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

[evilmindatwork]

Courtney Koupets and Jonathan Horton on gymnastics were fire. I didn't know much gymnastics but got a solid knowledge base through their discussions. Only heard about Al Troutwig's  moments from other people and the news.  Why didn't the prime time coverage include more men's gymnastics? I watched men's with the live streaming but my friends, who mostly watched prime time coverage, couldn't discuss much of it with me at all. 

[izabella]

1 minute ago, evilmindatwork said:

Why didn't the prime time coverage include more men's gymnastics?

Because the US men weren't winning medals in gymnastics, and NBC thinks we don't want to see the other countries, just ours and just where our athletes were winning, and mostly just Simone Biles, Phelps and Ledecky.  That's what NBC thought we all wanted to see, all day long, all the time.  And that we'd want to see Phelps walking around instead of actual event coverage, and interviews with Phelps about what he thought about things, instead of actual event coverage.  Oh, and Usain Bolt instead of the field part of Track & Field.

Edited August 22, 2016 by izabella

[greyhorse]

Wasn't years ago you had to pay for Olympics packages.  Something like "gold", "silver", and "bronze" packages and you would get different channels?  Or am I making that up in my head.  Now that NBC has multip options to show content (NBCSN, Bravo, MSNBC, etc.) that became unnecessary?  I also don't think it was very profitable for them.

I know for the Winter Olympics, I watched a lot of the streaming content on an NBC Sports app.  Didn't think to look this time, but I imagine they had something similar.

Saw last night that there is going to be a channel called "Olympic Zone" or something like that where for the next four years, we'll actually see coverage of these lesser known sports instead of only every four years for two weeks.  It's great for exposure for these sports and the athletes who train so hard at their craft.

[evilmindatwork]

2 minutes ago, izabella said:

Because the US men weren't winning medals in gymnastics.

But they won a few! Just not gold. 

[izabella]

Just now, evilmindatwork said:

But they won a few! Just not gold. 

Sorry, says NBC, no time for losers (non-gold winners), must check in with Michael Phelps again.

[blackwing]

2 hours ago, greyhorse said:

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.

The slalom events.  Zero percent chance of seeing it in primetime.  I streamed some of it, and sorry to say, I found the coverage to be quite boring.  The course itself was really boring.  In past Olympics I seem to recall that they at least make an attempt to make it look like an artificial whitewater river.  The track curves and bends.  Here, the course was basically a long rectangle.  Start at the top and just pass through the gates.  Sometimes you'd have to go into the gates from the back end, so you'd turn and paddle upstream.  But still, overall, I was not really invested in it, had a really hard time telling the difference between an average run and a great run except for what the clock said at the end, so switched off quickly.

As to why NBC didn't feature men's gymnastics more... they did show some.  But I think it suffered because the U.S. team didn't have a breakout star who was a serious contender for an all around title.  There was Sam Mikulak and his stupid hair, but I guess even though he finished something like 7th in all around, they didn't care.  I also think men's gymnastics is really lacking someone (from any country) that has that "star power".  Years ago, there was that guy from Russia, or Unified Team, or whatever it was called when he was competing.  We must have been inundated with men's gymnastics back then because even today I recall the commentators fawning over the guy they called "Sexy Alexi".

[evilmindatwork]

29 minutes ago, izabella said:

Because the US men weren't winning medals in gymnastics, and NBC thinks we don't want to see the other countries, just ours and just where our athletes were winning, and mostly just Simone Biles, Phelps and Ledecky.  That's what NBC thought we all wanted to see, all day long, all the time.  And that we'd want to see Phelps walking around instead of actual event coverage, and interviews with Phelps about what he thought about things, instead of actual event coverage.  Oh, and Usain Bolt instead of the field part of Track & Field.

But, but Kohei Uchimura? Who I only pay attention to every 4 years, but is zen, pretty, and beautiful in all his movements. 

[MaKaM]

7 minutes ago, blackwing said:

As to why NBC didn't feature men's gymnastics more... they did show some.  But I think it suffered because the U.S. team didn't have a breakout star who was a serious contender for an all around title.  There was Sam Mikulak and his stupid hair, but I guess even though he finished something like 7th in all around, they didn't care.  I also think men's gymnastics is really lacking someone (from any country) that has that "star power".  Years ago, there was that guy from Russia, or Unified Team, or whatever it was called when he was competing.  We must have been inundated with men's gymnastics back then because even today I recall the commentators fawning over the guy they called "Sexy Alexi".

