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Check Out @NBCDelayed And #NBCFail…
Ryan Lochte could cure cancer during a race & NBC would air it 6 hours later with the cure portion removed for a Seacrest interview #NBCFail
@NBC Delayed: BREAKING: Roman Emperor Theodosius bans Olympic Games, NBC delay to catch up shortly.
They broadcast the British Open golf live! But insanely beautiful swimming finals….nope! #NBCfail doesn’t think it’s worth the trouble.
@NBC Delayed: BREAKING: Orville and Wilbur Wright’s machine flies.
Good thing I just read the olympic swimming results…now I don’t have to give @nbc any ratings tonight. #NBCFail
@NBC Delayed: BREAKING: Muhammad Ali wins boxing Light Heavyweight gold medal in Rome
An Olympics without Ryan Seacrest is like a day without diarrhea. #NBCfail
@NBC Delayed: ON NBC NOW: Carl Lewis will, in likely his last Olympics, attempt to break the long jump world record and win gold
Related: NBC Hammered Back Home For Not Airing Olympics Live
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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It is outrageous that NBC is getting away with this. Why isn’t there more of a public outcry over this? Could you imagine the World Series having a 9 hour delay?
“Could you imagine the World Series having a 9 hour delay?”
If it was taking place somewhere that would put the US broadcast at noon, absolutely.
Could you imagine the World Series being broadcast early afternoon (or even earlier in the day)?
Amen Nikki. Tape delaying the Olympics makes about as much sense as tape delaying the Super Bowl.
Like I’m going to watch NBC’s primetime coverage when I can’t visit any social media/news site without already learning the outcome to some event NBC’s trying to hype. It’s almost impossible to surf the internet without learning something that makes me less interested in watching NBC’s airing.
Who runs that network, a pack of circus clowns?
Except that the Superbowl doesn’t get played at 5am. You have a computer and the internet, so watch it online if you want to see it live.
Which I would, if their online streaming actually worked. (Notice their streaming app on the Apple App Store has an average of 1 star).
What’s more… what’s with everyone saying “look at their ratings! clearly they’re doing everything right!”
Buh… they have the ratings because they are the sole US licensee! That doesn’t mean that the coverage and intermittent Twitter musings of Ryan Fucking Seacrest ™ don’t give the viewing audience tremendous douche chills every time it happens.
NBC is bound to have great ratings during their first NFL game of the season (Giants vs. Cowboys), even if some network asshole decides to surprise everyone by putting Kathy Lee and Hoda Kotb in the announcing booth with a box of Franzia for fun giggly commentating! Just because you have the power to pull in ratings by default of airing something so exclusive as the Olympics doesn’t mean that you still can’t fuck it up and make it lame with their Seacrestization.
OMG! Did you peek behind the NBC curtain?
“Dammit!!! Dumb, Dumb, Dumb” – David Sarnoff
So far, NBC appears to be ‘the smart guys’ as the Olympic ratings have been huge.
Today/tonight may be a change. It will be interesting to see if the ratings hold as today/tonight men’s gymnastics is already a huge disappointment, as well as, Ryan Lochte not winning swimming events.
Am curious to see if this has any audience impact.
I believe that NBC is completely wrong delaying live coverage, but if the Olympics continues to hold ratings…change will be very hard to justify.
“If it ain’t broken…don’t fix it.” And for NBC, at this moment in time…”it ain’t broken’.
Last night’s (July 30th) overnights were off a bit compared to Sunday, but still very strong, and I believe more viewers watched last night than on the first Monday night of the Beijing games.
Personally I don’t think anybody run NBC Sports right now if they are they are bunch of idiots putting Olympics on tape delay in west coast
Don’t they realize as soon as you log on, the news appears? I will not watch – I’ll stick to baseball.
One giant DUH.
Nikki, it’s a good thing you don’t work for a network, because you enable idiots across the country to publicize their stupidity…this argument is a non-issue…NBC is a network, and they make their revenue by selling ad space…good luck convincing anyone to spend tens of thousands on ad space on big events aired live in the wee hours of the morning, or even those spending for primetime olympic ad space when it;’s just highlights and human interest stories…think, people…it’s a business decision, and has to be handled accordingly…
It’s too bad NBC is scoring with the Olympics coverage in the ratings game. They’re sitting pretty, so they have no reason to care about what anyone has to say about their incompetency.
Now, if people would boycott NBC’s coverage, then they might (repeat: MIGHT) feel the consequences of their stupidity.
Actually, the gold medal-winning light heavyweight boxer in Rome was Cassius Clay. The name change came years later, after the then Clay defeated Sonny Liston to become heavyweight champion of the world.
In keeping with the general theme of this story, NBC will likely be reporting Clay/Ali’s win over Liston shortly….
It’d be fine if their online streaming didn’t SUCK. What a joke. Stutter, stop, crash during any swimming final. Ridiculous.
Who has time to watch the Olympics live during the work day? Is there some great vast majority of the adult American public that has the free time to do this? Or where their bosses allow unfettered TV-watching on the job? Most people are otherwise occupied during the day.
