Olympic Games Broadcasts

Does anyone know why no entity ever replays The Olympics? The first U.S. TV coverage started in 1960 with both winter and summer games on CBS. ABC did the 1964 winter and NBC the summer. Why wouldn't some entity want to re-air some of the great moments from past decades of Olympics?

 

My guess would be lack of interest and poor ratings for showing replays of decades-old Olympics.

There have been highlight shows and documentaries done of current Olympics and then shown shortly after that Olympics finished. I can't remember his name, but he's a bald-headed guy who did a handful of highlight shows/documentaries of recent Olympics, which were well done.

 

I know but those really hold no interest for me. I DVR and watch the Olympic events I'm interested in so seeing those same events replayed a few weeks later hold no appeal for me. However, I would love to see replays of Olympics from the 60s and 70s which I haven't seen in decades and which pre-date the home recording era.

 

Not to mention what I'm assuming are tight IOC restrictions.

 

My mom and I saw a bike race from the Rio games being replayed in December. I know that's not super old, but it is a repeat.

 

This doesn't really answer your question satisfactorily, but I would try seeking out any of the Bud Greenspan Olympics films on YouTube. They pop up now and again.

 

It seems that coverage time of current Olympics has dwindled in the last few decades. Given that, I can't imagine there's much incentive to show old games. I agree that it would be fun though. I grew up watching the Olympics with my family. Sports we normally had no interest in became nail,biting edge of our seat ordeals. I look forward to them every two years and have tried to instill the passion in my kids, especially the opening and closing ceremonies. They don't care.

 

I'm sure a corrupt organization like the IOC holds onto those things tight. Why? Maybe they feel seeing past events would lessen the desire for cities and nations to bankrupt themselves. For years Formula 1 has been mostly the same. Exclusivity

 

NASCAR shows old archival races and the stick and ball sports do too. Isn't there at ESPN Classic channel?

 

I am kind of surprised there isn't an Olympics channel.

 

There is about to be:
NBC to launch Olympic Channel in July, replaces Universal HD

 

Very cool, thanks!

 

I'm pretty sure all its going to be is sports that are in the Olympics and their non-Olympic competitions. I seriously doubt NBC will be trotting out their 1964 Tokyo kinescopes or their 2-inch tapes from Sapporo.

 

Many highlights are on YouTube of course, like Mark Tewksbury's 1992 backstroke gold:



Tewksbury is also an excellent colour commentator, which he proved in Beijing in 2008.

 

Bud Greenspan. He made some reverential Olympic documentaries. I think 1984 was the first. They have filmed the games & created documentaries for years. Was Reifenstahl in '36 the first?

 

When there were only four channels & one had wall-to-wall Olympics coverage, that'd pull in a greater % of the population. It was a big deal. Plus you had the added element of the free world vs the big bad Soviets. Shudder!

 

Highlight films don't really interest me. I like seeing the original TV broadcasts, not just for Olympics but all sports.

 

That was when the Olympics were great. Once the Soviet Union fell apart, the Olympics became boring.

 

Vancouver 2010 released about 20-25 hours of stuff on 2 blu ray sets. Half of it Canada mens hockey.

 

Back in the 1980's one network showed extensive newly discovered 35mm film of the 1932 Olympics. It would make a great blu-ray.

 

ive heard of worse ideas

 

Almost every recent Olympiad had a video set come out from the broadcaster, though I imagine that means playback permissions may need to clear both the broadcaster and the IOC.

 

I didn't know that. I know ABC put out on VHS their highlights of Olympics they televised from 1976 up. I don't think NBC continued that mode for very long.

What announcer calls do the host feed releases have?

 

The Vancouver 2010 hockey release has the Canadian commentators for the full games, but also has the option to watch the game with only the audio from inside the venue...no talking.