Conor Dary wrote:Instead of moaning about getting a new network, I would suggest following a different sport. The coverage of the Tour de France is a marvel. Expert commentary, live, great drama, commercial breaks sure, but never when it is important. 4 or 5 hours a day I really look forward to each year.
- I for one follow different sports - from Football (both), swimming, tennis, track and field. Maybe because of this and my product/brand management background I become very thoughtful of how current OG coverage can be improved.
Conor Dary wrote:The World Cup is also great. Live, great commentary.
- absolutely agree, the World Cup and by extension Euro Cup and UEFA is fabulous! Kudos to FIFA and their worldwide partner networks.
Conor Dary wrote:Meanwhile, watching track, especially the Olympics, these days, feels more like a job. Looking forward to watching the Olympics is like looking forward to a big bowl of broccoli for dinner.
- this is so sad! I would love to see this change for the better over the next 4 - 6 years.
I wonder what reality some of you folks live in. Since NBC has the Olympics through 2020 this talk of ABC, ESPN and what a haven for track fans it would be, is the equivalent of hoping ending all poverty, eternal world peace and banning all guns, and everyone living happily ever after.
Conor Dary wrote:I wonder what reality some of you folks live in. Since NBC has the Olympics through 2020 this talk of ABC, ESPN and what a haven for track fans it would be, is the equivalent of hoping ending all poverty, eternal world peace and banning all guns, and everyone living happily ever after.
My reality involves unicorns and rainbows - I like it like that
I am aware NBC has the rights through the next 8 years and can only hope their coverage improves - TV (hoping for C- to B+) and streaming (B+ to A). I also assume Disney will do everything possible to ensure they secure rights for 2022 and beyond.
Conor Dary wrote:I wonder what reality some of you folks live in. Since NBC has the Olympics through 2020 this talk of ABC, ESPN and what a haven for track fans it would be, is the equivalent of hoping ending all poverty, eternal world peace and banning all guns, and everyone living happily ever after.
Conor Dary wrote:I wonder what reality some of you folks live in. Since NBC has the Olympics through 2020 this talk of ABC, ESPN and what a haven for track fans it would be, is the equivalent of hoping ending all poverty, eternal world peace and banning all guns, and everyone living happily ever after.
Nirvana has already arrived with US access to the BBC. I just hope NBC can't take any steps to deny us access to the BBC feeds in 2016. Unblocked coverage to the Brits is our best hope for live, knowledgeable and passionate coverage of athletics. NBC isn't about to change their business model.
Yifter wrote:NBC isn't about to change their business model.
Given their target audience, why would they even care if the BBC is blocked or not? After all, we are a small minority, so small, they shaft us every year.
Conor Dary wrote:The World Cup is also great. Live, great commentary.
Indeed. ABC/ESPN have done a first-rate job of every World Cup I have watched since 1994. The last 3 major football tournaments (2010 WC, 2011 wWC, Euro 2012) demonstrated, more than ever, why they deserve to televise an entire Olympics.
I believe Disney will get their chance in 2022, after NBC's current contract is up. With a new IOC chairman comes the potential of a new philosophy. I would be delighted if the next chairman isn't so quick to give U.S. broadcast rights to the highest bidder simply because it was the highest bid. I'd expect this new chairman to attach conditions to whatever bids these networks make; and I wouldn't be surprised if one of those conditions is capable of being met by Disney and not by NBC, either because they've televised the Olympics for too long or for some other reason.
einnod23 wrote:20 years ago, this week........We shelled out all that money for TripleCast! We complained!
Fast forward to today.......NBC online website is free, and we still complain! (Although I understand being blocked on the job!)
I seem to recall the TripleCast being labeled a bust, but I thought it was great. We didn't have cable, and lived close to Canada, so I would watch the Canadian coverage in the morning, and then go into town to watch the TripleCast at one of my college coach's house. It was great to be able to watch 10,000 meter heats and listen to Shorter and Liquori comment on it.
einnod23 wrote:20 years ago, this week........We shelled out all that money for TripleCast! We complained!
