PurelyAcademic
-
Posts
87 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Football
News
Posts posted by PurelyAcademic
-
-
There's a lot that's at work at the same time.
With Greece, it's not that there's a lack of a regulatory structure. The problem is that one exists, yet the laws are not enforced. Or even more accurately: some of the laws are enforced, some of the time, usually in an arbitrary and sometimes heavy-handed manner, while other times there is no enforcement at all.
That is how you have the ESR (National Radio-Television Committee) fining stations for airing Spongebob Squarepants, but at the same time, a situation where no stations (TV or radio) actually have valid, legal licenses to broadcast at the moment.
Broadcasting...TV and radio alike...is in a perpetual state of limbo in Greece, and it probably will remain that way because it suits certain interests. Politicians can hold license-less television stations "hostage" while stations take advantage of the lack of regulation to pretty much do whatever they want as well.
So how does this relate to digital television? Well, the most recent media and broadcasting law that was passed by the ever-ethical former Minister of State, Theodoros Roussopoulos, included a start date of November 1st, 2008, for private digital television broadcasts to receive. Last summer, a frequency map for the entire country was also released...or rather, two maps: one map with analog and digital frequencies that would broadcast during the transition phase, and a second map with the frequencies that will operate after 2012-2015, whenever analog television broadcasts finally cease.
However, after the map, there were many next steps. The frequency map had to be published (it finally was recently), and the ESR needed to start issuing licenses (it sort of has, but mostly has not) for digital broadcasts. Most importantly, though, someone had to start setting up a new network of digital transmitters throughout Greece.
The original plan was for ERT and the major private networks (Mega, ANT1, Alpha, Star, Alter, SKAI, Macedonia) to form a corporation that would set up a network of transmitters throughout the country that would be operated jointly. This, however, fell apart. ERT now seems like it will go ahead and do its own thing...whatever that is...and the private stations are still scrambling trying to put something together themselves.
Another complication is the fact that the frequencies that are meant to be allocated to digital broadcasts, even during the transition period, are currently occupied by analog transmissions. A lot of stations are going to have to start moving around the dial, and in larger cities, where there are no empty frequencies (and I mean NONE...UHF frequencies from 21-69 and most VHF frequencies are all occupied)...some stations will have to switch to digital-only, putting them at a comparative disadvantage, at least for the short term.
As of this moment, the only digital broadcasts in Greece continue to be ERT Digital, broadcasting in Athens, Thessaloniki, and the Thessalia region (from Mt. Pelion), and more recently, having added a couple of more transmitters here and there (Mt. Akarnanika for parts of Western Greece, plus random smaller towns like Grevena, but not many major cities like Patra, Ioannina, Iraklio, Hania, etc.). A transmitter was also installed in Thasos Island, covering much of Eastern Macedonia and Western Thraki, including the city of Kavala, but it has not been operating for a couple of months.
There is one other digital broadcast at the moment: 4E TV, a religious station in Thessaloniki, broadcasts in digital on channel 50 UHF in Thessaloniki.
The only *other* broadcasts have been, at times, test broadcasts that some other stations have done. Star has been running test digital broadcasts from its studios in Northern Athens, but at very low power. A few years ago, Alpha also ran test digital broadcasts from its main transmission point in Athens, Mt. Imittos. In Iraklio, the local TEI has operated, on and off, a test digital TV station as well.
Unfortunately, the entire history of private broadcasting in Greece is beset by corruption and special interests getting in the way. As I mentioned above, no one currently has a valid license to broadcast. What TV and radio stations have, in most cases, is something called a "
-
You're right that the European feed might be different for football matches, but other than that it's exactly the same. Indeed they've been talking about separate feeds for Europe, America and Australia for years now, but as is typical of ERT, they haven't done it yet (just like ERT Digital, after almost three years on air, still only broadcasts from its original three locations in Greece). Instead they spent 1.2 million Euros on their new logos. :whistle:
-
I think ERT World is exactly the same all around the world (i.e. I don't believe there are separate European, American, Australian feeds, etc., even though that would be a great idea).
-
Nope! I wouldn't expect a reply from them anyway, professionalism isn't high on their list of priorities.
