Olympics...Capitalism at it's best!!

[david farland]

.....US network NBC, which owns exclusive rights to Olympics coverage in the United States, refrained from showing the opening ceremony live, preferring instead to delay coverage by 12 hours for a prime-time evening slot.
A spokesman for NBC, which paid nearly 900 million dollars for Olympic broadcast rights, said the decision was taken to maximize viewing figures...

Sorry to hear that guys. I see they even shut down internet viewing...like wasn't that what everyone was screaming at China for doing!. It's a world event, but NBC make it theirs' and suckered you straight out. Land of the free and all that. I'd of been so pissed!

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/entertainment/4871282

 

[Matthew Rogers]

I think if NBC invested that much into buying the rights for the broadcast, they have every right to time delay it until they can make more money off of it. Does it really matter that you see it live? I mean, it's just the opening ceremony for a SPORTING event. It's not like it's "breaking news" that they are delaying. To me, it's like not releasing a "blockbuster" in Feb. when nobody is going to the theaters.

Matthew

 

[Zakaree Sandberg]

do people watch the olympics?

 

[david farland]

It doesn't matter if enough people like yourself are prepared to accept that kind of sucker treatment! Just because someone can takeover something with money doesn't mean they're not suckering me and I can't express that. Hey tvc's patronise me every day when they spout their sponsor's message.....I might try & ignore that message (during the show) because I know it's bullshit but that doesn't mean I can't give my message back and say it pisses me off. More importantly you accept NBC delay this international event and they will! What would you say if it was World Series baseball?
D

 

[Wayne D]

olympics?
i'm on DVD series.......DEADWOOD SER 3

 

[Matthew Rogers]

More importantly you accept NBC delay this international event and they will! What would you say if it was World Series baseball?

Here's the deal...if they didn't delay it then I wouldn't see it at all because I would either be asleep or at work during the day. In the past when the games were held in 5+ hour timezones from the US I was actually able to see MORE of the games because when they aired them at night they cut out alot of the dead time and I was able to see more events in the same amount of time. I just think that it's fair for NBC to recoup their investment as best as they see fit. If that means delaying it until night time because they can get more viewers that way, then great, that makes the most business sense. I would do the same in their shoes...plus (moneywise or not) more people get to see the games because they are actually home. That is a good thing.

Matthew

 

[Michael Mayda]

DEADWOOD... Now there's some content worth watching! On of my major faves.

mm

 

[david farland]

....That is a good thing.
Matthew

whatever....if you believe all that, good luck to you!

 

[Martin Weiss]

That you won't be able to see the Olympics on the Internet has nothing to do with NBC and everything with the (unelected) IOC, that decreeded not to show any live coverage on the net.

In that context it may not be so surprising that the IOC did chose China.

Anyway, lets talk about things that actually matter...

 

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

Personally I think this is pretty stupid there is probably plenty of people who watched the event at strange hours of the morning I watched it from 1 to 4 am myself I think if they really had to they probably should have just done a live broadcast and a prime time repeat how stupid are these people.

 

[Dylan Reeve]

TVNZ has the broadcast rights in New Zealand. They are running coverage from Midday (8am China) until 2am every day on one of their two free-to-air national analogue channels - replacing all regular programming except news. They are also running two-three additional digital free to air channels with further coverage as well.

All four of those channels are available live online through their website to New Zealand users.

The opening ceremony was live last night from midnight until around 4am, with no commercials. There was also a 2 and a half hour buildup show before it.

Their coverage seems pretty good.

 

[Petr Dvorak]

Very early after ceremony all 4 hour footage was available for download in HD resolution on net. (even only with natural sound).
You dont depend on your terestrial broadcacter anymore :tongue:

 

[Wayne D]

i personally believe that all that games should be held in Athens.
that all the miiilllllliiioooonnssssss of $$$$ that are spent on the countries trying to
a) get the games
b) host the games

could be spent on a shite' load of stuff farmore worthy......but that is just me

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Does it really matter that you see it live?

Not really, no.

