Watching the Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics are happening right now in Torino, Italy. Today was the first day I actually sat down next to the TV and watched some of the coverage. The hockey game was on, in which Canada lost to Finland 2-0. Coverage of the hockey game is pretty good, the olympic format doesn’t have TV breaks scheduled during the game so there is very little chance for the network (CBC in my case) to brainwash its audience with mindnumbing ads.
My dissappointment, however, is with the coverage of the remaining sports. All we see is how the Canadian athletes are doing. There’s nothing wrong with that, except that when there are no Canadian athletes currently competing, we’re given commercials. Or repeats of previous Canadian non-podium finishes. But mostly commercials. It’s disgusting.
Is the CBC really doing so bad financially that they are forced to flood the air with ads? Given that Canada is such a multi-cultural country, I’d expect to have some coverage of the other competitors at the games. If I was living in the states, I’d understand the lack of international coverage, their aim being to assimilate everyone into the American jingo state of mind. But in Canada? I’m thoroughly dissappointed.