Fast forward to today.......NBC online website is free, and we still complain! (Although I understand being blocked on the job!)
I seem to recall the TripleCast being labeled a bust, but I thought it was great. We didn't have cable, and lived close to Canada, so I would watch the Canadian coverage in the morning, and then go into town to watch the TripleCast at one of my college coach's house. It was great to be able to watch 10,000 meter heats and listen to Shorter and Liquori comment on it.
Triplecast was great. And NBC lost ooooodles on it.
BTW, NBCSP is running a series of retrospectives by sport, including several on various "families" of athletics events. On my satellite service (DirecTV), there are several tonight: Men's sprints, women's sprints, women's distance, men's distance. I think tomorrow or the next day they have multis and field events lumped together. I have no idea how good these will be, of course.
I just hope NBC can't take any steps to deny us access to the BBC feeds in 2016.
Well, they already did this time: When I signed on to BBC, I was obliged to accept a fictitious Brit ISP (Dunno if I could've found a better way in.), which in turn led to NBC freezing me out of its event replays. The screen showed me a message to the effect of, "Unavailable to International Viewers"--even though I'd just jumped thru the Comcast hoop, which I signed on to despite having Dish for my main TV. So I ended up watching the Olympics down in the office on a 22" TV.
Only complaint w/ NBC Online were the commercials, which even kicked in during Event, or Session Replay--with the same Coca-Cola one starting out each one, even if the event was about to start.
DrJay wrote:Re: NBC voice-over vs. live call....a PM to our Grand Poobah, i.e. gh, asking about this, got this reply:
"as far as I know they call them live; even the best of the pros is going to lose a ton when calling a race for which the result is already known."
As mentioned elsewhere Virgin does a voice over when he covers the Big Ten Meets for the Big Ten Network and sounds fine and believable. That, or he can be in 2 places at the same time, and knows what the mile split will be before the field gets there. The latter is the only obvious foul up along those lines I can remember.
Jackaloupe wrote:Well, they already did this time: When I signed on to BBC, I was obliged to accept a fictitious Brit ISP (Dunno if I could've found a better way in.), which in turn led to NBC freezing me out of its event replays. The screen showed me a message to the effect of, "Unavailable to International Viewers"--even though I'd just jumped thru the Comcast hoop, which I signed on to despite having Dish for my main TV. So I ended up watching the Olympics down in the office on a 22" TV.
If you had just logged out of your British ISP, I would think you could have gotten NBC to work again. NBC is only for US residents and the BBC is only for people in the UK.
Jackaloupe wrote:I just hope NBC can't take any steps to deny us access to the BBC feeds in 2016.
Well, they already did this time: When I signed on to BBC, I was obliged to accept a fictitious Brit ISP (Dunno if I could've found a better way in.), which in turn led to NBC freezing me out of its event replays. The screen showed me a message to the effect of, "Unavailable to International Viewers"--even though I'd just jumped thru the Comcast hoop, which I signed on to despite having Dish for my main TV. So I ended up watching the Olympics down in the office on a 22" TV.
Only complaint w/ NBC Online were the commercials, which even kicked in during Event, or Session Replay--with the same Coca-Cola one starting out each one, even if the event was about to start.
I installed adblocker and it took care of that issue.
uakari wrote:and as amicable tom hammond is, it's an embarrassment when he can't keep track of who's on 2nd vs. 5th... did you hear him call the 200 semi with bolt? "and here comes bolt... and also da silva..." who was actually back in 5th or so, and he totally missed jobodwana running 2nd.
I think my favorite was in the 10,000 when moments after the lead group lapped Christopher Thompson, he said something like "and here comes British runner Thompson to challenge the lead pack!"
there was also in one of the 400 heats, tom goes "and here comes quow..." who was not in the race, and i don't think is even running in these games...
