Live Video Streaming of Beijing 2007



  • It seems to me that live video streaming of the Olympics is a WTF on a worldwide scale: One World, One Dream, Two Hundred Different Video Streaming Websites.

    Each country or region has its own website, and the video is only available to IP addresses in that country. So because I live in Australia I can only watch what Channel Seven provides on their website, and I must use Flash video player. My friends across the pond in New Zealand can only watch what TVNZ provides on their website, and they have to use Windows Media Player. Apparently the Yanks have to use Silverlight to watch it on the NBC website. And exactly which sports we get to see depends on the whim and deals of our local broadcaster...

    I understand that the Olympics is a business, and so existing regional deals have to be enforced. But why can't we just have One Website? Why not let the whole world have access to all of the video through one website; it can still be streamed from local servers and the local broadcaster can still put in their own advertisements and commentators when they want?


    It would certainly help us down under. Channel Seven is far behind other channels in their internet broadcasting. In fact they're so far behind that their live video streaming of the Beijing Olympics is copyright 2007:

    Channel Seven far behind in Beijing Olympics broadcasting

    See http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=240897&ch=&cl=8937370
    (but presumably only if they like your IP address)



  • Computer geeks not being renowned for their enthusiasm for sports, or any other form of strenuous physical activity for that matter, I suppose they figured that nobody who'd know any better would be watching anyway. Still, something like Tor ought to provide a tolerable workaround if you've got a good connection and a reasonably fast machine.



  • Except for the fact that the page/video loads awfully slow, it loks fine for me, which is somewhat amazing due to the fact that my IP comes from Germany. But, Copyright (C) 2007 probably refers to the actual software which is used to stream from their server, and not to the content (which isn't their copyright anyway).



  • <script language="javascript">document.body.style.overflow='hidden';</script>
    Ack! Why won't they let me use the scrollbar in a page that doesn't fit vertically and doesn't provide its own replacement scrolling mechanism? 


  • @modelnine said:

    But, Copyright (C) 2007 probably refers to the actual software which is used to stream from their server, and not to the content (which isn't their copyright anyway).
     

    Curiously only the live stream states copyright 2007. All the other Olympic videos that Channel 7 has on that page say copyright 2008.


  • Considered Harmful

    I don't know if this was intentional or not, but it amused me.



  • USA-ian here with a Comcast IP. The OP's link fully loads, but I can't seem to get anything to stream. Don't know whether that's the region checking, or just that I'm on an old 450 MHz Pentium II right now...


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