Privatisation of Olympic Games - A lot more than Games at stake

IT may seem off-target to talk about the privatisation of the free-to-air broadcasting of the Olympic Games — still, despite everything, a magnificent international spectacle — at the very moment the great European project, and especially the unfortunate, vulnerable people of Greece, is facing its greatest challenge.

However, the two narratives have parallels that should not be ignored, parallels that seem to define one of the regressive trends of our time. They speak to what is one of the transformative forces of the age: The escalating concentration of media and financial resources and how the power that narrowing confers can change the lives of ordinary, ground-floor citizens right around the world.

How, instead of offering greater choice, it corners programming options and corrals pay-to-view audiences. Others it ignores.