Thank you for this post as I've have laughed to myself more than a few times since I originally read it. This is an example of classic Hammond.
By the way, did Jesse Owens get included by Tom in any race calls or Jackson Scholz, Paddock, Abrahams or Liddell in keeping with the Chariots of Fire theme?
Why when NBC coverage was discussed here, did everyone whose comments I read, talk only about two things? 1. The NBC Primetime show and 2. The NBC video streams.
Was not the coverage on cable networks like CNBC, MSNBC, the NBCSportsNetwork (formerly Versus) etc.. all part of NBC coverage too?
I'm not asking this question for any purpose such as to defend or support NBC. Personally I despise NBC now. But it just sturck me as very odd, how in such a long discussion of NBC coverage, such a large portion of their coverage, I guess 90% of their television programming time, got completely ignored here. From what I have seen, not one soul mentioned it.
sprinzfan wrote:Nope. You guys who I have read thank NBC for this, baffle me.
If my count is correct, these would be my 14th OG's on TV, in Europe, Canada and US (plus 1 boycotted, 2 more on radio before the TV age). Never before did I see every heat, most jumps and throws until now. NBC provided it and I am grateful. As simple as that .
Well Pego in all honestly I cannot remember if during certain past Olympics, I got to see EVERY heat or not. But for me, I have much fonder memories of the '92 Triplecast, and of many years such as '96 when I was able to watch coverage on CBC Canada.
I recall experiencing absolutely, positively no frustration at all, watching during those years. Any Olympics that I got to see on CBC Canada, was a FANTASTIC Olympics for me. Honestly. I'd be depressed when the Games were over, the coverage HELPED to make them so good for me.
Had to do no leg work to watch those games, in a relaxed way. Installed no new software on a computer. Joined no new message boards so I could piece together thru the knowledge and assistance of complete strangers (nice strangers as you guys are ) alternative, non-traditional, perhaps even illegal ways to watch the games be covered in an intelligent, insightful way.
I envied my friend who lives in Montreal this entire 2012 Olympic Games. She was able to sit up in the comfort of her home, huddled around her television with her large extended family, and watch just about every live major event going on in these games. She needed no higher than average technical ability, or computer know-how, to be able to just click on a television remote and see everything she wanted to see. She didn't need to go online anywhere, and trade "secret" info and links with people.
I'm an avid fantasy football player. And with the Olympics over, I'm changing my sports gears and begining to focus on that. And I am incredibly thankful, that I can pursue that hobby and interest, without having to go to a variety of lengths, just to do it. The football games, highlights of the games, analysis of the sport and fantasy info itself, were all easily accessible to me. Just like these same things were true of my friend in Canada, as it pertains to the most recent Olympics.
NBC imo, have made for me, the Olympic Games the most difficult of all of my favorite sporting events to follow. Yet I look to my North and see Canadians, who sound to me to be watching the Olympics with the ease and ubiquity, that I enjoy for just about every other major sporting event I love. And the ease and ubiquity which I enjoyed, when I have lived in areas where CBC over-the-air broadcasting was available to me.
Maybe I should change my username from sprintzfan to "CBC_Spoiled_Me."
Dutra5 wrote:Assuming "NBC" also means their web coverage....it was great.
Had I been reduced to the prime time show alone....not so great.
BTW....one thing that struck me shortly before and during the games...was when I would flip on ESPN you'd never know the games were either about to or currently going on. The only thing they covered prior to the Games was the US basketball team (men at least) and during the games...well down the list of sports happenings....they gave a rundown of the medalists for the US and big names such as Bolt.
I understand the reasoning "if it's not on ESPN it's not happening" but it really stuck out to me.
I think those of you speculating on why ESPN did/does so little Olympics coverage, are right in one respect, but overlooking another important factor.
I think ESPN is legally precluded (by NBC's exclusivity rights) from showing any MOVING PICTURES from the games. Just like with Big Time pay-per-view boxing match, I think ESPN could only show a few select still photos, of various events.
