NBC Olympic Coverage: What You See Is All You're Gonna Get

[Demian]

I can't believe NBC's got an exclusive contract through 2032.

[Mittengirl]

How long will the videos be available through the app/website?

[legaleagle53]

4 hours ago, Demian said:

I can't believe NBC's got an exclusive contract through 2032.

I'd just like to know HOW they managed to get an exclusive contract for that long.  I don't recall it being all the way through 2032 when they first acquired sole broadcast rights in 2000.

[redpencil]

22 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

I'd just like to know HOW they managed to get an exclusive contract for that long.  I don't recall it being all the way through 2032 when they first acquired sole broadcast rights in 2000.

I'm fairly certain they reupped at some point more recently. I remember there was speculation about whether other networks (Fox, ABC/ESPN, etc.) would get in on the bidding, and then NBC won the rights again.

 

Sidenote: I know there are tons of complaints about NBC (some of which I share, but not nearly all), but man, could you imagine a Fox-run Olympics? Nothing political at all--solely based on sports broadcasting--but I think it would be absolutely horrendous.

Edited August 21, 2016 by redpencil

[paperplate]

I guess I don't have too much to complain about this time around.  My only concern was the gymnastics coverage.  My memory is not that great and I love the Final Five, but I feel like they didn't show enough of the other countries.  Or maybe it was because the others weren't that much competition in the first place?

This was the first time since Atlanta that the time zone difference has been really small, so it was nice watching some of the events live.  I guess with Tokyo, I will be watching most of the events on TV after reading about them online.  I can stream internet to my TV but it is easier for me to watch something recorded/recording.

Lastly, Bob Costas is getting up there.  Watching the Olympics without him is going to be like New Year's Eve without Dick Clark. Please don't tell me they're going replace him with Ryan Seacrest. Please. Say it ain't so.

[chitowngirl]

2 hours ago, paperplate said:

  I guess with Tokyo, I will be watching most of the events on TV after reading about them online. 

As with Bejing, NBC will make sure races are scheduled so they are live for Primetime.

[maraleia]

I think the only other network that would do a better job is ABC because of their affiliation with ESPN. They also do a better job with diversity overall and would've reported on the queer, women and POC Olympians much better than NBC did.

[candall]

On ‎8‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 5:01 PM, walnutqueen said:

My solution has been to DVR almost everything on all the channels (except the 2 dedicated soccer & basketball channels, golf and tennis), then FF through all the stuff I'm not interested in watching.  I've managed to see almost every sport covered, at least to some extent.  You just cannot rely on their schedules or the on screen guide for anything, it seems.

Did you happen to catch any Synchronized Swimming?

 

On ‎8‎/‎13‎/‎2016 at 7:28 AM, Rickster said:

I really don't get showing all these preliminary heats with so many other events to cover. If some favorite pulls a hamstring and drops out, fine, show the race. Otherwise why not just do the semis and finals?

I don't get showing one qualifying heat after another of people running x far and then 2x far and then 4x far.  Or all the permutations of the qualifying heats where people swim various distances using different strokes.  WHO wants to watch all that?  Their parents?

[Minneapple]

I think NBC overbids for the Olympics, which is why they keep winning the rights. And now they have the power of Comcast behind them. Also remember that ESPN has a baseball contract in the summer, as does Fox. 

Before the Beijing games, not only did Dick Ebersol convince the IOC to change start times for swimming and gymnastics, he convinced them to change the dates of the games; Beijing wanted them in September, which would present a horrid conflict with NFL games. Lo and behold, NBC got what they wanted. Clearly Fox's position with FIFA isn't that good, because Qatar in November. Those must have been some really good bribes.

[walnutqueen]

30 minutes ago, candall said:

Did you happen to catch any Synchronized Swimming?

 

I don't get showing one qualifying heat after another of people running x far and then 2x far and then 4x far.  Or all the permutations of the qualifying heats where people swim various distances using different strokes.  WHO wants to watch all that?  Their parents?

Yes. And a lot of other stuff I'm not particularly fond of.  At least I tried!  :-D

Agree about the endless qualifying heats - just show me highlights and then the finals (whether the US participates or not) for any event.

[Daisy]

(shyly raises hands)... I <3 heats. [to be fair it's great knitting time]. 
But I wouldn't trump a heat for a final (or semi final). 

I've already started my futile "Don't let them be buried" twitter campaign to show more am. sports and give us more highlights and updates. (sigh) nothing doing. 

