Sport and Cinema.com

After gaining some exposure at a few film festivals, “Berlin 36”, a small-budget movie from a major historic event — the Olympic Games held in Nazi-controlled Germany – is now in general release in the U.S.

According to an Associated Press report, NBC, bidding against ESPN/ABC and Fox, has retained the U.S. Olympic television rights in a four-games deal through 2020 worth more than $4 billion.

The sports program of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Russia was expanded by six events recently when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed the inclusion of ski halfpipe (men and women), women’s ski jumping, biathlon mixed relay, figure skating team event and luge team relay.

With Sundance underway and Oscar nominations revealed, time to look at a small movie gem that recently played at the Palm Springs International Film Festival based on the life of one of the all-time great distance runners.

The Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame got under way today in Olympia, Greece, with the lighting of the flame at an official ceremony outside the famed Temple of Hera.

The Olympic Games have traditionally been a ratings bonanza for American televison networks and they still are. Correspondingly the astronomical rights fees have reflected broadcasters’ level of interest in securing them. But the times, they are a changin’. As the future rights fees are not likely to reach such heights.
(see chart below)

The Richmond Olympic Oval is the long track speed skating venue for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and bound to be eye-candy for viewers around the world. A 15 minute train ride down the new Canada rail line from downtown Vancouver, With its floor to ceiling views of the Fraser River and North Shore Mountains, not only is the vista impressive, but so are the numbers:

The men’s hockey competiton at the XXIst Winter Games in Vancouver will be one of the most coveted tickets form the first day of competiton through to the gold medal match, but will Canada even be in that title game?

There are plenty of world class teams that are capable of winning it all including Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic.

2010 Vancouver Olympic Television Schedule

The sports world turns to its biggest winter extravaganza beginning on the 12th and running through the 28th of this month. So to help prepare those who are more expert in the nuances of an NFL game or the intracacies involved in a NASCAR pit stop, we’ll present over the next few weeks a basic guideline to the sports, venues and potential stars of the XXIst Winter Olympics from Vancouver, Canada.