I could be wrong but it so far it looks like they're playing the USA-SUI game without commercials during periods (and if I recall, the Olympics don't allow for TV breaks). That doesn't make the decision the right one, but it probably makes it a no-brainer for a TV executive.

Also, if the alternative to MSNBC is showing it on NBC with quick commercial breaks squeezed in during game action, I'll take MSNBC. It would have been nice if they'd at least use USA or CNBC, which more people have in HD.

2008 wasn't too bad in part because since almost everything was off prime time, we all understood that things would be on tape delay and there'd be a lot of spoilers. Despite having a lot of live offerings, even then, NBC withheld a lot of the live coverage of the biggest events until prime time.

Also, they made a big deal about how they were able to lobby for certain events (swimming, if I recall) to run early in the morning in Beijing so they'd be live at prime time in the US. Which is great except for the fact that it was all tape delayed on the west coast. Just a precursor to this year.

This. The 2008 coverage was much better than the 2010, but the fact that NBC remained so stubborn about tape delaying events for the west coast ruined it for people out here. I mean when you have Phelps going for his gazilionth gold it makes a huge difference whether your watching it live or not, mostly because of reasons already stated in this thread why live coverage is mandatory in this context. I don't really care that much about swimming, but it's history and I want to see it happen live damnit and not three hrs later and I'm sure 90%+ of people who likes to watch this stuff agrees with that. I hope after 2012 the olympics will be covered by a network that gets it. ESPN/ABC did an awesome job with the World Cup coverage in 2006, and I'm sure they'll again this summer so I hope the get it because I think they would do it right.

Mmm, OK...I know there is a distinction down there with what networks can show vs "cable" channels WRT violence, sex, etc, so I assumed there were more OTA viewers. Although I'm 90% sure there was one poster ITT that was bitching because he can't afford cable, but that's just one out of many.

so I'm getting women's curling and ice dancing

yea, psyched

Does Days of Our Lives get that many viewers that it can't possibly be preempted for the Olympics?

Don't forget about the USA-Russia women's hockey! They should just make the US and Canada play a 7 game series so that they don't waste three hours on games where one team can't even clear their own zone.

http://deadspin.com/5472940/everyone...coverage-sucks

Wtf? I'm watching the Canadian hockey game on MSNBC and they cut out and say that it will now be seen on CNBC, and they've been at commercial for the last five minutes, with a quick cut in to the studio to say that hockey is coming up, followed by more commercials. FFS, get this on ESPN/ABC where they have some clue how to broadcast a sporting event.

douche's won't fully cover alpine skiing HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

thank god I got Canadian satellite down here in ATL

Oh sure, now NBC goes to snowboarding, now that the results are hours old.

i know wtf , how do u f*** up televising the olympics on your home continent

more shaun white? I DONT ****ING CARE ABOUT HIM. stop interviewing him every two minutes

Remember, these are same people that thought The Jay Leno Show was an outstanding idea.

My mom was pissed when they preempted it for skiing yesterday. She is in that over 70 key daytime demo after all. Don't make her mad!

Am I the only one who can't watch the Olympics on CNBC and MSNBC? All I get are documentaries and prison shows. There were supposed to be events on CNBC all tonight, but I just got documentaries. I don't know if this is NBC's fault or my cable company's but it's really annoying. I don't know how they could show different programming on these national cable stations.

why dont i picture the bloody athletes eating mcgriddles?

this

I the BBC.

Just wondering if anyone has any genuine solutions to the dilemma that NBC faces. This isn't the Super Bowl or anything. They are dealing with casual fans. The casual fan in California isn't going to leave work early to see the 5 pm broadcast of ice dancing. They are going to watch in prime time.

If NBC went with two broadcasts in the west coast (one live with the east cost, one 3 hours later), the advertisers aren't going to pay as much for advertising.

So what should NBC do?

I do think that blocking Internet vids of events until the broadcast is stupid, so I think that would be a good first step. But what next.

live coverage of all the events on sister stations

Did they cover the women's downhill live?

Won't that result in less ad revenue?

If you stuck something like today's women's downhill (which made for great viewing) on one of the sister channels it would get better ratings on that channel; don't know if it would compensate for any prime time loss, but as you pointed out it's casual fans who are watching in prime time. The vast majority of people who watch the prime time coverage won't know or care that the downhill already was broadcast live. A healthy proportion of people who already saw the live broadcast will watch again, in part to be able to view recaps which are within NBC's exclusive rights for a certain period of time, and especially if they are still showing live coverage of prime time events.

Unfortunately I'm sure simulcasting live prime time events on a sister channel that doesn't have cutaway taped coverage or those stupid Carillo/Collinsworth/Roberts human interest stories will probably never happen because that would be far more likely to split the viewing audience.

I think the bigger concern is that the poor coverage and negative attention ultimately create less interest in NBC's coverage. Given their rights ownership I don't know if that matters to most people in the long run though. At least for me, this has been the first olympics for me since maybe 1994 where I have gone more than one or two days without watching any TV coverage, and we're only halfway through the first week; I've just been watching feeds.

making us watch the remainder of Canada-Sweden with 6 minutes left and a score of 13-1, instead of switching to Swedish men? Bravo