April 11, 2008

2008 Beijing Olympics Will Be The Biggest HD-Broadcasted Event Ever

When this summer rolls around, and the torch is lit kicking off the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, networks such as NBC who paid $5.7 billion for exclusive US broadcast rights to the games, hope to see a return on their money. And they just might, as the Beijing games is being touted as the biggest HD broadcast ever, featuring more HD footage and broadband coverage than any other sporting event in the history of televised broadcasting.

The Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Corp. which will handle the main production operations come the torch-lighting August 8 will have 1000 HD camera and 60 HD mobile units set up at the various Olympic venues, and hooked up to fiber optics suitable for HD transmission. Not one standard-definition camera will be used at this year's Olympics. Just 4 years ago at the Athens Olympics, NBC only managed to broadcast 396 hours of HD coverage, compared to the expected 756 hours this year. Plus, with broadband broadcasting now playing a greater role in television, we can expect to see 3600 hours of exclusive content at NBCOlympics.com.

Via Variety Asia