Soccer a low priority
The CBC is proud of its comprehensive Olympic coverage, but it is giving short shrift to soccer.
In the United States, early round telecasts of the men's and women's tournaments start today on MSNBC and Spanish language Telemundo. But, in Canada, fans will have to wait for the playoffs in two weeks to receive any coverage.
Soccer is taking a back seat, because of the absence of Canada's men's team and the shocking failure of the women to qualify. It makes more sense for TSN, which is the CBC's cable partner and is focusing on team sports, to air softball and baseball, sports in which Canada is competing.
Depending on the scope of its broadcast license, the digital channel CBC Country Canada could have been used to show soccer. The CBC is planning to use Country Canada to air same-day telecasts of Olympic equestrian events.
Fans are out of luck if they are hoping to watch soccer on MSNBC. All Olympic content on U.S. cable channels will be blacked out in Canada.
Still, Rick Chisholm, the head of programming and production for TSN, said the network has the flexibility to increase its soccer coverage if a strong story develops. TSN will be using BBC announcers when it airs live coverage of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final for the men and the women.
Also heard that the next World Cup will only be broadcasted on HDTV and can only be seen on HD televisions. Apparently Phillips owns the right to Germany '06 and want to really make a splash in the HD television industry.
The CBC is proud of its comprehensive Olympic coverage, but it is giving short shrift to soccer.
In the United States, early round telecasts of the men's and women's tournaments start today on MSNBC and Spanish language Telemundo. But, in Canada, fans will have to wait for the playoffs in two weeks to receive any coverage.
Soccer is taking a back seat, because of the absence of Canada's men's team and the shocking failure of the women to qualify. It makes more sense for TSN, which is the CBC's cable partner and is focusing on team sports, to air softball and baseball, sports in which Canada is competing.
Depending on the scope of its broadcast license, the digital channel CBC Country Canada could have been used to show soccer. The CBC is planning to use Country Canada to air same-day telecasts of Olympic equestrian events.
Fans are out of luck if they are hoping to watch soccer on MSNBC. All Olympic content on U.S. cable channels will be blacked out in Canada.
Still, Rick Chisholm, the head of programming and production for TSN, said the network has the flexibility to increase its soccer coverage if a strong story develops. TSN will be using BBC announcers when it airs live coverage of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final for the men and the women.
Also heard that the next World Cup will only be broadcasted on HDTV and can only be seen on HD televisions. Apparently Phillips owns the right to Germany '06 and want to really make a splash in the HD television industry.