YouTube Delivers Olympics For Those Not Served By Local Broadcasters

By Andrew Lippe

YouTube is getting to play in the Olympics
playground as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has created its own online digital channel offering
Beijing highlights to 77 territories around the world, excluding America.
“The Beijing Games mark the first time that digital media coverage
will be freely available across the world,” says Chris Dale, YouTube manager
of public affairs and corporate communications.
The content on the IOC site will
remain for the duration of the games and be available up to 30 days
after the closing ceremony.

The IOC Channel, available in territories
where digital rights have not been sold to a broadcaster, is a boon for Olympic fans in Africa, Asia, India and the Middle East. “What is great is
we have got countries like Afghanistan and Iraq and clearly those countries
are an interesting story in and of themselves in terms of simply being able to access to YouTube,” says Dale.
Geographic
blocking identifies users by their IP address and blocks them from viewing the channel.
YouTube,
of course, is also known as a place where user-generated and sometimes
copyrighted material is shared. “The IOC like any other copyright holder
out there can use the YouTube video ID and is using our video ID technology to
manage and protect their content on the site,” says Dale. Olympic Broadcasting
Services will produce the content for the IOC channel.
YouTube also created a channel for news outlets
as news outlets including the Associated Press,
Getty Images, The New York Times, Reuters, Sexy Beijing and Travel Channel have dedicated channels.

“Video is uploaded to YouTube from
news partners, travel partners and even a group of citizen journalists
shooting their experiences,” says Steve Grove, head of news and politics
for YouTube. “You get a 360-degree view of what is happening in Beijing.”