Live from Beijing -- or not

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Beijing Games organizers reportedly have eased restrictions that had threatened to hamstring television crews that will be on the ground in China to cover the Olympic action and give the rest of the world a better picture of life in China.

According to the Associated Press, a breakthrough of sorts occurred today during the “final face-to-face encounter among top International Olympic Committee officials, broadcasters and Beijing organizers to resolve TV coverage away from sports venues.” But the agreement could be as difficult to understand as some of the rules governing lesser-known Olympic sports.

An IOC executive said that China has agreed to allow satellite trucks that beam images and sound to other countries to travel freely in Beijing, and that broadcasters that have applied for frequencies and licenses will be allowed to do their thing.

Television crews also will be allowed to broadcast live from Tiananmen Square -– but only during certain hours. The agreement also appears to apply only to media companies that have signed rights deals with the IOC to gain access to Olympic venues.

It’s uncertain whether other television outfits in town for the Games will be allowed free access outside the Olympic venues.

“Nothing has changed yet, it’s still the run-around,” one China-based manager for an Australian media company told AP. “We’re still being told no satellite trucks on the streets. We’re still being told we can’t take trucks where we want on the street.”

AP also reported that Chinese officials apparently have apologized for an incident last week on the Great Wall. Uniformed and plainclothes police barged into the picture as a German company with an IOC rights deal was transmitting back to Germany.

-- Greg Johnson