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  Pay attention in the back rows readers, because this month we are starting with a quiz. What does Phil 'The Power' Taylor (11-times World Darts Champion), have in common with Lance Armstrong (six-times Tour de France winner), and Michael Schumacher (six-times, soon to be seven-times Formula One champion)? The answer is, that along with nine other contenders, Taylor, Armstrong and Schumacher have been included in a list of the top 12 greatest sportsmen of all time, compiled by a popular UK newspaper.
At last, cries S&T, some recognition not only for a sporting genius whose virtues are often extolled in this column, but also for a game that is usually derided by the media (and our friends/neighbours/relatives/postman/pet gerbil) as not even being a 'proper' sport.
Those in doubt of the sporting prowess of Taylor and his darts colleagues would have been knocked for six (apologies for the mixing of sporting metaphors) during the last weekend of July at the Stan James World Matchplay Championships at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool (a seaside town in the North of England for those who don't know it. Earlier in the year, S&T described Dubai as being like Las Vegas with camels. For Blackpool, think Las Vegas with donkeys. And like Vegas, Blackpool has its own fake Eiffel Tower. Bargain).
You'll be thrilled to hear that S&T was at the Winter Gardens, adorned by its attractive 'Darts is a Sport' clothing patch and new Phil 'The Power' Taylor 90% tungsten darts with pink flights nestling firmly in its pockets in case its own darting skills were challenged. After stalking the likes of former world champion Eric Bristow and legendary darts television commentators Sid Waddell and John Gywnne (all of whom were sadly "too busy" to play darts with S&T), S&T and its chums were in rapture as our idol Taylor cruised to his seventh (and fifth consecutive) World Matchplay title in a whirlwind of pure dartestry, beating rising arrows star Mark 'Flash' Dudbridge.
 | | Source: J Branston |
An online Olympics? Talking of the Olympics and thus neatly bringing a halt to S&T's darts-related meanderings and back to the heady issues of technology, S&T is very excited about the forthcoming Athens Games. Yes indeedie. This isn't purely for the joy of spotting the bits of sellotape that will be holding some of the venues together (allegedly), or for the chance for the S&T household to put its collective feet up for two weeks in the name of sport (it is work, really), but to see whether these Games will really be the first truly online Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is not a federation that has, how shall we put this, 'embraced' the digital world. Not a lot has changed since yours truly spoke at the IOC New Media Conference in December 2000, apart from Exeter City Football Club's League status of course. Nuff said.
As recently as May this year, S&T heard the IOC's erstwhile marketing director and current director of international media, Michael Payne (shortly to be joining Formula One), sitting on the same lofty stage in Lausanne as he did in December 2000, albeit not in the same clothes (allegedly), saying that the internet will never be a threat to television and therefore of no particular concern to the IOC. Fair enough, but what about the plethora of material that never gets shown on television in the first place? Or what about coverage of sports by countries with shallower pockets than the US et al that can only afford to take the host broadcaster's feed and therefore might not be able to show their own sportsfolk doing well in certain sports? If that's not an opportunity for broadband coverage, then you may as well take away S&T's signed photo of Phil 'The Power' Taylor right now and replace it with a picture of Jacques Rogge. Or watch S&T eat its hat. Or something along those lines.
Yes, yes, we know that US broadcaster NBC funds around 60% of the whole Olympic movement (allegedly) and therefore protecting the television rights of major broadcasters is a must (Doh!), but surely one day the IOC will throw open its arms to the online world and embrace it as being complementary rather than competitive? Hopefully in time for the Blackpool 2020 Olympics.
Happily, S&T is delighted to report that the IOC has had a couple of glasses of Chardonnay since Sydney 2000 and seems a bit more relaxed about (excuse our language) 'the Internet'. Although the more cynical of you readers might think this is because the European Union's antitrust folk had threatened to get heavy with them.
Whichever is the case, several domestic host broadcasters such as NBC will be exploiting some of their video rights for Athens 2004 in a sublimely online way. The Games won't be streamed live per se by NBC, but users will be able to watch video highlights on NBCOlympics.com once the action has been shown on television screens. The network hopes its service will attract 20m unique users to its website during August (also see this month's ArkSports Databox: NBCOlympics.com 'By-The-Numbers') for some further stats.
NBC Olympics has also entered into an agreement with Zap2it.com to offer continuously updated online television listings for the Games. Beginning 4 August, NBCOlympics.com will link viewers to a customized Zap2it TV Website that will provide around-the-clock Olympic television listings. The TV listings page (www.nbcolympics.com/tvlistings/) features a two-hour window of Olympic programming, and users also will have the option to search for updated tune-in information by sport, daypart, time, date or channel. The NBC networks - NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, Bravo, USA and NBC-HDTV - will provide some coverage of every one of the 28 Summer Olympic sports. And throughout the Games, NBC will provide realtime programming information to Zap2it.com, which will update the listings grid as and when needed 24/7 during the games.
