NEW ON TV: SuperSport unveils Olympic broadcast plans

SuperSport, with DStv, is aiming to go higher, faster and further than ever for the broadcast of the 30th Olympic Games, which are starting in London next month with eight dedicated channels on DStv.

Given the scale of the event – 39 disciplines spread across 26 sports over 17 days – SuperSport will not only have eight dedicated channels, but included will be a new HD channel which is being launched by SuperSport on DStv specifically for the London Games.

This means that Olympic programming will feature on four High Definition and four Standard Definition channels, giving viewers with HD PVR decoders an unsurpassed television experience of London 2012.

“We aim to be bigger and better than ever,” said Happy Ntshingila, CEO of SuperSport. “The Olympics demand excellence from athletes, but for us it also demands excellence as Africa’s leading sports broadcaster. We have channeled considerable resources, time and energy into our Olympic offering for our subscribers. London 2012 is sure to delight them.”

Among the many top analysts on the SuperSport team will be Olympic icon Carl Lewis, a nine-time Olympic champion. Apart from the wall-to-wall live action, SuperSport will have two riveting magazine programmes: London Calling, a weekend breakfast show from 08:00 to 09:30 (and an extra show on Women’s Day, August 9), and Mind the Gap, a daily 15-minute programme hosted by Neil Andrews and former Olympic football champion Daniel Amokachi. The popular Blitz channel will provide rolling coverage and live updates.

SuperSport will also have a multi-platform online offering, ensuring subscribers never need miss a moment of the action. The countdown will start on 2 July and the 8 channels will start broadcasting London 2012 from 27 July 2012.

Olympic countdown: what to watch and when

• The first team announcement, two days from now, will be broadcast live on SuperSport Blitz, coinciding with the 50-day countdown.
• The Olympic Countdown studio show will be broadcast from July 2-26. It will be presented by Thomas Mlambo and Leigh Anne Paulick.
• The 24-hour channels launch will take place on July 27.
• Olympic Memories and Olympic Dreams, featuring Olympic vignettes with famous winners and medal aspirants, will broadcast throughout June and July.
• Olympic Memories will shine the spotlight on the feats of past medalists Elana Meyer, Penny Heyns, Josiah Thugwane and the Dream Team relay swimmers and others.
• Olympic Dreams will showcase the ambitions of Caster Semenya, LJ van Zyl, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, Cameron van der Burgh and other Olympic aspirants.

Channels: where to watch Olympic programming
The Olympic channels will be SS4, SS5, SS6 and SS7 (SuperSport’s Gold, Silver, Bronze and Spirit channels), while HD2, HD3 and HD4 will be complemented by an all-new High Definition channel (HD5), launched in time for the Olympic Games. These will each offer 24-hour programming, giving viewers an unprecedented level of coverage.

Additionally, SuperSport 3 will feature football on certain days, ensuring that the jam-packed calendar – 58 matches in 18 days – can be accommodated on the World of Champions.

Maximo 1 will be a 24-hour dedicated Olympic channel in Portuguese, with Maximo 2 providing ad-hoc live events relevant to different territories where Portuguese is spoken (Mozambique, Angola and SA).

The popular Toks ‘n Tjops show will be reborn for the Olympics and will be broadcast on kykNET. Magic World (channel 112) will also broadcast two-hour daily highlights from 6am-8am.

Expert coverage
Apart from supplying two Outside Broadcast engineers and award-winning commentator Gerald de Kock to Olympic Broadcast Services, SuperSport will have four reporting teams covering SA, Kenya, the rest of Africa and general news. Reporters will be Carol Tshabalala, James Wokabi of Kenya, former Miss SA Nicole Flint and Udo Carelse.

Additionally, four Olympic champions will provide regular Olympic updates from famous London venues. Apart from Carl Lewis, the line-up will be 2004 Olympic relay swimming champion Ryk Neethling, Dame Kelly Holmes, 800m champion in 2004, and reigning 800m champion Wilfred Bungei.

Available online
Full broadcast schedules will be available across all platforms, including Supersport.com, which has a dedicated Olympic section spread across Web and Mobi and available as a SuperSport app.

Supersport.com will include information on venues, athlete profiles, guest profiles, and live streaming of the Gold channel (SS4) from 9am daily.

SS.Mobi will feature select events live through DStv Mobile and extensive video highlights and news will be available on supersport.com and Mobi.

SuperSport 1 and 2, plus SuperSport 3, which will carry select Olympic events (primarily football) and SuperSport Gold (SS4)  will be available live on Walka and Drifta via DVB-H.

Additionally, SuperSport’s Facebook and Twitter presence will link to magic Olympic videos, interesting Olympic re-tweets and current news, all using the hashtag #ssolympics.

SuperFan social interaction will be driven on broadcast shows from July 4.

Available On Demand
DStv On Demand, which is available on PVRs, will feature highlights from the three sessions daily, plus the opening and closing ceremonies. Olympic Memories and Olympic Dreams, plus daily Olympic updates and Mind the Gap will also be part of the On Demand offering for DStv Premium subscribers on their PVRs.

Paralympics
The Paralympics start on August 29 and conclude on September 9. Coverage will be broadcast on SuperSport 6 throughout each day, with an emphasis on African and SA contestants. For the finals, which run from 6pm-11pm daily, coverage will be live and will include the day’s best moments.