Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Anyone else think NBC's coverage of Olympics was AWFUL?

SRLMJ23

SRLMJ23

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 11, 2008
2,334
1,435
Central New York
God, I cannot remember any Olympic Games covered worse than these. Even Sochi was covered way better than these games. Also, NBC embarrassed themselves so bad about 3-4 times saying things that made fun of other countries and some athletes. Not airing historic events live. NBC was getting roasted on Twitter and Facebook for how bad the coverage was.

NBC is getting called out by a lot of places about how bad the coverage was. People on Reddit, and other publications. When an American won a Gold medal, all I saw was them getting those stupid stuffed animals. I never saw them get the medal or hear the national anthem, except for the US women's hockey team who won gold. Just terrible coverage, here are a few articles/reddit on it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/television...oc_should_cancel_their_contract_with_nbc_for/

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainmen...re-skating-moment-in-primetime-broadcast.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5410167/NBCs-terrible-Olympics-worse-week-two.html

I would rather have CBS, Fox, or ESPN cover the damn Olympics than NBC ever again. Once again, embarrassing.

What did you all think about the coverage?

:apple:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cape Dave, GlenK and webbuzz
Really? I think it has been great. After all, we got to hear Katie Curic explain why the Dutch are such good speed skaters and another commentator explain how the Koreans have the Japanese to thank for their good fortune. Not too mention the bazillion commercials they have shown. [/sarcasm]
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cape Dave, rhett7660, SRLMJ23 and 2 others
ucfgrad93 said:
Really? I think it has been great. After all, we got to hear Katie Curic explain why the Dutch are such good speed skaters and another commentator explain how the Koreans have the Japanese to thank for their good fortune. Not too mention the bazillion commercials they have shown. [/sarcasm]
Click to expand...

Exactly...and there is even more than that!

It was so hard to watch because every 3 minutes there was a damn commercial...I cannot really get into something if what I am watching is constantly interrupted by commercials. There is less commercials on at 3:00am (when all the infomercials come on) combined than what NBC played in an hour, it was ludicrous! Then like you said, stupid Katie Couric just making not only herself look stupid, but making Americans look stupid and ignorant. I forget the commentator that said the thing about the Koreans and Japanese. I don't know if you caught when they were covering the skier that is gay, but basically during his run the commentators were talking about his homosexuality and crap. Not even really talking about his skiing. I was like what the hell is this...is this a damn joke?

Then like I said, it was super rare to see anyone actually get their medals. They got to hold a stupid stuffed animal and I guess the did the ceremony sometime after. Like I said, the only Americans I saw get their actual gold medal and our National Anthem was played were the women's hockey team. Other than that I never saw any other medal ceremony for an American athlete live. I had to watch it on YouTube or ESPN or something.

The worst news is NBC is still locked in until 2020, so we still have at least one more Olympics with them, but I guarantee they will extend their contract and we will be stuck with their sh*t ass coverage for LONG after 2020. I have not even heard of any other networks potentially bidding against NBC to cover the Olympics. The other networks probably do not want the hassle, and the potential to get super negative coverage like NBC did. It is actually a smart way to destroy your competition, let them get super negative ratings and bad publicity from other news outlets and publications. NBC was going down the tubes before the Olympics, the Olympics just made it that much worse. Haha.

I am glad someone else saw the same garbage I saw and I was not hallucinating!

:apple:
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Cape Dave and webbuzz
Yes, from the beginning. Especially with all the channels they have on cable, why they limited it to two most of the time and three when they apparently "had to". In years past, there were no less than 5. Show more sports, especially when they are recorded for later anyway.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cape Dave and webbuzz
obeygiant said:
The coverage was infinitely better because Matt Stupid Lauer wasn't there stinking up everything.
Click to expand...

Well if he had been there, he would have had another affair on his wife with some Olympic athlete in the the Olympic Village. So, while I agree that it was great not having him there...the coverage was still absolutely the worst sporting event coverage I have ever seen/heard in my life.

