The IOC is not preventing NBC from showing anything live on TV. It is a choice NBC made.
NBC is not some altruistic operation. It is in it to make money. With the Olympics it is to limit their losses. As Jazz noted if the IOC wanted to protect their product---like August National with the Masters and the All England club with Wimbledon both of whom dictate how their product is used---they could do it. If the IOC really cared that as many people saw their marquis events live, their could easily do it. But that might cost them a few bucks with the US Television pig trough that they can't wean themselves from.
jazzcyclist wrote:The IOC could make it a requirement that whoever wins bids must show the major Olympic sports live regardless of when they take place. It might cause the bids to be lower, but so be it.
My guess is that the IOC would install a bottom ceiling and that number would be so high that no American network would want to bid.
This all goes back to what I have been saying for a long time. The US is the only country in the world where its residents do not get to see most of the Olympics live on TV and that's a damm shame regardless of the reasons.
Alert! Alert! According to the TV Listings (by sport) on the nbcolympics.com website, the men's 10,000 is to be shown in its entirety, live on the East Coast at 13:15 EDT Saturday, on NBC (the main channel). This will be delayed three hours for those of us on the West Coast, 16:15 PDT. Well, that's what it says.
Now, the women's 10K is supposed to be at 15:25 PDT on Friday, but that is just two hours delayed, so I am going to DVR from 14:15 to 16:15, to be on the safe side.
Of course, who knows what will actually be shown.
I hope this forum will be kept open for TV and live-streaming info and "reviews", because we are not allowed to create new threads on the Olympics forum. Cheers, Alan Shank Woodland, CA, USA
jamaica50 wrote:NBC earns higher rates from advertisers by airing the day’s biggest events in primetime, when more viewers are likely to tune in. The network claimed Saturday that its tape-delay strategy was already paying off, with ratings for the Opening Ceremony drawing its biggest audience ever for a summer telecast. NBC Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus said in a statement, “This audience number for the London Opening Ceremony is a great early sign that our strategy of driving people to watch NBC in primetime is working.”
They THINK the tape-delay is paying off, because they aren't accounting for people who simply don't watch because it's not live, nor the people who get pissed off at NBC and will watch less of NBC than they used to. If their reason for overpaying for the Olympics is to make viewers more interested in watching NBC shows after the Olympics, they've epically failed.
And it's not a good idea to upset your audience and potential audience when your shows are lagging behind your competitors.
The most lucrative TV show of 2011 was (surprise!) American Idol. Looking at data from adspend measurement company Kantar Media, Dorothy Pomerantz of Forbes found that American Idol generated an average of $6.64 million in ad revenue for every half-hour it was on air.
The networks that cracked Forbes' top 10 list of the most lucrative TV shows are ABC (4), CBS (3), and Fox (3). Of course, that means NBC missed the cut entirely. Ouch.
Alan Shank wrote:Alert! Alert! According to the TV Listings (by sport) on the nbcolympics.com website, the men's 10,000 is to be shown in its entirety, live on the East Coast at 13:15 EDT Saturday, on NBC (the main channel). This will be delayed three hours for those of us on the West Coast, 16:15 PDT. Well, that's what it says.
Now, the women's 10K is supposed to be at 15:25 PDT on Friday, but that is just two hours delayed, so I am going to DVR from 14:15 to 16:15, to be on the safe side.
One way to stay on the safe side is watch the online streams. The evening stuff will show live online between 10AM-2PM on the West coast everyday (the times vary slightly, with some days starting as early as 10AM and some days ending as early as 1:30PM more or less). Here's a schedule (including morning sessions) based on PDT: 8/3 2AM-5:30AM and 11AM-2PM 8/4 2AM-5:15AM and 11AM-2PM 8/5 3AM-5:30AM and 11AM-2PM 8/6 2AM-4AM and 11AM-1:45PM 8/7 2AM-4AM and 11AM-1:20PM 8/8 2AM-5:15AM and 10AM-1:30PM 8/9 1AM-5AM and 10:30AM-1:30PM 8/10 no morning and 11AM-1:30PM 8/11 no morning and 11AM-1:15PM 8/12 3AM-5:15AM
Note that the early sessions on 8/5 and 8/11 consist of only the women's and men's marathons; I'm thinking those will be live on one of the NBC networks and I will tape those since they should be shown in their entirety. If you're going to watch online, be sure to authorize every computer you might be using and make sure your Adobe Flash Player is up to date.