[evilmindatwork]

I spent the this Olympics avoiding the news until I get home and then watched everything on the app (replays of the live stream). I really enjoyed Jonathan Horton on the stream, and the Brits/ Aussies commenting on track and field. I only caught the prime time coverage if I was out/ at a friend's house, the little I've seen of it is truly horrifying. I don't understand why a sports channel like ESPN  doesn't do it instead of NBC. 

This is actually one of the few times I've watched the Olympics in the USA. Growing up, we were sent abroad to spend summers with my grandparents and I'd watch them on ESPN international. They basically broadcast everything, with very little color (except what the commentators could muster), and actually explain fundamentals of each sport. Comparable to the streaming function on the app but SO MUCH better than what little I've seen of the prime time coverage. 

Edited August 21, 2016 by evilmindatwork

[galaxygirl76]

19 minutes ago, Daisy said:

(shyly raises hands)... I <3 heats. [to be fair it's great knitting time]. 
But I wouldn't trump a heat for a final (or semi final). 

I've already started my futile "Don't let them be buried" twitter campaign to show more am. sports and give us more highlights and updates. (sigh) nothing doing. 

Back when I still lived in the Netherlands, I planned my vacations around the Olympics and the T&F world championships. I watched EVERYTHING. I enjoy heats, there is always the potential for drama. People who come in a favorite can fail in them, just be stupid about time and placement, etc.

[Daisy]

8 minutes ago, galaxygirl76 said:

Back when I still lived in the Netherlands, I planned my vacations around the Olympics and the T&F world championships. I watched EVERYTHING. I enjoy heats, there is always the potential for drama. People who come in a favorite can fail in them, just be stupid about time and placement, etc.

Exactly!  Plus it gets you back into the groove of what to look for, who to watch, etc etc

[Minneapple]

What should NBC have shown in primetime other than the track heats? Remember that these are live events. They actually showed EVERYTHING live on TV for these Olympics. Except gymnastics. 

[candall]

1 hour ago, Minneapple said:

 They actually showed EVERYTHING live on TV for these Olympics.  Except gymnastics.

??

If NBC showed EVERYTHING from these Olympics, live or otherwise, their coverage was flawless and I must've dozed off more than I realized.

If you mean all the events on tv (except gymnastics) were live, as opposed to tape-delayed, er, not sure I agree with that either.  Some of them, definitely, but I had to work pretty hard not to be spoiled and I failed quite often.

[Minneapple]

59 minutes ago, candall said:

??

If NBC showed EVERYTHING from these Olympics, live or otherwise, their coverage was flawless and I must've dozed off more than I realized.

If you mean all the events on tv (except gymnastics) were live, as opposed to tape-delayed, er, not sure I agree with that either.  Some of them, definitely, but I had to work pretty hard not to be spoiled and I failed quite often.

Yep, they showed just about everything live. During the afternoon, when most stuff was live, they showed dozens of events on channels like Bravo and MSNBC. My son enjoyed the archery, volleyball, diving. Swimming and track were pretty much all live in primetime, and there was a ton of beach volleyball in primetime as well. Everything was available on the app or on the website. They had several different feeds for the gymnastics streaming, the all-around feed plus a different feed for each apparatus. It was like ten thousand times more enjoyable than the primetime telecast anyway, which was a total waste of time. No network can show EVERYTHING (so maybe I was exaggerating a bit). Other than the gymnastics, I really find it hard to quibble over NBC's coverage this year.

I just wish they'd fire Al Trautwig's sorry ass. 

[Rickster]

Here's sort of a heretical idea. Even today, in a fragmented cable landscape, the NBC primetime show is the centerpiece of the Olympics coverage. I know they were slavering at the opportunity to show so many sports live in prime time, but IMO, I think they should have used part of the evening show to market some of the other sports and direct people to the channels showing them. Sure, if you were a fan of archery, fencing, rowing, judo, cycling, etc., you'd seek that coverage out, but how do you build the fan base unless you show these sports to people unfamiliar with them? I just got tired of coverage focused on swimming heats, track heats (hardly any field event coverage) women's gymnastics (hardly any men's events) and beach volleyball preliminary matches.

While all the streaming coverage is great, I don't want to sit for hours peering at tiny images on my laptop.

[legaleagle53]

32 minutes ago, Rickster said:

Here's sort of a heretical idea. Even today, in a fragmented cable landscape, the NBC primetime show is the centerpiece of the Olympics coverage. I know they were slavering at the opportunity to show so many sports live in prime time, but IMO, I think they should have used part of the evening show to market some of the other sports and direct people to the channels showing them. Sure, if you were a fan of archery, fencing, rowing, judo, cycling, etc., you'd seek that coverage out, but how do you build the fan base unless you show these sports to people unfamiliar with them? I just got tired of coverage focused on swimming heats, track heats (hardly any field event coverage) women's gymnastics (hardly any men's events) and beach volleyball preliminary matches.

