Note to Olympic Whiners: This Is What NBC Does
感觉就像 土拨鼠日 在奥运会上. This is the third Olympic Games with a significant online video streaming presence, and each time NBC has withheld the most popular events from live streaming so that it can air them in prime time.
Why does this still surprise people?
是的, it's frustrating for people who would like to see swimming and gymnastics events as they happen, 而不是几个小时后. 是的, it's annoying to have the results spoiled on news sites and Twitter feeds that don't bow to NBC's programming decisions. 是的, it cheapens the games when NBC edits its primetime coverage into a highlights reel that focuses on American athletes, rather than showing the full competitions as they happened.
但NBC就是这么做的. 它一直都是这么做的. 要习惯它.
NBC为什么要这么做? 因为它支付了1美元.20亿美元.S. broadcast rights to the London Olympics and it's going to sell some ads. While we might wish it different, NBC doesn't view covering the Olympics as a sacred trust. It views the games as a summer reality show.
Another news flash for the complainers: NBC is doing the right thing for most of its viewers. Most people are happy to sit down with their families at night and watch truncated versions of the marquee events. They love seeing the major moments without a lot of downtime, and they enjoy tweeting about the games, both celebrating and mocking what they're seeing.
There's been a lot of flak online about NBC's streaming and broadcasting efforts, and the word "fail" is getting thrown around so much that it's lost all meaning. Mashable, however, is the site leading the charge. Mashable seems to have made a mission out of thumping NBC. It complained when the opening ceremonies weren't 生活流他庆祝道。 # NBCFail标签，嘲笑NBC 带延迟，而NBC则没有 在网上发布视频 of major moments, and then promoted the # NBCSucks标签. And we're not even a week into the games.
If the tape delay bothers you that much, avoid news sites and Twitter for the rest of the games. You might also try watching the thousands of hours of live Olympic coverage at NBCOlympics.com. 似乎没有人提到这一点. Fans of badminton and table tennis probably don't have to worry about their events being hijacked by NBC's prime time coverage.
I know its galling for those who think of the Olympics as public property, but NBC is in the business of making money. 这就是我们的系统. There are thousands of hours of live coverage online (for 仅限付费电视客户不幸的是,). For all the rest -- for Phelps and Lochte and Solo and Jones and Bolt and more -- you'll have to accept NBC's delays and editing. These are NBC's Olympics, after all. NBC为此付费.
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