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US viewers slam delayed Olympics broadcast

At least it's not us. NBC viewers kick off the outrage over broadcasting of the XXXI Olympiad.

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2016-08-06_1855

It begins….

Viewers in the US have hit out at NBC’s coverage of the Olympics Opening Ceremony -for unthinkably not screening it Live and for too many commercials.

NBC began its telecasting an hour after it began in Rio, in order to screen in primetime in all timezones and even later on the US West Coast.

It also didn’t start streaming the event through its app or Olympics website until the television coverage began.

The network aired eight commercials within the first 65 minutes of the Opening Ceremony. NBC had sold in excess of $1.2 billion ads related to its broadcasts from the 2016 Rio Olympics, and viewers noticed.

Variety noted, “There was plenty of spectacle, plenty of commentary and plenty of ads — (self)promoting everything from NBC’s fall shows and Universal’s movies to automobiles and alcohol. There were so many commercials that the telecast felt at times like the Super Bowl.”

Many took to social media to express their unhappiness with the excessive ads, using the hashtag #nbcfail.

In Australia Seven’s coverage received various feedback for its commentary (particularly for suggesting Alexander the Great was from FYR Macedonia), SD coverage in regional markets, and yes commercial breaks -the first ten minutes into the broadcast.

But also a fair bit of love having Mr. Bruce McAvaney back at the Games.

Seven also has a 7CustomerCare Twitter account coinciding with the Games.

Amended.

29 Responses

  1. 7 is copping flak for running Sunrise while live events are happening. Networks believe their talent is the most important part of the story (so Karl flies to France) … it isn’t.

  3. The Olympics should’ve been on Foxtel. I my opinion 7 should’ve gotten Dennis Commetti to do the swimming because Basil is not a good commentator for the swimming.

      1. I remembered back in my days where Dennis called swimming in 2000 Olympics. Great man he was.
        Basil is getting very stale and boring. He Ruined AFL games along with Hamish as well as Tennis and swimming. I hope next year someone needs to replace Basil asap

      1. Rich people? Hmm I must have missed that massive pay rise I got from working in retail. Seriously you can just pay for whatever package you want and not break the bank.

        1. It’s relative – what you consider ok to pay is too much out of other people’s budget. Especially when you add in the set up costs it’s unaffordable particularly if they only want it for the 2 weeks Olympics coverage.

          1. But it’s an overreaction to say only rich people can afford Foxtel. Which is an ignorant statement to make.

  4. I would have thought NBC would be loving these Olympics for the time-zone, being in the Americas, but somehow they still mess it up? Are they showing more than one channel of content, does anyone know?

    1. As far as I know NBC is using all its various outlets to show including its NBCsports Channel, it’s news channel (msnbc). Finance (cnbc), USA, Bravo and even Telemundo. They say all events live with streaming option available

  5. Whats even more amazing is that the NBC heavily influenced the scheduling of many of the blue ribbon sporting events. I understand the swimming finals were scheduled for early mornings in Brazil just so NBC can show them in prime time in the US. This is why we are seeing the swimming in the mornings here too. Brazil is in the Southern hemisphere …just like Australia…so similar time zones.

    3. The Earth rotates west to east, therefore the timezones also vary west to east. Surely you are at least aware that Perth is 2hrs behind Sydney despite being at a similar latitude?

      As others have indicated, Rio is only one hour ahead of New York and four hours ahead of Los Angeles.

  6. Seven are doing much better job than the awful job Nine did with it four years ago. There are going to be ads but you do this time around have the option of flicking to see other sports.

    2. 3 channels as opposed to one. Its a really tough choice (sarcasm).
      Personally, I think this is the best free coverage of any Olympiad, Summer or Winter, taking away the title from Ten for their Sochi coverage.

  8. I know the ads pay for the broadcast but seriously 10 min in and we get an ad break, if this was on Foxtel we would have had the majority of the 3 plus hours ad free and in HD.

  9. apparently NBC went to a break when the US team marched out. People were complaining about ads here but they were very rare. Thought 7 did a good job. Pity the folk in america

  10. I thought the broadcast was excellent. The quick break of ads was well placed and expected. Seven has to make their money back somehow so I don’t mind the ads as long as we get to see a good telecast of the Olympics.

  11. “That made it two hours late on the US West Coast.”

    Four hours actually. Disgraceful. NBC are notorious for this during every Olympics though. They also regularly pressure the IOC to schedule certain events to suit themselves.

  12. I would like the slam seven’s restrictions on other broadcasters. ABC News 7pm bulletin had lots of moving pictures of the opening ceremony. The online version replaced these images with still pictures. ABC do acknowledge the editing of the show due to broadcast rights.

    1. Not sure why you want to “slam” seven for this. Has always been the way. Its a IOC restriction that comes with the Olympic Games Rights.
      Seven pay the money they get to have exclusivity.

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