Is NBC's Coverage Ruining the Olympics Through Tape Delay?

Posted Feb 17th 2010 2:30PM by Mark Fightmaster
Filed under: Columns, Business of Sports

NBC and Dick Ebersol aren't winning over a lot of fans with the station's coverage of the Winter Olympics. One of the network's most vociferous critics is Henry Blodget over at the Business Insider, who is calling NBC "the network that prevents you from watching the Olympics." In fact, in this rather stinging critique, Blodget takes aim at some of NBC's biggest advertisers --- which I can't say I disagree with.

I have to agree with Blodget, I don't understand NBC's fascination with tape-delaying the Olympics - especially in a socially networked world. I know that I can log in to my Twitter account and see the latest results, much like Blodget cites in his articles. Yesterday, I was able to sit down with my 2-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter to watch the U.S. hockey team play in their opening-round game ... LIVE. Would I have done this if I had known that the U.S. was going to win? Perhaps, but it is more likely that I wouldn't. The problem is that NBC is alienating viewers by providing what the network feels the viewer wants to see, not the live events. Yes, I understand advertising and viewing --- some people want to see figure skating (not this guy) in prime time, and that is what the network will show. However, if the figure skating is tape delayed - why preempt live sports? Last night, the men's curling team was battling Norway to try and keep from losing both of their first-day matches --- so I tuned into CNBC (Curling NBC) and found that I was watching the Chinese women battle the Finnish women in ice hockey. Where was the curling? Not there ... although it was live. I like hockey, but without a dog in the race --- why watch?

In fact, even downhill skiing, why put on a 15-minute snippet of Bode Miller winning the bronze when you come back from commercial? Especially when most of the general public have been following the results on the Intrawebs and know the outcome. I admit, it is very easy for me to sit here and play armchair program director; but, I feel that NBC has made some major mistakes with the broadcasting of the Winter Olympics. Perhaps the network can learn its lesson and make some corrections by the time the Summer Olympics roll around ... or not. If you will now excuse me, I have to go watch Lindsay Jacobellis (or is it Dee Snider?) compete in snowboarding, of course - this happened yesterday.

Tags: Dick Ebersol, DickEbersol, NBC, outrage, winter olympics, winter olympics 2010, WinterOlympics, WinterOlympics2010

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-17-2010 @ 9:56PM

JayneDoe said...

found the NBC PR guy's contact information, if you want to complain directly to him. He's the main contact at the Olympics for all the reporters asking questions about the tape delays, and has been feeding them answers like "well, our surveys show that people want to watch TV during prime time", blah blah.

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/presspoint/pressrelease/50966/stanley-cup-final-rematch-this-sunday-on-nbc-sports-when-defending-champion-penguins-host-red-wings

Name: Christopher Paul (chris) Mccloskey
Organization: NBC Universal
Email: Christopher.Mccloskey@nbcuni.com
Phone: 212-664-5598
URL: http://www.nbcumv.com

2-17-2010 @ 8:05PM

Gary said...

Watching the tenth end of USA-Swiss. (I started curling in Winnipeg in 1949, 11 years old.) Bad, bad call for the USA skip's final stone! It is much easier to be precise with direction than weight. He should have called the in turn to chip his own stone over to the button. Would have 5" error window on direction, and about 6 feet on weight, since the two stones both go slower after the collision.

Bah!

2-18-2010 @ 5:17PM

Romas said...

I want sporting events available live and uncut. Can't even see this on the internet because NBC has censored our freedom and rights to access other countries websites. And I don't know who it is they talk to or what they ask - why would anyone prefer to watch a tape delay pretending it's live? And give me a break, when it's pitch black outside a downhill race in sunlight can't be pushed off as live. NBC is worthless.

2-18-2010 @ 6:34PM

UnionDame said...

I think NBC has made a big mistake in its coverage of the Winter Olympics. They could very easily have run the events in real time, especially in the western time zone. If they were trying to keep secret the results in order to increase viewership, then running tape delay across the country according to prime time schedules, means people in the mountain and western time zones will have tons of places where the results will be shared - from websites to personal telephone calls. There excuse of 'prime time and more dollars" is ridiculous. NBC should have run the events at real time on all of their many channels, and then created a prime time highlight program to entertain those who want to be entertained. In addition, the fact that NBC haas some how managed to coop the internet coverage of the Olympics in order to increase viewership and increase revenues is despicable.

2-20-2010 @ 12:29AM

teena sarkissian said...

I have to say that the Vancouver Olympics is the worst coverage I have ever seen. I do not appreciate watching the events one contestant at a time. An example; mens skating; by the time they get to the next skater I forgot what the last one did. What happen to the good ole days when all the skating, downhill, luge, etc. was all broadcasted in procession. It is so aggrevating that we have DVR'd ALL the coverage so that we can watch each competion as one unit. So good luck to the advertisers because we haven't watched one. I feel like I'm watching You Tube without any order. NBC get your shit together, continous broadcasting and we liked Jay at 10:00pm.
Not long to be viewer.