 NBC is also working with the US Olympic Committee to help it exploit the web for the Athens Games. The US Team official site (usolympicteam.com) has been relaunched and allows users to personalise content across multiple sports. In addition, USOC has launched the first-ever US Olympic online fan club and has implemented online member registration, in partnership with NBC Olympics and Internet Broadcasting Systems (IBS). For $29.99, Fan Club members can support the US Olympic Team with a tax-deductible gift and in return receive a number of premiums including US Olympic Team merchandise, special offers from sponsors and members-only access to exclusive content and downloads.
Sounds good to S&T. So we asked Marzena Bogdanowicz, director of marketing at the British Olympic Association (BOA), whether she thinks the concept is a flyer and a possibility for her own national Olympic body in the future. "This is a fabulous idea," she agrees, "the BOA have been looking at membership/supporters clubs for a few years, but have yet to take it live, so we will watch the success of the USOC programme with interest. At the end of the day, the public want to feel part of the Team [GB] and this is one way it can be done. Even my 12 year old nephew once said to me, knowing that I work for the BOA, 'I will give you some money, I want to back the Team, how can I do that?'. I am sure this will be our next programme of development in the run up to Beijing 2008." So watch this space, readers, you heard it from S&T first.
The BBC's broadband Olympics Meanwhile, still in the UK, the Athens Olympics will be providing content for the most ambitious broadband service ever launched by public service broadcaster, the BBC. Says Peter Salmon, BBC director of Sport: "We're delighted to continue to bring this most prestigious of sporting events to audiences throughout the UK. It's a massive boost to our teams planning the Athens coverage this year from broadband to BBC One." UK residential customers will be able to watch 1,200 hours-worth of footage (including live streaming) from the Games, daily round-ups covering the best of the action and also Team GB focuses - all on five broadband video channels. "It will be the largest scale streaming project ever carried out by the BBC," adds Aashish Chandarana, broadband project manager for BBC Sport, while having an Olympics-themed natter with S&T. "The best of the content will be constantly updated and, importantly, on-demand."
The BBC is confident that the broadband infrastructure it has developed in-house will cope with the surges of traffic expected during peak-times and the most popular events. "But by the time the Games start, we will have carried out some multicast trials with a few internet service providers meaning a significant number of users will be able to access the system."
As far as the BBC is concerned, says Chandarana, the industry is heading towards a convergent world. "Our service will bring the Olympics to anyone on any particular platform so people can sit and watch on TV or on the web. People will be able to consume content in a different way, as and when they want, as well as in a multitasking environment."
Whilst to date the BBC can only successfully block usage by surfers outside the UK by restricting access to residential users, it is working on providing access to 'at-work' users in the future, probably much to the chagrin of employers all around the UK, hopefully in time for Torino 2006.
Meet the IOC infringement police | | Source: EMPICS |
So, busy times are ahead for the BBC and NBC, but what's to stop Joe Public trotting down to the Men's 100m Final with his camcorder and whacking it up on his personal website by sundown after a nice Feta salad and glass of Ouzo? The answer is - the IOC's infringement police - that's who, otherwise known as Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS). Stephen Proctor, managing director of SMS, explains: "Basically we will be monitoring television stations and internet sites around the world to make sure infringements such as illegal use of the IOC logos or video footage from Athens 2004 don't take place." This is a global, 24-hours a day operation for SMS that has been monitoring several thousand websites that are likely to offend since June this year, and will do so until the end of August for the sites that are most suspicious. "We are using a mixture of an automated monitoring system that utilises spider technology to identify offending sites and then it becomes a manual process of checking sites individually." If a site is found to be in breach of IOC copyright, a process gets underway that includes contacting the site and asking them to remove the images and/or video footage, and that might culminate in legislation if they don't. "Usually most people infringe by accident so we get a good response rate. For the last FIFA World Cup, where we carried out a similar service, 250 infringements were identified of which around 70 required legal intervention."
With new technology gathering pace like a small child shooting down the Helter Skelter at Blackpool's Pleasure Beach, SMS expects there to be a greater instance of video infringements during the Athens Games. "We are looking closely at technology that might be used via mobile phones for example because it is constantly moving on, making it easier for people to capture images."
SMS' role will also include testing access to the NBC and BBC services among others, to make sure that geographical blocking remains intact. But on a more basic level, a fan's blog that includes images of the Olympic images could also fall under the litigious spotlight.
Finally, for this month, concerned readers worried about S&T's own legal position will be delighted to know that our Olympic images are included courtesy of sports photographic agency EMPICS. Not only does EMPICS take exceedingly good pictures, but we are delighted to announce that the company is now an official sponsor of S&T. We will be announcing several additional sponsors in the September issue, but until then, enjoy the Olympics, whether it be online, on television or out in Athens! Rachael Church - Editor Do you think darts will ever be an Olympic sport or aren't you bothered? If you have any comments or feedback on this article or any of the features in S&T, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please e-mail your comments to editor@sportandtechnology.com.
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