18.99s wrote:And it's not a good idea to upset your audience and potential audience when your shows are lagging behind your competitors.
NBC doesn't intentionally "overpay" for the Games. They just pay more than they expect to make directly, because they expect an indirect positive effect that more than makes up for the direct loss.
That indirect effect includes an improved reputation, because people like the Olympics, and then they associate NBC with the Olympics. Problem is, the way NBC handles the Games, they create the opposite effect and damage their reputation instead.
j-a-m wrote: Problem is, the way NBC handles the Games, they create the opposite effect and damage their reputation instead.
On what evidence do you make a claim like that? You sound like the general public really cares how NBC handles the Olympics. For most of the American public the Olympics is a 2 week reality show and a summer diversion every four years. The boycott in 1980 was actually very popular with the American public. Those dirty commies! (Of course, the athletes had a different opinion.)
I just heard today on NPR that archery is the big thing in the Olympics this time. And why? Because of a Movie!
jamaica50 wrote:This all goes back to what I have been saying for a long time. The US is the only country in the world where its residents do not get to see most of the Olympics live on TV and that's a damm shame regardless of the reasons.
You can't these events live on TV if all you own is a TV, but if you have a computer, an HDMI cable and fast internet service, you can see ALL the events live in TV, at 1080p.
Conor Dary wrote:On what evidence do you make a claim like that? You sound like the general public really cares how NBC handles the Olympics.
Well, NBC cares, because they pay so much for the Olympics with the idea that people's enjoyment of the Olympics will carry over into increased NBC viewership after the Olympics.
If the general public doesn't care, they're wasting their money. If the general public actually cares, they're also wasting their money because they're creating a negative impression among those who do care.
Conor Dary wrote: If the general public actually cares, they're also wasting their money because they're creating a negative impression among those who do care.
Care in what way? That they don't show the track live? HA!
Conor Dary wrote:On what evidence do you make a claim like that? You sound like the general public really cares how NBC handles the Olympics.
Well, NBC cares, because they pay so much for the Olympics with the idea that people's enjoyment of the Olympics will carry over into increased NBC viewership after the Olympics.
If the general public doesn't care, they're wasting their money. If the general public actually cares, they're also wasting their money because they're creating a negative impression among those who do care.
I've only read complaints online from obsessed fans and sports writers.
This is just anecdotal, but at the 30 person company I work at, most people seem to be watching the Olympics and enjoying them just fine. I've heard a couple of conversations complaining about spoilers, but it didn't seem like people were blaming NBC for them; it's just reality in the internet age and the Olympics being 8 hours ahead of us on the West Coast.
tgs3 wrote:This is just anecdotal, but at the 30 person company I work at, most people seem to be watching the Olympics and enjoying them just fine. I've heard a couple of conversations complaining about spoilers, but it didn't seem like people were blaming NBC for them; it's just reality in the internet age and the Olympics being 8 hours ahead of us on the West Coast.
Ignorance is bliss!!! >:-) It's certainly easier to enjoying something you don't know much or care about. Cheers, Alan Shank Woodland, CA, USA
Wow, they're actually showing something live on US TV! Women's soccer USA vs. New Zealand completed less than an hour ago, and now they're showing Brazil vs. Japan.
18.99s wrote:Wow, they're actually showing something live on US TV! Women's soccer USA vs. New Zealand completed less than an hour ago, and now they're showing Brazil vs. Japan.
Welcome to the real world. All week they have been showing live stuff all day long.
So far NBC has shown all the distance finals live - men's and women's 10,000 and men's and women's steeplechase. I presume we will get to see the 5000's live, but I wonder if they will shown the men's 1500 final live today.
jazzcyclist wrote:So far NBC has shown all the distance finals live - men's and women's 10,000 and men's and women's steeplechase. I presume we will get to see the 5000's live, but I wonder if they will shown the men's 1500 final live today.
