63-Person Multilingual Broadcast Team Announced for Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium at Vancouver 2010

As part of its ongoing commitment to deliver inclusive coverage of Vancouver 2010 that embraces the country’s multicultural heritage, Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium today unveils its 63-member multilingual broadcast team that will deliver the Games in a total of 22 languages. Consortium broadcast partners OMNI Television, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) and Asian Television Network (ATN) will air a combined total of 421 hours of multilingual coverage throughout the 17 days of the Games.

“We have recruited and trained a dynamic group of broadcasters who will deliver the Games in their native languages. Hosting the Games on home soil gives us the perfect opportunity to celebrate the country’s diversity and share in the magic of the Games like never before,” said Keith Pelley, President, Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.

Training for first-time broadcasters included workshops with broadcast veterans, in-studio prep work, and online instruction through a portal and website specially created by the Consortium.

In addition to live event coverage, the multilingual broadcast team will deliver the Opening and Closing Ceremonies in a record 13 languages. Olympic Games highlights will air in news broadcasts on OMNI Television, APTN and ATN in multiple languages. OMNI News and APTN National News will also be on location in Vancouver throughout the Games to provide stories of particular interest to their respective audiences.

The Consortium’s coverage of the Games will be delivered in the following 22 languages: Bangla, Cantonese, Cree, Dene, English, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Inuktitut, Italian, Mandarin, Mechif, Mi’Kmaq, Mohawk, Ojibway, Oji-Cree, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Tamil, Ukrainian and Urdu.