Broadcasters tasked with taking games to world
By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-05-19 06:17

The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be beamed to millions of TVs and radios around the world - and the organization to ensure crystal clear pictures and sound reach the global audience was yesterday unveiled to the public in Beijing.

The task has fallen to the Olympic Broadcasting Committee (OBC), set up by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

"The responsibilities of OBC is to co-ordinate among the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co Ltd (BOB) and other Chinese television stations," said Jiang Xiaoyu, BOCOG executive vice-president and also president of OBC.

The committee is composed of representatives from concerned government departments, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Information Industry, the General Administration of Customs, State Administration of Taxation and China Central Television.

"We will work with different government departments to formulate favourable policies," said Jiang.

"As the Olympics is the most widely covered sporting event in the world with the highest number of TV viewers, a successful broadcast is a prerequisite for staging a successful Olympics," he added.

BOB is a joint venture between the IOC Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and BOCOG, and will serve as the host broadcaster of the 2008 Olympics and 2008 Paralympics.

It will be in charge of producing international TV and radio signals for the Games, constructing and operating the International Broadcasting Centre and other venues, and providing other relevant broadcasting services to the rights-holding broadcasters of the Games.

It is estimated that 4 billion people will watch the games and the Paralympics worldwide.

(China Daily 05/19/2005 page2)

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