
NBCOlympics’ Opening Ceremony Tape Delay: Stupid, Stupid, Stupid - rythie
http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/27/nbc-olympic-opening-ceremony/
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ComputerGuru
My problem isn't just the delay, it's the fact that they were pretending the
rest of the world does not exist.

The NBC "newscasters" were _lying_ on air, saying things like "the big
question now is who will be lighting the olympic torch," "the opening ceremony
_will begin_ in 2 hours" (when it was already over!), "in three hours time,
the debate will be on as to whether the London or Beijing ceremony was nicer,
we have the world has no idea what surprises are in store," and so on and so
forth. They're deliberately misleading their viewers, and it's disgusting.

~~~
nicksergeant
Weren't the "newscasters" actually in London while the ceremonies were taking
place, taping there? Those statements make sense in that case.

~~~
ComputerGuru
No, I'm talking about the local newscasters. I'm in Chicago, these were
newscasters people here in the city.

~~~
eswangren
I think it's fair to assume that a Chicago news caster is speaking primarily
to an American audience. Specifically, a Chicago audience. So even in that
context they weren't being misleading. Relax a bit.

~~~
jack-r-abbit
Just like everyone on the East Coast forgets the West Coast exists when it
comes times for New Years Eve.

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btilly
It is stupider than that.

Anyone who wants can get access to their streaming web. Just give them who
your cable provider is, and your user name and password to that account so
that they can verify that it is you.

OK. What about people like me? I wouldn't mind seeing some of the Olympics. I
would like to show it to my son. But I never watch TV, and I do not have a
subscription to any TV cable service. Can't I, I don't know, PAY THEM to get
access to this 2 week event? Or maybe they can MAKE ME SIT THROUGH ADS to get
it?

Apparently not. There is no such option. I'll just have to track down a friend
who trusts me and has a cable account to login on my computer so that I can
watch. Or else find an illegal stream. Or else just not watch.

~~~
ryannielsen
Well, if you're willing to pay, couldn't you sign up for cable for one month?
I agree, it's not our ideal and it's more overhead for you since you'll need
to deal with installation, but it's not like it's impossible to pay to see the
Olympics.

~~~
btilly
If I sign up for cable for one month, it will take several days before I
actually get it, and then who knows how much longer before I wind up able to
login through their process. What portion of the Olympics will I have missed?

Borrowing someone else's account seems more likely to happen.

~~~
ryannielsen
Well, you could have planned ahead... it's not like this situation cropped up
spontaneously. I bet months ago you knew the Olympics were starting today and
you knew you didn't have a way to view them. Not judging or accusing, just
sayin'.

~~~
blueski
I did this last time around. A guy had to come to my house, lay cable and
leave a box under my TV - only so I could take it all back a month later.
Comcast have have spammed me with roughly two "come back" letters a month ever
since.

It blows my mind that in 2012 NBC won't take my money to let me watch this
online. Presumably they think it's enough to make me buy a cable subscription.
They're wrong. I just searched around and watched a glitchy pirated feed -
wishing all the time they'd let me pay them $5-$10 for the real thing.

------
hardtke
I just watched the pirated BBC broadcast. I felt like something was missing,
and then I figured it out. The stupid thing is that Americans are forced to
watch the Olympics with 20 minutes of commercials per hour, while the rest of
the world gets to watch it nearly commercial free. Why does the US citizen pay
for the entire Olympics through the annoyance of commercials?

~~~
balac
The BBC is not free, in the UK everyone with a TV has to pay a yearly fee for
it, you get ads because you don't pay the fee.

~~~
gibybo
How much is the fee? I suspect if given the choice between fee or commercials,
many would choose the fee. Sadly that choice doesn't exist here (in the US) :/

~~~
andyjohnson0
£145.50 (US$228) per year. About £0.40 (US$0.65) per day.

Excellent value in my opinion.