Clearly you missed "King Kohei" from the last 8 years (though he is on the backend of his career and hasn't been quite as dominant).

Regarding the streaming/app/other, I hooked a laptop directly up to my TV and streamed using the internet. No apps required. Thank you HDMI ports.

[Minneapple]

2 hours ago, evilmindatwork said:

Courtney Koupets and Jonathan Horton on gymnastics were fire. I didn't know much gymnastics but got a solid knowledge base through their discussions. Only heard about Al Troutwig's  moments from other people and the news.  Why didn't the prime time coverage include more men's gymnastics? I watched men's with the live streaming but my friends, who mostly watched prime time coverage, couldn't discuss much of it with me at all. 

I loved Courtney and Jonathan on the streaming. I loved their chemistry, their knowledge. Their lack of idiocy.

4 hours 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 to my iPad at home and my phone when I was out and about (I don't mind watching on my phone). I also have a new Comcast box, and Comcast had streaming available through the box. So I watched some gymnastics and diving through that.

I know that people have valid complaints. But NBC paid more for the Games than anyone else. They stand more to lose than anyone else. People say they wish they showed everything live. They show hours and hours of live programming during the day, on multiple channels, on the app. They show plenty of live programming at night. No, they can't tape delay everything to primetime (the complaints about little tape delay in primetime show that just maybe we aren't ready to let go of primetime television events). and they sure aren't going to cut away from Phelps to show a tape delay of a minor sport. NBC's highest ratings came on the nights Phelps swam. It's not hard to figure out why NBC is all PHELPSPHELPSPHELPS all the time. I'm sure if they could figure out a way to get him to Tokyo, they would. Usain, too.

And I won't be surprised if the coverage for the next Winter and Summer games isn't like Beijing, when NBC nudged the IOC to schedule swimming and gymnastics so it was live in primetime in the US.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Minneapple

[Mittengirl]

I thought about getting a Roku of some type, but the sales guy at Best Buy couldn't tell me if it would work.  Did anyone use one and how did it work?  I know nothing about the streaming boxes, just what my iPad can do.

[MaKaM]

NBC should have some good data from the US for this Olympics on what was streamed live, what was streamed after the fact, what wasn't looked at all. That will likely inform some of their programming decisions for the next time. If only they would release it so we all could see and they would release what info they are using to determine that Ryan Seacrest is a good addition to the team. Because I want to have words with those people.

[evilmindatwork]

I wish there wasn't this automatic assumption that Americans aren't interested in knowing about the achievements and successes of non-American athletes. In my experience, most casual viewers just don't know about them and it's not from a lack of interest but a lack of information. I sent a friend clips of Kohei Uchimura and she immediately started following men's gymnastics after seeing them. 

[Princess Sparkle]

1 hour ago, Mittengirl said:

I thought about getting a Roku of some type, but the sales guy at Best Buy couldn't tell me if it would work.  Did anyone use one and how did it work?  I know nothing about the streaming boxes, just what my iPad can do.

I have a Roku enabled tv and an Amazon Fire box, but before I got the tv, I was using the Fire box with a tv that was at least 5-6 years old and it worked just fine. I believe as long as your tv has an HDMI port and you have wireless internet, you're good to go. I did use the Roku-specific app for the Olympics though - I have no clue if I could've also gotten an app through the Fire box; I just happened to see the Roku one when I turned on my tv and went with that. I was pleasantly surprised with it as well; I don't have super fancy Internet, but I never had any streaming issues whatsoever.  And the fact that it gave you the live feed was a great bonus. 

Edited August 23, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[chitowngirl]

When NBC got the bids for the Olympics, there was a limited way to broadcast them: broadcast TV and cable channels. Now they are playing catch up with new technology, but they have to find a way to do it and generate the revenue they paid into it. Live streaming is great, but it doesn't pay the bills the way commercials do. And ratings are probably best for NBC broadcast, so they have to try to package the best possible events that are going to generate eyes on the TV.  So, hopefully they will take their live streaming data, comments and ratings of all channels and events and run the "best" events where people are going to watch them and package them in the best way.

