YOU have to hand it to the RJR Group for the way they are handling the disappointment which they must have felt when CVM secured exclusive broadcasting rights for the London 2012 Olympic Games from International Media Content Limited (IMC) — the parent body of subscriber cable network SportsMax.

It would, however, be interesting to know the basis for IMC’s selection of the CVM bid over TVJ’s. Was TVJ in fact outbid by CVM, or was this just a case of who knows whom? Whatever the story, TVJ seems to be every bit as involved in preparations for these historic games as its main rival, almost as much as if it had secured the rights.

The station’s proposal to broadcast Smile Jamaica style content from London and Jamaica, simulcast across the Tri-State area of the United States, the Caribbean via Caribvision, Europe and the United Kingdom (UK) via the Sky Satellite TV platform and Africa via BEN TV, a UK partner, is a bold and unique experiment that is worth watching. With home-grown broadcasting ‘twins’ Simon Crosskill in London and Neville ‘Bertis’ Bell anchoring in Jamaica, this could be one for the ages.

At the same time, we confidently expect that CVM will maintain the high standard set in recent years by our television stations, which means that this should be a win-win situation for local fans. TVJ, however, is also banking on the proven popularity of its live in-studio commentary with Bruce James, David Riley, and Earl Bailey anchoring the discussions. Hopefully it will also retain the services of Grace Jackson who added more than a bit of colour and experience to previous forums.

Based on the response, the studio formula worked during the previous Football World Cup encounter when the station had also lost out to CVM for those rights but gained dividends from advertising sales by demonstrating that its studio discussion commanded strong audience pull.

But TVJ will not be the only one missing from the Olympics for the first time in many years. Also missing will be the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), the regional body which must be credited for pioneering a Caribbean media presence at these games in recent years, thereby removing dependence on NBC coverage.

I was part of the CMC team for two of the three years when their presence was really felt regionwide. I can well recall the scores of messages from fans across the region that poured into the tiny CMC studio daily, first in Athens and then Beijing, expressing gratitude for the coverage. But the writing was on the wall from the Beijing Games. There were many criticisms against the CMC for including some of its media team members deemed against the interest of their local competitors.

There were also indications that the CMC was struggling for funds. Hence it came as no surprise when they lost out to IMC. They lost even more. Their sports anchor of many years, Jamaican Lance Whittaker, took his cue from that development and jumped ship — clearly a considered career move — to head the nine-man IMC team bound for London. The sole other broadcaster from the old CMC contingent will be the formidable Hubert Lawrence. This being the case, the Caribbean Olympic voice will remain virtually unchanged in London; something which should please all track and field fans.

There is more to be comforted about. Former demands on the modest-size Caribbean team of broadcasters will be further minimised. The International Olympic Commission (IOC) will be establishing an unprecedented platform of international commentators for every sport. Hence, no country will again be compelled to rely on NBC or any other network for commentary on any specific sport about which they are not too well informed.

This is a special blessing for the Caribbean, because whereas the response to our track and field coverage was always positive, the same could not be said for some other sports like swimming, in which there resides significant Caribbean interest. Naturally, the IMC team will still deliver in full on track and field commentary, but will be freed up substantially from the demands of other events where they tended to fall short at previous games.

The NBC itself has retained exclusive rights for broadcasting in the United States where it paid 32 per cent higher than in 2008 for its licensing fee to the IOC. The station further ensured that it retains these rights until 2020. As a result, NBC has been selling many more millions of dollars in advertising to ensure that it gets back some of its investment.

In addition, NBC announced that it intends to broadcast every live event in some form, hence showing more than 3,600 hours of Olympic coverage across its huge network. In so doing, it has signed a deal with YouTube to help deliver live streams on NBCOlympics.com. This should be welcome news to Caribbean-born US residents.

New developments for the London Games should also impact positively on non-accredited media personnel, given the extensive provisions for social media interventions. Dubbed the first “social Olympics”, the London Games are being touted by the IOC and other organisers as the first time social media technology will play an integral role in connecting all stakeholders. In fact, the IOC claims that it is strongly encouraging and supporting athletes and other accredited persons to participate in ‘social media’ and to post, blog and tweet their experiences.

But on closer reading, the IOC terms appear to restrict photographs and video/audio products to personal use for non-rights holders.

Olympic officials concede that these restrictions imposed on spectators are “unenforceable”, but they remain in place to protect organisations which have purchased media rights to the coverage. None of these restrictions appeared to be on the minds of those of us on the team of Jamaican print and broadcast media who collected our accreditation kits at the Jamaica Olympic Association office on Monday morning. For the previous two Olympics I was part of the CMC team; for the London Games I will be filing stories mainly for the Jamaica Information Service.