Olympics Coverage by NBC

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rp2813

rp2813

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Hey guys & gals, is it just me and my over-the-air-only TV reception currently, or is NBC focusing on the same thing every night? Of course Michael Phelps is commanding a lot of attention, but it seems every time I tune in, it's either swimming, gymnastics or volleyball. I got in on junior weightlifting once when it was nearly over.

Where oh where and when do I get to see the hulking shot-putters and discus thowers, or wrestlers exchanging all of those rather personal holds? On cable, which I don't have right now?

I guess it was 4 years ago when we tuned out of the Olympics for the same reason, but this time it seems like they are stuck on just a few main focuses and everything else is incidental.

I'm confident that someday soon in this post-Tivo world we'll be able to have access to the entire Olympics and pick and choose what we want to watch, but meanwhile we are stuck with what the networks think we want to see.

How do people feel about the coverage NBC is providing?
 
The "WATER CUBE" thing is the deal this olympics. That's about all you gonna see.

AND, questions, why are all the swimmers completly shaved and do the "dophin swim" thing? Guess I am in the dark ages at 46. Never saw that before, and watched some old ones on you tube to verify.

S.
 
I noticed they had track & field on NBC today mid-morning but I wasn't home. So I guess they figure the big boys aren't ready for prime time.

They had male synchronized diving a day or two ago. This one pair from the U.S. had "gay lovers" written all over them.
 
I was thinking the same thing.. I don't even purposely tune into the Olympics but everytime I'm channel flipping, day, night, afternoon etc.. it's all swimming. And it isn't just NBC it's all the channels, even our Canadian ones.
 
I don't swim competitive, but I do know a fair bit about competitive swimming and the strokes involved. Swimmers shave body hair since hair increases drag and reduces speed. The dolphin kick gives more propulsion than the flutter kick, since it mimics what fish do with their tails to propel themselves in the water. However if the kick is done wrong then you're not going anywhere, trust me. The butterfly stroke is extremely hard to master, and a big part of that is co-ordinating your arm movement with the dolphin kick.
 
Swimming and gymnastics are pretty much the big money "sports" when it comes to Olympics. I mean a gold medal in handball is all very well, but does not have the same ring, does it?

When one hears of countries and or individuals (sometimes even youngsters), training for Olympic competition most all move towards the same several areas: track and field, gymnastics, swimming, and weight lifting.

IMHO, Olympic coverage is moving more towards part of the original intent of the events, watching well "muscled" and trained young men (and now women), in physical sportsman ship.
If one is going to get up at the crack of dawn to watch telly, might as well have something interesting to hold one's attention.

L.
 
Get up? You mean stay up. :-)

USA Network is covering some of the less popular but still interesting events (wrestling/rowing/etc).
 
I'm still trying to figure out the best alternative to Comcast, a way more old school utility system than the telecom companies they mock in their ads, and a more greedy one than I have ever done business with.

Until I find the best deal on a dish (can't get the latest "U-Verse" system from AT&T in our area) system we are using the rooftop antenna. So I'm stuck with whatever NBC thinks I want to watch. We tune out now when we see swimming and volleyball.

Four years ago it seemed like we were tuning into the "Lifetime" or "We" channels. It's only slightly improved this time around. Is that because maybe it's predominantly straight men making the programming decisions?
 
NBC Olympics Coverage

The coverage of the Olympics by NBC is something that leaves a lot to be desired, based on what people are telling me at work, and my own observations. Without a doubt, many things could be done in a better way. I'm a reference librarian in a public library, and the complaints that people have been voicing have mainly been in four areas:

1. Nothing shown in the Pacific and Mountain time zones in the US is live, despite the what the logo on the screen says. NBC has made little effort to tell viewers in these time zones that what they are viewing is not live. We live in an era when news events and sports scores are available around the world almost instantly, so one of the big complaints is about having to wait three hours or so to see something that the rest of the world already has seen either on TV or on the Internet. The best example of this is the night (Sunday - early Monday) when the men's gymnastics team won the silver medal.

2. Depending on which NBC outlet you are watching (NBC Television, MSNBC, USA, Oxygen, Telemundo, etc.), you will only hear mainly about the sports that are covered on that service. This is a big minus if there is no other access to cable or satellite channels. A lot of elderly men and women are not very happy about being directed to the web site that NBC has set up for current and in-depth information about the games and scores. It is not fear of computers or technology, but it does not help that this is not an easy or obvious site to navigate, with or without help, for a user not really used to, or interested in, making this extra amount of effort to get information.

