The story
Early coverage
CTV has previously broadcast the Summer Games in 1976 (along with CBC) and 1992, and the Winter Games in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984 (along with CBC), 1988 and 1994.
The 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game was aired live on CTV in Canada, but not ABC in the United States. Thus, American viewers who resided in or near the Canada–US border and received the CTV signal could watch the game live, but the rest of the United States had to wait for a delayed rebroadcast.
Rights fees
In 1974, Johnny Esaw (who anchored CTV's prime time Olympic coverage from 1964–1980) became vice-president of CTV Sports, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1990. He negotiated the host broadcasting rights to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. As the main host broadcaster for the 1988 Winter Olympics, the CTV television network paid $4.5 million for domestic rights to the 1988 Winter Olympics. Coverage for the 1988 Winter Games was panned by critics and viewers alike, especially compared to the well-received ABC coverage despite significant resources mobilized and 118 hours of live coverage. Esaw also brought the 1964 Winter Olympics to CTV.
Production of the broadcasting for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, which costs NOK 462 million, was the responsibility of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), with assistance from CTV and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). NRK had 1,424 people working at the Olympics, while international broadcasters sent an additional 4,050 accredited broadcasting personnel. The transmission rights for the games were held by EBU in Europe, CBS in the United States, NHK in Japan, CTV in Canada, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, Nine Network in Australia, as well as other broadcasters in other countries. The total transmission rights price was 350 million United States dollars.
Commentators
Rod Black anchored CTV's coverage of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain and 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.
Don Chevrier provided television network coverage of the Olympic Games for North American audiences since 1972, working for the CBC, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), and the CTV Television Network before moving on to NBC. More recently, he covered events at the 2004 Summer Olympics, including badminton, table tennis, and synchronized swimming for NBC, and, along with longtime partner, Don Duguid, called curling at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin for NBC.
Rob Faulds worked on CTV's coverage of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.
Dan Kelly was the lead play-by-play hockey broadcaster for CTV at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
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Dan Matheson hosted the network's coverage of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.
Jiggs McDonald did play-by-play on CTV for Olympic basketball games in 1992.
Greg Millen paired with Don Chevrier as the lead broadcasting team for CTV's ice hockey coverage at the 1994 Winter Olympics. The secondary team was Dan Shulman and Tom Watt.
Bernie Pascall broadcast Gymnastics at 1976 Montreal Olympics, Hockey 1976 from Innsbruck, Austria, Hockey 1980 Lake Placid, NY including only live TV in North America of USA vs Russia, also broadcast Hockey at 1984 Games in Sarajevo, Cross Country Skiing 1988 Calgary/Canmore
Valerie Pringle was a host of special events programming such as the network's 1993 election and 1995 Quebec referendum coverage and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.
Ron Reusch covered the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York (ice hockey), the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta (ice hockey), the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain (baseball), and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway (speed skating).
Frank Rigney was the colour commentator for both the CBC and CTV football broadcasts, plus covered other sports such as the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York and the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
Lloyd Robertson was the prime time anchor for CTV's coverage in 1984 and 1988.
2010 Winter Olympics
For the 2010 Winter Olympics, coverage was as follows:
Television
Consortium coverage originated primarily from the Vancouver Convention Centre (the International Broadcast Centre for the 2010 games) as well as Mountain Square in Whistler.
CTV: An average of 22 hours per day of coverage, focusing on the major events and highlights. Times varied on certain days depending on events in progress
Olympic Morning: 3:00-9:00am PT (6:00-12:00pm ET), with Beverly Thomson, Jay Onrait, Seamus O'Regan, and Melissa Grelo
Olympic Daytime: 9:00am–2:30pm PT (12:00-5:30pm ET), with James Duthie, Lisa LaFlamme, and Michael Landsberg
Olympic Prime Time: 3:00-11:00pm PT (6:00-2:00am ET), with Brian Williams and Jennifer Hedger
Olympic Late Night: Midnight to 3:00am PT (3:00-6:00am ET), no host (event repeats)
The only breaks in coverage were for 30-minute local newscasts daily at 2:30 pm PT (5:30 pm ET), as well as a one-hour newscast produced by CTV British Columbia at 11:00pm PT (2:00 am ET). Two CTV National News summaries, anchored by Lloyd Robertson at CTV's main Vancouver studios, were aired nightly during Olympic Prime Time; the regular CTV National News broadcast aired solely on CTV News Channel for the duration of the games. From 3:00 – 6:00am PT (6:00 – 9:00am ET) CTV News Channel also aired a simulcast of CTV's Olympic Morning.
Noovo (V): Major events and highlights in French, averaging 16.5 hours per day, including a morning show simulcast from RDS
TSN and Rogers Sportsnet: Full-event coverage, averaging 18 hours per day on each channel (produced by Paul Graham)
OLN: Full-event coverage of outdoor events, averaging 4.5 hours per day
RDS: Full-event coverage in French, averaging 21 hours per day
RIS: Full-event coverage in French, averaging 6 hours per day
Omni: Multilingual coverage, averaging up to 6 hours per day (depending on location; not all coverage carried on all stations)
ATN: Multilingual coverage, averaging 6.5 hours a day across seven channels
APTN: Coverage in English, French, and Aboriginal languages, averaging 13 hours a day
The television broadcast was filmed with 39 new Hitachi SK-HD1000 studio/field cameras from Hitachi Kokusai Electric including on-site technical support. The cameras were also used to broadcast the 2012 Summer Olympics. Following the games, portions of CTV's set were re-purposed by its Vancouver affiliate CIVT for its newscasts.
Radio
English-language coverage was provided by the Sportsnet Radio Network, and included coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies, selected hockey games, special editions of Prime Time Sports, and various updates / programs on the games. French-language coverage, which was similar in scope, was carried by Corus Québec.
Hockey studio
James Duthie (host)
Dave Hodge (host)
Daren Millard (host)
Bob McKenzie (analyst)
Nick Kypreos (analyst)
Darren Pang (analyst)
2012 Summer Olympics
The consortium also held rights to the 2012 Summer Olympics. Coverage plans for those games were follows (see above).
Broadcast team
English broadcasters
French broadcasters
From Wikipedia’s article on Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3