-
I found an excellent response to this article at www.gamesbids.com, where a poster by the name of "Savas" posted this amazing overview of the status of the Olympic facilities in Athens.
It seems to me that a lot of progress is being made. Here is what savas posted, verbatim:
Faliron Olympic Complex:
The Faliron Marina
Has become the National Nautical Centre. Belongs to the Hellenic National Sailing Federation
The Faliron Gymnasium
Has become the International Convention Centre of Athens
The Beach-Volleyball Stadium
Has become an Open-Air Theater for music concerts, art performances and theatralical plays
Faliron Delta and Esplenada
The walking area will be connected with the Faliron Delta where the New National Opera, New National Library and Cultural Centre of Stavros Niarchos will be built by famous architect Piano Renzo
The IBC (International Broadcastin Centre)
Belongs to private Investor Lamda Development and will open this year with the name "Golden Hall" as a Mall. Part of the IBC will be the Athens Olympic Museum
The Olympic Press Centre
Has become the new Office Centre of the Hellenic Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity
The Goudi Equastrian Centre
Has become a multipurpose area for cultural and athletic events and a place for young artist to create culture
The Olympic Badminton Hall
Has become the ultra modern Badminton Theater
The Markopoulo Shooting Centre
Belongs today to the Hellenic Police as the National Training Centre
The Olympic Equastrian Centre of Markopoulo
Belongs today to the Hellenic Equastrian Federation and serves the needs of training and staging equastrian sport events
Schinias Rowing Centre
Is used by the Hellenic Rowing and Canoe-Kayak Federations for training and competition. It is also one of the official training centres of the International Rowing Federation FISA
The Ano Liosion Arena
Has to become the National Digital Archive and Centre of Cultural Academies
Nikea Arena
Is today the Academic Centre of the Pireus University
Pancretian Stadium
Is today the national Stadium of Crete and serves the training needs all proffesional and amatuer athletic clubs
but also for the training and competition of schools.
Patras Stadium (the Panpeloponnisian)
Belongs today to the National Ministry of Athletism. A cooparation between the Ministry and the Municipality of Patras has been signed. The University of Patras is also involved in this cooperation.
Volos Stadium (the Panthessalian)
Is the National Stadium of Magnisia, Volos and Nea Ionia and serves training and competition. It will be the main venue of the Volos 2013 Mediterranean Games for the Opening and Closing Ceremony and athletics.
Galatsi Olympic Centre
Sierra Charagionis S.A. has earned the usage rights for the next 40 years as a Mall.
Agios Kosmas Sailing Centre
Has become a touristic and leisure site. It serves the need of hosting 1000 luxurious yachts. A new romantic walking area at the sea-front has been created with restaurants, plams and benches.
Hellenikon Olympic Complex
The complete site will become the Athens Metropolitan Park until 2012. The park of 783.000 square meters will be europes biggest Metropolitan Park.
The venue of Canoe Kayak Slalom will become the Athens Hydropark. At this moment the venue of Baseball is the home of the Hellenic National Football Team
OAKA
The Athens Olympic Sport Complex existed before the Games. It was renovated by the fantastic Santiago Calatrava. Today it is one the masterpieces of architecture in Olympic history. All venues are in use ni the same frequence as before the Games.
The Athens Olympic Stadium is home of Superleague Panathiniakos and AEK Athens. It hosted the UEFA Champions League Final, and the superb Acropolis Rally of World Rally Championchips. All venues of the OAKA are in use and the Olympic site can be visited by organized tourists groups. In September Madonna will perform in the Athens Olympic Complex in a sold out concert. Bjork had her concert in the Olympic Indoor Hall in July. The Agora and the Wall of Nations hosted this July the Fly Beeyond Festival and the Fashion Walk of Nike. The Velodrome staged the Panhellenic Cyclin Championchips in Juni and the bacardi-b-live party in July.
-
Guys, has anyone seen this ridiculously blatant article by Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports? It is so ridiculously blatant in its assertions against Greece that it's truly mindblowing.
Here's the article:
Beijing trumps Athens … and then some
By Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports
Aug 24, 11:29 am EDT
BEIJING – It is the biggest buzz word in Olympic circles, and the promise of it can dramatically sway the bidding process for future Games.