~~~
mike_esspe
And if you don't pay, you'll get regular visits from TV licensing agents:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Uni...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_United_Kingdom#Licence_fee_enforcement)

~~~
rcgs
* If you don't pay and watch live TV.

You can choose not to have a TV and not pay the license. Without the license
you can still watch BBC iPlayer (although not the live bit).

~~~
teamonkey
Believe me, you still get visits and threatening letters from the TV licencing
people.

~~~
halfasleep
You just need to fill in the form at <https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/no-
licence-needed/> every three years. I've done that before and it's stopped the
letters.

~~~
teamonkey
It didn't work for me, they still sent threatening letters every few weeks
that all but accused me of lying.

I love the BBC (even though I didn't always own a TV) but in my experience the
TV licencing company are bullying scum.

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mtkd
Another article referencing 'Sir Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the Internet' -
expect better from Techcrunch.

Internet != World Wide Web

~~~
nekojima
CTV coverage in Canada titled him on-screen as the "Founder of the World Wide
Web" then the commentator called him the Father of the Internet... so half
marks, if possible.

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reaganing
Tennis fans regularly suffer this same nonsense from NBC every year with the
French Open and Wimbledon[^1]. I can't see them changing anytime soon.

Relatedly, their whole cable TV package requirements for online streaming is
also very annoying. It requires having a package with both CNBC and MSNBC to
get access. I still actually have a cable TV package, but my provider does not
offer MSNBC on any of their packages so I'm out of luck.

Thankfully, there's the Yankees/Red Sox this weekend so I'll watch that
instead.

[^1]: Thankfully ESPN bought the rights to Wimbledon starting this year. Maybe
they (or parent, Disney) could do the same with the Olympics once the rights
are up for grabs again.

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tzs
NBC is providing live streaming on the web and via iOS and Android apps of
every event, for free to people who have a cable, satellite, or telco TV
package that includes CNBC and MSNBC. They are also providing on-demand access
so you don't have to watch live.

For many people, they won't even have to log in to access this, as they have
worked with some providers to automatically recognize IP addresses as belong
to people whose accounts qualify.

So they didn't include the opening ceremony. It seems pretty nit-picky to
focus on that and ignore the massive effort they've done to provide the live
coverage of everything else.

~~~
btilly
_NBC is providing live streaming on the web and via iOS and Android apps of
every event, for free to people who have a cable, satellite, or telco TV
package that includes CNBC and MSNBC._

    
    
        s/for free/only/
    

I tried to find an option for people who do not choose to have TV. I failed.

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mynameishere
In 2008 anyone with an internet connection could watch any event and replay
any event. And that was without the obnoxious commentary that accompanies most
TV broadcasts. I really enjoyed some of the longer events like the bike road
races for their silent, almost Zen qualities. Won't happen this time.

Now, I have to use a UK proxy to see it, and it's got the usual idiots
yammering over the action.

~~~
hackinthebochs
Oh yes, that was godly. It seriously should be the standard for any big
sporting event. It's sad to see that NBC has regressed so badly from the
standard set in 08.

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robomartin
Well, companies such as Google need to start buying broadcast rights and put
it all on the 'net. I am sure they can make far more money online than NBC
ever pulls out of their advertisers. For one thing, these days lots of people
DVR shows not just for convenience but to skip the commercials. I sure do. I'd
rather watch something 30 to 45 minutes after the fact than have to endure the
obtrusive commercials.

~~~
eurleif
If Google put the Olympics online with its own commercials (I assume that's
how they would monetize it?), why would you stop watching your commercial-free
DVR recording in favor of Google's broadcast?

~~~
robomartin
Far more convenient. Better quality. I get to watch what I want vs. egocentric
American coverage. I get to watch it on my schedule. I get to watch it on
different devices. I can even watch it on the road or while camping. I'd
probably even get to watch it in different languages (granted, not so
applicable to the London event) The ads might even be relevant.

And, in general, I prefer to support 'net-based entertainment vs. broadcast
because, well, they suck.

There are probably more reasons beyond these.

