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Reactions: Olympic TV Coverage Enough with the dramatic stories, give us the GamesLatest: Tuesday September 19, 2000 06:32 PM
Seems like everyone has a reason to bash NBC's coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics. If it isn't the tape-delayed presentation that has viewers frustrated, then it's the long-winded melodramatic athlete biographies. We asked CNN/SI users what they thought of NBC's broadcast and judging by the response, they are less than pleased. Here's a small sample: During previous Olympics, I have gotten up early stayed up late and during the work week have gone so far as to schedule lunches or late afternoon meetings at sports bars in order to watch an event live and feel the drama that only a live broadcast can provide. This year, I pick up the sports page check results and only tune in to those events that I have special interest in. Maybe I should thank NBC for its lousy coverage because this year there are no conflicts with work and I don't spend all evening or weekend getting an Olympic fix. I'm cured.
It would be very difficult for most of us to watch it "live", so the tape delay is acceptable. My real issue with coverage is the tremendous amount of time spent on background and personal profiles. While some of it can be interesting, I would prefer to see coverage of the U.S. participation in "lesser" sports, especially ones in which our athletes are in medal contention.
If you could turn People magazine into sports television, you would have NBC's coverage of the Olympics. The high gloss, over-produced, personal drama approach destroys the spirit of the Games. Fifteen hours gives NBC way too much time inside their post-production studios to turn an international sporting event into another episode of ER. Besides, I just visit a sports Web site, get the results of the day and pick and choose what I want to see on NBC. For real coverage, I've been spending my time watching CBC (Canada). They show events live and their highlight reels at the play more like the Wide World of Sports than a holiday beer commercial.
I am really disappointed in the equestrian events they have covered, or failed to cover. Not only are the Olympics not aired as it is going on, but they have only presented about five minutes worth of things on horses. I guess I am partial since I ride and compete, I really wish they would show more, and sooner.
They should show the sporting events. If I wanted to see "Biography" I would be watching A&E.
I would definitely prefer to watch the events live, though I understand the economics of having the tape-delayed prime time broadcast. However, precious minutes are wasted on all the melodramas (I think by now every housecat in the U.S. knows about the sacrifices Lenny Krayzleburg's parents' made for him), replete with swelling music in the background. The athletes' achievements are compelling enough; don't cheapen it by turning it into another made-for-TV drama. Also, though it's an improvement for NBC to show the team sports (especially women's teams), most of them are shown on cable, which leaves those with no cable (yes, I know at least two people) out in the cold.
I think they lost site of what the Olympics is. They air only what they think Americans want to watch. They have forgotten the Olympic games have many aspects of sports most people have never seen. I, for one, wish they would air coverage of sports other than the ones you can watch everyday on ESPN.
I'm not sure that NBC has any real alternative to tape delay if they wanted to get sponsor money. However, I get the results from the Internet and watch the American victories I am interested in. I have no interest in watching our people lose, with a few exceptions such as gymnastics. I expect that NBC will take a financial bath on these Olympics because they will not achieve the ratings numbers they guaranteed their sponsors.
I think NBC's coverage is horrible. I want to see the competition, not the video of a semi-annual meeting between a Chinese gymnast and her parents. I want to see the competition they advertise (men's volleyball on late night Sunday), not a replacement event (ladies' water polo) when the network executives see that the American volleyball team got soundly defeated. If nothing else, they need to inform their viewers that they have had a change in plans and will not be showing an event that they have been advertising. If I stay up until midnight expecting to see a given event that they have advertised is going to be show, I'm going to be very annoyed if they don't show it. I want to see the competition interspersed with commercials, not commercials interspersed with puff pieces.
Yuck. Mostly because of the patronizing presentation of the "soap opera" drama of participant's lives. Yes, I want it fresh and when it happens. I'll watch it or tape it. And I want more action and less ads. Yes, it's changed the way I watch the games because now I access cnnsi.com to keep current.
This is the worst coverage of the summer Olympics in the last 20 years. The best coverage was the 1988 Games in Los Angeles. All of the sports were broadcast that year and little time was spent on athletes' lives. This broadcast is nothing but bios on the athletes. I want to watch all of the athletes complete not just the top four athletes. The Olympics would be more enjoyable if only 10 minitues or less, per hour, is dedicated to bios\commentary on the athletes, instead of the current 40 minutes per hour that is spend on commercials and bios. That leaves only 20 minutes or less time spent on showing the actual competition.
The coverage is absolutely lousy. Turf the sensationalistic and overdone tape- delayed nonsense and show the actual drama of live events. The CBC coverage in Canada, which pretty much shows you live action as it unfolds is far superior. Take the men's triathlon, for example. I watched Canada win the event live on CBC during prime time while NBC was showing the women's triathlon tape-delayed from the day before. By the time NBC showed their coverage of the men's triathlon, it was 24 hours later and old news. And they cut out almost all of the race.
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