Game is going to be tape delayed here as well in the midwest. What a freaking joke, just show it on usa or msnbc

Meridith Viera on the west coast = ratings gold!

I'm in Chicago and it's tape delayed as well. Just appalling.

Cant you just watch it online?

I just read over on Sports Media Watch that Denver (mountain time zone) has had the highest Olympic ratings of any of the major US cities. Imagine what those ratings would be if NBC would show those of us in the west some live (actually live--not just "was live EDT"). In this day and age and with the amount of money they are spending on these Olympics, there is no excuse to not show major events live in all time zones.

To Anon, if we watch it online now, it'll be in the 3rd or 4th qtr.

This is such a joke. I'm at work anyway, but the game should be available to those who want it. NBC has seriously dropped the ball here, and has really decided to screw half a continent. I just don't get it.

Well it's basketball, you don't need to watch the first half.

I kid, I kid.

This is embrassing. The whole world is watching this event LIVE and half of America has it on a %^&$# tape delayed

Who are the direct people responsible for this decision? What would the outcry be if this happ'd on the West Coast.

what an embrassment.

Anon-

It is actually kind of nice to watch it online because there is no commentary. Just the natural sounds of the game.

The only common-sense thing to do is to tape-delay it to tonight in primetime. But no, NBC decided to punish the 97% of those who would want to watch this game but have a job. What does NBC have against employment? Are they secretly pandering to the blogging crowd, noted for being jobless?

It's as bad as the Holocaust I tell you.

a big 'thank you' to espn, espn.com and espnradio for giving me updates as they happen...no waiting.

hear that peacock? i'm not watching anything you broadcast AND i'm going to your your competitors and thanking them for coverage YOU purchased.

oh yeah, when it comes to the closing ceremonies, i'm going to grab them off bittorrent on monday. how's that taste?

-dan

Couldn't they show it live for the people that want to watch it live. Then show it on tape delay on USA or CNBC instead of whatever crap they are running during the day on those channels? Or just the opposite. They could show it live on USA or CNBC or MSNBC and then show it on tape delay on NBC. Why wouldn't that make sense?

Anon- It really has to be because they want to stretch the ads across as much as they can. They are treating it like the Olympics like a sitcom and not a live Sporting Event.

question: did nbc bother to show the 4x100 relay live (since they're showing the hoops live)? or are they going to sit on it like a mother hen for 10 hours?

i just read about it on ap and espn...sounded awesome.

can't wait to see it on youtube or some pirate site when i get home from work.

-dan

How about the fact that we have to sit through at 15 minute "halftime" that could be easily fast forwarded since its on a tape delay.

The sad thing is that this is NBC's MO. They do this for Wimbledon and the French Open in the summer. They "play" it as though it is live but it's obviously not. So I not really suprised to hear they are doing it to the rest of the country.

Living in SoCal what I find ironic is that I'm currently watching MSNBC's post-game coverage of the game (highlights, interviews, analysis) before the game has even come on the air on our NBC affiliate!

These losers at NBC have been screwing the Central timezone every year. If it's an event outside of the US, it's on tape delay. I just saw the US/Argentina game on the Olympic Basketball channel that DirecTV provides. If I didn't have satellite then I would've had to watch it on tape. I hate how they refuse to show any track live, but show that gay beach volleyball live in it's entirety. What a joke peacock.

I'm also appalled. Thank goodness Dish Network carries the HD basketball channel, so I can bolt from the gay coverage on NBC anytime I want. If you are going to show the Today Show (which disgusts me) rather than Olympic action as it happens, please give us more Natalie Morales. Screw this, do better, peacock.

I hope everyone that has commented has also sent their thoughts to Brian at the email AA left. Lets flood his inbox.

You guys have your expectations way too high for these folks at NBC.


NBC, unlike the CBC in Canada for example, is not a government funded channel. They rely on ad revenue and ratings as much as possible, and that's why NBC is doing this.


That being said:


NBC plans to do the same thing and delay some events for the 2010 Winter Games in VANCOUVER, BC! That's the ultimate insult to me. It's not about you, it's about them, and that's why they snapped up the rights to everything, so you would have practically no 2nd option unless you have the CBC.


AA, when the Olympics are over, I have to think you, and everyone else will rip into NBC for their awful coverage.


And nothing will change as long as the general public, and that means other than us, accepts this as quality coverage. So make it clear what they're missing.

Please file your complaints with my 7 year old step-son who got to see not one minute of the Celtics-Lakers NBA finals due to the obscenely late start times of the games. When I was 7, the Celtics played the Lakers in the finals and I got to watch nearly half the series without staying up as late as some of this years games started.

