Spectacular response to Beijing 2008 for TVNZ

The Beijing Olympics has attracted spectacular television audiences with over 2.6 million New Zealanders tuning in to TV ONE’s coverage over the weekend.

Since its opening in the early hours of Saturday morning, Beijing 2008 has delivered 29% higher ratings than Athens 2004.

“This is an outstanding result,” says TVNZ’s Head of Television Jeff Latch.

“New Zealanders love the Olympics – they love getting involved in worldwide sporting events, and supporting our Kiwi athletes. And there is no better way to share in those great Olympic moments from here than to watch them on television.”

ONE News also gained stellar ratings over the weekend with its Olympic highlights, achieving a 52% share in the 25-54 demographic last night and a rating of 21.

TVNZ’s dedicated Olympics site on tvnz.co.nz is also proving hugely popular.

Over the weekend TVNZ’s Olympics site yielded more than half a million page impressions and over 80,000 unique browsers each day – four times the anticipated traffic for the opening weekend.

TVNZ is New Zealand’s official broadcaster of and online partner for Beijing 2008. New Zealanders can choose to watch the Olympics coverage on TV ONE, TVNZ Sport Extra on Freeview Channel 20, and on any of four live streaming channels on tvnz.co.nz.

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  • Fake Fireworks at Olympics
  • bobscoffee

    im not all that surprised or concerned about that. to me it was obvious it wasn’t real, especially the way it was filmed

  • Barry Good

    WHAT A LOAD OF BULLSHIT, MIND YOU EVERYONE PREFERS BULLSHIT IF IT IS WELL DONE, THAT IS WHY SO MUCH CHINESES SHIT SOLD IN NZ & EVERYONE LOVES IT, JUST KEEP YOUR LIGHTS ON WHEN YOU SLEEP IN THE DARK OTHERWISE YOU WILL ALL TURN INTO MUSHROOMS, AND YOU WILL WAKE UP BRIGHTER.

    THE FOOTPRINTS WAS A FAKE, THE GIRL SINGING WAS A FAKE.

    WHAT A LOT OF OF BROWN NOSE COMMUNIST MASSAGERS YOU LOT ARE.

    B.GOOD

  • MrCynical

    congratulations NZ on CHEERING on those involved in massive human rights breeches and competing nations actively bombing civilians.

    Who needs a conscience when there is sport to be watched right?

  • bobscoffee

    barry you really need to calm down or turn caps lock off.

  • Barry Good

    Sorry you lot for been a right pain in the “____”

    But we never got any of this crap (just seen on the TV3 news) from the Greece Olympics and I really enjoyed watching them, just that you jokers dont know were to draw the line.

    B.GOOD

  • campgrrls

    So, MrC, do you refuse to watch m/any US TV programmes as well?

  • MrCynical

    America at least had a pretext and did not deliberately target civilian apartment blocks.

  • Barry Good

    Talking about “US TV programs” campgrrls

    I can not stand the “fox news” all you get is kids kids kids kids and more kids,

    Kids are for lazy speakers to lazy to say Children, kids grow up into goats and there is too many of them around, maybe that is why US is turning into goat country, and they screw everything up.

  • campgrrls

    Are you talking about Georgia/Sth Ossetia, MrC? Don’t believe everything you see/hear on the US influenced mainstream news. The situation there is much more complicated. Russia partly responded because of the threat they felt from the US military presence and election manipulations in the area. The Georgian Government tried to annex Sth Ossetia because they believed they had US support & that the US would provide military support.

    Try reading this, and the discussion that follows:

    http://publicaddress.net/5231#post5231

    and this:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/13/russia.georgia

    In every crisis the west craves goodies and baddies. The media finds it impossible to report a modern conflict without taking sides.

    The US also has a long & very recent history of human rights abuses, including bombing and killing civilians by various means. Have you been boycotting the US over all that?

  • MrCynical

    I’m a lazy boycotter, it is better than nothing at all. I can’t boycott everything made in china, but I can choose to not watch the olympics. I have no idea what fruit might have been imported from Fiji, but I can sure as hell not go there for a holiday until they have actual democratic elections.

    The Georgia and Russia thing is complicated, as much as Israel and Palestine, but no matter what side you take, each of them are currently committing unspeakable atrocities.

    Every country including us has had some dodgy moments on human rights, it is the ones that have a long and proud history for it are the ones that need more than just a rolling of the eys and a sternly worded letter.

