Are Olympics live -- or Memorex?

Conway Hill, a track-and-field fan who's based in Northern California, wants to watch Beijing Games action live on his big-screen television. Easier said than done when it comes to, say, the 100-meter semis and final on Saturday.

Here's an excerpt from what he has to say at hellenicathletes.com

Unfortunately I will not be able to WATCH the race LIVE on my modern High Definition, wide screen, television set!

That's because instead of presenting the modern "Text Message" version of the Olympic Games that we all crave and have been promised, NBC continues to present the "Pony Express" version of the Games hours later! A 1960's version where we are all supposed to pretend not only that the Internet does not exist, but that the 24 hour news networks that became so popular in the 1990's also do not exist - you know, ESPN, ESPN2, CNN, Fox, and NBC's own MSNBC!

Then, to add insult to injury, we devout fans here on the West Coast get to wait an additional three hours after the first showing on the East Coast before we actually get to see the race in OUR Prime Time! Therefore we get NOTHING live.

Is it live or is it Memorex?

Comments

[SandraL]

It's completely ridiculous that LIVE appears on the screen when the Olympics are re-played again during the night. NBC should remove those words or replace it with "taped earlier." A few times it fooled me and I thought I was watching something as it was happening, and then I read a news story and I found out that I was watching old events! NBC needs to get out a dictionary and look up what the word LIVE means and they should stop fooling us...

[Janice Jones]

I was really disappointed with the powers that might be that allowed NBC to not only dominate the greatest games on earth in terms of coverage but none has televised live. If an option to subcribe for a fee to watch these games were available then 'we' would not feel so disgruntled. I hope viewers will protest this by bycotting NBC's channels-after the games. They have one less viewer. They have succeede in taking the fun out of the games. To add insult to injury, America is a melting pot of so many nations/cultures, it would be fitting to show other games that America is not medalling in. Afterall, and thankfully, it is not yet the American games.

[edwin S]

I think its BS (sorry! but its true) that we aren't able to watch the olympics live 24/7...There is absolutely no reason why that should happen. As stated above, in this modern/internet/tech age we should have been able to watch them online at least. What a shame. I hope NBC goes bankrupt and that another network can at least be courteous enough to show them live.

[Geie]

I am very angry at this Olympic coverage and control by NBC. I totally agree with boycotting them. I find it so insulting to us that everyone has access to internet and modern technology but NBC has chosen not to show live coverage, and like the previous comments, that we should pretend the games did not happen 12 hours earlier. There is no excitement. I have people from third world countries telling me the result as they happen because I can't see it in the US. NBC has controlled this to the point of blocking other countries' channels from being viewed online while they are showing the live coverage, and this is for paid subscription to these channels. It is a huge insult and they need to explain this one.

[Jack Gulian]

Third World countries have better and live coverage of the Olympics. May be one day we in the USA will catch up with them? This is where the government needs to interfere and make laws. Olympics is a public event, and If NBC won't broadcast live, others should have the right to do so.