While all the streaming coverage is great, I don't want to sit for hours peering at tiny images on my laptop.

The problem with that approach is that it would adversely affect their prime-time ratings if they started losing viewers to those other channels.  Ratings are paramount to a network, which is why NBC even tried to get the IOC to let the United States athletes come into the stadium closer to the end of the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony instead of nearer the beginning, as it did because of the host country's name for the US in Portuguese.  NBC was afraid people would tune out once the US athletes had made their entrance and not come back for the rest of the opening ceremony, and that would destroy potential ad revenue from their sponsors.

Edited August 22, 2016 by legaleagle53

[Daisy]

NBC stopped showing the iconic images of the host nation. 
:( and then they cut off my montage. I was all ready to be worked up and boohoo. 

[Rickster]

12 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

The problem with that approach is that it would adversely affect their prime-time ratings if they started losing viewers to those other channels.  Ratings are paramount to a network, which is why NBC even tried to get the IOC to let the United States athletes come into the stadium closer to the end of the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony instead of nearer the beginning, as it did because of the host country's name for the US in Portuguese.  NBC was afraid people would tune out once the US athletes had made their entrance and not come back for the rest of the opening ceremony, and that would destroy potential ad revenue from their sponsors.

Except, generally speaking, for NBC Sports channel, the coverage on other channels was in the daytime. And while what NBC does may maximize ratings in the short run, I think it diminishes the Olympics as a massive special event.

But I will admit, I am not the typical US viewer either.

[Dots And Stripes]

I liked NBC's primetime coverage better as the games went on. Once they weren't trying to squeeze in Phelps, Biles, and Walsh-Jennings into one night they had more time to make the primetime broadcast look like a show. It got looser. I still wish they wouldn't have shoved all of the interesting up close and personal profiles into the afternoon coverage. It would have helped to have seen a bio on some of the favorites right before they competed. 

[KenyaJ]

13 minutes ago, Daisy said:

NBC stopped showing the iconic images of the host nation. 
:( and then they cut off my montage. I was all ready to be worked up and boohoo. 

They showed it on Friday at the end of their daytime coverage and again yesterday at the end of daytime coverage. It was a 10 minute montage of all the scenery and culture of Brazil. I'm sorry you missed it, because it was gorgeous.

[Daisy]

Just now, KenyaJ said:

They showed it on Friday at the end of their daytime coverage and again yesterday at the end of daytime coverage. It was a 10 minute montage of all the scenery and culture of Brazil. I'm sorry you missed it, because it was gorgeous.

*gasp* NBC you can't do things like this to me! (thanks for letting me know. hopefully they'll put it on youtube or something). 

[legaleagle53]

I think I saw today that the archives will be on YouTube at some point.  That will give me something to do while waiting for the Paralympics to start.

[SnideAsides]

The "Olympic Channel" thing they had that ultra-vague short film for in the closing ceremony is apparently going to be some kind of video replay archive/app.

[alexa]

I agree with many key issues mentioned in this thread.  Someone touched on the fact that many times they didn't actually air what they said they were going to air.  I finally started checking the other channels more so I could actually see something I wanted to see, and most of the time, I would review my dvr recording to find something else airing.

I also agree that they could have mentioned some of the other sports in primetime and given people an idea of where you could find them and when.  They did used to do that a lot.  They would feature another sport briefly to show a highlight and they were much more forthcoming about what was on the other channels.

This year seemed very off to me for coverage.... there was just hours and hours of one sport versus mixing things up a bit.  I had a hard time enjoying this Olympics due to the coverage.

[Daisy]

@alexa that was my glitch of London. (it was also my first Olympics where i had to work so adjusting to THAT was an issue). but watching prime time was so difficult and that was really the first push of "Watch online! stream!" and i did that this year.... but i still missed watching a good chunk on the olympics on teevee. and I just feel (and maybe i am romanticizing it - NBC used to be a  lot better)

Numbers are coming in. 
11.5 m watched the Olympics in Canada (this is including everything, television, radio, streaming). pretty darned good. (they were averaging around 4.5 m at any given time per day)

[alexa]

I admittedly am one that really only wants to watch it on TV.  I have never been interested in even watching short videos on the phone/tablet.  I get impatient, and just don't enjoy that kind of viewing.  I want to sit and relax and enjoy it on the cable system Comcast makes me pay dearly for.  So I guess this means in future years as streaming becomes even more popular, I will just have to accept I won't see much of the Olympics.