God knows NBC’s coverage sucks anyway, but if NBC is pulling the ratings clearly there is a substantial segment of the U.S. audience that doesn’t give a crap about tape delay.
Thank you. I feel like the only people complaining about tape delay are the people who work irregular (ie. Hollywood) hours.
I’m perfectly fine with avoiding spoilers and having 3 hours of highlights dished up when I get home. If reality competition shows can be put on a West Coast time delay, I don’t know why the Olympics can’t be.
Yes, surely there is a substantial segment that “doesn’t give a crap about tape delay.”
Orrrrr… there’s just no other way to watch the Olympics in the US??
Ratings ? Please . Everyone is going to leave the TV on anyway in prime time esp if they were going to watch NBC Anyway. plus those ratings are only people with Neilson boxes hardley accurate.
How about playing it live AND on Replay in prime time? can we have both ? Since some type of replay is broadcast ANYWAY. In addition What about the weekend ? & after work when there are still basketball , Weightlifting & beach volleyball going on ? The weekend is not a work day & many of the important events including the swim heats occur when we are getting ready for work in the morning … Never heard an argument of having both live & replays so there’s mine.
Apparently people have enough time to line up outside of Chick-Fil-A to protest gay marriage, so I guess that’s the crowd who wants live telecasts of the Olympics?
Nikki, don’t be bitter. People have come to expect delayed coverage during foreign-hosted Olypics, as evidenced by the HUGE ratings. You can gripe all you want, and call NBC a bunch of idiots, but they are the ones laughing… all the way to the bank. personally, I think NBC is doing a great job. I can easily watch events live on my iPhone app, and get updated scores and info. Then, at night, I can relax in my living room and get a beautiful, polished program, in stunning HD, with some of the top sports commentators in the business. I have no complaints.
I’m from Mexico and I just cant understand how thats possible, here everything is broadcasted live, any event at any hour. I just cant get how it works in a first world country to get stellar events delayed and people still watching them giving the penetration of the internet
so the mens gymnastics team were behind after the second of six rounds lets not even show them anymore!!!! Who cares right????I would have been more than happy as would the team and their families- I’m sure-to at least see them at the Olympics on tv-do you think other countries where their athletes are not the top don’t broadcast their routines???I think it was really disrespectful to not show any other US mens gymnastics routines at all after round 2 -this may be their only time to be on a tv screen and NBC didn’t bother!!!!
Somebody licensed NBC exclusive rights while not demanding that there be live coverage.
I’m not clear on exactly who that “somebody” is and what private and/or public supervision they are operating under, but that is who I hold most responsible.
Knowing that Americans prefer events in which Americans win, one wonders what this body would have done if NBC offered to pay more if they were allowed to change a medal winner in each race to make sure one would always be an American. How much less valid would that be than broadcasting events hours after the fact while pretending that they are live?
Great sporting events don’t always happen at convenient times. Live is always better than delayed. They should REPEAT it if they think people would like to watch it at a more convenient time. Ridiculous behaviour from NBC, thank god I’m in London and can watch everything live on any one of the BBC’s LIVE 26 hd channels covering the Olympics. Brits do it best!!
the only thing nbc has gotten right so far is not having bob never shuts up costas doing the openning ceremonies, I could for once hear the performers; instead of his constant ramblings. Is there anyone who works for nbc who hasn’t been involved in the coverage so the could get a free trip to the olympics; no wonder ad time is so expensive. Maybe the IOC should limit the number of reporters a netwoek can send to the olympics
Just seen on NBC:
Chet Huntley and David Brinkley broke into the Olympics to announce that Democratic presidential nominee John Kennedy has picked the unknown Texas senator Lyndon Johnson as his running mate.
The tape delay is not so bad, you still get to see the drama. What really sucks is the way its edited and makes a viewer stay up till midnight to watch something that happened 10 hrs.ago. Why not start the re-play earlier? do we need 2 hrs of local programming in the late afternoon? Couldn’t that place after?
The problem isn’t tape delay. The problem is the lack of coverage. NBC has chosen just a few events to air, and they are events the US has a chance to win at. I have AT&T Uverse and I don’t understand why there aren’t about 10 Olympics channels airing events (delayed or not) at any given time. If we can do it for NFL or MLB then why can’t we do it for the Olympics? I would pay a reasonable premium for an Olympics package if one exists. Instead, all I have is a few hours of NBC and MSNBC during the day while I am at work. Yes, it is all streamed on the Internet, but isn’t that lazy? Where’s the production values in that? I used to be able to tune in at 2am and see lesser known sports aired, but now all I get is a rerun of the primetime airing. Pathetic.
You have got to be kidding me! I tuned in to watch Olympic coverage, not a recap of a WWII documentary. I don’t understand how anyone thinks this is appropriate sports coverage. I look forward to watching all Olympic sports every four years and have seen very little variety in prime time. Whoever is in charge of programming should have to view endless WWII documentaries instead of the Super Bowl and see how they like it.
Not only are delays the problem, why are we getting a 1 hour history lesson during prime time on the last night if the Olympics? Is this some sort of Tom Brokaw severance promise? Unbelievable!