Legacy.
These days, any hopeful city with Olympic aspirations must not only show its ability to provide venues and infrastructure of the highest standard, but also prove there will be a lasting positive effect on the local community.
The 2004 Olympics in Athens showed how to get it embarrassingly and disgracefully wrong. Over the past 16 days, Beijing has shown the world how to get it magnificently right.
Four years since the Athens Games, a Greek tragedy is taking place. Incredibly, 21 out of the 22 Olympic venues now lie abandoned and in various states of ruin.
Gypsy camps have sprung up in the shadow of stadiums where the world
-
While some of the 2004 Olympic facilities are indeed locked up, I get the impression that most of them are actually in useQ
OAKA complex (Olympic stadium, Olympic sports hall, aquatic center, tennis center, velodrome, etc.): all in use
Peace and Friendship stadium: in use
Hellinikon basketball stadium: in use (Panionios home court)
Faliron coastal zone stadium: in use (I believe it's become a concert space and exhibition hall)
Hellinikon baseball stadium: converted to a football pitch and is in use by Ethnikos
Galatsi indoor stadium: Was in use until recently by AEK in basketball, not sure why they switched back to the OAKA
Olympic Village: converted to apartments and sold
Olympic Media Center: Exhibition space, I believe
All of the football stadiums: still in use
Goudi Olympic complex: became a theater
Nikea Olympic center: convention hall
International Broadcast Center: being converted to retail stores
Markopoulo Equestrian Center: I believe they permanently moved the horse racing here from Faliron, where it was located for years
Not to mention all of the infrastructure improvements which took place in Athens in the years leading up to the Olympics, which the city is benefiting from today....the Attiki Odos, the Metro, the tram, the new airport, etc. So I do feel the positives have far outweighed the negatives, even looking back after 4 years.
-
3/4 is not bad! Unfortunately both men's and women's water polo this year were very disappointing. For what it's worth, the match against Spain had no bearing as I believe both teams were eliminated...but a win against the Spaniards, even in polo, would have been nice anyway!
-
Phelps might be "clean" in the sense that whatever he's taking just isn't on the blacklist yet. I have a hard time believing that he can be so dominant in two straight Olympics without any sort of "aid," and don't tell me it's the 12,000 calories a day that does it!
-
Another medal! Silver this time, in Men's Rowing. Dimitrios Mougios and Vasilios Polymeros bring us our second medal at this year's Olympics. Congratulations to them!
http://www.nbcolympics.com/rowing/resultsa...2100/index.html
-
You're right. EVERY athlete from EVERY nation should be doped, by a truly independent, transparent body, with transparent results, and one which keeps up with the times in terms of the new technologies in the world of doping. The current system of random testing is just far too convenient for the IOC and WADA and the more powerful nations to all have a heavy influence in determining who will and who won't be tested. It also gives athletes/nations which have "first dibs" on new doping technology an unfair advantage, as they get to take advantage of doping agents before they find themselves on the blacklist, whilst coming off as "clean" athletes.
Now as far as the Greek athletes, as far as I know, most of them were tested while they were in Japan before the Olympics. That's where Halkia was tested too. So if this is the only negative result so far, it's likely a positive sign....but it doesn't mean that they are "in the clear" yet. Hopefully this will be the last of such incidents for us.
-
I won't comment about the doping...inexcusable for any athlete to be doing it but it does seem like WADA and the IOC are picking and choosing their targets (and who not to target) this year. Let's leave it at that for now.
The good news is...we have our first medal! Bronze in women's sailing: http://www.contra.gr/Sailing/World/Olympic...008/208835.html
Congratulations to the women for their success!
-
Hi Drakos,you cant use it anyways. NBC only offers it availble in the USA. Wont work here, tried.
www.eurovisionsports.tv
needs IE, adobe flash player. all free and compleltey legal streams no commenatry. Dial Up wont help you get anything, but if your desperate.
Works in Greece. If not, go buy a cheap TV for the summer NET and ET1 got all you want to see...
Which links were you trying to use on my site which were not working? There's at least 40 or 50 stations there so I doubt every single one wasn't working, though I would not be surprised if NET-ET1-MEGA-ANT1-ALPHA etc. were all not accessible. The links are not broken, however, those streams fill up to capacity at certain hours and are sometimes impossible to reach, while at other times, when those servers are close to capacity, the picture and/or audio breaks up. Best bet would be to try back later if that happens.