[evilmindatwork]

Was there a way to watch the tablet videos either live or as a replay on a tv? I quite liked the tablet coverage. 

[blackwing]

I didn't see as many cultural pieces this time around but maybe I just wasn't paying attention.  I saw the one done by Mary Carillo where she talked with the real-life inspiration for "The Girl From Ipanema" and with people behind the song.  Costas called it his favourite Mary Carillo piece ever.  But I haven't seen many others.  It's sad that the Olympics were in Rio for 17 days, and I feel like I learned more about Rio and Brazil from seeing it on "The Amazing Race".  Even during the Closing Ceremony, when the dancers made a pattern and Mary said "that's the pattern on the walkway on Copacabana Beach" I was all "Yes!  I remember it from TAR!"

I didn't see that many sob story features either on the athletes, although, again, I mostly watched in primetime and didn't see much NBC daytime coverage except on the weekends.  Can't really say I missed hearing about how Yuliana from Serbocroshastan lost three toes to frostbite and almost died, until Boris a waiter from the rival religious clan spilled soup on her at a restaurant, and it turns out his third cousin is a famous fencing coach who saw potential in her.  There were really short features on athletes, some of which lasted like 30 seconds at most.  Those were the "Rio inspiration" or "Rio technology" pieces.  Not sure if those were meant to replace them.  After the NBC guy's comment that "women love the sob stories" I was expecting that we would have even more than ever.

All in all, I think this has been a particularly disappointing Olympics coverage for NBC.  Ratings are down.  I'm not sure if that's because people watched the live streams or if it's because people disliked the NBC coverage, or some combination, but I hope NBC takes note.  I for one was sick of the over abundant amount of attention placed on just a few athletes.  Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Usain Bolt completely dominated the hype and the coverage.  Simone Biles to a lesser extent.  I get that they were extremely successful, but it'd be interesting if there was some kind of analysis of every minute of primetime coverage on NBC, someone tallied up all the names mentioned by Bob Costas, and analyzed what percentage was Phelps.

I get it, some athletes are bigger stars than others.  I find it odd that here we had Serena Williams, a four time gold medallist.  Number one tennis player in the world.  She is more famous and has more money than Katie Ledecky will ever be or have.  But it was a "blink and you missed it" moment and all of a sudden, Serena is gone from both singles and doubles.  I must have missed when any of her matches, even snippets of them, were shown in primetime.  I suppose she ran up against the unfortunate Phelps/Ledecky monopoly on coverage during the first week.

NBC really needs to find some balance.  And they need to consider firing people and getting some fresh blood.  Al Trautwig, Tim Daggett, Rowdy Gaines.  Tired of them.  I loved the freshness that Sanya Richards Ross added to the track commentary this year.  And I hope the ratings for Ryan Seacrest were abysmal.

I'm expecting even worse coverage for the next three Olympics, since they are all in Asia with Asian time zones.  Which means mostly tape delayed coverage and lots of baiting and switching.  I really am hoping for better.

[galaxygirl76]

17 minutes ago, blackwing said:

 I find it odd that here we had Serena Williams, a four time gold medallist.  Number one tennis player in the world.  She is more famous and has more money than Katie Ledecky will ever be or have.  But it was a "blink and you missed it" moment and all of a sudden, Serena is gone from both singles and doubles.  I must have missed when any of her matches, even snippets of them, were shown in primetime.  I suppose she ran up against the unfortunate Phelps/Ledecky monopoly on coverage during the first week.

 

All the tennis was aired on Bravo.

[Matt K]

50 minutes ago, blackwing said:

NBC really needs to find some balance.  And they need to consider firing people and getting some fresh blood.  Al Trautwig, Tim Daggett, Rowdy Gaines.  Tired of them.  I loved the freshness that Sanya Richards Ross added to the track commentary this year.  And I hope the ratings for Ryan Seacrest were abysmal.

This so much.  They really need some fresh blood in for some of these sports, especially people who either competed or at least are very knowledgeable about the sport (although my preference would be former athlete from the sport and a broadcaster who's knowledgeable but can ask the right questions for the audience).

 

I watched a lot of streaming and afternoon/morning content this year and those were very good.  I especially loved the "here's some highlights from other events currently happening".  The commentary was well done (same with the streaming commentary) and they showed a ton of events between NBC, USA and MSNBC (which had the least amount of content). 

