Sunday, July 29, 2012

NBC, Michael Phelps, The Olympics, The Embargo, and All That Jazz -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken

Updates

July 29, 2012: Reuters reporting lots of open seats at the Olympics. It's starting to look a bit like NASCAR attendance.

July 29, 2012: see first comment. Wow, did I blow it. I can tell time. I'm just dyslexic or something. Sorry. NBC has it right. I was wrong. The part about not missing television is accurate.

Original Post 
I haven't watched cable television in several weeks now and don't miss it. So I was unaware that the most anticipated Olympic event was not shown live until I saw the headline at the Drudge Report.

That is truly incredible. That would be like delaying the video of landing on the moon in 1969 until prime time. Had this been a weekday, perhaps. But even if this was the first event of the day, at 8:00 a.m. in London, it would have been early afternoon on a Saturday in the United States, a perfect time for showing a live event that everyone was anticipating.

And "they" say Steve Jobs was a control freak.

4 comments:

  1. And as "they " say, Bruce Oksol can't tell time.
    8am London is 3am eastern.

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    1. Yes, you are correct. That was pretty dumb of me. NBC had it right; embargo was the thing to do. Thank you for pointing that out. Wow, I have egg on my face. .... won't be the first time...

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  2. You were right the first time. Your mistake was saying that it was held at 8 AM. As can be seen by the fireworks, the opening ceremonies took place in the evening (as always), which means that it was afternoon here.

    Tape delay is the bane of all Olympics coverage. They should carry it all live, and if they want to replay edited highlights in prime-time, have at it. In the age of the internet, we all know who won what, so the sense of drama is fake in primetime. Part of the joy of watching the Olympics when I was growing up were the odd hours when things were on -- heightened the sense that it was taking place in a foreign, exotic locale.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your support. I get carried away sometimes when I blog and forget to check a few things; that's why I always try to link original source.

      By the way, this gives me an opportunity to explain to folks I try to keep my notes at the blog at conversational level similar to what I would experience at the Economart in Williston, where folks would quickly call me on my gaffes.

      So, again, thank you for taking time to comment. Have a great weekend; and enjoy the tape-delayed highlights tonight. Smile.

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