What Do You Think of NBC’s Olympics Coverage?

Angry with NBC and their piss poor Olympics coverage? Come on in and vent.

Personally, I am furious.  NBC is blacking out some of the biggest events, presumably to save them for their prime time broadcast to maximize their audience.

This is a technique perfected back in the 1970′s.  With the emergence of cable TV in the 80′s and the sudden availability of more venues with which to split the broadcast, the days of the big prime time network Olympics omnibus seemed numbered.  Remember the triplecast?  That was supposed to change everything.  It didn’t.  The horrid network omnibus lives on.

In today’s age of the internet and instant communication, this kind of prime time omnibus is not only useless, it is down right cruel to the viewer.

While network television’s greed and ludditious fear of technology is always good for a few laughs, things got a bit serious yesterday with Lindsey Vonn’s run in the Downhill and her run today in the Super Combined.  Both events were actually blacked out here in the United States…

Blacked out.

The rest of the world got to see the entire event live while the U.S. audience got this tape delayed hodge podge consisting only of the American participants, the medalists and the best wipeouts.   This is how it always works here.  We don’t really get to watch the Olympic Games here in the U.S., we only get the “omnibus” version.

Think you can watch the international feed online?  Guess again. Blocked for U.S. IP’s.   Live near the Canadian border hoping to tune in to Canadian TV?  That’s blocked too.  If you want to see or hear any of the big events live, forget it.  NBC has paid a ton of money to keep it from you so they can package it, edit it, stick commercials on it and sell it to you later.

If you are unlucky enough to live on the West Coast, you’re doubly screwed.  Not only do they tape delay and savagely edit the handful of events that they show, they delay it 3 more hours for everyone on the West Coast.  It starts late and goes on seemingly forever.  NBC’s Olympics coverage bleeds way into the wee hours for no good reason…  Oh wait, there’s a good reason.  They have to make room for all the HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON promos.

I understand the rationale.  A lot of people just aren’t interested in ALL the events, and a lot of people work all day and there’s only time for a few hours of programming every night, and nobody wants to see the no-chancers from former soviet states, etc.  But the problem with this rationale is that NBC ends up catering to those who are less interested in the event and going out of their way to hinder those who are more interested.  Would it really kill NBC to provide at least a minimal effort to cover the games for those who want to see them.  I am getting sick and tired of the utterly crap U.S. coverage, while nearly every other country at least gets to see it live.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the only other country that blacks out and tape delays coverage is North Korea.

Am I mad at NBC for doing this?  Of course.  But I reserve my deepest disappointment for the IOC for selling the rights to them in the first place.  The way that NBC and the IOC have handled the US broadcast debacle is really turning me off of the Olympics.  Kinda like how the “business” turned me off of football.

Or perhaps I’m just spoiled.

I got to see the first week of the Beijing Olympics on BBC.  Every event, live, with minimal announcer hyperbole.   YOU got to choose what YOU wanted to see.

Why can’t we have that here?  Why can’t we at least have the opportunity to watch it online?  Why can’t several networks get together and share coverage like they do with baseball and football?

Or why doesn’t the IOC simply grow a pair and demand that international coverage meets some kind of quality threshold like FIFA does for the World Cup?

Bottom line; there is nothing we can do about it this year but complain.

So let’s get started.