 

But I just didn't watch much primetime coverage.  Not sure why I tuned most of it out, as the actual event coverage was decent (well, mainly swimming/diving and track) and they managed to show a lot of it live.  But I just didn't care as much.  I also miss the fluff pieces, at least the one's spotlighting the host city/nation.  The only one I can remember was Dan Rather's piece on the Amazon (which I didn't end up watching all of).

 

That said, I get to work from home so I probably had a lot more Olympic coverage on than an average person.

 

ETA: And I hate Seacrest.  I saw a little of his late night coverage and it was awful.  I hate how NBC keeps pushing this guy.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Matt K

[proserpina65]

On ‎08‎/‎19‎/‎2016 at 2:52 AM, greyhorse said:

Yeah, I strangely miss the human interest and the local culture pieces.  Maybe there have been some and I just haven't seen them.  But they seem very few and far between.  Perhaps they are on the pre-primetime show that I think runs for 30 minutes?  Or maybe the late night hour?

I'm not sure what Ryan Seacrest adds to the broadcast.

The only human interest/local culture pieces I saw were tied to Chevy commercials.  Oh, and a bit from the Golf Channel guy talking about unheralded athletes which mentioned a wrestler from the favelas and actually talked briefly about the crushing poverty suffered by so much of the population of Rio.

Seacrest adds absolutely nothing.

[proserpina65]

14 hours ago, Dots And Stripes said:

I liked NBC's primetime coverage better as the games went on. Once they weren't trying to squeeze in Phelps, Biles, and Walsh-Jennings into one night they had more time to make the primetime broadcast look like a show. It got looser. I still wish they wouldn't have shoved all of the interesting up close and personal profiles into the afternoon coverage. It would have helped to have seen a bio on some of the favorites right before they competed. 

And yet they still showed so few athletes in prime time that I was beginning to wonder if this was actually an athletic competition.

[proserpina65]

4 hours ago, alexa said:

I agree with many key issues mentioned in this thread.  Someone touched on the fact that many times they didn't actually air what they said they were going to air.  I finally started checking the other channels more so I could actually see something I wanted to see, and most of the time, I would review my dvr recording to find something else airing.

I also agree that they could have mentioned some of the other sports in primetime and given people an idea of where you could find them and when.  They did used to do that a lot.  They would feature another sport briefly to show a highlight and they were much more forthcoming about what was on the other channels.

This year seemed very off to me for coverage.... there was just hours and hours of one sport versus mixing things up a bit.  I had a hard time enjoying this Olympics due to the coverage.

I'd set my vcr to tape what was supposed to be diving and equestrian one day, and ended up with 1 & 1/2 hours of Bela & Marta Karolyi worship instead.  Talk about your bait and switch.

[proserpina65]

22 hours ago, Minneapple said:

What should NBC have shown in primetime other than the track heats? Remember that these are live events. They actually showed EVERYTHING live on TV for these Olympics. Except gymnastics. 

Plenty of events were not shown live.  They could've shown additional athletes in some of the many, many events which were actually on tape, rather than 2 shot putters, 3 pole vaulters, etc.; they had more than enough stuff on tape.

[FormerMod-a1]

For all the people whose schedule didn't match what aired, what were you using to get that info?  I ask because as I mentioned up-thread, my "Info button" was always right.  If it listed (there are only examples, not real listings I had) women's triathlon, men's weightlifting and badminton in the 12n-2pm time slot on USA, that's what they showed.  Maybe not in that order, and sometimes rotating back and forth between them, but they were all shown.  If one channel said Soccer and listed the teams in a 3-6pm slot, that's what was shown.  Occasionally, one of the earlier blocks might have gone over into the next due to an exciting match of some kind, but then it would go to whatever was listed for the time slot.  E.g. let's say one of the soccer matches was exciting and went long, it might go past 6pm, but whatever was listed after that would still be shown after that.  I had none of these scheduling issues.  Even the NBCOlympics website always seemed right to me.  Granted, I always looked the day of, and didn't future plan.  Maybe things changed if you looked days in advance vs the day of?  

[blackwing]

And if the event wasn't live, the way NBC chose who to show was a huge tipoff as to the results.  Guy or woman you have never heard of?  Surprise medalist.

For example, in the primetime coverage of the men's 10m platform diving final, we saw one American, two Chinese, and a Mexican.  With maybe one dive each from a Frenchman and some other guy.  To my complete non-surprise, the Mexican I had never heard of before ended up with a medal.