:apple:
 
This is nothing new, instead of showing Usain Bolt win the 100m at London Olympics live, NBC showed some puff piece about some no-name American loser talking about his high school and his dog.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rhett7660 and SRLMJ23
Also, I watched the closing ceremony live this morning and what a damn mess that was. NBC had no announcer on explaining what was going on. For example, there was tons of like cultural dancing and what not, well it would have been nice to have someone explain exactly what it was and represented. The only thing you could hear sometimes was the public address announcer announcing who was coming up to speak but other than that NBC left you on your own to I guess, guess what was going on. That was just the cherry on top for NBC being the king of worst coverage ever.

:apple:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cape Dave
I normally watch the Olympics every chance I get. Their coverage has become much worse. It seems like all they had on was curling, hockey or figure skating. I hardly watched any Olympics. Then they waste tons of air time with some sob story or inspirational story about athletes. I can read their bio online if I wanted. I'm watching Olympics for the events.

They also used to have way more channels covering events.

I don't know if its just me. They just have an unbearable number of commercials now. Perhaps that is just perception. Since I DVR nearly everything, use Netflix or some other method of consuming media without commercials.

At this point. I'd rather pay $50, even $100, and be able to live stream the Olympics. Watching any event I want. From beginning to end without commercials. Plus watch events I missed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cape Dave, mostlynameless and SRLMJ23
"Viewership for the current Olympics on NBC is down 24% compared to Sochi among viewers aged 18-49, the age demographic most coveted by advertisers. (NBC notes that the demo is actually down only 15% when including viewers from both NBC and NBC Sports Network, which is airing prime time coverage of the Winter Games for the first time.)

NBC, like all networks, makes money from advertising and "retransmission" fees it charges cable providers and local stations to air its content. Networks typically know what their retransmission fees are going to be, they're essentially baked into budgets, but advertising dollars aren't guaranteed and are less secure, especially in today's changing climate."

Well from all the damn commercials they aired, NBC definitely had to make money. I swear commercials were on about a 3-4 minute loop, and they were the same commercials over and over. Utter embarrassment.

Here is the article I quoted:

http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/24/media/nbc-olympics-ratings-12-billion-rights/index.html

:apple:
 
If you can, try and watch the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Olympics coverage the next time around. *Much* better coverage than NBC. The CBC commentators are top-notch and actually cover all the countries/athletes, not just the Canadian ones.

They had a pretty awesome iOS app this year which allowed you to replay events, filter by sport, see highlights, etc... with full Airplay support so I could watch it on my TV.
 
SRLMJ23 said:
Also, I watched the closing ceremony live this morning and what a damn mess that was. NBC had no announcer on explaining what was going on. For example, there was tons of like cultural dancing and what not, well it would have been nice to have someone explain exactly what it was and represented. The only thing you could hear sometimes was the public address announcer announcing who was coming up to speak but other than that NBC left you on your own to I guess, guess what was going on. That was just the cherry on top for NBC being the king of worst coverage ever.

:apple:
Click to expand...
You are aware that the live feed was the clean world feed unedited and with no commentary.
 
MacNut said:
You are aware that the live feed was the clean world feed unedited and with no commentary.
Click to expand...

Nope, had no clue. I had it on NBC standard live broadcast, not that enhanced crap. How exactly was one to know if NBC said nothing about it? Just curious, as I do not really care anymore since it is done and over with.

:apple:
 
obeygiant said:
The coverage was infinitely better because Matt Stupid Lauer wasn't there stinking up everything.
Click to expand...
On the few occasions I watch the Olympics while channel surfing, I didn't see the other idiot, Bob Costas, either. I might watch the Olympics now that Lauer and Costas are gone. Hopefully some other network picks up the Summer Games.
In previous years, I only found the Games watchable if I muted the commentators. If I was lucky, I could turn on SAP (Spanish commentators make everything sound exciting:D).
 
SRLMJ23 said:
Nope, had no clue. I had it on NBC standard live broadcast, not that enhanced crap. How exactly was one to know if NBC said nothing about it? Just curious, as I do not really care anymore since it is done and over with.

