Beijing, here comes 7…………!
A report in The Age says that with the Beijing Olympics countdown clock closing in on the 300 days-to-go mark, which will occur next Saturday, Channel Seven is also about to crank up its preparations, with an announcement that its coverage of next year’s Games will set a new benchmark in coverage of an overseas event by an Australian television network.
Unlike in Athens, when Seven sent its camera crews and commentators to Athens but had its presenters and production team host the Games from its old South Melbourne headquarters, next year, the network will send its entire Olympic team to Beijing, a massive exercise that will involve flying out 380 staff (compared with just 188 that went to Atlanta in 1996), 240 of whom will work for Seven alone, the other 140 being required as part of the huge Beijing Olympic Broadcasting (BOB for short) contingent that will cover the aquatic events.
The switch in plans is a result of various logistic problems, not the least of which is the fact that Seven Melbourne, which now operates out of Docklands, has since sold its old Dorcas Street complex, so it no longer has a ready-made production centre at which it can set up an Australian broadcasting base of the magnitude required for an event such as an Olympics.
In fact, the number on Seven’s payroll will get even bigger once the Games begin. Because the network will not allow any of its staff to drive in Beijing, 50 locals have been hired already, some of whom will work as drivers and the others as translators.
7 already has a programming challenge to sort out, and that’s how to incorporate its AFL coverage into its Games feed.
In all, three AFL rounds will be played in that time frame — for Seven, that means six games in all — and with Bruce McAvaney taking his customary spot at the head of the Games coverage, the word we hear is that Seven may opt not to replace him but instead get McAvaney’s match-day co-commentator, Dennis Cometti, to fly solo (with the help of his special comments men, of course) before McAvaney is back in time for the finals.
Report by The Mole from The Age.
John Alwyn-Jones
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