Why would you want to watch live opening of the even which was first started two thousand years ago, with the world's best athletes, unique visual performances, effort, creativity and logistics of tens of thousands of people...

...and the only event today which makes all the world's countries, races and nationalities get together to celebrate humanity...

it's spirit, friendship and love.

To me, it's like not releasing a "blockbuster" in Feb. when nobody is going to the theaters.

Matthew

To each his own.

do people watch the olympics?

Yes. Apparently some do.

 

[Craig Bowman]

Well in Canada it was broadcast live because our national network had the broadcast rights for which they traded a couple of cans of maple syrup and the theme song to Hockey Night in Canada!

 

[Petr Dvorak]

absolutely no problem here in Czech Republic, we broadcast 48 hours from Beijing every day (on 2 channels)

 

[Erik Widding]

It doesn't matter if enough people like yourself are prepared to accept that kind of sucker treatment! Just because someone can takeover something with money doesn't mean they're not suckering me and I can't express that. Hey tvc's patronise me every day when they spout their sponsor's message.....I might try & ignore that message (during the show) because I know it's bullshit but that doesn't mean I can't give my message back and say it pisses me off. More importantly you accept NBC delay this international event and they will! What would you say if it was World Series baseball?
D

So if the NBC had no say over how they got to control the footage in their exclusive territory, do you think they would have paid $900M for the rights? And if that $900M was not paid by NBC to IOC (or whomever else it went to) there would have been a $900M additional deficit to be made up somewhere. Where? The olympics lose money as it is.

Now, sitting around watching the opening ceremonies on our Tivo last night, and all I can say is "Wow". That event must have cost $100M to put on. I think it is the single most spectacular thing I have ever seen on TV. And, the coverage was far better than it would have been live. By controlling access in the way that they did, I think I actually got a better experience than I would have if they tried to cover it live.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I totally understand the 12 hour delay to put the opening ceremonies at prime time and the subsequent time delays for most events. However, For the opening ceremonies it would have been nice for them to offer a live broadcast, I'm sure hundreds of thousands of viewers in the western USA would have rolled out of bed at 2:30AM just to watch it. ...Yes, there was a bit of sarcasm there. It's 10:00AM where I'm sitting and it's 4:00AM tomorrow in Beijing.

Considering most local NBC affiliates in the western half of the USA only run infomercials for some dietary supplement or the new George Foreman grill during the wee hours of the morning, I'm kinda surprised they didn't offer a live broadcast feed. Of course, a lot comes back to marketing and NBC most likely wanted their prime-time broadcast (the time slot that will attract 99% of the viewing audience) to be the first televised showing in the USA.

IMO, from a business point of view and corralling sponsor $$$, the first showing at prime time made the most sense.

 

[jpp]

It doesn't matter if enough people like yourself are prepared to accept that kind of sucker treatment! Just because someone can takeover something with money doesn't mean they're not suckering me

Give it up, pal. Don't you know that media-industrial conglomerates like NBC are the Lords of the Land in the U.S. and are respected as such by the citizenry, whether they broadcast the Olympics 12 hours late, repeat George Bush's lies for 7 years or require 5 trillion dollar bailouts?

If Americans don't want to wait 12 hours to view what's supposed to be a public event, they can always watch sitcoms instead in protest. Isn't that what freedom is all about?

You Australians are just envious.

 

[Anthony Gratl]

And if that $900M was not paid by NBC to IOC (or whomever else it went to) there would have been a $900M additional deficit to be made up somewhere. Where? The olympics lose money as it is.

well hang on there. That 900 large didn't go to pay for the games. It goes to the IOC. It doesn't go to the chinese olympic organizing committee....they're on their own to raise the funds...which in this case is mostly funding from the state and the host city.
Broadcasting rights remain with the IOC. They don't give a rats ass if the games make money for the host country ie. the taxpayer citizens of that country, which is why most of the games of the last few decades have lost boatloads of money. I think the city of sydney was in the hole about 2 billion after their kick at the can, money that was and is(unsure of this) raised by raising taxes on its citizens.
The IOC is a big floating multinational corporation. Period.