Scott asked in another thread...
Wonder if the Ramsa gear will be out again. I am trying to be funny but it's like it sits in a closet for 4 years then makes an appearance.
What is the real truth? Does the hosting country install the PA's in each building? I am sure broadcast has their own infrastructure.
I am more interested in audio, is it coordinated?
How many broadcast teams get their own cameras? Who is responsible for the group feed? Does it change if a country is winning an event. If the Germans are winning archery do they get TV camera first placement? You can't see their are not a ton of cameras. Who runs master control so their is not an international incident?
I don't know how the PA is handled, although I suspect that many of the venues have existing systems. Olympic stadium usually has an additional PA added as an augment. That's where those Ramsa Carts come out.
I do know the answers to the rest of your questions...
The primary coverage for all the olympics is handled by the Olympic Broadcast Service.
https://www.obs.tv/homeOBS is a part of the Olympic Committee and is not affiliated with any particular country. They cover ALL the olympics. Their objective is to produce video and audio content that is neutral and as complete as possible. The coverage does tend to favor the winners for obvious reasons. But great care is also taken to cover as much of the whole competition as possible. For instance, in track and field events EVERY athlete's finish is always shown regardless of how off the pace they may be. Every country wants to see their countryman compete at the olympics, even if they know they have no chance of medaling.
The rights to rebroadcast this coverage is then purchased by various broadcast companies worldwide. There are a variety of levels of rights packages with different price points, far too numerous to get into here. But this is the main revenue stream that pays for all of the OBS activities.
Most of the coverage that the broadcasters use is a generic camera switch and what they call "international sound" which is just ambient mics in the venue. The broadcasters then add their own commentary on top of that coverage that will of course emphasize their country's athletes and teams.
Many of those commentators are located in the actual venue and OBS manages routing all of the commentary audio to its appropriate broadcaster as well as return communications from the broadcasters studios to those commentary stations. It is a VERY large and VERY complex network. All the venues signals route back to the International Broadcast Center which is a very large complex that is generally purpose built for the olympics, although in Paris they are using a large exhibit hall as the building with the OBS studio buildout contained inside several of the halls.
Audio is handled almost exclusively by Lawo mixing consoles and commentary stations with Ravenna being the audio transport. Most venues have a Lawo desk creating the International Sound mix in stereo and 5.1. Most of the transport to and from the IBC is over dark fiber although there are other solutions depending on the specifics of the venue. Some of the venues can be a hundred miles or more from the IBC so the logistics are not insignificant.
In addition, OBS creates 16 "turn-key" channels that can be rebroadcast by a rights holder as a pass through. These channels have English commentary added by OBS commentators [generally located IN the IBC] that is intentionally kept neutral so that it can be picked up by any country. I'll be working on this team in Paris this year mixing multiple channels of commentary on a Lawo.
In addition to the OBS coverage, which is comprehensive, there are larger broadcast rights holders that add additional cameras and coverage. In Japan it was NBC and NHK. They use the OBS coverage and add their own cameras and coverage on top to it. These broadcasters do emphasize their home country's teams and athletes in both shot selection and commentary. This is the coverage that we are used to seeing in the US, but most country's coverage is much more neutral with only the commentary being focused on that country's athletes.
It's all an incredibly complex endeavor that is a fascinating thing to see up close. It takes months [or years] and millions of dollars to build out. And then it's all over in a week and a half.
