Circa 100 representatives of leading TV companies from around the world have arrived in Sochi to participate in the first International Meeting of Broadcasters of the Olympic Games 2014. During the briefing they will be informed about preparations for the Games and be informed about the activities of TV and radio broadcasters before, during and after the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2014.

Representatives of SKY ITALIA, ATV (Austria), ORF (Austria), ARD/ZDF (Germany), FT2/FT3 (France), NBC Olympics (USA), Japanese Consortium and other broadcasters will participate in the event. Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and Manolo Romero, Head of the Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS), will open the meeting.

The International Meeting of Broadcasters of the upcoming Games is one of the most significant events on the calendar of global sports television events. Many of those TV companies will have their own production departments in Sochi during the Winter Games in 2014, where both their employees and Sochi staff will work. The major TV companies will begin filming in Russia already in 2012, and in November 2013 they will begin to work in Sochi.

Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, announced:

“The broadcasters are true members of the Olympic movement as the Games bring together an audience that is one of the largest in the world. Long ago the Games ceased to be only a spectator sports celebration and became also a massive television event. The interest that more and more people display towards the Games and the Olympic values and ideals depends directly on the effective work of sports journalists and the producers of the Games’ Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as on the TV picture quality.”

Dmitry Chernyshenko, President and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, noted:

“The International Meeting of Broadcasters of the Olympic Games of 2014 is an excellent platform for dialogue, in which the parties have an opportunity to maximally leverage the advantages of the Sochi sports venues in order to introduce the most modern solutions in the area of TV coverage. The briefing will give us the opportunity to present what we can offer so that the coverage of the Games can really be innovative.”

“Sochi 2014 will be the first Winter Games broadcast in 3D; we are already working very closely with our colleagues at Panasonic to ensure optimum technical delivery.”

Traditionally, the host city of the upcoming Games holds two International Meetings of TV Broadcasters that are conducted by the Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS). The second International Meeting of Broadcasters is planned to be held in Sochi at the beginning of 2013. More than 300 participants are going to take part in that meeting.

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