Comments on: NBC's Olympics: Separating half-baked from half-faked

NBC has been dealing with numerous criticisms on its coverage. However, the technological fakery is less powerful than the scheduling manipulation.

[markehurd]

Australians outside of Sydney & Melbourne have to put up with this all the time. It's only a half an hour timezone difference to Adelaide, but we often get a delayed telecast of motorsport on the Saturday and live on the Sunday of a two-day event. Almost every show marked Live also mentions "Timezone delayed telecast".

Of course we've had some surprises occasionally especially one year where we fiddled with the start of daylight savings yet again and Adelaide led the rest of Australia for a week and a couple of news programs actually went live to Adelaide and a half hour delayed to the eastern states. But I doubt they'd find the money to do that now.

[RabidPopTart]

Even in Melbourne you have to put up with it. I remember thinking about going to see the Wallabies play Ireland in the rugby, but decided not to, thinking I could just watch it on the TV. Turns out they didn't start broadcasting until like midnight.

I don't like watching stuff on tape delay...you know you can just look it up later.

[Jeff Putz]

I can't for the life of me understand why everyone with an Internet connection is going out of their way to find some reason to criticize NBC and their coverage of the Olympics.

Watch the games an enjoy. Turn off your damn blogs for an hour.

[ikramerica--2008]

Maybe because you can't check the news or other sports scores, or even WATCH the news or another sporting event, without hearing about the results of the Olympics you aren't allowed to watch for another 3 hours. We West Coast people must go into a media blackout not to have events spoiled.

And because NBC convinced the IOC and China to put so many events, including FINALS, in the morning just so they could be live in the USA in prime time.

Little did anyone know that that meant "live in the Eastern Timezone, delayed everywhere else." Do you think they would have agreed to that travesty if they knew the Mountain and Pacific time zones would be delayed anyway? Heck no.

And Is NBC afraid that if they start Olympic coverage at 5PM on the West Coast instead of 8PM, and only go until 10PM, they'll lose viewers? Better tell that to CBS sports when they fail to tape delay the Final 4. Or heck, NBC should know better, as they show the live feed from Wimbledon, Nascar, Football and a lot of other sporting events, even though that means not being in "prime time" in the West.

NBC should be stripped of their exclusive rights unless they agree to have one "unified time" broadcast nationally, or treat the East and West as TWO markets from now on, with two live shows, two hosts, etc. Nobody can tell me that it wouldn't work. With 100+ million people in each market, each is bigger than most countries on earth. The fluff pieces and all that can be shared, the event feeds shared (just broadcast live), just the order of events and hosts can be split. That means that in the West, you only tape delay what can't be shown live. If the coverage starts at 7PM, that means swimming and gymnastics finals go live, beach volleyball early rounds are delayed. Much preferred to tape delaying everything so beach volleyball can go first. Early, round robin play. Which OBVIOUSLY doesn't need to be shown live? ;)

[Dalkorian]

This year the entire olympics is a travesty anyway, littered with lies and deceptions by a communist regime bent on making themselves look good. The footprints were faked, the singer in the opening ceremonies was lip-synching to someone else's song and there is no way the Chinese gymnasts are over 12 years old, let alone 16 despite the faked passports claiming otherwise. Personally I'm boycotting the olympics this year because I hate being lied to.

[robd11]

you just had to look at that little girl in the opening ceremony, it was obviously a lip synch. that's not a revelation. US TV does it all the time, like at the grammys or the super bowl. no biggie. but faking fireworks? that's just lame and stupid. just add this to boatload of other stupid stupid crap the chinese are up during these olympics. it all adds up to a bonehead move by the IOC giving china the games.

[gggg sssss]

see related article on BSOD projector. now we know. but then again, how do really know that the americans actually landed on the moon? Maybe just CGI as well.

[henrodon]

They're still at the "live" thing -- for the past hour or so, the women's gymnastics final has been playing itself out. Meanwhile, NBC is showing beach volleyball -- LIVE!!!

By the way, on the subject of trickery, but of a different sort, NBC commentators have enthused over the wonderful precision of the massed drummers, dancers, Chinese Character performers, etc. at the opening ceremony. My wife, who is Japanese, tells me that the Japanese media have been talking about a report that 9,000 of the performers in the opening ceremony were military personnel who, presumably, have an extensive background in "maneuvers." another great example of things being not quite what they seem, and NBC going along with the gag.

[robstak]

why cant they be from the military? they said "many" are commoners. i agree that the footsteps thing really bummed me out, but the girl lipsynching? cmon that really is the norm rather than the exception by now. and the 12yo girl thing is horse poopie; the IOC needs to grow a pair and start regulating this BS before ppl get hurt.