  • campgrrls

    Like the US, you mean?

    And Bush lecturing China on human rights was a joke.

    We each make our choices, based on our judgements of the situations. All of the major powers have blood on their hands.

    I don’t agree that China and Russia should be singled out for boycotts and not the US.

    But OTOH, if you feel a boycott of the Olympics is justified… go ahead. just don’t count me in.

  • MrCynical

    As I said, no country is perfect, but the US doesn’t block out the word “democracy” from google, nor does it improson thousands and thousands of its own people for disagreeing with the government.

    Yeah there is guantenmo bay and Iraq, but there are still dissenting factors in their own government.

    You HONESTLY think that china has the same track record on BASIC human rights as the US does?

  • MrCynical

    *cough* tibet *cough*

  • regan

    While I understand the points and don’t condone human rights issues, China has come a long way in a very short period of time. I don’t actually think it is reasonable to expect China to change over night on some things.

    Take the point of smacking children in New Zealand. There is no way that right now in this country, people are against smacking as discipline. However, it is the hope of those who implemented the laws that in generations, this will no longer be the case.

    We’re talking about a country who has a deep entrenchment in the way they have done things. Whether we like it or not, the west wasn’t too different not so long ago.

    China has come a long way in such a short period of time and has experienced change and growth like no other country in history. They’ll get there but it’s going to take small steps.

  • MrCynical

    I repeat *cough* tibet *cough* This was a matter of months ago! They are communists, until they change governments they are incapable of increasing their tolerance.

  • campgrrls

    There’s no need speak about China’s treatment of Tibet in hushed tones, MrC. Take the opportunity and state your point loudly and clearly.

    Actually one of the effects of the games going ahead in China, is that the Western MSM have given a lot of space to the protests about China’s treatment of Tibet. And the clamping down on the protest in Beijing this week hasn’t done much good to China’s image internationally. Kind of shooting themselves in the foot.

    So I think there is a case for not stopping or boycotting the Olympics, but to use it as a means of giving visibility to the human rights issues.

    China is no longer a communist country. It’s rabidly capitalist, and it’s attempting to compete with and mimic a lot of the worst aspects of western capitalism.

    As Regan said, there have been some improvements in China, and I imagine there will be more. At the moment I think dialogue can be more useful than isolating China.

    [Ahhh!!!... post too long so I edited it down]

  • nikolsky

    I have Sky.. got it 5 years ago but not the sports channels..dont like sport, refused to play it at school and told the sportsmaster where to stick his rule book..SKY is not perfect but the basic startup package and movie channels keep me happy.

  • MrCynical

    It is impotent. It is like how that miss universe/world contest was held in Nigeria while a woman was being sentanced to death by stoning for adultery. A real slap in the face would have been boycotting it, but instead all the girls just said “oh thats wrong….but ooh look how pretty I am”

    It is the same with olmypics, saying that murdering tibetan citizens is wrong, but “look how fast I can swim” doesn’t really make much of a point.

    When they un-ban the word democracy from google and stop blanking out international newscasts, then you can say china is not communist.

  • campgrrls

    MrC, you have a misunderstanding of communism. China is too capitalist to be communist anymore, and it’s a mute point if it ever was truly communist. It does however, have an authoritarian undemocratic national government.

    But I also understand they have increasingly introduced democratic elections at a local level. Furthermore, I hear there’s quite a lot of protests against inequalities and oppression that are allowed to happen within China. We hear less about them than the nasty stuff. This is partly the fault of the unbalanced MSM in the West that likes to take every opportuinty to bash China.

    It’s hard for us to get a clear picture of everything that happens in China and how it compares with the best and worst of western countries. China is vast (1.3 billion people c/w 300 million in the US). It’s hard to form an overall picture of everything going on there. We need better information about China, and not to just to unquestionally accept the views in the mainstream western media.

    And in comparison we get a very sanitised view of the US (and Britain). The US makes a big noise about spreading democracy, while quietly, ruthlessly and brutally undermining democracy and human rights at home and abroad.

    The more China joins in with the western world, modern communications being what they are, the less they can hide their oppressiveness, from their own population or the rest of the world. (So long as they don’t get as slick in producing propaganda as the US)

    Being too harsh with China and isolating them, might just result in an increase in nationalist support from a large section of Chinese people.

