My problem isn't just the delay, it's the fact that they were pretending the rest of the world does not exist.
The NBC "newscasters" were lying on air, saying things like "the big question now is who will be lighting the olympic torch," "the opening ceremony will begin in 2 hours" (when it was already over!), "in three hours time, the debate will be on as to whether the London or Beijing ceremony was nicer, we have the world has no idea what surprises are in store," and so on and so forth. They're deliberately misleading their viewers, and it's disgusting.
If one were to make the argument that NBC is the USA's worst major television network, with its manifold vapid sitcoms, wooden Leno show, terrible Notre Dame contract, general lack of relevant sports, and persistent butchering of the Olympic Games telecast, well... one would have the makings of a pretty good case.
Anyone who wants can get access to their streaming web. Just give them who your cable provider is, and your user name and password to that account so that they can verify that it is you.
OK. What about people like me? I wouldn't mind seeing some of the Olympics. I would like to show it to my son. But I never watch TV, and I do not have a subscription to any TV cable service. Can't I, I don't know, PAY THEM to get access to this 2 week event? Or maybe they can MAKE ME SIT THROUGH ADS to get it?
Apparently not. There is no such option. I'll just have to track down a friend who trusts me and has a cable account to login on my computer so that I can watch. Or else find an illegal stream. Or else just not watch.
Well, if you're willing to pay, couldn't you sign up for cable for one month? I agree, it's not our ideal and it's more overhead for you since you'll need to deal with installation, but it's not like it's impossible to pay to see the Olympics.
It's really unfortunate. I would pay $100 to have full coverage of the olympics streamed. Not to mention I have yet to find a good representation of the schedule. Everything is extremely difficult to track down.
I just watched the pirated BBC broadcast. I felt like something was missing, and then I figured it out. The stupid thing is that Americans are forced to watch the Olympics with 20 minutes of commercials per hour, while the rest of the world gets to watch it nearly commercial free. Why does the US citizen pay for the entire Olympics through the annoyance of commercials?
> The stupid thing is that Americans are forced to watch the Olympics with 20 minutes of commercials per hour, while the rest of the world gets to watch it nearly commercial free.
We complain about commercials here on HN, but you would be surprised to learn there are many people that actually enjoy watching commercials. For example, when I was at my parents' house a few months back, I watched something on TV with my mom. I instinctively muted the TV when commercials came on, but she told me to actually turn them back on. I asked why, and she said enjoyed watching the ads.
Commercials are not a problem at all with a DVR. You'd be surprised how good you get at skipping them. If you have kids you hand them the remote control and it happens "automatically".
I don't even mind the commercials, it's the awful commentators that ruin this for me. They should have done a simulcast on MSNBC without the idiotic comments.
CTV coverage in Canada titled him on-screen as the "Founder of the World Wide Web" then the commentator called him the Father of the Internet... so half marks, if possible.
Tennis fans regularly suffer this same nonsense from NBC every year with the French Open and Wimbledon[^1]. I can't see them changing anytime soon.
Relatedly, their whole cable TV package requirements for online streaming is also very annoying. It requires having a package with both CNBC and MSNBC to get access. I still actually have a cable TV package, but my provider does not offer MSNBC on any of their packages so I'm out of luck.
Thankfully, there's the Yankees/Red Sox this weekend so I'll watch that instead.
[^1]: Thankfully ESPN bought the rights to Wimbledon starting this year. Maybe they (or parent, Disney) could do the same with the Olympics once the rights are up for grabs again.
NBC is providing live streaming on the web and via iOS and Android apps of every event, for free to people who have a cable, satellite, or telco TV package that includes CNBC and MSNBC. They are also providing on-demand access so you don't have to watch live.
For many people, they won't even have to log in to access this, as they have worked with some providers to automatically recognize IP addresses as belong to people whose accounts qualify.
So they didn't include the opening ceremony. It seems pretty nit-picky to focus on that and ignore the massive effort they've done to provide the live coverage of everything else.
NBC is providing live streaming on the web and via iOS and Android apps of every event, for free to people who have a cable, satellite, or telco TV package that includes CNBC and MSNBC.
s/for free/only/
I tried to find an option for people who do not choose to have TV. I failed.
It's not being nit-picky - the opening ceremony is quite a massive bit of any Olympics. As one of the Athens 2004 organizers said, a 400m race in Sydney, Beijing, Greece or Atlanta would look exactly the same - it's the opening ceremony that sets the the theme.
And the BBC has done all of the above plus the opening ceremony. NBC's "massive" effort isn't for charity - people are paying money for it - they'd better deliver the goods.
In 2008 anyone with an internet connection could watch any event and replay any event. And that was without the obnoxious commentary that accompanies most TV broadcasts. I really enjoyed some of the longer events like the bike road races for their silent, almost Zen qualities. Won't happen this time.
Now, I have to use a UK proxy to see it, and it's got the usual idiots yammering over the action.
Oh yes, that was godly. It seriously should be the standard for any big sporting event. It's sad to see that NBC has regressed so badly from the standard set in 08.