I've also placed links for live Olympic coverage, including the Eurovision.tv link and several others, including NET-ET1-ET3 if you can get through, at www.media.net.gr/livesports.htm (link is also at the top of the live TV page, www.media.net.gr/livetv.htm)
-
Bad Olympics so far for Greece indeed, but again, there's still time to pull out a few medals. I wouldn't venture to say that these are the worst Olympics of all time for us, at least not yet. It wasn't that long ago where getting ONE medal, even bronze, was a huge success for Greece. Looking at some historical medal counts:
1992: 2 golds
1988: 1 bronze
1984: 1 silver, 1 bronze
1980 (boycotted by the US and many others): 1 gold, 2 bronze
1976: none!
1972: 2 silver
1968: 1 bronze
1964: none
1960: 1 gold
...and so on
I'm still optimistic we can come away with a few medals, though not as many as in 2000 or 2004, which was to be expected....just consider that most of our weightlifting team was disqualified before the games even started...they've been the source of several medals since 1996, even one of our two in 1992.
As an aside, I think several countries will see dropoffs in their medal count, with China's meteoric rise this year.
-
Awful start for us overall so far, but we tend to be slow starters in the Olympics for whatever reason. Even in Athens, I recall that the medals were slow to come at first, so I would not panic yet! Looking at the standings, there's many other countries that have not shown up at all yet, so we do have some company in the medal-less department.
Not to toot my own horn, by the way, but my very own website (which is also in my signature) features live streams of Greek TV channels and Olympics coverage... www.media.net.gr. Feel free to take a look! :)
High Definition & Digital Transition
in TV, Radio, Video, Gaming & Media
Posted
Let's clarify a few things.
There is over the air broadcasting in the USA and while cable (and satellite) penetration in the country is around 80%, that still means around 20% of households rely upon the "old-fashioned" antenna to receive television broadcasts. And 20% in a country of 300+ million is quite a lot of people.
Now, in a few months (after the latest government-approved delay), analog broadcasts in the USA will largely cease (except for low-powered TV stations), and for years, stations have been transmitting a digital signal as well.
HOWEVER: the digital signal is NOT always HD. That's a very common misconception. In fact, most over-the-air digital signals are not HD, because stations have opted to split the bandwidth between 3-4 different channels, instead of using the entire digital bandwidth to broadcast one channel in true HD. Exceptions include CBS, which has a company-wide mandate to just broadcast the main network feed in HD digital over the air. Digital does not automatically imply HD, and just because in the US, doesn't mean it's automatically HD either.
So to sum up: you do not necessarily need a subscription to get HD, because it is possible to broadcast true HD over the air. At the same time, not all digital broadcasts are true HD, because many stations split the bandwidth and provide 3-4 SD signals instead of 1 HD.
You also do not need a special antenna to get digital OR HD broadcasts over-the-air. Some sneaky antenna manufacturers in the US advertise "HD antennas" but they are one and the same with the antennas we've known and used for years. The only difference is that you may need a UHF antenna whereas before you may not have needed one. In New York City, for instance, the major networks are all on VHF, while UHF has some smaller networks, Spanish-language stations and low-powered stations. So a lot of people had VHF-only antennas, but now with the transition to digital, many of the signals will be on the UHF band. They will need to get a UHF antenna. But it is not a different kind of UHF antenna for HD/digital versus analog.
Getting back to Greece, it is nice to hear that Nova is promising HD, though I won't believe it until I see it, especially seeing the very high compression rate of their SD stations right now. And to show how truly cheap Nova and some of the Greek channels unfortunately are, what Nova does in some cases is it receives the analog signal of a station and uplinks that to the satellite. MTV Greece is a good example of this...they are obviously using an analog over-the-air feed which is...less than perfect, to say the least, and it shows.
Over-the-air HD probably will not happen in Greece, however, unless stations begin to bend the rules. The digital broadcasts that are planned would all include 4 SD signals per frequency and I have not heard anything about allocating additional frequencies for HD broadcasts.