Olympics On United States Television - Criticisms

Criticisms

Of course, there are some complaints about Olympic coverage on American TV. Perhaps the most often heard is the insistence that some events be shown on tape delay rather than live, which is what most sports fans seem to prefer. Even if sports are shown live to some parts of the country, it may remain delayed in others, especially in the Pacific Time Zone. NBC has explained that primetime coverage of select events, regardless of when they actually occur, is designed to maximize the total viewing audience.

Some examples of tape delay include:

• The 1980 Miracle on Ice, which ABC showed in primetime, about three hours after it actually took place. (The Americans' gold medal-clinching game against Finland was aired live, despite a start time of 11am EST on a Sunday morning. All US hockey games in Winter Olympics since 1988 have been shown live, and since 1992, in full.)
• The relay race in 1984 in which Carl Lewis won his fourth gold medal.
• Much of the Artistic Gymnastics competition at the Atlanta Olympics was held in the afternoon, and was shown by NBC three to four hours after the competition ended.
• Nearly the entire 2000 schedule from Sydney, Australia, in some cases by nearly a day (The only live telecast was the men's basketball final).
• For Pacific and Mountain Time Zone viewers, most of the 2010 Winter Olympics coverage was on Tape, despite that the games were held in the Pacific Time Zone. As a result, viewers in Bellingham, Washington couldn't watch NBC's live coverage as it aired on the east coast despite the fact that they are just over 50 miles away from Vancouver.
  • Also, viewers in most of the Mountain time zone and all of the Pacific time zone couldn't watch live prime-time coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics despite the fact many of the primetime events took place around the Salt Lake City, Utah area. However, KSL-TV was allowed to air NBC's prime-time coverage live
• The Opening Ceremonies for the 2012 London, England games, which NBC refused to stream live, choosing instead to tape-delay for US audiences, and during which broadcast chose to cut away from important segments of the performance to air a taped interview with US swimmer Michael Phelps.

The tape delay practice even for major events has become increasingly frustrating with viewers in recent times due to the increased usage of social networking and Web sites (including the official Olympic site and NBC's Olympic website) posting results in real time. As a result, these practices has spawned outrage across the internet and even raising concerns from politicians.

Anecdotal, if not official, evidence indicates that some American viewers in border cities have decided to turn away from NBC coverage to watch events live on such stations as CBET in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and XEWT in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Nearly all Olympic coverage broadcast in Canada (traditionally CBC, CTV for the 2010 Vancouver Games) and Mexico (Televisa) is live regardless of venue or time difference. Often, events shown live during fringe hours in Canada and Mexico will be rebroadcast there in prime-time.

In a related note, networks not part of the Olympic coverage, even including NBC News, are given very restrictive policies on showing highlights. For example, ESPN can show only a total of eight minutes of highlights per day, and must essentially wait until the next day to show any of it. And reportedly, the only reason it can even show highlights at all is the deal that sent Al Michaels to NBC Sunday Night Football in 2006.

Some decisions as far as what events to show also seem to create questions. For example, NBC got the Beijing organizers to show live swimming, gymnastics, and beach volleyball in U.S. primetime in 2008 (the next morning in Beijing). Such prominent sports as track and field and basketball were not selected. The network cited Phelps' potential for winning a record eight gold medals at a single Olympics (which he did), as well as demographics for gymnastics and beach volleyball that favor females.

One other concern among some critics is the emphasis on covering American athletes ahead of all others on the U.S. telecasts. Frank Deford of Sports Illustrated noticed this in 1984, when the Games were held in Los Angeles, California. After winning that year's decathlon gold medal, Daley Thompson of Great Britain wore a T-shirt that read, "America, thanks for the Olympics, but what about the TV coverage?" Again, NBC has said that the emphasis on American athletes and teams is what the public has demanded. To that end, a minor controversy erupted during the 1984 Games when it was discovered that televisions inside the Olympic Villages were showing the US ABC Network feed and not the world feed. It should be noted that any country's Olympic coverage usually has a major emphasis on sports where the country the network is broadcasting to has the best shot at medals. Also, in 2008, USA Network called itself "home of the United States Olympic Team" in event promos and commercial breaks.