Widest Olympic coverage ever

Five TV channels will be mobilized to air footage of the Beijing Olympics in what rights holder Solar Sports describes as the widest multi-media coverage of the Summer Games in Philippine history.

Solar vice president for marketing Jude Turcuato said the other day the coverage will go beyond the traditional TV outlets and move into the wireless platform, internet and high-tech media to deliver comprehensive day-to-day access to events as they happen.

The main TV channel is RPN-9 where the priority sports of Filipino consequence will be reported. At the moment, the Philippine delegation comprises athletes from swimming, diving, taekwondo, archery and boxing. Two mandatory additions will come from track and field. There are still Filipino athletes slated to compete in Olympic qualifiers in various sports so the lineup is far from final.

Basketball TV or BTV will air all the basketball games, men’s and women’s – complete with behind-the-scenes stories and footage of warm-up tournaments. Solar Sports will carry the round-the-clock watch with to-the-minute updates. ETC, which uses the SBN 21 UHF slot, will mainly show women’s-related sports like gymnastics and beach volleyball while Second Avenue, on the RJ station, will key in on new generation-type events. BTV and Solar Sports are two of the most popular channels in the Destiny cable system.

Solar arranged to pick up not only the International Olympic Committee feed but also the NBC broadcasts from the US. It will also send a local TV crew to zero in on the Filipino athletes in action. That means the coverage will be widespread and complete.  It’s likely even LeBron James’ music on his iPod will be reported.

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No other Filipino TV coveror in the past has committed to as much air time and acquired such a wide range of feeds from a wide spectrum of sources. Turcuato said Solar is making sure the coverage won’t only be total but also historic. Hopes are high that the Philippines will capture its first-ever Olympic gold medal in Beijing. But bagging a gold is a tall order particularly as only Harry Tañamor has qualified in boxing, the country’s only source of Olympic medals since 1964. In fact, the last four Olympic medals garnered by the Philippines came from boxing. And the Philippines has not won an Olympic medal since lightflyweight boxer Onyok Velasco’s silver in 1996.

Tañamor will lead the crusade to end the 12-year medal drought. Also expected to contend for medals are taekwondo’s Tshomlee Go and Toni Rivero.

Turcuato said the coverage will extend to at least 300 hours. The TV run-up to the Olympics will begin late this month or early the next. The opening ceremony is scheduled on Aug. 8, a Friday, and the closing on Aug. 24, a Sunday.

To announce Solar’s big Olympic catch, the network held a kick-off party at the NBC Tent in The Fort last Thursday. Over 600 guests packed the Tent, which was configured to resemble the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, as Solar chairman Wilson Tieng, president William Tieng and chief operating officer Peter Chanliong rolled out the red carpet at exactly 8:08 p.m.

By the way, the 70-meter high Bird’s Nest Stadium was built at a cost of $423 million. Its seating capacity is 91,000 for track and field and the opening and closing ceremonies.

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Red was clearly the color of the night. Christine Jacob-Sandejas, who swam in four events at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, hosted the event on stage. Spotted in the audience were Velasco and his older brother Roel who won a bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Games, Monsour del Rosario who competed in the demonstration sport of taekwondo at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, three-time Olympic cager Ramoncito Campos (who played in 1948, 1952 and 1956), Games and Amusements Board chairman Eric Buhain who swam in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, Rep. Erwin Tieng, Rep. Robbie Puno and wife Chiqui Roa and basketball star Vince Hizon and broadcaster wife Patricia Bermudez.

A 60-foot screen was set up in a half-circle for an “all-around” feeling and showed an impressive audio-visual of how Solar intends to cover the Beijing Games. The program also featured red-clad dancers performing renditions of several Olympic sports. And of course, there was the traditional dragon dance.      

To hype up the Olympics, Solar plans to conduct mall tours and sports clinics all over the country in a tie-up with the Robinson’s network.

The launch program lasted until about 11 p.m. then Kitchie Nadal and Session Road took over to kick up a storm with their music.

Solar chairman Wilson Tieng led the ceremonial toast which brought the big crowd to raise their glasses in a good luck gesture for what is destined to be the biggest sporting event on local TV this year and probably, the next four years until the London 2012 Olympics.

“We’re excited,” said Turcuato. “Our Filipino athletes will be out to make history in Beijing and so will Solar.”