The Olympics Fuss

There have been dozens of articles around the web, twitter, etc., complaining about NBC’s coverage of the Olympics. There’s a general feeling that if the technology exists to watch something live then there’s an obligation to do so.  So everyone is pissed off that NBC is tape delaying top events to prime time, even if you can read about the results on Twitter.

So turn Twitter off.

Then, in the quiet, spend a few minutes thinking about how the Olympics work.  The Olympics and the stadiums, cameras, Internet access and everything else required to make them happen have to be paid for.  You better believe it won’t all be by tax dollars.  I bet many of the same people bitching about NBC have also complained about their tax rate.

So, who pays for this stuff? Corporations?  Especially the billions in TV sponsor rights.  NBC has the duty to attempt to monetize their products to the best of their ability to return the capital from investors and make some profit.  And part of that flow through to the Olympics itself through the royalty payments and what NBC makes off of the rest (often NOTHING) goes to the company and eventually to shareholders.

Also...does the majority of the country really not want tape delays? I am not going to be watching marquee events during the day.  I’m at work. Seriously. I think most people are.  Even if it were available online, I would still be at work working during the day instead of watching the Olympics.  Then again, I am motivated since I work for myself.  Maybe everyone else is trying to avoid working and wants to bitch about streaming of the Olympics.

Let’s ask this though.  If millions of internet users around the world could pool their money and buy some form of media rights from the olympics to stream all the vents in real time and that would pay for cameras, bandwidth, etc...would you pay up? If it was $50? 100?  Until people are ready to pay up I think everyone will just have to deal with the NBC way.  If that’s even really a problem...which I am not sure it is.