Do the math, half of the country lives in the eastern timezone and for ONCE a network is actually thinking about them when broadcasting a live sporting event.

It stinks for the rest of the country but with every other event their needs come first, so I apologize for my lack of sympathy.

I watched the game live online here in the central time zone. Sorry for the rest of the US, but it was live here on the net.

Wow Pip, typical Boston sports fan, ignoring the rest of the country.



If half of the country lives in the eastern timezone, that means the other half is living, guess where? THE OTHER TIME ZONES!

We live in a world where everything sports is shown live, how hard is it to skip the Today Show for once and air something for the entire country?


Stop annexing the other time zones and realize that this is the biggest sporting event, and delaying just for their pocketbooks (ad revenue) and to see Al Roker cook something is absolutely pathetic.

Pip - completely different circumstances here. We're talking about events that could be shown live and aren't because NBC is a bunch of freaking idiots. With West Coast games, what do you want them to do, air it before it's played? (And the West Coast has to put up with 9am college football start times and Monday "Night" Football at 5:30; it won't kill you to have a game on the West Coast start at a reasonable time for them, even if that means 10:00 for you.)

That's it. This and the planned Vancouver tape delay in 2010 are fucking it.

I'm officially rooting for ESPN/ABC to outbid NBC for the broadcast rights with the IOC. No one likes a monopoly, but if that monopoly would actually air some fucking events live across the country, it might be in service of the greater sporting good.

Somehow I'm missing all the indignant posts about "NBC screws employed people". Not being able to see a game (like every person with a job in America) is worse than having it shown a couple hours later.

Screw the West Coast! Do they have to stay awake until 2:00am to watch the World Series or the NBA Finals? No! It is about time a network cared about its East Coast fans.

as spartandan said, the problem isn't with the east coast. the problem is nbc not showing an event live to the whole country for the sake of ratings.

i work and i'm not even a big basketball fan, but i enjoy watching live sporting events. i have a radio that picks up tv signals, i would have listened to that or brought in a tv to watch the game. there's no way in the world i'd take the time to watch something when i know who wins 2 hours before hand.

not sure how old everyone here is, but i'm 36 and there was a day when ABC (pre-cable) had baseball rights during the regular season and would have Monday Night Baseball....tape delay. i didn't like it then and i sure as hell don't like it now in the internet age.

when it comes to every other SPORTING event, i feel bad for east coasters who have to stay up until 8p or 830p or even 10p to watch a game. there's no way in HELL i'd do that. i'm an early bird, i'd love to live in hawaii where football games start at 7a.

i know damn well that politicians shouldn't get involved with tv and the media, but i'm [ ] this close to writing someone about how NBC dangled the olympics over the country as if it were a marionette. using words like 'patriotism' and 'american pride', i'm sure my representative or congressmen would love the 5 minutes in the limelight.

-dan

Scott F. - news flash. all three networks are based in New York City. They give more of a shit about the Eastern time zone than anyone else.

I was watching it in CST at the gym on an hour delay. Just as soon as the third quarter started, Sportscenter on the TV adjacent to me came up with Bill Walton and the final score. Who thought this live Sportscenter thing was a good idea anyway?

Thanks NBC!

There was a column in USA Today yesterday about this. The author recommended that the event be shown live when and then shown on tape at night. Actually, I think ABC did this when they carried the Olympics.

So if the Vancouver Games are going on tape delay, I guess London in 2012 will be also. Even though London is only a 6 hour difference opposed to a 12 hour for Bejing. I wonder also if the Vancouver Games were in Toronto or Montreal if they would be live.

That's the problem with TV. NBC, and ABC will show tape delay stuff. When the olympics prime time ends late due to gymnastics, it still show's local news instead of showing the late olympics live, they show it tape delayed. Or take parts of it out so I can see pointless local news. There is nothing to report in Mid Missouri, what a waste of time.

Pointless local news? How else will we know if our Mayor is out of jail?

/Detroit Residents

An aside: Does anyone know if the Men's Basketball Gold Medal Game (2:20 AM EDT) is also being tape delayed in the Mountain & Pacific time zones?

Does NBC not realize we don't care enough about the Olympics to watch anything tape-delayed? I woke up to the end of the 2nd quarter and felt like watching but quickly realized it was tape-delayed. Hopped on the internet, homepage CNN.com, result on the front page. America won, I'm good. Not going to watch something the rest of the world knows. Especially when it's THE OLYMPICS. Let's not kid ourselves... WHO GIVES A FUCK? I repeat, it's the Olympics. No Kiefer, I don't want the USA Team logo on my credit card.