Is Bell TV Planning anything special for the Olympics?

  • Thread starter Thread starter bartlett
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Do we have to call and subscribe to them? Hopefully it wouldn't be set up as free ppv that you have to order every day as that was very annoying for Bejing.

5 would be amazing though as even having 1 for Bejing was great. You could watch the entire swimming meet just as if you were there.
 
From the New Channels thread:

Indeed.

What I'm hoping is that they include coverage of all the same events that OLN will be exclusively showing (various nordic and sliding sports). OLN is the only one of the English-language broadcasters that doesn't have an HD channel, and it costs an extra $8 that I'd rather not spend (for the SD Sports 2 pack).

We'll have to see if the EPG starts listing specific events for the five channels. I'd be surprised (but pleased) if Bell published a complete schedule before the start of the Games.
 
So the first event of the games was on Bell TV channel 995 in HD this afternoon. Good HD but I hope this isn't going to be indicative of the quality of the camera work. Very few "wow" shots of the setting (I've been there. It's magnificent) and no sense of flying through the air (years ago that was an ABC specialty) which is at the heart of ski-jumping. Canadians sadly did not even come close to qualifying for the next round so I hope this won't lead CTV to give the next round minimal coverage.
 
According to the link Bartlett posted, you have to call Bell to subscribe to the channels through the phone order line, which needs a event id number.
 
OK, colour me surprised and pleased. Bell has published a complete schedule of the events covered by their five Olympic channels (SD 381-385, HD 995-999) on their website. On some -- but not all -- days, they cover every event. On busy days, it looks like they alternate between doing Hockey & Curling on one day, and everything else on the next day, but I haven't studied their schedule in enough detail to confirm that.

The timezone selection feature of their pages doesn't seem to work; everything is listed in Eastern Standard Time, regardless of the selected timezone.

There continues to be ambiguity about whether a single order will cover one day or all days. The descriptive text at the top of each day's listing says: which suggests that one order should cover all days. On the other hand, each page says when it can first be ordered, only two days prior. For example, the page for the last day, Feb 28, says: which suggests that each day must be ordered separately (up to 48 hours in advance).
 
Wow, they must have changed it after I called this morning. I've placed a second call and re-ordered everything just in case.

Russ
 
Just now on the National CBC did a background piece of the type that I would expect to see on CTV just before an event begins. That is hardly a news story!

CBC is behaving as if they are still the Olympic broadcaster. I wonder if they're deliberately daring CTV to invoke their rights and to create an unpleasant incident in the media? They are arrogant enough to do this. After all, isn't their god-given right to broadcast the Olympics? (They admittedly have done it better than anyone else in North America anyway).
 
For those who don't have Bell TV, here's the scoop. Bell gives us five SD/HD channels with better (slightly) HD PQ than CTV/TSN/Sportsnet and much better audio. Crowd noise on these channels in particular is just amazing. This afternoon during the snowboard cross coverage I could pick out individual voices cheering at the bottom of the run. It's the closest feeling yet to actually being there. Hockey tonight was also close to perfection. The only time I went to CTV was between periods. It was neat to see that special collapsible set that they've built but other than that I didn't miss the continuous chatter. One other thing about these channels. Since there's no play-by-play you can't let your attention wander for even a minute. It really makes you stay focused on the event.
 
I'm hoping that Bell can also show uninterrupted commercial-free content of the medal ceremonies and concerts as well.

http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-spectator-guide/celebrations-and-ceremonies/ceremonies/

In the past these have not been well-done with the networks cutting in-and-out at will to switch to other events or insert a commercial. There are some really good acts this time around and would love to see them. But I would suspect that when Bell says "uninterrupted live COMPETITIONS" they probably would exclude these from their feeds.
 
So now you're likely to see a double entry on your next bill (2 x $0) as computers take these things literally. Wonder if GST will be added? :)
 
Here is the official details for the Olympic channels. I know most of this has been posted, but I figured I would post the whole thing.

Free Olympic 2010 coverage on Vu!

Description
 
Some of you have probably seen this in your guide.
But it looks like there's 2 multiview channels as well. In HD, its 993 and 994, just under all the new extra channels.
993 seems to have 6 main channels...at the moment, CTV, TSN, SNET, RDS, V, APTN.
994, they're all black screen now, so I'm assuming its a multiview of the extra Olympic channels (995-999). Not sure what the 6th one would be tho?

And I think this channel is on satellite 91, so should be the same multivu channel for SD or HD...
Not sure tho.

About the player cam channels...I assume those will only be available in SD??
 
Why do they make the customer go through the trouble of ordering the free events for the Olympics? Why not just make the channel open like all other sports channels? I understand you only have to do it once, but why at all? Seems kind of strange to me.
 
Taht was really funny with Peter on the National talking about what its like to not be the offical broadcaster! But I dont think they're doing anything illegal. The arent going into the atheletes village. Any Tv station could do the same thing they are. They're on public streets.

Also i don't think he sounded arrogant he was laughing and having fun with it all.
 
No we have a SD rcvr and we don't get any channels more than 977. So if any body finds a SD channal with a multiview pls let us know.
 
What Bell did well:
- the multiview channels (275, 993, 994, ...)
- the commercial free channels

What they could have done better:
- put those multiview application on the box (why wait all the time...)
- less compression on all the channels (now Rogers looks much better)

-gmd
 
I'm extremely pleased with the video quality of the PPV HD Olympic channels (995-999). Occasional artifacts were evident on CTV during the opening ceremony but the same broadcast on the PPV channel was much sharper and error free (9242 in Ottawa/Winchester).

I also wish CTV would be more clear as to when they're going to show coverage of which event. Pressing INFO tells you they're going to cover the snowboard cross but you don't know if its in the next 30 minutes or 2 hours from how. That would be nice of CTV to do.

And I love the I Believe theme. CBC's theme was just too stuffy for me.

I was also impressed with NBC's coverage and reaction to Alex's gold medal. Watched it again on their replay and they did a great job. Didn't make their bronze medal the centre of attention like I would expect the Americans to do.
 
I do same thing i recall just for sure and this thime all are automated when a call this morning nothing are automated BTV just verry slown on switch:confused:
 
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