NBC Olympic coverage is HORRIBLE!!!

[Foxxern]

It really stuns me that NBC, with the Olympics in their own country, still can't show live coverage! It's 7:50 PM CT here, and they're showing doubles luge--an event that began almost 10 hours ago! Heaven forbid they would actually pre-empt their crappy soap operas and talk shows during the day to show an event that occurs once every four years. Then you hear them whining when every subsequent Olympics gets lower ratings than the last.

Instead of bringing us live events, like any other sporting event, they try to cram everything into their high ad revenue prime time slots. And of course every athlete just has to have a movie of the week story behind them. Add a bunch of pop music in the background of the athlete profiles to make it even worse. They take away from the sport, and turn it into a made-for-TV special. It really is a disgrace that people living in the host nation are held hostage to their own Olympics by a money-grabbing network like NBC. Something is a bit off when people halfway across the world can see these events before we can.

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Change is the only constant

 

[IvanClaytonJnr]

at 1pm there was scheduled a hockey game , and these morons showed almost 3hr long coverage of gold medal figure skating case .

 

[kobayashi]

in canada the cbc starts coverage at 10 or 11 am. this continues until 5pm i believe. then at 5:30 they return to the olympics until about 11-11:30.
what doesn't fit on to the cbc gets relegated to TSN(one of our 2 cable sports networks) who are probably showing about 4 or 5 hours of coverage a day, and then on the cbc's all news channel there are hourly olympic updates-it's pretty sweet.

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don't.

 

[jezebel]

I have read that NBC is bringing in record ratings despite the delayed coverage, especially for the opening ceremony (they actually did cut down on commercials during part of it, anyway). It was revealed many months ago that NBC intended to cover the Olympics this way.

I have found their coverage to be no better nor worse than past Olympics. It's not that great but they don't seem to be wasting quite as much time on those sentimental personal profiles as years past. And the less popluar events are being carried on MSNBC and CNBC.

I live on the west coast, and if I received regular tv coverage, even the ice skating would be taped. But I've got a satellite dish with NBC coverage from Denver, so at least the evening events are live. Plus coverage is over around 8:30, which is really great since I have to get up so early in the morning.

I think I have just lowered my expectations, that why I'm not disappointed this year. This is the type of coverage that I expected; why think that a major American network would change a formula that must be working (i.e., ratings & revenue)?

That's my .02!

BTW, NBC made a big goof tonight....after Chris Klug won the bronze for the snowboard slalom, the announcer mentioned that the US had now won a record 14 medals....only problem was is that they weren't finished with the luge coverage, where the US picked up two of the 14.

[This message has been edited by jezebel (edited 02-15-2002).]

 

[CannibalisticArtist]

the supertoiletbowl was live!! god bless!!

 

[anitram]

I feel sorry for those of you who don't have the CBC. We get about 11 hours a day (live) plus about 6 a day on TSN. Incredible, really. Morning to night. And even when they do show events, they always edit them, so you see the top 4 or 5 people ski/skate/etc. + the obligatory Americans, and that's it.

And for the love of God, can they please pronounce Catriona LeMay Doan's name right just once? The O is silent. It really bugs me.

 

[senrab]

I live in the US but I can get the CBC....much better coverage...less mush, no frills, less ADS!!!!

Originally posted by anitram:
I feel sorry for those of you who don't have the CBC. We get about 11 hours a day (live) plus about 6 a day on TSN. Incredible, really. Morning to night. And even when they do show events, they always edit them, so you see the top 4 or 5 people ski/skate/etc. + the obligatory Americans, and that's it.

And for the love of God, can they please pronounce Catriona LeMay Doan's name right just once? The O is silent. It really bugs me.

 

[melon]

Yes, I do feel sorry for those who don't have CBC! The airwaves from Ch. 9 in Windsor spill over into my home.

I'll miss it when I move out to Boston.

But I'm also a "Days of Our Lives" addict...lol.

Melon

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"He had lived through an age when men and women with energy and ruthlessness but without much ability or persistence excelled. And even though most of them had gone under, their ignorance had confused Roy, making him wonder whether the things he had striven to learn, and thought of as 'culture,' were irrelevant. Everything was supposed to be the same: commercials, Beethoven's late quartets, pop records, shopfronts, Freud, multi-coloured hair. Greatness, comparison, value, depth: gone, gone, gone. Anything could give some pleasure; he saw that. But not everything provided the sustenance of a deeper understanding." - Hanif Kureishi, Love in a Blue Time

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

lucky for me i like young and the restless!

 

[sulawesigirl4]

hmm. Well, since I work a standard 9-5 job and wouldn't be home to see all-day coverage, I guess NBC's coverage has been pretty a-ok for me so far. It's nice to come home, eat my dinner and then veg in front of the Olympics till bed-time.

One thing I wish they'd have more is profiles and interviews with non-USA athletes. I mean, I'm happy to know about our favorites, but I'd be interested in having a more well-rounded knowledge base about the competitors. Anyways...other than that...no complaints.

