing, comments about them getting revenge for
the Armada have already been made!
-------------------------------------------------------

London 2012 Olympic production
------------------------------

Core broadcast coverage is provided by the Spanish
"Olympic Broadcast Service," run by events
producer Manolo Ramero.

It provides a ‘neutral’ feed which is supplied to
each country’s rights holding broadcasters, such
as the BBC in the UK. The feed is then customised
by the rights holding broadcasters, who add commentary
and additional material for their own audiences.
OBS hires various venue production teams from around
the globe to produce coverage of certain sports,
based on their expertise in covering specific sports:

OBS Teams –
Swimming,
Diving,
Synchronised Swimming,
Water Polo,
Modern Pentathlon,
Basketball,
Equestrian,
Fencing,
Handball,
Sailing,
Shooting,
Beach Volleyball,
Wrestling

BBC –
Boxing,
Rowing,
Canoe/Kayak
Sprint,
Tennis,
Football

YLE (Finland) –
Opening/Closing Ceremonies,
Athletics (Integrated/Track/Throws)

SVT (Sweden) –
Athletics (Jumps)

SBS(Korea) –
Archery,
Taekwondo

Fuji TV (Japan) –
Judo

TVE(Spain) –
Canoe/Kayak (Slalom),
Triathlon,
Aquatics (Swimming Marathon)

CCTV (China) –
Modern Pentathlon,
Badminton,
Gymnastics,
Table Tennis

NOS (the Netherlands) –
Cycling (Road Race, Time Trial),
Athletics (Walks/Marathon)

STV (Slovakia) –
Hockey

ICRT(Cuba) –
Volleyball

ERT(Greece) –
Weightlifting

VRT (Belgium) –
Cycling (BMX, Track, Mountain Bike)

<http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/London-2012-the-
broadcast-challenge_bid-317.html>