Much has been made about NBC's coverage of the Olympics, specifically not showing stuff live on tv and what not. And even a bit worse for those of us on the West Coast as we are getting a taped replay of a tape delay. For some of that I will say the criticism is valid such as with the opening ceremonies which they compounded by not having a way to see stuff online either and any body who even tried to embed stuff on the the web had it immediately taken down. What was especially frustrating about the opening was that NBC seemed to pick and choose what to show so they could edit and show commercials instead of letting the "majestic travesty of it all" to unfold for us. I mean, we all get why they need commercials as they have to pay for the large sum they bid just to get these Olympics and to promote their upcoming new fall shows that no one will eventually watch. I realize they are also dealing with a difference in time zones but if we can get the Oscars in a live telecast why not the Olympics? And as for advertising, they should do what they do for soccer matches and run the stuff along the edges or across the bottom or something, I would put up with that for real time completeness.
They also took some criticism for not showing the first Lochte/Phelps showdown live but instead saving it to show during prime time. Again I understand the decision as they want to maximize viewership but seriously it was a Saturday afternoon when they event took place and if it had been on tv people would have made the effort to tune in and watch it live as you get that sense of urgency and excitement. Me and the SO just happen to be online at the time and were able to log onto nbcolympics.com and watch the event stream live and my question is if they were going to do that online why not just put it on the air for the many of millions who may not have been online at the time or don't have computer access. There are still plenty of people without direct computer access that will only be able to tune in to the television for the Olympics, but in the day and age where so many people are wired in to so many devices it's like they didn't think this through. I mean in the 4 years since they had the Bejing Olympics technology has leaped and bounded especially with twitter and Facebook.
Of course with that being said, there are quite a number of ways to catch quite a lot of events live. Besides the online site where you can sign on free based on whatever cable or satellite provider you have, they are showing events live on television during the day. You can catch all the tennis action on Bravo. We saw the archery gold medal match live on MSNBC, not to mention live table tennis and fencing on NBCSports channel. Plus during the day your regular don't need cable NBC channel is showing live events which you could always record for later viewing when you get home from work thereby saving yourself from both commercials and inane announcer commentary during what can only be described as ill-timed cutaways from the actual broadcast. Of course this has always been a criticism people have--just as things seemed to building in excitement they decide to cut some inane Ryan Seacrest interview or a commercial and then when they come back they say "while we were away"...arghhh...why'd you go away if something was going to happen?!
Let's face it though, considering the blockbuster ratings the Olympic night time telecasts have been getting--we can grouse and complain and twitter bitchily about it but we still ended up plopping our butts down on the couch with the remote and tuning in to watch the Chinese win early medals in sports you never heard of or knew were Olympic sports and cheer on Americans in swimming and gymnastics and hold out hope however small, that when track and field rolls around NBC will somehow listen to the cries of the people and show the big races live, live all the way live.
They also took some criticism for not showing the first Lochte/Phelps showdown live but instead saving it to show during prime time. Again I understand the decision as they want to maximize viewership but seriously it was a Saturday afternoon when they event took place and if it had been on tv people would have made the effort to tune in and watch it live as you get that sense of urgency and excitement. Me and the SO just happen to be online at the time and were able to log onto nbcolympics.com and watch the event stream live and my question is if they were going to do that online why not just put it on the air for the many of millions who may not have been online at the time or don't have computer access. There are still plenty of people without direct computer access that will only be able to tune in to the television for the Olympics, but in the day and age where so many people are wired in to so many devices it's like they didn't think this through. I mean in the 4 years since they had the Bejing Olympics technology has leaped and bounded especially with twitter and Facebook.
Of course with that being said, there are quite a number of ways to catch quite a lot of events live. Besides the online site where you can sign on free based on whatever cable or satellite provider you have, they are showing events live on television during the day. You can catch all the tennis action on Bravo. We saw the archery gold medal match live on MSNBC, not to mention live table tennis and fencing on NBCSports channel. Plus during the day your regular don't need cable NBC channel is showing live events which you could always record for later viewing when you get home from work thereby saving yourself from both commercials and inane announcer commentary during what can only be described as ill-timed cutaways from the actual broadcast. Of course this has always been a criticism people have--just as things seemed to building in excitement they decide to cut some inane Ryan Seacrest interview or a commercial and then when they come back they say "while we were away"...arghhh...why'd you go away if something was going to happen?!
Let's face it though, considering the blockbuster ratings the Olympic night time telecasts have been getting--we can grouse and complain and twitter bitchily about it but we still ended up plopping our butts down on the couch with the remote and tuning in to watch the Chinese win early medals in sports you never heard of or knew were Olympic sports and cheer on Americans in swimming and gymnastics and hold out hope however small, that when track and field rolls around NBC will somehow listen to the cries of the people and show the big races live, live all the way live.
Comments
Post a Comment