So there I was at home thrilled to be watching live as Canada won its first ever Olympic gold at home.  In an explosive display of patriotism and simplicity I twittered plainly “Gold!” (filling all 140 characters with as many o’s as I could fit).

My wife, who is enjoying a holiday in Florida with our children in anticipation of my imminent departure to Vancouver replied quizzically, “Huh? The moguls event isn’t done yet!”  Actually dear, it was.  NBC just decided not to tell anyone that they were broadcasting on a time delay.  As my concise tweet hit facebook, a host of other American friends began chiming in all bemoaning the inadequacy of U.S. network Olympic coverage as compared to the outstanding job we do north of the border.

This is CTV’s first Olympics having wrested the honour away from long-time Olympic broadcaster, and national money pit, the CBC.  Whether the truckloads of loonies CTV had to drop at the doorstep of VANOC and the IOC prove to be a wise business decision, any reasonably observer will admit that the quality of their round-the-clock programming in both official languages along with numerous aboriginal dialects has been outstanding.  Canadians can load a guide channel on their Rogers cable box and view 6 Olympic partner channels simultaneously, each in its own tiny picture-in-picture (OK…not so tiny on my 70″ TV but I’m a proud exception to the rule).  You can then easily click to the event that most tickles your fancy.

So often Canada is left begging for products and services that our American neighbours take for granted.  When it comes to Olympic coverage, we really have ‘owned the podium’ for many years now.