I get that they can't air everything.  But for the events they do choose to air in primetime, I'd prefer if they do the events justice.  The fact that they only showed five divers indicates that three of those five are the medalists.  It just takes away so much of the suspense.  They would be better off not airing the event at all.  Or at least make an announcement and stop pretending that it's live.  Most viewers are smart enough to figure out that if the word "live" isn't at the top right of the screen, it's not live.  But maybe NBC thinks they can manufacture the drama and fool some people.  I'd rather they just say "earlier today, the men's 10 meter platform diving was held.  We are going to show you the highlights.  If you'd prefer to see the entire competition, please watch the stream at nbcolympics.com."  At least spell it out and stop trying to pretend that you are giving us the whole picture.

Edited August 22, 2016 by blackwing

[blackwing]

It's also odd to me that there was hardly any mention of basketball.  I remember the Dream Team in 1992, that was the first year NBA players could play in the Olympics, and it was huge.  I remember the T-shirt with the caricature heads of the players.  Now, in 2016, I guess it's just ho-hum?  I was surprised yesterday afternoon to see the gold medal game being played, since I feel like basketball almost never got mentioned in these Olympics.  To NBC, Olympics consists of four sports.  Swimming, Gymnastics, Track and Field (well, really, just Track), and Beach Volleyball.  I wonder what percentage of primetime coverage was devoted to these four giants?

[greyhorse]

12 minutes ago, blackwing said:

And if the event wasn't live, the way NBC chose who to show was a huge tipoff as to the results.  Guy or woman you have never heard of?  Surprise medalist.

For example, in the primetime coverage of the men's 10m platform diving final, we saw two Americans, two Chinese, and a Mexican.  With maybe one dive each from a Frenchman and some other guy.  To my complete non-surprise, the Mexican I had never heard of before ended up with a medal.

I get that they can't air everything.  But for the events they do choose to air in primetime, I'd prefer if they do the events justice.  The fact that they only showed five divers indicates that three of those five are the medalists.  It just takes away so much of the suspense.  They would be better off not airing the event at all.  Or at least make an announcement and stop pretending that it's live.  Most viewers are smart enough to figure out that if the word "live" isn't at the top right of the screen, it's not live.  But maybe NBC thinks they can manufacture the drama and fool some people.  I'd rather they just say "earlier today, the men's 10 meter platform diving was held.  We are going to show you the highlights.  If you'd prefer to see the entire competition, please watch the stream at nbcolympics.com."  At least spell it out and stop trying to pretend that you are giving us the whole picture.

Or a disastrous epic fail!  I remember during the Winter games, if there was a downhill skier that you had never heard of, it was either going to be a medal winning run or a complete wipe-out.  Most often times, it seemed like it was a wipeout.

I skipped much of diving, but this was also true for gymnastics.  Yes, I get that they can't show all 8 bar routines, so something has to give.  There's only so much you can fit in to several hours of primetime.

2 minutes ago, blackwing said:

It's also odd to me that there was hardly any mention of basketball.  I remember the Dream Team in 1992, that was the first year NBA players could play in the Olympics, and it was huge.  I remember the T-shirt with the caricature heads of the players.  Now, in 2016, I guess it's just ho-hum?  I was surprised yesterday afternoon to see the gold medal game being played, since I feel like basketball almost never got mentioned in these Olympics.  To NBC, Olympics consists of four sports.  Swimming, Gymnastics, Track and Field (well, really, just Track), and Beach Volleyball.  I wonder what percentage of primetime coverage was devoted to these four giants?

Wow, we think so much alike.  I remarked to mrs. greyhorse last night that my total basketball viewing for the entire games was about 5 minutes.  Saw two possessions and then switched it.  Basketball just didn't interest me, especially with this year's team makeup.  You would think basketball is big business and would garner viewers, but maybe everybody else feels like me and just doesn't care.  Swimming, gymnastics, and track are the marquee events of the Olympics as they should be.

I'm disappointed I seemed to have missed all the kayaking events where they row in that manmade course with the rapids and the gates.  I'll have to see if I can find any online.  Also would have liked to see more of the indoor cycling just because of the speeds even though I don't understand any of the rules.

[candall]

18 hours ago, Minneapple said:

Yep, they showed just about everything live. During the afternoon, when most stuff was live, they showed dozens of events on channels like Bravo and MSNBC. My son enjoyed the archery, volleyball, diving. Swimming and track were pretty much all live in primetime, and there was a ton of beach volleyball in primetime as well. Everything was available on the app or on the website. They had several different feeds for the gymnastics streaming, the all-around feed plus a different feed for each apparatus. It was like ten thousand times more enjoyable than the primetime telecast anyway, which was a total waste of time. No network can show EVERYTHING (so maybe I was exaggerating a bit). Other than the gymnastics, I really find it hard to quibble over NBC's coverage this year.

