Earlier in the year we heard about Microsoft’s ambitious challenge of delivering hundreds of hours of Olympic coverage not only live, but available for download at your convenience. Better than that, their Silverlight technology would actually allow users to stream up to 4 events simultaneously. Microsoft partnered with NBC to create the site http://www.nbcolympics.com.
Well now the 2008 Beijing Olympics have arrived, the devil in the detail has emerged. The service is only available to US residents. Localised products and particularly online services (a global audience) are growing very tired indeed. While copyright may be a legit reason the stream can’t be global, the promotion of the service did not make it clear this would be restricted to US residents.
Those keen to see at least some online coverage of the Olympics can check out a small fraction of the coverage at the official YouTube channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/BeijingOlympics2008
More @ http://www.nbcolympics.com/
