Censors not able to keep up with NBC's online Olympics coverage
I am sure that you were fearing censorship at these Beijing Olympics.
No, not censorship by the Chinese.
Censorship by those folks at NBC who would prefer you to watch what they want you to watch and, most specifically, when they want you to watch it.
Well, here I am live on a Friday night, freely watching NBCOlympics.com, and witnessing the quite glorious sight of a Chinese cyclist trying to mend his bike.
It looks to me as if his back wheel has suffered a case of the bends.
Looking beneath the screen, I see that his name is Zhang and he is in 135th place. Who knew there would be that many riders in this, um, race over some sort of distance along misty roads that resemble London at six o'clock in the morning (except that there are no drunks visible)?
Here's what is strange about NBC's online coverage: I have no idea what I am watching. Yes, I have clicked on the commentary, which takes the form of a live blog stream--except that the writer is endearingly honest about his predicament.
This is how he has just spoken to me in writing: "The first time up the major climb of the finish circuit has substantially damaged the peloton, but we are still waiting on names and time gaps."
So this commentator is telling me he has no idea who is winning, no idea who is second, no idea who is third, and no idea of the time differences between the riders.
The Beijing Olympic mascots. One from the right, The Tibetan antelope. Really.
(Credit: CC Tama Leaver)If this commentary had appeared on NBC TV, the commentator in question would have been removed from his post quicker than persons of color and Mongolians have been asked to be removed from the bars of Beijing by the authorities. This commentator would have been sent to televisual Siberia.
There is a wonderfully eerie quality to the live online footage of this Olympic Some Sort of Cycle Race Along Roads.
The picture quality is quite spectacular. The mist is so real it could not possibly have been photoshopped in there by the Chinese authorities to provide some extra menacing ambience. This makes YouTube seem like student video. (Which I know some would contend it is.)
Meanwhile, the NBC livestream commentary is now telling me this: "Apologies for the data stream in the play-by-play window. We are trying to remedy the situation."
They cannot get a handle on the data. They are out of control. We have a situation here, people.
The riders, however, ride on. To the muted shouts of spectators who bang thunder sticks against the roadside barriers, as if they were praying for Kobe Bryant to miss another free throw.
Ah, NBC has heard my pleas and an overlay has appeared to tell me that we are watching a men's road race. The overlay, however, only stays on for a few seconds. Then it disappears again. So now I must rely on the official NBC Olympic online commentary. Here is the latest:
"The leading pursuit has shed some riders as they press towards the finish line 4'11" down on Patricio Almonacid."
No, I don't think they are four feet, eleven inches down. I think those are minutes and seconds. But all I can hear is the silence of a few rubber tires passing through a tunnel.
No voice is there to lead me through my bewilderment. No words of wisdom help to create excitement. Just the vague whistle of a spoke in the wildnerness. This is the live NBC Olympics.com experience.
Wait, wait.
The scrolling commentary has political news: "Iran, USA detente at the head of the main peloton as Iran's climber Hussein Askari takes a flyer and is joined by (we think) USA's Jason McCartney."
We think? We think? This might be a U.S. assault on Iran. And all they can say is "We think"?
I continue to ponder these words, watch the struggling bottom of the Iranian cyclist, and listen to the echoing nothingness that accompanies these besottingly shiver-making live images. It is as if NBC has hired John Carpenter to direct their online Olympic coverage.
And I can barely wait to see what he will do with the Romania versus Kazakhstan women's handball game.
I am tired, however. This has been live, uncensored (by NBCTV) online footage from the Olympics. I am comforted to know that I will slide beneath my comforter still a free man.
Free from the tyranny of NBC TV and happy in the otherworldly bosom of NBCOlympics.com.
Click here for more stories on tech and the Beijing Olympics.
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
Although it is easier to critique than to provide, perhaps Yahoo would be willing to post said matrix (without having to hunt and pack "Yahoo-TV") with an easy to find link. If they have, I can't find it.
Although it is easier to critique than to provide, perhaps Yahoo would be willing to post said matrix (without having to hunt and peck "Yahoo-TV") with an easy to find link. If they have, I can't find it.
Only in America would NBC whine, cry and pout about China censorship and then do worse themselves! Typical liberal media. It is not OK if you do it but it is fine if we do it.
Sorry NBC. I've been enjoying the olympics without your censorship and editing. Thank you for NOTHING!
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Time and time again we see the consequences of a commentator's assumptions of what is or may be true. Think back to the 2000 election. In an analysis of an election or of an Olympic sporting event reporting 'just the facts' is paramount.
The example used in this article is an excellent example of journalist restraint. It takes courage to report 'I don't know' and it can be embarrassing to make this claim. The facts were not available to the commentator and it is honorable that the commentator recognized that bad data are not better than no data.
Further, many people enjoy watching sporting events uninterrupted and without audio commentary. These people are the people that buy tickets to attend sporting events in person. As this is not an option for many of these people during the Olympics, I am grateful that online streams provide an option that is close (well, closer) to actually being at the game.
It is appalling that some people have such little reasoning and critical thinking skills.
But I digress. Had you watched any other stream you would have gotten a more complete picture. I happened to watch a large selection of the streams from nbc. It's rather refreshing not being subjected to people endless drone on about trivial things while I'm watching something. As an experiment I watched the US vs. *** woman's soccer match online and simultaneously on USA. I could not stand to listen to the man and lady commentators. More and more it seems sports commentators are there just to provide background noise to the main show. The blog style commentating lends itself to being concise and to the point. It also allows one to watch several sports at once and still get the comments.
I particularly enjoyed the judo matches in part due to the commentator. The soccer guy was also notable.
I will agree with you though in my disappointment of nbc's total online experience of which beach volleyball, among many "prime time" sports, are completely absent. And even though it seems one is able to watch past soccer matches you aren't able to watch any other sport. I had been hoping to catch a few of the fencing matches that I had missed too.
and i know the gold medal women's fencing match is available online.
:: whisperbot.com
the swimming events were shown live last night. in other words, NBC wasn't holding the Michael Phelps tape hostage and teasing us with fluff - they were just waiting until the even started.
i kind of hate the design of nbcolympics.com but i appreciate the amount of video available and i can't really complain about the TV coverage since they're having to make up a 12 hour time difference.
Idiotic and useless, I'm going to go figure out how to get on a foreign feed, NBC and its whitewashing of the Chinese in the opening ceremony and its lack of coverage of actual sports can go do something unspeakable to themselves.
Maybe you need to stop watching Fox for awhile.
You will have outage of course, genius.
- by tamis1 August 11, 2008 4:11 PM PDT
- I've become addicted to watching the Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) online feeds at http://www.cbc.ca/livevideo/ ..and I must say I LOVE not having the (often very overdramatized, biased, etc) commentary!! I almost never watch the NBC TV feeds because the commentary drives me up the wall!! Granted, some sports - perhaps like cycling - may be more difficult to follow without commentary, but if all you want is live stats, just open up the Results area of the official Olympic site (http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/Schedule/index.shtml) in a new tab while you're viewing online, click on the sport ya want, and you'll get live scoring updates (intervals, etc) 'til your heart's content. It's not rocket science..nor is following most, if not all, sports without the aid of a commentator (who has usually just got the aforementioned official website in front of them and spewing that info anyway!). C'mon, do you want unlimited Olympic sport coverage, or do you want dumbed down network Olympic coverage?
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- by tamis1 August 11, 2008 4:14 PM PDT
- btw, I think the CBC feeds are available in the US and other countries? If not, let me know through here...
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