  • MrCynical

    You can bitch about other governments all you like, it doesn’t make what china does any less reprehensible. I didn’t say isolate china, just don’t put up with their crap. I am not talking about US or UK I am talking about China. Where you go to JAIL for speaking out on your government. Where children and brainwashed into the loving Mao as toddlers as part of their mandatory education. (hearing a 5 year old talk about their love and adoration for a long dead dictator is just disturbing).

    We don’t just have MSM access to china news, but independent channels and not to mention the wealth of knowledge and of course minsinformation that is the internet.

    The Chinese don’t even have that, all they can EVER know about their own world and the outside world is what the government tells them or what they manage to glean from private conversations from people outside the country.

  • campgrrls

    And you know this how? Sources please?

    Well, if you’re going to be consistent you need to compare with other countries.

  • MrCynical

    Will dig that info up tonight. But comparing atrocities is hardly helpful. Because pol pot only killed tens of thousands of his own people, does that somehow make Cambodia’s history pleasant?

  • Fozzy Bear

    You’re right, Campgrrls.
    As an example, America, considered one of the richest, certainly the most capitalist, countries in the world (especially when the republicans are in power…) has a population of around 280 million people. (1/5th of China’s population roughly)
    Around 13% live “officially” below the poverty line (not including illegal immigrants and those who have fallen off the social security radar).
    That’s 35 MILLION people, ten times’ New Zealand’s population.
    You want to talk about insular?
    Less than 20 percent of Americans own a passport. So 80% of the country has never gone overseas.
    As for MSM in America – it’s all run by big business who bend the news to their benefit.
    Have you ever tried watching Fox news without being outraged or violently sick at the level of bias they spew forth?
    And this is the “land of opportunity” that everyone used to look up to and some still want to be like.
    Fast food, big muscle cars, military might, celebrity, gansta rap, Paris Hilton for goodness sake!!
    Is it any wonder that when other nations try to emulate them, they fall over or get ridiculed?

  • campgrrls

    i agree, MrC. Atrocities are atrocities. But I’m asking why you don’t get as critical of the US as of the China.

    This seems to perpetuate the level of out-rage the MSM expresses about China, while treating the US as a good guy. Also, the view we get of China is slanted. It’s a big country, with a lot of developments going on there all the time. It also differs from one part of China to another.

    China’s human rights records needs to be challenged. But, IMO the US is a far bigger threat to human rights, democracy, freedom from brutality and (as FozzyBear points out) equality. And there’s a helluva lot of brainwashing goes on there through the media. China isn’t the one establishing a whole network of military bases around the world, interfering in other countries elections, pushing economic policies globally that increase inequalities, stirring up wars that dispossess large numbers of people and cause civillian deaths etc etc.

    There are bad things going on in China, and people SHOULD protest about them. But we need a lot more accurate and less slanted info about what is actually going on thru’out that vast country.

  • Ben

    what a load of crap you talk China is still a communist country.

  • MrCynical

    Check out the news today even, british journalist locked up for filming a protest.

    USA for all its faults is a democracy, and yeah they are asses at times, but still better human rights than China, who have NONE to speak of.

    USA give hundreds of millions in humanitarian aid each year…compare that to china’s figure of….oh hang on they are not an actual OECD country due to the fact they are communists…

  • regan

    I find it interesting that while China is slowly moving away from it’s communist roots and their people are experiencing increasingly greater freedoms, the United States is heading in the exact opposite direction and imposing more restrictions.

  • Barry Good

    THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS
    The games finish on Sunday night the 24th August.

    The bad news is:
    The programs on other free to air TV station dont get any better.

    B.Good

  • campgrrls

    Ben, this is the definition of communism. The central part of it is to do with shared ownership of property & other stuff.

    http://www.answers.com/topic/communism

    n.
    1. A theoretical economic system characterized by the collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members.

    2. Communism

    a) A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people.

    b)The Marxist-Leninist version of Communist doctrine that advocates the overthrow of capitalism by the revolution of the proletariat.

    Yes the Chinese governing party still calls itself a communist party, but in reality, the country has gradually moved to capitalism, allowing a lot of private ownership & property: eg as outlined here:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China

    Generally I think people don’t know a lot about what communism is and equate it with dictatorial governments (kind of like the second definition above). But that’s the opposite of what Marx had in mind when he defined communism – i.e. for him it was a society made up of a network of communes each with equal power and without a state government controlling them.

  • MrCynical

    Yeah go by the dictionary, that always helps, because language certainly doesnt shift and words always mean exactly what they say when printed?

