NBC Universal recently beat out Fox Sports and ESPN/Disney/ABC by turning in a 4.38 billion dollar proposal to the IOC to win broadcast rights for the summer and winter Olympic Games all the way through 2020.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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| "This plan will only be profitable if Phelps wins 9 gold medals this time. Otherwise we waaaayyyyy overbid. Cross your fingers, guys!" David P- Network Executive |
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| "for 4 billion the Olympics need to be about once a month instead of every four years." Steven H- Television Viewer |
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| "uhhh... what channel is that? Do they have an app?" Seth G- Youth Swimmer |
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| "Phew... I still have a job!" Rowdy G- Sports Commentator |
Well, since you asked I will repost my comment I left on another blog. Maybe you won't be so quick to ask next time ;)
ReplyDeleteMaybe NBC is the best way to raise swimming’s profile. Honestly, I expected much more after Beijing and I was rooting for ESPN to win the bid this week. NBC in my area is not very reliable. During Nationals last year it was preempted for a baseball game which, thankfully, was rained out or I never would have seen it. I don’t get Universal Sports with Directv (and therefore neither do 50 million other people.) My other option is AT&T U-Verse and they don’t carry Universal Sports either (which, how can that be isn’t AT&T an official Olympic sponsor?) Okay, so Comcast carries Universal Sports? Not in my city and I live in a pretty major market in the midwest, a BIG sports town, too! Let’s say I had Comcast…..still no Universal Sports in my area……and from what I know most people who have Comcast in this city hate themselves and require years and years of therapy to deal with the stress and recurring major depressive episodes. At least if swimming was on ESPN I could tivo it. At this point I take my laptop and I rig it to my tv with a complicated yet impressive collection of input/output plugs which creates a clear but sort of distorted picture that makes Michael Phelps’ wingspan look like he could hug my entire living room. My kids are used to watching swimming (their favorite sport) this way, too.
I want what’s best for my favorite sport and I am not really an expert as to what that would be. Selfishly, I would also like to be able to WATCH my favorite sport. Maybe the two worlds will meet someday.
I have been very pleased with NBC in a lot of ways, but yes, it is very frustrating to not get universal sports. whatever the problem is I hope that some company in my area offers it soon. it is confusing and disheartening. I am sure many people wish espn got the bid, but I hope part of the deal with NBC is that they have to solve it and get us the Olympic sports coverage we all want.
ReplyDeleteEven Phelps' nine gold medals won't help them if they don't learn how to do live coverage. Tape delay, speaking as a life-long west coaster, became obsolete with the internet.
ReplyDeleteI've detested every olympics that NBC has covered. it's a shame that it's going to continue.
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