Widescreen Television at the Sydney 2000 Olympics

Abstract

One role of the host broadcaster at an Olympics is to cover all events by television. The resulting television signals are passed to those international broadcasters who are rights holders. The television standard used invariably relates to the standard used in the particular country where the Olympics are being held. At the 1984 Los Angeles Games the standard was NTSC (525/59.94), whereas at the 1992 Barcelona Games the standard was PAL (625/50). The aspect ratio of the image was 4:3 (12:9) at both events. It is not mandatory that all broadcasters use the same standard as the host country; an international broadcaster receiving television signals from the host broadcaster can simply convert the output from its Olympic facility for transmission in its own country.