Flashy and expensive are words that have been used to describe CTV’s coverage of the Winter Olympics, which left viewers perpetually channel surfing between the consortium stations for their spectacle of choice. All that selection drew mixed reviews from television critics, who were also at odds over CTV’s coverage of the death of a Georgian luger hours before the opening ceremony.

‘Playing the footage again and again… cheapens everything about the games, not to mention [CTV’s] value as a broadcaster,’ criticized Andrew Powell on Toronto-based The GATEKeeper’s blog, echoing sentiments from others who have referred to the video as ‘death porn’. But Andy Hutchins of The Sporting Blog in the U.S. argued that continuing to show video of the crash is an ‘icky necessary evil’ as he talked up the importance of acknowledging tragedy without exploiting it.

CTV drew praise for its high-definition visuals during the opening ceremony that were ‘dazzling,’ according to Bill Brioux of The Canadian Press, though he complained that ‘too many bodies’ in the CTV commentary booth led to ‘a lot of dry, dull banter,’ referring to hosts Lloyd Robertson, Brian Williams (not to be confused with the NBC anchor of the same name) and Catriona Le May Doan. Still, veteran sportscaster Williams – who fronted CBC’s coverage of the Olympics for many years before he joined CTV – did his ‘usual outstanding job’ on the Games, according to Doug Speirs of the Winnipeg Free Press.

It was thumbs-up and -down for the consortium’s multitude of channels, which often left complaining viewers in the dark about where to find specific events. ‘Nothing has confused me as much as CTV’s Olympic coverage… I literally don’t know what I’m looking for half the time,’ grumbled Stephanie Earp on sports website FanHouse.com. While CTV has an ’embarrassment of riches’ with its numerous platforms, there’s ‘no evidence yet that viewers are being better served’ with all that choice, remarked Chris Zelcovich in the Toronto Star. It’s ‘refreshing to be able to choose,’ countered Alex Strachan in the Vancouver Sun. CTV has been ‘hit and miss’ in keeping viewers informed of the programming available on other channels, wrote William Houston on Yahoo! Sports, adding that the network was ‘improving’ as the Games continued.