Sure they will......online. On TV, seriously doubt it. That's prime time stuff.
jazzcyclist wrote:So far NBC has shown all the distance finals live - men's and women's 10,000 and men's and women's steeplechase. I presume we will get to see the 5000's live, but I wonder if they will shown the men's 1500 final live today.
Sure they will......online. On TV, seriously doubt it. That's prime time stuff.
The men's 10,000 was primetime stuff IMO. That was more exciting than the women's 100 final which got tape delayed.
jazzcyclist wrote:The men's 10,000 was primetime stuff IMO. That was more exciting than the women's 100 final which got tape delayed.
I agree, but my guess is that the programming execs correctly feel that no one in the US cares about races that last nearly 1/2 an hour even with an American contender; but the mile or its metric equivalent still has some allure amongst the general public and thus will be saved for later.
jazzcyclist wrote: The show I saw came into the M 10,000 just after 5K. Cheers, Alan Shank
The showed the whole thing when they aired it live.
I missed both the live stream and the live TV. On the NBC station where I live, it was to be shown at 16:15. I was down at my daughter's in Boulder Creek, and I had her DVR 16:15-17:00. However, her NBC station showed it LIVE, actually live, not West-Coast-three-hours-delayed live. So I was screwed both ways.
The first half was not very interesting. Actually, I thought the whole race was somewhat disappointing, as nobody really tried anything major before the last lap. After 14:05+, I kept remembering the 12:57 last 5000 in Paris and Tadese making K Bekele run 26:46 in Berlin. Cheers, Alan Shank
Okay, I'm starting to get annoyed here. Early on Tuesday afternoon, Central Daylight Time, August 7, when NBC conceivably could have shown live track & field on the TV coverage, instead it was volleyball, the U.S. women against the Dominican Republic, in a quarterfinal. The Americans won in three sets. NBC after two cycling races then switched to women's beach volleyball semifinals, and so their was no live TV of men's 1500 and women's 100 hurdles finals. NBC then goes off the air, we have game shows, etc. At 7:00 p.m, Olympic coverage returns, and its the other women's beach volleyball semifinal. I did the streaming the day of the men's steeplechase final. It kept getting stuck.
I watched about 10 minutes of the prime time last night, just so I could watch Bolt. I figured it would come on in the last hour or so and I was right. Even that was almost too much.
NBC says 5K live -- but what kind of "live" on West coast? Sometimes the local NBC channels in a given time zone don't show "live" at the same time. I lost the live men's 10K because the Santa Cruz NBC channel showed it "really live", and I waited until 3 hours later, while my DVR at home was recording at "really live" and they delayed it 3 hours. Bastards!
re the live streaming. I have been going down to my brother's apartment at 11 each day, because his Internet connection is much better than mine (out in the boonies). However, on his computer the Flash player crashes every ten minutes or so. On my iPad, the special app for NBCOlympics never crashes, so I'm watching that.
Another issue: yesterday, on the iPad they had a "throws feed" and a "jumps feed", with nothing but those events, no commentary. But there is no "track feed" where you get nothing but the track action; there is only the "main-evening-session" feed, where they break away from longer races to show field-event action. So, I'm concerned that they will break away from today's W 5000 to show hammer/pole vault attempts. I would like to have just the running on one device and two others with "throws feed" and "jumps feed".
But, hey, this is so much better than we've had before, isn't it? Cheers, Alan Shank
Alan Shank wrote:Another issue: yesterday, on the iPad they had a "throws feed" and a "jumps feed", with nothing but those events, no commentary. But there is no "track feed" where you get nothing but the track action; there is only the "main-evening-session" feed, where they break away from longer races to show field-event action. So, I'm concerned that they will break away from today's W 5000 to show hammer/pole vault attempts. I would like to have just the running on one device and two others with "throws feed" and "jumps feed".
Is what is offered on the Ipad different? Looks like the main NBC site offers 4 different feeds both yesterday and today, and one of those is a track only feed. I prefer the feed with the (BBC?) commentary on it, but I can see a purist wanting all three feeds in different tabs/browsers.
