TORONTO – Cable viewers can watch many of their favourite Olympic moments over and over again, on demand thanks to a video on demand agreement signed with four cable operators.
More than 700 hours of video on demand coverage in English and French of the 2010 Winter Games will be available via Rogers Cable, Shaw Cable, EastLink and its subsidiary Delta Cable and Source Cable, free of charge. This represents more than triple the amount of on demand coverage of Turin 2006 (221 hours).
(Ed note: As a Cogeco Cable customer and Olympics fan, we here at Cartt.ca are very hopeful the fourth-largest MSO will reconsider its decision not to take part in this VOD agreement. The third-largest, Videotron, is also not a part of the deal.)
Throughout the Games, additional coverage will include all Team Canada hockey games, event coverage carried by CTV, TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, OLN, V and RDS, and the Closing Ceremony. All coverage will be available within 24 hours after its original airing and can be accessed On Demand until March 31, 2010. The VOD service provides complete user-friendly functionality and digital quality picture and sound.
“Our VOD offering is yet another demonstration of our desire to give Canadians control of their Olympic Games experience – to watch what they want, when they want and how they want,” said Keith Pelley, president, Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, in the press release. “Viewers won’t miss one second of the excitement and are able to relive all the greatest moments of Vancouver 2010.”
Rogers will capture and encode the live feeds from CTV, TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, OLN, V and RDS and make them available to Shaw Cable, EastLink Cable, Delta Cable and Source Cable for distribution.
“Rogers is thrilled to enable the delivery of the Consortium’s coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games to a variety of Canadian audiences,” said John Boynton, executive vice president of marketing, Rogers Communications. “Now, Canadians can catch world-class winning moments on demand whenever it is most convenient for them.”
The Consortium’s Video On Demand offering complements the company’s recent announcements about its broadcast strategy and digital offering – the most ambitious and robust plans in Olympic Winter Games history with a record 4,800 hours of coverage.
