The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has struck a deal with Youtube to make highlights of the Beijing Games available in 77 territories in Africa, Asia and the Middle East where no broadcasting deals exist or the deals in place are not exclusive. "The Olympic Games will be played out on Facebook, YouTube and Flickr whether we like it or not. We need to engage, not disengage, with them," said London 2012 head of new media, Alex Balfour. "The main objective is to give as much access to as many people as we can," Youtube representative Anthony Zameczkowski told the CBC. With the games a half a world away, most of us will be getting highlights and rebroadcasts anyway, and with the surge in social networking it will be interesting to see how much amatuer video, photography, and commentary makes it to the likes of Youtube, Flickr, and Blogger.