    Dammit why isn’t there a sarcasm meter on here.

    One question, right now, right this very second, who has more civil liberties, a chinese citizen living in bejing on the meidan income or an american citizen living in washington on the media income?

  • Fozzy Bear

    It’s no good Campgrrls.
    Some people are still so ensconsed in the same stupid fear of the “commies” that caused McCarthyism almost half a century ago. It’s really, really sad that they cant’ or won’t learn from the past.
    China is a HUGE country. Both geographically and in population. As a result, it realistically can’t be run just like we have here in NZ.
    Instead of having a handfull of “seperatist training camps” in the East Coast hills, like we had here last year, China would have a geurila militia in the thousands causing a full-on civil war. NOT GOOD! As a result, and hard as it is for some people to understand, they do have to be heavier handed than we are.
    That is no excuse for human rights or freedom violations though. They are at least trying to get better and less strict, albiet at a far slower rate than “western” society.
    Even I have wondered what would happen to the Chinese athlete who stuffs up majorly and misses a medal, or the one drummer out of 2008 who was caught on camera seriously out of time with the other 2007. Most probably nothing.
    The media ridicule we hurl upon our unlucky athletes is probably far worse than they suffer.
    Cheating, doping, Win, win, WIN! Stuff everyone else! I want it! Me, me me ME!! These are all very CAPITALISTIC modes of thought.
    Watch the movie “Wall Street” and see how perverted it can get. ‘Greed is good!’ eh?
    In the “ideal” communist society everyone is equal. The peasant farmer has just as much land, money and freedom as the president (well, probably wouldn’t be one person classed as “president”, but I digress..).
    In a communist Olympics, EVERYONE would win a gold medal!

  • campgrrls

    Whatever MrC. I just don’t have time to go into a library to look up some of the books I’ve read on it. But anyway that definition pretty much summarises it, otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen it.

    I don’t actually know how much human rights a Chinese person has compared to an American But I don’t think they have absolutely no rights.

    Anyway, MrC, I agree that China has a very poor human rights record and I’m glad you’ve raised the issue. I just want to put it in perspective, related to your initial point suggesting we all should be boycotting the games.

    I just think many people are less aware of limits put on democracy and freedom by the US government at home, but more importantly abroad. And the media have a lot to answer for. They are also very quick to point the finger at China, kind of seems to take attention away from the problems in the US and west generally.

    It’s pretty poor that journalist being arrested. There’s also been a few examples of people in the US being arrested for trying to protest against Bush’s war in Iraq. eg as in this article which talks about people suing the NY police for wrongful arrests.

    http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0212-04.htm

    The situation has been pretty difficult for many people who opposed the war in the US, with some academics losing the Uni lecturing jobs, and some people being afraid to speak against the war even to people they know.

    Then there’s Guantanamo Bay – a flagrant abuse of human rights.

    Edit: PS. Just read your comments Fozzybear. Heh! Very good points.

  • MrCynical

    A woman can be definied as a female who is only interested in cooking and cleaning and pleasing men. Would you say that definition is accurate of you?

    Yes the US does some shit things, but that STILL doesn’t make what china does any better. Seriously, it is a failure in logic to do that, it is like saying

    “John raped mary, but because Jim killed Suzy, then what John did wasn’t so bad and we shouldn’t judge him so much, i mean he could have killed her, but instead he just brutally raped her”

    Seem right to you?

    Oh and The Dixie Chicks are still making albums, they would have been imporisoned or executed if they tried the same thing in China.

  • Barry Good

    it is good to see New Zealand has hit the medal table with a hiss and a roar,
    2*gold, 1*silver, 2*bronze.

  • Fozzy Bear

    I had to have a laugh when I read this on Wikipedia – “Political concerns in China include lessening the growing gap between rich and poor and fighting corruption within the government leadership”
    Now. Come on. Try and think of a modern, democratic western country where this isn’t a problem. America, Italy, England, HERE?
    As for who has the better standard of life, things aren’t as bad as you would think. China has a literacy level of 90.9% for people over 15 (that’s pretty fantastic, considering the billion plus pop.), as is it’s completely free nine-year education. Their healthcare service is suprisingly private / fee based.
    Having the limitations on some of their freedoms would be nothing new to Chinese, who have just lived with it as the status quo. Whereas the Patriot Act, secret phone and communication tapping and all the other abuses Americans are being subject to are all very recent.

