Trending: NBC's delayed reality
Jul 30, 2012
"Trending" is a weekly look at the topics dominating your Twitter timeline.
Did you flip around the family of NBC networks looking for the 400-meter individual medley final Saturday only to find Ryan Seacrest conducting an interview? That's because NBC thinks you don't understand the concept of international timezones and held back Ryan Lochte's trouncing of Michael Phelps until primetime.
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NBC finds itself as a network of contradictions during 2012 Summer Olympics. They'll stream every event from all 32 sports live on their website and apps on various platforms. NBC acknowledges other news outlets such as ESPN and Yahoo! Sports won't honor any sort of embargo, so it uses social media to provide results in realtime. Yet their actual broadcast acts as an alternate reality, where Bob Costas talks to the audience as though all of the events are taking place at this very moment.
...and I'm OK with it.
It's not like NBC is refusing to acknowledge modern technology, they just haven't figured out the best way to monetize their online efforts. So NBC goes with the outdated tape delay strategy, which still maximizes eyeballs and their financial bottom line thanks to commercials. When you consider the dominant demo for Olympics coverage are casual fans interested in profile pieces interrupted by the occasional event, it makes sense.
Think it doesn't work? Just look at NBC's ratings for Friday's delayed Opening Ceremonies and Lochte's gold medal performance. NBC is boasting increased viewership in comparison to Athens and Beijing.
Drizzy gets a ring
The University of Kentucky gave emo rapper Drake a national championship ring.
No, seriously. Drake even gave it the faux analog treatment on Instagram.
Kentucky might be opening the floodgates here since most programs have their share of super fans. It's only a matter of time before Brooklyn Decker gets to cut down the nets for North Carolina or Scotty McCreery flashing a ring at his next concert if NC State cuts down the nets in 2013.
Hey teacher, leave them sports alone
Art Chansky implored the North Carolina faculty to "shut up and teach" as the academic scandal continues to linger over Chapel Hill. Apparently they didn't read his column.
On Thursday, a special faculty committee called for an independent review of the relationship between athletics and academics at the university. The timing of North Carolina's internal report had a tinge of irony since it came out the day before the anniversary of Butch Davis' firing. Turns out "big bad football" wasn't solely responsible for the long term negative effects on North Carolina's reputation. The ironic twist here is that a department head with fraudulent classes and advisers who filled up said classes with athletes have done the worst damage.
Going forward, the North Carolina academic scandal isn't about easy classes or majors. Keeping athletes academically eligible through said classes and majors isn't the point either. Every university has a path of least resistance to a diploma.
It's the possibility that advisers knowingly worked in concert with Julius Nyang'oro to churn out sham grades without any actual work. That's tougher to prove, but it won't stop the media from hitting North Carolina with more Freedom of Information Act requests.
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RE: Trending: NBC's delayed reality
Since I have a DVD recorder, I was asked if I could record the equestrian events. In order to obtain the schedule with times and channels noted, I did a search on 'Olympic schedule equestrian' and found what I needed to know. I did record 4 hours of the 4.5 hours presented today and when the stated end time came I went to 'finalize' the DVD only to find that for some reason the competition was still in progress (beyond the stated time). Had to quickly grab another blank DVD and start recording manually while watching - the good news with the manual recording is that I could stop recording when the numerous commercials were being telecast.RE: Trending: NBC's delayed reality
Don't buy your argument for a minute. I have no problem with a "highlights" show during Prime Time, but the events should also be offered in real time on one of the many NBC networks. I want to control the events I watch - not watch what NBC thinks I should see. The Olympics are a once every four years event; they deserve better than a tape delay. I hope that in 2016 (where the time difference will admittedly be less of an issue - Rio is only one hour ahead of the US East Coast - more of an issue for the Wet Coast) that another network gets a shot at this. It almost sounds like you received a hefty check from NBC to defend their tactics.RE: Trending: NBC's delayed reality
I agree with NoRespect - I miss seeing the games, the winning moments and the medal ceremonies - nothing like hearing the 'Banner played in another country and seeing the athletes getting choked up.I understand the tape delay, but show them live and then provide rebroadcasts of the good stuff during prime time, around the other sports. Most of the swimming stuff that's of interest takes 5 minutes or less to show, for example.
Posted Jul 30, 11:13 a.m.
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RE: Trending: NBC's delayed reality
The tape delay is troublesome, but there are other problems with NBC Sports, too... Picture quality is generally pretty good, but the super-imposed info, like clock or position data (ala cycling events)... are lousy quality. Had a hard time reading the info.There there is the famous speech-lag... you see the talking head, but their speech is not synchronized with their lips. Can't watch, just have to look away.
NBC, to their credit, has multiple channels going. However, finding the events that of interest is a challenge. On the plus side, I found one channel broadcasting events without announcers! Hurrah!!!
Advertising blitzes and countless personal stories take away from the games themselves. Its almost painful to watch.