~~~
w1ntermute
> I get to watch what I want vs. egocentric American coverage.

Believe it or not, the mainstream American audience _wants_ to see egocentric
American coverage - they enjoy it.

~~~
robomartin
> Believe it or not, the mainstream American audience wants to see egocentric
> American coverage - they enjoy it.

Probably true. I hate it.

Don't get me wrong, I love to see how our athletes are doing. I simply don't
enjoy the cultural isolation and exclusionist coverage that our media pushes
on us. Here's an opportunity to learn about others and we get fed a typical
short-attention-span American egocentric media diet.

This becomes very evident once you travel around the world, look back at the
US and make some comparisons.

When it comes to the Olympics, World Cup or other events it is also
particularly bothersome because the US is made-up of hundreds of cultures that
have come together to adopt this nation. This does not mean that Afgani-
Americans or Chilean-Americans don't not want to see how the teams or athletes
from their native soil are doing. Events like the Olympic Games are
opportunities to honor the many cultures that form this nation by, at the very
least, providing reasonable exposure to their athletes and stories as well.

This is where online coverage could be so far ahead of typical network stuff.
You get to watch what you want.

Another thing that doesn't sit will with me is when accident reports go
something like "139 people, three Americans". OK, I get it, you are trying to
tell our country that three of ours got lost in the accident. However, for
some reason, these reports always sound like they don't respect the rest of
those lost in the accident. I surely can't be the only one who feels this way.

Finally, why are NFL or NBA teams "World Champions" when the competition is
national?

~~~
harshreality
_e.g. "139 people, three Americans"_

It's important to know to what degree an attack entangles the United States,
politically speaking. Everyone's life is beyond value, philosophically
speaking, but U.S. political response depends on how many Americans were
involved. Therefore, it makes sense to report that number to United States
viewers.

~~~
eurleif
To what extent might this be a self-fulfilling prophecy?

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stevvooe
I've effectively boycotted as I have no legal means of watching the events.
Way to make another institution irrelevant to my generation, big media. Enjoy
your profits while they last.

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cypherpunks01
Does anyone know what ended up happening to BitTorrent Live
(live.bittorrent.com)?

Creating a swarm of video streamers would've been a good technology fit for
filling this role, from what I read about the protocol awhile back.

~~~
agravier
I use SopCast for that, it works well. There is an android client that works
very well for me.

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josephlord
Having watched the first half live on the BBC in the UK it wasn't as
embarrassing as I feared. The 3D version was pretty good, it worked better
than many things.

Is NBC offering the 3D version in the US?

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mattvot
See <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR6OZ_x7QqM> for the first hour and 20
from the BBC broadcast.

~~~
mattvot
never mind, Olympic Committee, UMG and EMI have taking it down a few seconds
after I posted this.

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RobMcCullough
The sense of entitlement in the last few Olympics related posts is really
getting obnoxious. Granted the article here makes a good point about it being
silly to live tweet an event that is not being broadcast. But, everyone
commenting seems to think watching the Olympics for free is a god given right.

I am excited that, unlike the NFL, MLB, and other professional sporting
events, the live-streaming capability provided to NBC subscribers is actually
quite thorough and high quality.

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Vivtek
Hungarian TV showed it straight through, no ads (and free) ( _and_ live) but
still had the damn commentators talking through all the music. Why do they
think that adds anything? It drove me bananas.

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da_n
I am a citizen of Team GB and feel your pain. NBC are idiots.

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Zaheer
Who's ready for Google Fiber? :)

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tkahn6
Well here's my attempt at doing something marginally useful. The only thing I
could really think of. I generally am ambivalent about these media blunders
because I don't watch TV... but I was really looking forward to the Opening
Ceremonies.

[http://www.change.org/petitions/international-olympic-
commit...](http://www.change.org/petitions/international-olympic-committee-no-
longer-permit-nbc-to-bid-on-the-broadcasting-rights-to-the-olympic-games)