  • MrCynical

    You pretty much said it is ok to that they don’t have basic human rights because “they are used to it”

    That is all kinds of …wow.

  • Fozzy Bear

    From our cotton-wooled, modey-codled, affluent society its not ok. For us it’s abhorent. They don’t know any different. To them it’s just life. You look after the motherland and it will look after you.
    How many people have you heard on the likes of talkback radio say murderers, rapists, repeat offenders etc should be shot to save the massive prison bill? But that’s not right either, is it? In too many cases the offender appears to have more rights than their victim. Is that right?
    If you’re so hell bent on instant, massive social change in China, why don’t you do something about it more than just sniping away on a blog.
    Go over there. Teach english or something. They pay good money for it. Give the tiger a good kick in the tail and see what happens.

  • MrCynical

    yeah cos i have all the experience needed to topple a government…

    I am glad that china is making changes, but to try and say that they are an awesome fun and free company, and that the US is worse, then…that is worse than clutching at straws, that is just making crap up.

    Also love how The Onion sums these things up so well

  • Lemon

    And are you boycotting all Chinese products?

  • MrCynical

    Read the entire thread Lemon before you think you go ahead and think that your contribution is ever so helpful.

  • Lemon

    Don’t presume I didn’t, Mr Cynical.

  • MrCynical

    Sorry I assumed you didn’t, now I will jsut assume you don’t actually understand what you read. Done with you.

  • Lemon

    I presume the answer to my question then is “no”.

  • fsdgear

    Hey Mr C, China is too capitalist to become Communist, least China’s not a, Totalitarian State or a Dictatorship government. I must say the nation has improved heaps compared with the last decade in Human Rights including the ownership rights of its 1.3+ billion citizens.

    Remeber, its the Government thats controlling the people and how thingsd are run on the nation, not the people themselves! China will be a much better western-like place, when the government changes including its systems today.

    Its just the Western media organisations that paint a different picture portraying a different and poor perception of China to the world.

    The 3 NEWS bulletin is quite racist in a angle against TVNZ and the Chinese!! (no wonder why their losing viwership ratings fast)

  • stanley pointen

    Jeez, I don’t get this anti-chinese thing going on here. Half the bloody countries competing at the olympics are corrupt dictatorships or puppet regimes. This is about sport, people, not politics for once. But the anti-chinese sentiment lingers … just like when we liberal, freedom loving, fair and tolerant Kiwis had laws against them here in our own country.

  • MrCynical

    It actually started with me mentioning the fact that Russia and Georgia should have their asses kicked out, and Zimbabwe too if they are actually competing?

    And if you actually read the thread, it is anti-chinese government and rules, not the people themselves.

  • Hankachoo

    Why should athletes from countries like Zimbabwe, Georgia, Russia be banned – just because of what their countries leader is doing??

    We should celebrate the games for what they are…..

    I encourge everyone to write in to TVNZ and give them the big finger for their so-called ‘LIVE’ coverage… even the bronze medal ceremony for the mens pursuit team wasn’t live.. if you went onto the TVNZ website last night you could see the cyclists standing on the podium with their medals… while on TV1 there were… you guessed it – ADVERTS!
    The coverage we are getting is great, but it is all over the place

  • MrCynical

    A chance for the wealthy and healthy to have fun while their country suffers?

  • Hankachoo

    But the athletes should not be punished… they’ve got nothing to do with what goes on in their country…

    Imagine you’re an athlete and you’ve been training for 3-4 years to go to the Olympics – it’s your dream. then at the last minute the International Olympic committee decide that they don’t like what the leader(s) of your country are doing, so they ban your country from the Olympics.
    How do you think that Athlete (who has nothing to do with what is going on in their country) feels? Put yourself in their shoes…

    If you are going to ban Russia or Zimbabwe then you should ban the USA, for an unlawful invasion of Iraq, and unlawful inprisonment of people at Gwantanamo bay!

  • MrCynical

    Imagine instead that you have been spending the last 5 years of your life malnourished and poorly educated from the way your government has been running your country, and then you find yourself homeless due to fact that the oversized military can’t protect your hovels from enemy tanks because they are out bombing other civilians….and then while you wait, wait, wait for aid to come, you hear that an elite few who were lucky enough to be born in a family that could afford to feed them get paid by the government to go compete in bright spectacle of a competition with free food and accommodation. Not forgetting that the political leaders are there, watching said competitors rather than overseeing aid efforts….

    How would you feel

    Read the entire thread before you comment re: USA