Why NBC Did a Good Thing (You Read That Right)
I am not an NBC apologist. I will not and cannot defend NBC’s truly indefensible choices regarding its reality show coverage of this year’s Winter Olympics. I’ve been an outspoken proponent of #NBCFail. If every Olympic event was being shown live across the country (as it should be), I wouldn’t even have to write this post. But I do. Because I need to elaborate on one point that caused quite a bit of controversy: why NBC’s decision to move the US-Canada men’s hockey game to MSNBC was actually a good thing.
Olympics = NBC Fail
Ice Dancing or Hockey?
The reasons behind the decision to show ice dancing on NBC and hockey on MSNBC have been reported elsewhere and I don’t want to get into them in any more detail. The point of this post is not to rehash that decision. Although as a woman who would prefer to watch hockey over ice dancing, I take great offense and demand that NOW get involved in some sort of legal action on behalf of all women wrongfully accused of being responsible for the move. But I digress.
Why NBC Actually Did Us a Favor
NBC actually did us, the universe of sports fans, a FAVOR by moving the US-Canada hockey game to MSNBC. What did I just say? Have I lost my mind? No. Just hear me out. Why was this actually a good thing? Because the move from NBC to MSNBC allowed this must-see game to be shown LIVE IN ALL TIME ZONES.
Why is this big news? Because NBC (and I’m talking about the actual NBC mother channel) has shown exactly ZERO minutes of live Olympics event coverage in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. ZERO. Every single moment of every single Olympic broadcast on NBC has been tape delayed for a large part of the sports-viewing population. Believe it or not, those of us on the East Coast should consider ourselves lucky to have seen as much live event coverage on NBC as we have. Don’t get me wrong, NBC’s tape delay for prime time strategy remains absurd and an absolute joke, but at least I’ve seen some live coverage. My family and friends in California have seen none. NONE! My sister-in-law Becky wrote a letter to Dick Ebersol and a great blog post on this issue a few days ago.
What if NBC Had Broadcast the Hockey Game?
Given the circumstances (admittedly, a circumstance prescribed by NBC’s absurd rules where events are tape delayed for a large part of the country), moving the game to MSNBC – where it could be shown live in all time zones – was actually the best thing for the game. And for sports fans. Imagine if NBC had chosen to show hockey instead of ice dancing.
If the US-Canada game had been broadcast on NBC, it would have been shown live at 7:40 ET in the Eastern and Central time zones and tape delayed for the Western and Mountain time zones. Can you imagine the hell that would have broken loose? NBC’s headquarters may have come under attack. Again, I’m not defending NBC’s coverage. Of course every single Olympic event should be shown live in all time zones. I’m just saying that given their decision to screw over half the country every day for two weeks with tape-delayed coverage, a live broadcast that everybody could enjoy in real time was preferable to the alternative. After all, sports should be shown live.
The Red Herring: the HD Issue
Many people complained about the move to MSNBC because the game was not available in HD on some carriers, particularly DirecTV. Look, that sucks. But complain to DirecTV about it. And get over it. I know that we’ve all become used to HD broadcasts in the past few years (and yes, hockey looks better in HD), but we enjoyed SD sports for many many years. And in NBC’s twisted and messed up world, if given the choice between live and HD, of course the better choice is live. (I’m lucky I didn’t have to make that choice, since even Time Warner Cable, the cable king of fail, has MSNBCHD).
I put this question to Twitter and while it is of course an “artificial choice” (as Matthew H. Leach stated), the Twitterverse unanimously opted for live over HD. [Note: a friend said we shouldn't have to choose at all, and that the game should have been available to all people, including those that can't afford cable. This is an excellent point, but that takes us in an entirely new direction, so we'll just leave it at that.]
Should NBC have moved the game to CNBC, which has more HD distribution than MSNBC? Probably. Should we even be having this conversation about whether or not live or HD is preferable? Of course not. And for that we can and should criticize NBC. But for issues that go to carrier and affiliate deals, complain to your cable/satellite provider. Side note: NBC used the Olympics as a carrot to get a lot of the affiliates to pick up MSNBCHD, which just launched last year. The fact they failed to get deals done in time for the Olympics is, well, a big fat fail. If I had to guess as to why they moved the game to MSNBC instead of CNBC, it was likely an attempt to encourage those remaining carriers to add MSNBCHD, but that’s pure speculation on my part.
The True Test: the Gold Medal Game
My sister in law asked an excellent question on Twitter. Next week, on February 28, the men’s hockey gold medal game will be broadcast on NBC. If the US is in that game, will it be tape delayed for the Western and Mountain time zones like all other NBC Olympic coverage? We don’t know.
If the US does make it to the gold medal game and it’s tape delayed like all of its coverage, I can assure Dick Ebersol that the masses will be storming NBC’s headquarters. With pitchforks and torches. And rightfully so.
Stay tuned.
6 Responses to “Why NBC Did a Good Thing (You Read That Right)”
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I am seriously already freaking out at the possibility that the gold medal game will be tape-delayed on the west coast. Aieee!
Amanda,
The only quibble I have is the assumption that NBC couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to show the game live to all time zones on NBC proper. The reason that NBC tape delays day events (and essentially Lindsey Vonn, Bode Miller and other skiing) is so that the video isn’t released before primetime.
NBC has been, in the past, very good at showing the events live to all time zones in special circumstances (such as a gold medal team USA hockey match), in both Beijing, Nagano and Sydney (men’s basketball, men’s indoor volleyball come to mind, as well as some track & field finals).
The more I think about it, I think the biggest issue NBC as a whole has had has been the huge step back they took from Beijing, especially in regard to their online and HD content. Also, unlucky with the schedule; the Vonn/Miller/Skiing events had to be run in the daytime, and that was a big draw in the first week; in Beijing all the swimming events were two days, with the finals during the day in Beijing and in primetime for the East Coast.
This part does not make me hopeful for London, though.
Thanks Rob. Excellent points. I was going on the assumption that NBC would not be willing to show events live in all time zones, since they have yet to do so through 9 days of action.
I admit that I haven’t watched too much of the most recent Olympics, but it does seem like these games have represented a significant step back from Beijing, for sure.
The biggest test will come next Sunday. If the US is in the gold medal match, will NBC show it live in all zones? They’d better.
By the way, according to the official bracket, we could have a USA-Russia gold medal game. Something to keep in mind.
I know! By winning last night, the US secured the #1 seed and a bye into the quarters. That means they wouldn’t play Russia, Canada or Sweden until the finals.
It was nice for this West Coaster to be able to watch the game without the spoilers from East Coast people (not that I ever blame them – it’s my responsibility to stay offline if I don’t want to know results). I thought you made some good points. Wonder if NBC could have advertised the coverage on MSNBC more though as some friends missed the game not realizing it was on another channel.