-sula

 

[sulawesigirl4]

oh wait, I did think of some complaints. If I see that idiotic McDonalds "one of the U.S. bobsledders is out...looks like they'll need a sub...any excuse is a good one to go get a chicken sandwich from McDs...wtf?" commercials, I'm going to go bezerk.

That and the AT&T ones are really getting on my nerves.

Oh and here's an article about the coverage being spotty and full of commercials.... http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=529&u=/ap/20020215/ap_en_tv/oly_screen_plays_7

[This message has been edited by sulawesigirl4 (edited 02-16-2002).]

 

[Foxxern]

Originally posted by CannibalisticArtist:
the supertoiletbowl was live!! god bless!!

Well yes, but that was on Fox. Sometimes Fox Sports does a much better job anyways. I know it's been a while since we had quality Olympic coverage in the US, and I understand that they're just in it for the money, but sometimes I wish they would leave just a shred of integrity in their broadcasts.

Of course the IOC is partially to blame as well. They know they can milk the US rights for all they're worth, and as a result, NBC ended up paying an obscene amount of money for the exclusive US rights. To recoup that investment, they have to get good ad revenues, so they air mostly during prime time.

Capitalism and sports do not mix well.



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Change is the only constant

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Originally posted by Foxxern:
Heaven forbid they would actually pre-empt their crappy soap operas

 

[elevatedmole]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
hmm. Well, since I work a standard 9-5 job and wouldn't be home to see all-day coverage, I guess NBC's coverage has been pretty a-ok for me so far. It's nice to come home, eat my dinner and then veg in front of the Olympics till bed-time.

One thing I wish they'd have more is profiles and interviews with non-USA athletes. I mean, I'm happy to know about our favorites, but I'd be interested in having a more well-rounded knowledge base about the competitors. Anyways...other than that...no complaints.

-sula

Funny you say that -- I was just ranting about this last night. I am so sick of the "no matter how crappy they are, we have to show every single American athlete" attitude -- what if we don't CARE? I'd much rather see talented athletes from all different countries than a handful of so-so Americans.



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"Very strange looking object you have at the end of your stick.." - Bono

"Bono looks too intense for me." - Rollercoaster Tycoon park guest

"I was drunk, high on him, a shrinking, shadowboxing dwarf following in his foosteps...badly...STARSTRUCK.." - Bono, on meeting Frank Sinatra for the first time

"Bono? Bono is going to tie ropes around my neck? Wait a minute.." - Edge, when shooting the 'Numb' video

 

[zonelistener]

Problem is, somewhere in America, people want to see that American athlete.

All though it seems that there is more interviews and filler than events, I have some positive comments:

I love how they are transposing one skier over another comparing the two...this is neat technology, and really shows how inches and seconds play a part in these events.

I love the camera that glides along the speedskaters. They do the same thing with the track events for the summer games.

I like watching CNBC and MSNBC coverage of all of the hockey games. It was great to watch Sweden win last night.

Go USA Woman's Hockey!!!!

 

[jezebel]

Originally posted by zonelistener:

I love how they are transposing one skier over another comparing the two...this is neat technology, and really shows how inches and seconds play a part in these events.

it's really cool when they do that....plus that camera placed right on the ski jump

 

[sulawesigirl4]

Originally posted by zonelistener:
I love how they are transposing one skier over another comparing the two...this is neat technology, and really shows how inches and seconds play a part in these events.

ooooh yeah! I was gonna mention that, zone. I LOVE that new ski replay technology. It really helps you see how races are won and lost and how much the line the skiier is taking affects their speed.

 

[anitram]

I was watching curling on CBC, and the Americans were playing against Norway. They won. The funny thing is, every time the Americans threw the stone, the crowd went wild, and the Canadian announcer said, "Well, clearly the American crowd doesn't understand curling, because they just cheered on a terrible shot."

 

[elevatedmole]

Originally posted by zonelistener:
Problem is, somewhere in America, people want to see that American athlete.

All though it seems that there is more interviews and filler than events, I have some positive comments:

I love how they are transposing one skier over another comparing the two...this is neat technology, and really shows how inches and seconds play a part in these events.

I love the camera that glides along the speedskaters. They do the same thing with the track events for the summer games.
B]

I love that as well -- very very nice.

Technology is niiiiiice.

BTW I just wanted to point out that I never became interested in hockey until I found out Bono used to play it a bit when he was a teenager. *cough*

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"Very strange looking object you have at the end of your stick.." - Bono

"Bono looks too intense for me." - Rollercoaster Tycoon park guest

"I was drunk, high on him, a shrinking, shadowboxing dwarf following in his foosteps...badly...STARSTRUCK.." - Bono, on meeting Frank Sinatra for the first time

"Bono? Bono is going to tie ropes around my neck? Wait a minute.." - Edge, when shooting the 'Numb' video

 

[sulawesigirl4]

ummm...nope, we don't understand curling. But hey, if it's the home team, aren't ya gonna cheer for them regardless?