Darrell Davis: Covering the Olympics

Kate Beirness was wearing a blue, CBC jacket on TV yesterday and holding a CBC microphone. Chris Cuthbert, a former CBCer, is also going to be a regular on the people’s network during the Winter Olympics in Korea.

They’re both under contract with TSN, which is owned by Bell Media, which owns CTV, which is CBC’s competitive enemy. So this gets confusing.

In a media release touting the TV network’s Olympic coverage, CBC stated familiar announcers like Brenda Irving, Steve Armitage and Mark Lee would be on-air regulars. Scott Russell would be the primary on-air host, which makes sense because at one time he seemed to be the only personality CBC retained while downsizing its sports department. It’s good to see them all in action.

The media release also said Brad Fay and Arash Madani would be prominently featured on Sportsnet’s Olympic coverage. There were expanded lists of reporters covering the Games online, in print and on radio, led by the indefatigable Devin Heroux.

CBC, indeed, had to assemble a huge English-language “broadcast team” — the network’s description — to bring our athletes into Canada’s living rooms.

One Canadian network can evidently no longer handle the massive task of televising the Olympics, particularly with so many channels and online options. So many options. But it’s nice to see the cross-pollination among competitors. And, as always, the coverage is captivating.

We get told the backstories, watch the results and witness the reactions. The athletes are the stars, but the networks have also been impressive.