[candall]

4 hours ago, evilmindatwork said:

  Why didn't the prime time coverage include more men's gymnastics?

Men do gymnastics?

 

6 hours ago, greyhorse said:

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.

Finally.  I saw some kayaking through gates!!  One man leaned over and his head went under the hanging gate pole so there was an issue about whether a big enough percentage of his head had been on the far side of the gate pole to count. 

 

3 hours ago, MaKaM said:

Regarding the streaming/app/other, I hooked a laptop directly up to my TV and streamed using the internet. No apps required. Thank you HDMI ports.

Hmmm?  I wonder if I could download movies from Netflix into my laptop with the library's wireless and play them on my tv.  I may be streaming-deprived, but I'm flush with ports.

For the Roku-curious, I had an early model (before TV's came streaming-ready) and it worked flawlessly.  Even back then it was only about twice the size of an iPhone.  It just sat by the tv, connected by one little cable (ports!) and Netflix was mine.  (Omg, I miss Netflix.)  The Roku site would confirm, but I'm sure they do Hulu et. al now.  Simple and sooo worth the cost.

[windsprints]

I have Roku and highly recommend. They have models that will work with any kind of television. If you have wifi setup in your home it is easy to get it working. I've never had anything buffer.  Its the one piece of technology that works all the time with no effort.  Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, HBO, etc all work with it. 

I haven't looked into what exactly is there but I have some on demand through cable as well.

Edited August 23, 2016 by windsprints

[FormerMod-a1]

Amazon Fire Stick, and the Chromecast Stick both work great too.  You do need HDMI input for them, and wifi too.

[Dots And Stripes]

4 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

I thought about getting a Roku of some type, but the sales guy at Best Buy couldn't tell me if it would work.  Did anyone use one and how did it work?  I know nothing about the streaming boxes, just what my iPad can do.

I use the cheapest Roku that was available 2 years ago and I use it in a cheap tv. Works great! My Roku connects to my tv using those red-yellow-white cables that it comes with and uses wifi to stream channels. The NBC Sports app worked fairly well. Sometimes it would reload and the channel would sometimes need a minute or two to update content when I first logged in, but it really is such an improvement over the old way of doing things. A few Olympics ago, NBC was relegating some sports to absurd times with little to no streaming available. Then I think maybe Bejing had live streaming only for some events. The NBC Sports channel did seem to have everything, the biggest challenge at times was figuring out the most efficient way to find the content I was looking for.

[Mittengirl]

So, if I bought a Roku stick now, would I be able to watch the replays of the lives streams that are available on the NBCSports app?

[azshadowwalker]

5 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

When NBC got the bids for the Olympics, there was a limited way to broadcast them: broadcast TV and cable channels. Now they are playing catch up with new technology, but they have to find a way to do it and generate the revenue they paid into it. Live streaming is great, but it doesn't pay the bills the way commercials do. And ratings are probably best for NBC broadcast, so they have to try to package the best possible events that are going to generate eyes on the TV.  So, hopefully they will take their live streaming data, comments and ratings of all channels and events and run the "best" events where people are going to watch them and package them in the best way.

Not really. ESPN/ABC had WatchESPN/ESPN3 as part of their bid. They just didn't offer as much cash. NBC is just lagging on new technology, and the IOC didn't care.  

[Muffyn]

On ‎8‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 1:57 PM, blackwing said:

 

As to why NBC didn't feature men's gymnastics more... they did show some.  But I think it suffered because the U.S. team didn't have a breakout star who was a serious contender for an all around title.  There was Sam Mikulak and his stupid hair, but I guess even though he finished something like 7th in all around, they didn't care.  I also think men's gymnastics is really lacking someone (from any country) that has that "star power".  Years ago, there was that guy from Russia, or Unified Team, or whatever it was called when he was competing.  We must have been inundated with men's gymnastics back then because even today I recall the commentators fawning over the guy they called "Sexy Alexi".

I think NBC expected Sam Mikulak to be their person to focus on for men's gymnastics.  They bet on the wrong pony!  So they pushed the coverage to late night.