3. There are way too many commercial breaks. Most everyone understands why there are commercials on television at all, so we have to suffer with them in order for bills to be paid. One of the things that people in the Los Angeles area have been seeing a lot is uneven resumption of whatever the original network feed was. In addition to the spots for General Electric, Budweiser, and the NBC fall schedule, there are also local commercials for the NBC station here and other local sponsors.

It is not uncommon for a string of commercials like this to last over five minutes. Afterwards, there is a quick jump back to an event that has already started - in the case of volleyball, the ball will be shown up in the air, but you often have no idea of who actually served the ball until much later. It is true that this is a way to fill in time for last-minute technical and logistical issues, but really...

4. Announcers who talk incessantly. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes not, regarding what is shown to the viewer. A pet peeve of mine has been during the gymnastic events, about what mistakes were made or the anticipation of what scores, high or low, an athlete is likely to get.

Darryl
 
From what I've heard, BBC has the best Olympic coverage. Several channels worth. That makes sense, because the BBC has a commitment to public service. For NBC the Olympics are just another profit center.
 
Speaking as one who has worked in televison commercial sales, can tell you that the Olympics are big, but to an extent.

For instance once the host country is announced, whomever has the broadcast rights within the USA will start setting rates, but those rates are going to be tempered by what time events are shown. Obviously live covered events are going to fetch more than taped reruns, however as previously stated, how many people say in New York, much less the rest of the USA are going to be up at 2AM on a Monday morning to watch an event.

If the promised number of viewers does not tune in (based upon ratings), advertisers will be entitled to compensation. Considering Olympic spots can go for several thousands of dollars for a sixty-second commercial, that compensation can be huge in terms of what will be offered. Normally it is another spot or spots in the same program or another that will hit the ratings the advertiser didn't get the first time around.

Think with so many people, especially Gen X and below, growing so used to getting their information via Internet and other types of media, live televison coverage of the Olympics, at least in the United States is going to be in for a rough time in future.
 
Well, they're winding down and nothing has changed during prime time viewing hours. Water cube, water cube, water cube. Or female gymnastics, volleyball or track events. I have not seen one beefy male for two weeks.

I already know that in 2012 I needn't tune in. Unless there's a shot-putter, discus thrower or weightlifter who is ready to break some long standing record for total gold medals.
 
And it seems that the other channels/stations are compensating by offering crappy programming. I've just about given up on television this week.
From what I have heard, not as many people are actually watching the Olympics as was expected.
 
I pretty much stopped watching after Phelps scored his eigth gold. I did watch some gymnastics (men's and women's) and some volleyball. I noticed that NBC primarily broadcasts only those events in which Americans have a chance of medaling. Hence, no soccer and much of the field and track was left out - at least out of prime time.

Another thing I noticed is that NBC was a bit fraudulent: they broadcast Phelps' last race as "LIVE" but in reality it was delayed by about an hour - one could already see the result on the internet news wires.

Regarding Phelps, I like to say he's a bit of a phreak. As detailed by the sportscasters, he is 6'2" tall, but has the armspan of someone 6'8" tall, and the legs of someone 6'0" tall. His elbows and shoulders are double-jointed, so he can move them more efficiently in the water than someone with "normal" joints. Additionally, he has extra flexion in his ankles, so he can bend them nearly backward, which greatly improves the efficiency and lowers the drag of his dolphin kick. His is the body of the ultimate speed swimmer, and he's been very smart to devote himself to a sport for which he is so uniquely physically qualified.

Oh, and as I've mentioned here before, I cancelled cable back in 2003 and have relied upon rooftop antenna ever since. I found the analog broadcast picture quality to be superior to that I was getting from Comcast, and now the HD channels come in crystal clear. Really nice on a 42" 1080p LCD panel.

I passed on "Uverse" which recently became available in my neighborhood, although if they were to drop the rates down to what I regard as a reasonable level - $20/month - I would reconsider. But I'm not holding my breath. Meanwhile I'm good with the combination of mostly PBS and some network offerings.
 
Something Truly LIVE, Finally

One thing that we can be appreciative of is that NBC actually did show the gold medal basketball game between Spain and the US live across the country, and the medal ceremony that followed. Even though the match started at 11:30 PM in the Pacific Time zone, friends on the East Coast told me that they did not mind staying up late to watch something as it happened in real time. For once, it was nice to not have to hear about the results before seeing the competition.

It will be interesting to see how big the audience was for this particular broadcast, and if NBC pays attention to this in scheduling for the Winter Games in 2010.
 

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