:apple:
Click to expand...
NBC mentioned that they would stream the opening and closing live for the first time without commentary or commercial interpretations. If you wanted the edited talked over version you had to watch the prime time tape delay.
[doublepost=1519671098][/doublepost]
Mousse said:
On the few occasions I watch the Olympics while channel surfing, I didn't see the other idiot, Bob Costas, either. I might watch the Olympics now that Lauer and Costas are gone. Hopefully some other network picks up the Summer Games.
In previous years, I only found the Games watchable if I muted the commentators. If I was lucky, I could turn on SAP (Spanish commentators make everything sound exciting:D).
Click to expand...
You will be waiting at least another 14 years as NBC has the games locked up.
 
It certainly made me long for the Olympic coverage that we used to get on ABC back in the '70s and '80s all the more. Jim McKay, Al Michaels and company are missed now more than ever.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SRLMJ23 and rhett7660
>They had a pretty awesome iOS app this year which allowed you to replay events, filter by sport, see highlights, etc... with full Airplay support so I could watch it on my TV.

Edit: I was watching on the AppleTV App) - I have been waiting for 'online' availability for a decade and they finally did it - which is commendable! However, there were issues with it. Many of the "Bazillion" commercial breaks were just a static screen saying something like, commercial break in progress, will resume. After 10 minutes you begin think, when, the year 2024? Put a countdown timer up, or something! And I was at work for the men's snowboard half pipe which I really wanted to see. So I knew when I got home I could turn it on and watch the whole thing even after it was over. Well ^%$##@ the first thing I see is "View Shauwn White's GOLD Medal Run" talk about you're spoiler alert. Sheesh you guys....
 
  • Like
Reactions: SRLMJ23
I think the whole experience was poorly done, whether it was the broadcast, or the streaming, i think they largely failed to provide a cohesive and captivating broadcast.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SRLMJ23
mrderik said:
>They had a pretty awesome iOS app this year which allowed you to replay events, filter by sport, see highlights, etc... with full Airplay support so I could watch it on my TV.

Edit: I was watching on the AppleTV App) - I have been waiting for 'online' availability for a decade and they finally did it - which is commendable! However, there were issues with it. Many of the "Bazillion" commercial breaks were just a static screen saying something like, commercial break in progress, will resume. After 10 minutes you begin think, when, the year 2024? Put a countdown timer up, or something! And I was at work for the men's snowboard half pipe which I really wanted to see. So I knew when I got home I could turn it on and watch the whole thing even after it was over. Well ^%$##@ the first thing I see is "View Shauwn White's GOLD Medal Run" talk about you're spoiler alert. Sheesh you guys....
Click to expand...

I watched the whole thing on the Apple TV app, and I must agree that the "commercial break in progress" screen was annoying as hell, as was how many times/length of time I had to see it. Also, I agree that they completely ruined (the rare) Gold medal events that we were unable to catch live, when you opened up the app and BAM it told you the damn outcome. They knew most people would not be catching these events live! Also, it has been mentioned but Katie Couric and some other NBC commentators just made Americans look like a bunch of ignorant idiots. All I can do is shake my head in disbelief that a company worth as much as NBC, and with all their affiliates, offered something up that bad!

Here is to AFTER the next 14 years, when hopefully Fox or ABC picks the Olympics up...especially ABC as they are affiliated with ESPN, who I think would offer good coverage.

:apple:
 
mkelly said:
If you can, try and watch the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Olympics coverage the next time around. *Much* better coverage than NBC. The CBC commentators are top-notch and actually cover all the countries/athletes, not just the Canadian ones.

They had a pretty awesome iOS app this year which allowed you to replay events, filter by sport, see highlights, etc... with full Airplay support so I could watch it on my TV.
Click to expand...

CBC definitely does a great job and you nailed it about not just obsessing about the Canadians - its great to see a huge cross-section of everything going on. Ever since the 2010 olympics in Vancouver, a couple of the Canadian broadcasters build a consortium to broadcast the winter games, despite being competitors, so we get anywhere from 3-10 channels depending on your tv package, (CBC, TSN 1,2,3,4,5, Sportsnet, Sportsnet West,Pacific,Ontario, etc.), all showing different events.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back