 

AH!  Here's our disconnect.  My location doesn't allow for streaming.  (Even loading a page requires a game of solitaire.)

But I've always been an Olympics-head and I gamely put in dozens, scores, hundreds? of hours flipping around the "NBC Family of Channels."  The coverage, for people in my position, was almost always truncated.  Disappointing and frustrating.

Since I'm so far out of the techno loop, here's a question:  Do most people stream directly to their tvs or watch on their tablets/phones?  Honestly, peering at a tiny screen doesn't seem ideal either.  I might as well squint at that spider spinning a web over in the corner.

 

27 minutes ago, aquarian1 said:

For all the people whose schedule didn't match what aired, what were you using to get that info?  I ask because as I mentioned up-thread, my "Info button" was always right.  

With Directv, I plugged in the "Keyword" for the events I most wanted to see.  Results were hit and miss. The most outrageous bait & switch was subbing in a Ryan Seacrest extravaganza for an event I wanted to see--and the next event I wanted to see was a repeat of the same fucking Ryan Seacrest broadcast!

[Sew Sumi]

51 minutes ago, aquarian1 said:

For all the people whose schedule didn't match what aired, what were you using to get that info?  I ask because as I mentioned up-thread, my "Info button" was always right.  If it listed (there are only examples, not real listings I had) women's triathlon, men's weightlifting and badminton in the 12n-2pm time slot on USA, that's what they showed.  Maybe not in that order, and sometimes rotating back and forth between them, but they were all shown.  If one channel said Soccer and listed the teams in a 3-6pm slot, that's what was shown.  Occasionally, one of the earlier blocks might have gone over into the next due to an exciting match of some kind, but then it would go to whatever was listed for the time slot.  E.g. let's say one of the soccer matches was exciting and went long, it might go past 6pm, but whatever was listed after that would still be shown after that.  I had none of these scheduling issues.  Even the NBCOlympics website always seemed right to me.  Granted, I always looked the day of, and didn't future plan.  Maybe things changed if you looked days in advance vs the day of?  

Maybe your cable/satellite company? Ironically, I have Comcast, and the listings for USA/MSNBC/CNBC/NBCSN were wrong almost 100% of the time I checked to watch something live (with gymnastics on the live feed laprop).  It was frustrating to want to watch equestrian and get boxing (not a real w example, but you get the idea). I am still on summer break until next Monday (except department meetings that started last Friday), so I had the opportunity to see this blunder over and over.

[Daisy]

But like I said before, I don't know why they can't show everything. and I am going to use CTV as my example because CBC/BBC are public, (but in my estimation, I don't get how this is different. they've paid for the games. they still have to show/decide how to bring out the material, and if they suck, they lose their investment, and can lose the games - as they did with CTV, but CBC upped their bid, and now works with Bell + Rogers to have everything). 
 

London was hard for me to follow because that's when streaming took off, but i was still able to catch what i wanted to catch. (Equestrian i found was [and is] one of these events that get the streaming shaft. they didn't even have commentary on 3 day eventing, but they were aces with the two english guys as the streaming. whomever they got were awesome). up here, channel A: has the entire event, and you're constantly told by a little info-graphic every 5-10 minutes "Channel A has this, Channel B has that, Channel C has this, and everything else is on streaming, follow us.). CBC does the same thing. 

then at prime time, you'd get the highlight packages (ie: the Falls, the Medal winners etc etc) or you just show the top 6. In Gymnastics, showing 2 more shouldn't "hurt" I know that people said in the opening ceremonies thread that maybe the focus is so their families can see them (like those athletes chanting USA USA) and my argument is now going to be this. USA is a migrant nation, as is Canada. They also get snowbirds  or work there part time. so I'd just imagine what if Grandma Betty knew her grandkid was in the Olympics, but Grandma Betty is from Canada and can't access CBC because she lives smack in the middle of Missouri? And can't stream. and because that kid is say 5th, and didn't have a memorable moment, just did their best and was fifth, NBC doesn't show him/her. at all. Doesn't that rob Grandma Betty? 

I just think they should show everything they can on television AND streaming. {CBC released their numbers including streaming and they were really high, and if NBC's is down, it can't just be because of streaming. some people simply hate doing it. I hate doing it even though i got great analysis. i like watching ON televiison). 
 