Now granted, ESPN is not huge, on most Olympic Sports. (They are HUGE on soccer though these days, and my guess is that if they could show extended video clips of Olympic soccer they would.) So even if they could show video of track and swimming, I'd still expect to see them spend more time on Sportscenter talking about MLB Baseball, NFL Football the NBA and Nascar, more than they would on most any Olympic Sport.
But due to the tradition, history and large position the Olympics plays in the America sports psyche, I personally do believe that if ESPN was allowed to show more moving images of the Games, they would. They'd cover it significantly more closely than they have been doing in past years. Years where NBC has clearly held an iron clutch on this product.
p.s. I made the analogy above, of NBC Olympics coverage to pay-per-view boxing. And with that in mind I'd like to point out something else.
Ever notice that after a pay-per-view fight is over, ESPN has a few selected video clips of the fight? Not the most exciting or critical moments of a fight, like a knockout or knockdown. But a few seconds of at least the two boxers engaged with each other.
Well I notice, that ESPN never even has that for Olympics competition. (I'm right about this aren't I folks? None of you guys ever saw any ESPN "moving" video of the Olympics, did you?) And my guess is not that ESPN doesn't show such video because they have access to it, but declines to use it. My guess is that the NBC whores won't even allow a few "courtesy clips" of the games to be released to the news media.
You obviosly had a good internet connection az. I envy people like you.
For me, some days the NBC feed coverage was GREAT! Vivid, crystal clear, no buffering. But other days it wasn't as good. A few times, in races I was REALLY interested, like the Women's 800, the picture froze on me midrace. So frustrating.
So again, I guess it depends on the quality of stream you got. I'm not certain, what made me have problems occasionally. My connection speed, wiring or what. But I never could totally depend on that feed. Like I can always "depend" on television.
sprintzfan wrote:First of a few comments and responses.
Why when NBC coverage was discussed here, did everyone whose comments I read, talk only about two things? 1. The NBC Primetime show and 2. The NBC video streams.
Was not the coverage on cable networks like CNBC, MSNBC, the NBCSportsNetwork (formerly Versus) etc.. all part of NBC coverage too?
I'm not asking this question for any purpose such as to defend or support NBC. Personally I despise NBC now. But it just sturck me as very odd, how in such a long discussion of NBC coverage, such a large portion of their coverage, I guess 90% of their television programming time, got completely ignored here. From what I have seen, not one soul mentioned it.
What up wit dat?
Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. I did DVR the men's 20K walk on MSNBC. Other than that, never looked at anything but athletics, except by accident. Cheers, Alan Shank
Gotcha Alan. You're a true blue Athletics fan aren't ya? No time for anything else.
I can respect that.
Hey FYI, to my surprise, the NBCSportsNet did show a little Track from what I say. And pissed me off doing so. lol
Example, one the morning (morning where I am) of the women's 100 meter hurdle heats, NBCSN showed a select few of them, shortly after they had occured live. Like 3 or 4 minutes later.
And by "select" heats, of course since we are talking NBC here, that means only heats where American runners were competing. lol
Well in one of those heats, the one with Lo Lo Jones in it, Jamaican hurdler Bridgette Foster-Hyton (sp?) went down after tripping over some early hurdles. Then after her accident, she had a melt down on the course, on her way to the tunnel.
Do you know that Tom Hammonds and Ato Boldon never even mentioned what we all had just seen transpire on the course? I heard Hammond's voice hesitate when she fell over the hurdle, but he never took a second to openly acknowledge it from what I recall.
It was so stupid how they covered that. Forget the woman's pretty impressive international resume I guess. (And at age 37 very likely her last Olympics. Thus the reason for her meltdown being my thinking.) If she wasn't an American, the NBC crew saw no need to make any comment about what happened to her.