I didn't watch much of the closing ceremonies but I was glad to hear Mary Carillo's voice for that.  I wonder if they got enough negative feedback from the trio of fools they used for the opening ceremonies so they switched announcers? 

I did see a lot of the daytime coverage.  I also watched streaming on my laptop for archery, fencing, gymnastics, weight lifting . . . okay, I'm not working right now so I had a more free time than most.  for many events, the coverage was much better online than on TV.  NBC devoted a channel each to tennis, soccer and basketball.  Didn't watch any of that.  I am a better viewer of shorter events than committing two hours to a game. 

[Rickster]

Besides the lack of a successful men's gymnast, Olympics coverage has always devoted an outsize amount of time to women's gymnastics (and at the Winter Games, figure skating) in the belief that those are the sports women want to watch, and in family viewing, women are often the gatekeepers in determining what the family TV is tuned to.

[Quilt Fairy]

On ‎8‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 0:48 PM, 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'm in the Chicago area and I have Comcast (although not Xfinity)  and was using the listings that come up on their channel guide. Aside from the channels that were doing all rugby or all soccer or all basketball, etc, the listings were consistently wrong.  And it wasn't just a matter of looking a day ahead and ending up dvring something totally different from what you expected. I would flip through the Olympic channels, stop when I saw something interesting and check the listing for that program at that time, and I swear, 9 times out of 10 it was something totally different from what I was watching on the screen.

Quote

I thought about getting a Roku of some type, but the sales guy at Best Buy couldn't tell me if it would work.  Did anyone use one and how did it work?  I know nothing about the streaming boxes, just what my iPad can do.

I have an Amazon Fire TV box and I access it through the 2nd HDMI channel on the TV. I downloaded the NBC app which required that I verify I was a Comcast subscriber by getting an access code, so there was at least one hoop to jump through. But once I did that all of the live streaming events (even full event replays) were available on my TV. And the app is so much more straightforward than trying to find stuff on the website!

Edited August 24, 2016 by Quilt Fairy

[proserpina65]

On ‎08‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 5:08 PM, evilmindatwork said:

But, but Kohei Uchimura? Who I only pay attention to every 4 years, but is zen, pretty, and beautiful in all his movements. 

He's not American, so NBC is sure we have no interest in watching him compete.

[greendog78]

53 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

He's not American, so NBC is sure we have no interest in watching him compete.

Normally I would agree with this, but NBC put together a fluff piece about him, so someone somewhere thought Kohei was worth more than a passing mention. I suppose they were hoping for Sam Mikulak vs Kohei Uchimura in prime time but that was never going to happen.

The thing that annoys me more is, the US men did win medals, albeit not gold, but they still didn't show them at a reasonable hour.

[proserpina65]

12 minutes ago, greendog78 said:

Normally I would agree with this, but NBC put together a fluff piece about him, so someone somewhere thought Kohei was worth more than a passing mention. I suppose they were hoping for Sam Mikulak vs Kohei Uchimura in prime time but that was never going to happen.

The thing that annoys me more is, the US men did win medals, albeit not gold, but they still didn't show them at a reasonable hour.

Oh yeah, that's right, they did run that piece on Kohei.  For the parallel bar finals, I think.  All 10 minutes of them.

Edited August 24, 2016 by proserpina65

[Bramble]

On August 22, 2016 at 9:56 PM, Mittengirl said:

So, if I bought a Roku stick now, would I be able to watch the replays of the lives streams that are available on the NBCSports app?

I was out of town so I'm still catching up on Olympics watching, some of it with my Roku. The NBC sports app has switched its default back to non-olympics coverage, but once in the app I'm able to switch back to Olympics coverage using the * button on the Roku remote. However I will say that I'm finding the Roku app frustrating to use, as I can't seem to search the channel, just filter by sport, and there's a lot of coverage to sift through.

Also since I was out of town, I looked in advance both in my Tivo guide and on the NBC Olympics website for the tv schedule so I could record specific events. The website schedule had been my bible for past Olympics, but this time it let me down. A lot of the time for the things I really wanted to watch, the recording didn't have actually have the event I wanted. NBC daytime, late night and NBCSN seemed to be the worst offenders.