[FormerMod-a1]

4 minutes ago, candall said:

With Directv, I plugged in the "Keyword" for the events I most wanted to see.  Results were hit and miss. The most outrageous bait & switch was subbing in a Ryan Seacrest extravaganza for an event I wanted to see--and the next event I wanted to see was a repeat of the same fucking Ryan Seacrest broadcast!

I see.  I never did searches.  At the beginning of the day, I would just go to each channel in the "NBC Family" - USA, MSNBC, Bravo, NBCSN, CNBC - and read what they were showing, scrolling through to get all the time slots.  

@Sew Sumi - I have Comcast (Xfinity), too.

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, aquarian1 said:

For all the people whose schedule didn't match what aired, what were you using to get that info?  I ask because as I mentioned up-thread, my "Info button" was always right.  If it listed (there are only examples, not real listings I had) women's triathlon, men's weightlifting and badminton in the 12n-2pm time slot on USA, that's what they showed.  Maybe not in that order, and sometimes rotating back and forth between them, but they were all shown.  If one channel said Soccer and listed the teams in a 3-6pm slot, that's what was shown.  Occasionally, one of the earlier blocks might have gone over into the next due to an exciting match of some kind, but then it would go to whatever was listed for the time slot.  E.g. let's say one of the soccer matches was exciting and went long, it might go past 6pm, but whatever was listed after that would still be shown after that.  I had none of these scheduling issues.  Even the NBCOlympics website always seemed right to me.  Granted, I always looked the day of, and didn't future plan.  Maybe things changed if you looked days in advance vs the day of?  

I checked my satellite info every day when I wanted to tape something, and it was right 99% of the time, except for that shitty Karolyi thing.  (But only if you count the very generic "gymnastics" as a description and then only if 2 male gymnasts in 4 hours counts as coverage.) 

I don't stream because I don't enjoy the show "Buffering".

Edited August 22, 2016 by proserpina65

[evilmindatwork]

38 minutes ago, candall said:

Since I'm so far out of the techno loop, here's a question:  Do most people stream directly to their tvs or watch on their tablets/phones?  Honestly, peering at a tiny screen doesn't seem ideal either.  I might as well squint at that spider spinning a web over in the corner.

 

I am curious about whether anyone else managed to watch the streaming coverage on TV as well. I never managed to figure out how to get the app on my macbook but downloaded the app on Kindle Fire and watched from that. Seriously, I watched the entire Olympics on a 7 inch screen. 

[blackwing]

I have Direct TV, and when I was home to watch during the day (weekends), I would put on Channel 205, "NBC Olympic Experience" or something like that.  It showed multiple boxes which would show what Olympics were airing on the other NBC family channels.  It was live, so you could see what was happening on five or so other channels all at once.  You could scroll on each to switch the sound to listen to the one you want.  Then punch in the channel number to watch.  Oddly, it didn't have a little box showing what was on the main NBC channel.  I ended up finding and watching some tennis and team handball and soccer and table tennis and other sports.

I never downloaded the app onto my tablet or iPhone.  I remember a similar app from past Olympics and didn't even bother.  Sounds like they improved it?  To stream I would just go to nbcolympics.com on my laptop and watch things on there.  No app needed.

[FormerMod-a1]

Comcast/Xfinity had something similar with their "D" button, but I'm just so used to the regular channel guide and info button method that I kept using that.  I did use the "D" button once, to see how well it would stream the online content and it was fine.  But most the online stuff I watched was simultaneous to other televised events (or when watching non-Olympic TV), so I'd have the stream running on my laptop and the TV set to whatever channel.

[Princess Sparkle]

59 minutes ago, candall said:

Since I'm so far out of the techno loop, here's a question:  Do most people stream directly to their tvs or watch on their tablets/phones?  Honestly, peering at a tiny screen doesn't seem ideal either.  I might as well squint at that spider spinning a web over in the corner.

 

I streamed directly to my tv.  I have an Amazon Firebox that I do most of my streaming through, but I lucked out when it came to the Olympics - I have a Roku enabled tv (and a friend that is kind enough to give me her cable log-in), and they had the NBC olympics app right in there.  I can't even tell you how pleased I was to end up with Courtney Koupets and Jonathan Horton for gymnastics instead of Tim Dagget and Al Troutwig (Nastia would've been fine).  And the bonus side effect is that it appears I missed all the Michael Phelps hoopla, so I was still able to enjoy his swimming without getting annoyed by what it sounds like was the constant coverage of him.