Well, companies such as Google need to start buying broadcast rights and put it all on the 'net. I am sure they can make far more money online than NBC ever pulls out of their advertisers. For one thing, these days lots of people DVR shows not just for convenience but to skip the commercials. I sure do. I'd rather watch something 30 to 45 minutes after the fact than have to endure the obtrusive commercials.
NBC paid $1.1 billion just for the US broadcast RIGHTS, nevermind all of the other production costs. That would be a pretty big gamble for Google to take, to assume they could generate enough revenue through online advertising to make a profit.
If Google put the Olympics online with its own commercials (I assume that's how they would monetize it?), why would you stop watching your commercial-free DVR recording in favor of Google's broadcast?
I've effectively boycotted as I have no legal means of watching the events. Way to make another institution irrelevant to my generation, big media. Enjoy your profits while they last.
Having watched the first half live on the BBC in the UK it wasn't as embarrassing as I feared. The 3D version was pretty good, it worked better than many things.
The sense of entitlement in the last few Olympics related posts is really getting obnoxious. Granted the article here makes a good point about it being silly to live tweet an event that is not being broadcast. But, everyone commenting seems to think watching the Olympics for free is a god given right.
I am excited that, unlike the NFL, MLB, and other professional sporting events, the live-streaming capability provided to NBC subscribers is actually quite thorough and high quality.
Hungarian TV showed it straight through, no ads (and free) (and live) but still had the damn commentators talking through all the music. Why do they think that adds anything? It drove me bananas.
Well here's my attempt at doing something marginally useful. The only thing I could really think of. I generally am ambivalent about these media blunders because I don't watch TV... but I was really looking forward to the Opening Ceremonies.
[+] [-] ComputerGuru|13 years ago|reply
The NBC "newscasters" were lying on air, saying things like "the big question now is who will be lighting the olympic torch," "the opening ceremony will begin in 2 hours" (when it was already over!), "in three hours time, the debate will be on as to whether the London or Beijing ceremony was nicer, we have the world has no idea what surprises are in store," and so on and so forth. They're deliberately misleading their viewers, and it's disgusting.
[+] [-] nicksergeant|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sk5t|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wdr1|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] btilly|13 years ago|reply
Anyone who wants can get access to their streaming web. Just give them who your cable provider is, and your user name and password to that account so that they can verify that it is you.
OK. What about people like me? I wouldn't mind seeing some of the Olympics. I would like to show it to my son. But I never watch TV, and I do not have a subscription to any TV cable service. Can't I, I don't know, PAY THEM to get access to this 2 week event? Or maybe they can MAKE ME SIT THROUGH ADS to get it?
Apparently not. There is no such option. I'll just have to track down a friend who trusts me and has a cable account to login on my computer so that I can watch. Or else find an illegal stream. Or else just not watch.
[+] [-] ryannielsen|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ernestipark|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ollysb|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] hardtke|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] balac|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] w1ntermute|13 years ago|reply
We complain about commercials here on HN, but you would be surprised to learn there are many people that actually enjoy watching commercials. For example, when I was at my parents' house a few months back, I watched something on TV with my mom. I instinctively muted the TV when commercials came on, but she told me to actually turn them back on. I asked why, and she said enjoyed watching the ads.
[+] [-] robomartin|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] covercash|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mtkd|13 years ago|reply
Internet != World Wide Web
[+] [-] nekojima|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reaganing|13 years ago|reply
Relatedly, their whole cable TV package requirements for online streaming is also very annoying. It requires having a package with both CNBC and MSNBC to get access. I still actually have a cable TV package, but my provider does not offer MSNBC on any of their packages so I'm out of luck.
Thankfully, there's the Yankees/Red Sox this weekend so I'll watch that instead.
[^1]: Thankfully ESPN bought the rights to Wimbledon starting this year. Maybe they (or parent, Disney) could do the same with the Olympics once the rights are up for grabs again.
[+] [-] tzs|13 years ago|reply
For many people, they won't even have to log in to access this, as they have worked with some providers to automatically recognize IP addresses as belong to people whose accounts qualify.
So they didn't include the opening ceremony. It seems pretty nit-picky to focus on that and ignore the massive effort they've done to provide the live coverage of everything else.
[+] [-] btilly|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] photon137|13 years ago|reply
And the BBC has done all of the above plus the opening ceremony. NBC's "massive" effort isn't for charity - people are paying money for it - they'd better deliver the goods.
[+] [-] mynameishere|13 years ago|reply
Now, I have to use a UK proxy to see it, and it's got the usual idiots yammering over the action.
[+] [-] hackinthebochs|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] robomartin|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] packetslave|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eurleif|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stevvooe|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cypherpunks01|13 years ago|reply
Creating a swarm of video streamers would've been a good technology fit for filling this role, from what I read about the protocol awhile back.
[+] [-] agravier|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] josephlord|13 years ago|reply
Is NBC offering the 3D version in the US?
[+] [-] mattvot|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattvot|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RobMcCullough|13 years ago|reply
I am excited that, unlike the NFL, MLB, and other professional sporting events, the live-streaming capability provided to NBC subscribers is actually quite thorough and high quality.
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Vivtek|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] da_n|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Zaheer|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tkahn6|13 years ago|reply
http://www.change.org/petitions/international-olympic-commit...
[+] [-] b0|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] stevvooe|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]