It was pitiful man. Made me a little ashamed of my country to be completely honest with you. I hope NBC is not right, and as a country we aren't that myopic and obsessed with only ourselves, and only our own athletes' stories.
Gotta chastise myself some. The thread title does limit the conversation to Track and Field coverage. Not all Olympics coverage. So as from what I saw all but just a smidgen of track and field was covered on the Primetime show and/or the stream, it makes sense that the Olymics coverage on other NBC networks wasn't discussed here.
So the mistake is on my part, not those of you here who failed to mention those other networks. My bad.
On NBC SN, they showed several one-hour programs concentrating on a set of events (also non-athletics stuff): men's sprints, men's distances, women's sprints, women's distances and "heptathon, decathlon and field events".
I just got done watching the latter one. The coverage of the hep skipped the long jump and javelin, they skipped the HJ in the deca. And field events? Nothing, nothing at all. I guess the field events part was referring to the field events in the multis. Unless there is another program I missed, the field events simply do not exist for NBC! Cheers, Alan Shank
Alan I looked for the field event recap on Nbcsn all last week couldn't find one either. Just men's sprints and distances, women's sprints and distance and one for the multi events. They had nice recaps on swimming, gymnastics, cycling and some soccer and basketball, but nothing else.
tm71 wrote:Alan I looked for the field event recap on Nbcsn all last week couldn't find one either. Just men's sprints and distances, women's sprints and distance and one for the multi events.
The one for the multis WAS the field-event recap (the title was "Decathlon/Heptathlon/Field Events"), only there wasn't any "cap" to "re"! These programs were all one hour, so there was no way they could cover anything besides the multis, and they even left out a total of three event from the multis. Of course, the "coverage" of the field events wasn't much to begin with, in usual NBC style. Cheers, Alan Shank
Got around this problem - found a really good UK proxy server and watched a steller BBC broadcast live each day, with NO commercials. Paid $10 for 30 days of proxy server usage. To watch it on a big screen I plugged an HDMI cable from a laptop to the HDTV and viola - no NBC, no commercials, no stupid announcers - just first class BBC track and field broadcasts every day.
Alan Shank wrote:On NBC SN, they showed several one-hour programs concentrating on a set of events (also non-athletics stuff): men's sprints, men's distances, women's sprints, women's distances and "heptathon, decathlon and field events".
I just got done watching the latter one. The coverage of the hep skipped the long jump and javelin, they skipped the HJ in the deca. And field events? Nothing, nothing at all. I guess the field events part was referring to the field events in the multis. Unless there is another program I missed, the field events simply do not exist for NBC! Cheers, Alan Shank
I was in London for the track, and afterwards spent another week traveling to visit relatives over there, so I hadn't seen any of NBCs T&F coverage until I saw these programs on DVR over the past couple of days.
While it was nice to have these compilation programs, the commentating, especially Mr. Hammond's, was every bit as embarrassingly deficient as I had expected. Especially after more than a week of listening to either GH in the stadium or the BBC commentators on the morning programs. Even with the often outrageous homer-ism of the BBC broadcasts the commentators were much more informed, and informative, about the events and all of the participants than any of the NBC crew. (But what was with the non-GH British stadium announcer breathlessly announcing British medals - and only British medals - from other sports in the middle of the T&F program? I've never heard any announcing that biased in an Olympic venue at any Olympics ever.)
My biggest disappointment though was the so-called "field" show, which, as Alan Shank notes, actually only covered the multi events (and not all of those). So, nothing at all about any of the great performances by athletes from every country that 80,000 people saw in the Olympic Stadium for 9 days? No highlights of even Jenn Suhr's, Christian Taylor's, or Brittany Reese's gold medal performances? Or of the wonderfully surprising silver medals won by American athletes in both high jumps? WTF????
They finally have a chance to actually focus on some of these great performances and actually highlight them for their audience, many of them by the very American athletes they're supposedly overly-focused on, and they still blow it. How incredibly stupid.
.
Like I can always "depend" on television.
.