February 17th, 2010

NBC Olympic coverage and athlete update.  NBC’s Olympic coverage is important to many winter sports lovers.  Coverage of the Vancouver winter games allows us to see what’s going on without actually having to be physically present at the games.

Despite the importance of Olympic coverage, there are many critics of how the network goes about following the games.  For instance, it’s virtually impossible to showcase every single sporting event on a limited timetable. This is particularly true when there are many events taking place at exactly the same time.

Of the most frustrating things about NBC is their delayed coverage.  This means that events are pre-taped and then shown as “live.”  In some cases, people can get on to the Vancouver Winter Olympics Official Web site and see how the event will end, before it is even done airing on NBC.

Many people were upset Monday night when less than 40 minutes of men’s downhill was shown.  What was on? Endless pairs figure skating.  This is great for figure skating fans, but there are many who would have rather seen the skiing event instead.

SB Nation says that NBC is “a network that last did sports effectively when Ronald Reagan was President and analog was king, and a company whose owners have let the building fall down around their ears. Having just killed Conan O’Brien and following it up with the OlympicFAIL, the only justice would be the whole thing collapsing on them with substantial casualties.”

Still yet, in the age of the Internet, those who wish to see live events can do so through live streams.  No, these streams aren’t as good as watching something on TV, but they are better than nothing.

Perhaps the lackadaisical coverage is caused by a bigger problem: NBC is actually losing money covering the games.  They paid over $2 billion for the domestic rights to the 2010 and 2012 games. The excessive commercials and lackluster programming could be their way of trying to cut costs and lose less money.

Source:

SB Nation

New York Times