With the Winter Olympics being held on the West Coast, I had high hopes that finally, this time, we would actually get some decent TV coverage of the events. However, as usual, NBC missed the mark.
When are the executives at NBC going to wake up and realize we are in the 21st Century? People on the West Coast don’t need to wait for the network to throw out morsels representing their interpretation of what people want (should?) watch – we can get the information off the internet. I shouldn’t have to wait for a minimum three hour tape delay to watch events that are happening in real time in my time zone.
Why did the opening ceremonies need to start at 9:00 pm? The people in the Midwest and on the East Coast were not watching the opening ceremonies at 11:00 pm and Midnight respectively, why should we have to watch it in tape delay? By the time they started airing on the West Coast, the people on the East Coast already knew who was lighting the Olympic Cauldron. How do they expect the next generation of athletes to dream the Olympic dream, when the coverage provided is past their bedtime?
Besides the post-mortem coverage, Olympic coverage has deteriorated over the years. It used to be that you could watch an event from start to finish including the medals ceremony – regardless of which country won. Now, we only get the equivalent of Twitter feeds – bits and pieces of random events and only the occasional medal ceremony and then only if it includes a popular American athlete. The only thing NBC has shown in its painful entirety over the last two Summer Olympics was the marathon. Watching a 3 hour marathon is akin to watching grass grow. Why do we have to watch 3 hours of continuous marathon action when every other event is spoon feed to us in random intervals mixed with other random events?
I thought I heard that the contract with NBC is due to expire soon. The Olympic Committee needs to seriously consider providing better coverage for the next contract. I have about 200 channels on Direct TV and I should be able to watch Olympic events on more than one of them! If we can have the NFL and MLB on more than one network, why not the Olympics? They can air at alternate times so that we can watch Olympic events all day long, if that is our choice. If it’s about dollars, which everything seems to be these days, wouldn’t multiple contracts benefit the US Olympic program?
In addition, I should be able to watch these events in real time from start to finish! Do not make assumptions that the network’s favorite sports are the same ones that everyone else is interested in watching. I happen to like curling, but the chances of seeing much of it at all is dismal enough, and during prime time hours, next to null.
Lastly, while the interviews with and background of athletes may be interesting, save those for the evening news or non-prime time hours and give us real action in real time.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
About musingmirror
A writer of many genres, always in search of creative inspiration.
MusingMirror 2 
Olympic TV Coverage (2010)
With the Winter Olympics being held on the West Coast, I had high hopes that finally, this time, we would actually get some decent TV coverage of the events. However, as usual, NBC missed the mark.
When are the executives at NBC going to wake up and realize we are in the 21st Century? People on the West Coast don’t need to wait for the network to throw out morsels representing their interpretation of what people want (should?) watch – we can get the information off the internet. I shouldn’t have to wait for a minimum three hour tape delay to watch events that are happening in real time in my time zone.
Why did the opening ceremonies need to start at 9:00 pm? The people in the Midwest and on the East Coast were not watching the opening ceremonies at 11:00 pm and Midnight respectively, why should we have to watch it in tape delay? By the time they started airing on the West Coast, the people on the East Coast already knew who was lighting the Olympic Cauldron. How do they expect the next generation of athletes to dream the Olympic dream, when the coverage provided is past their bedtime?
Besides the post-mortem coverage, Olympic coverage has deteriorated over the years. It used to be that you could watch an event from start to finish including the medals ceremony – regardless of which country won. Now, we only get the equivalent of Twitter feeds – bits and pieces of random events and only the occasional medal ceremony and then only if it includes a popular American athlete. The only thing NBC has shown in its painful entirety over the last two Summer Olympics was the marathon. Watching a 3 hour marathon is akin to watching grass grow. Why do we have to watch 3 hours of continuous marathon action when every other event is spoon feed to us in random intervals mixed with other random events?
I thought I heard that the contract with NBC is due to expire soon. The Olympic Committee needs to seriously consider providing better coverage for the next contract. I have about 200 channels on Direct TV and I should be able to watch Olympic events on more than one of them! If we can have the NFL and MLB on more than one network, why not the Olympics? They can air at alternate times so that we can watch Olympic events all day long, if that is our choice. If it’s about dollars, which everything seems to be these days, wouldn’t multiple contracts benefit the US Olympic program?
In addition, I should be able to watch these events in real time from start to finish! Do not make assumptions that the network’s favorite sports are the same ones that everyone else is interested in watching. I happen to like curling, but the chances of seeing much of it at all is dismal enough, and during prime time hours, next to null.
Lastly, while the interviews with and background of athletes may be interesting, save those for the evening news or non-prime time hours and give us real action in real time.
Share this:
Like this:
Related
About musingmirror
A writer of many genres, always in search of creative inspiration.