I’m mad at NBC. And not just for canceling Titans back in 2001.
There was a time that Americans gathered around their TVs during the Olympics, cheered for the Americans and watched, waiting, shaking with nerves, as they waited to see who won … on their TVs. NBC has taken that feeling away from us.
I love the Winter Olympics, and have been watching religiously. But NBC has been making me wonder why.
We live in the Age of Now. If it’s reported in a newspaper it’s already been reported on TV, which was beaten to it by the Internet, where it first surfaced on Twitter. There is no saving your best stuff anymore.
Yet, if an event occurs early in the day during these Winter Olympics, when does NBC air it? Primetime, baby!
Yesterday, I learned Bode Miller eared bronze and redemption in the men’s downhill. I thought about that, and felt good for the guy. I read full stories about the race and saw pictures of Miller raising his fist triumphantly. Then I went home, kissed my girlfriend, made dinner, drank two beers … and finally sometime around 10 p.m. I got to see Miller win bronze.
The kicker is that the Olympics this year are in the Pacific Time Zone, same as Portland, where I live. But do I get to see anything live? Not without a plane ticket.
Tonight, as most Olympians have probably already settled into their beds, I’m watching jeopardy, waiting for the Olympics to air. I’ve already learned that Lindsey Jacobellis didn’t medal in snowboardcross. Dish Network tells me women’s snowboardcross will be the highlight of the three-hour block of Olympic events tonight.
It’s ridiculous. And I refuse to be mad at other outlets for spoiling NBC’s fun. When other events occur during the day, the American workforce finds ways to surreptitiously watch or listen. The Olympics should be no different. With the living room dynamic out, memories could be made sneaking away to the bathroom to watch Apolo Ohno on iPhones.
Instead, the best moments of these Olympics are distant memories by the time NBC gets around to airing them.
Have to disagree with your headline Bill. You should’ve focused the headline’s poetic license against NBC, not the Olympics. No time-delay policy will ever keep me from watching. The issue isn’t with the Olympics, it’s with access.
I understand that NBC can’t always cover these events live ALL DAY – the network probably can’t afford to devote the entirety of its daytime coverage to the Olympics. It’s a mighty task. What they may need to do is make the videos available live online (if they don’t already) or use their affiliate networks like USA, CNBC, MSNBC to cover the skiing instead, pushing the coverage of other events like Curling (which is one of my absolute favorite events) to late-night or online.
I watched curling all day today on USA Network. Love it, but I’d like to have seen Jacobellis live. I make an effort to avoid hearing the results until I can see the events. It’s just a part of it. In the end, there’s not enough time in the day to cover every single event live.
Parker —
I understand your points across the board. However, can you ever imagine ESPN not airing these events live? Of course there’s not enough time in the day. But I think NBC comes off looking like fools. What they should do — and I meant to put this in the post — is run as much live as they can during the day. The big stuff taking priority. Then, in primetime, run “Today at the Olympics,” long cuts from the most exciting moments. But don’t act like you’re bringing it to me live, instead, tell me what happened and then let me see it. It’s a much more genuine approach. If NBC can’t handle thatkind of commitment to sports, maybe it should give up the Olympics to a network that can.
For the record, I hate to see everything go to ESPN. But, ESPN is the one network that does sports right. So it’s a matter of competing values.
Good points about ESPN, but keep in mind that that’s the product behind their business model: they are 100% sports, 100% of the time. In fact sometimes when they strive to cover news they themselves seem disingenuous. And they have four network channels and a global Web service set up to provide 100% sports and flexible daytime commitments to their own programming.
I am all for the way ESPN operates; I prefer their broadcasts to those of other networks, based on the personalities and enjoyability of the casts. I love ESPN. It is far and away my favorite network.
I just don’t think it’s possible for any network to devote 100% of its programming over a two week period to just one event. Even the news networks don’t cover 1 story explicitly for that long. Haiti wasn’t the only material covered by the news networks after the earthquake. Granted, it dominated the coverage deservedly so, but it wasn’t on all the time.
I’ve never been truly disenfranchised by NBC’s broadcasts, and I think you make good points about the major events being covered Live. I think the situation is that the networks feel they DO cover the most important events live: figure skating will always trump snowboard cross in terms of viewership. The hockey finals will get their due coverages. Speedskating is live and has its star in Apolo Ohno.
Same thing with the Summer Olympics: your major swimming events, track and field events, gymnastics, things of that nature that are signature Olympic events and traditionally draw the highest ratings and viewership – those are always live. And in 2008, when the Redeem Team was going for the gold, my friends and I were watching, live, at 1:30 in the morning.
It comes down to your interpretation of the elite events, and I just don’t think snowboardcross makes that cut. Curling certainly doesn’t either, though, so maybe USA Network shows the events with stars like Jacobellis live in the future, and puts curling on for the curling nuts like me at late night. I don’t know the broadcast coverage for Shaun White’s events or Lindsay Vonn’s, but you have a point when talking about stars like them: I want to see them live and hope to. And if they won’t be live, I’ll avoid the other networks and Web sites until I can see their performances.
But I don’t think any network that doesn’t devote itself fully to one product like ESPN can ever pull off a flawless broadcast schedule.
Again, don’t disagree with you. But when you talk about “interpretation of the elite events” I offer that NBC has already made that distinction for you. I know they can’t do everything all the time. But to take the best of the day and save it for the end of the day is ridiculous.
I’m just mad you can’t watch any of the events online without some extra special Comcast membership that costs $85. I don’t have a digital converter box, so I can’t see any Olympics, even though it is network TV