November 10, 2016
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2016 November 9 - 15 [SOCIAL ISSUES]
2018 Winter Olympics may prioritize US TV stations over figure skaters |
Given the fact that all competitions began at around 7:00 p.m. in the Sochi Olympics two years ago, concerns over a possible negative impact on athletes are increasing.
Sportswriter Ogawa Masaru, author of “Olympics and Commercialism”, said, “From the viewpoint of ensuring that skaters perform in top condition, the idea would not look to be in the best interests of competitors.”
In international competitions, figure skaters conduct their last training sessions in the morning on the very day of the competition. Under the proposed change, they will have no option but to make final adjustments on the day before.
Kido Akiyuki, who was a member of Japan’s national ice dancing team at the 2006 Torino Winter Games, said, “I think it is for the convenience of TV broadcast priorities. If that is the case, it could cause a deviation from the spirit of the quadrennial sports festival.”
Ten in the morning in South Korea corresponds to eight in the evening in NYC, prime time for televised coverage. No doubt that U.S. TV stations, major sponsors of the 2018 Olympics, paid the IOC a large amount of money for the broadcasting rights and that the IOC reflected their desire.
Kido went on to say, “I really appreciate that TV broadcasters air the beauty of ice events, but at the same time I’d like them to not only think of their viewer ratings.”
Sportswriter Ogawa also said, “I don’t see why Olympic broadcasting services must be set to U.S. time because the country does not have potential winners in skating events.” He added, “For many players, the best starting time is normally in the afternoon or early evening. I think it’s not easy to alter the staring time as Japan and Russia, which have strong candidates, would probably oppose the idea.”
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