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Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

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Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#141

Post by fatnoah »

el_nahual wrote: post #99
dotBen wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked on the BBC's British coverage of Sydney, Salt Lake City and Athens Olympics (2000-2004). The sibling comments here are absolutely right - the US coverage is terrible compared to the quality of the output of other broadcasters. The problem is that US audiences only want to watch American competitors and most popular sports here are ones where the majority of teams and players are American. The Olympics isn't…

> The problem is that US audiences only want to watch American competitors I think there's a [citation needed] here. This is what people think is true, but I'd argue is wrong--as evidenced by a collapse in viewership! People want entertainment that is fun and emotional, and the US coverage isn't providing that, perhaps because they are constrained by thinking that US audiences only care about US athletes.

I agree, I want to watch the Olympics, and not Figure Skating. I know events are basically happening all the time, but for some reason I can only watch a couple events from 8pm - 11pm my time. Of that block, 50% is devoted to commercials or random "interest" stories where I learn about one of the athlete's sick horses. When I actually can see an event, I'm forced to endure the "insightful commentary".

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#142

Post by fatnoah »

jerich wrote: post #100
el_nahual wrote: post #40

I don't know where you live, but my experience is that in the US, the network coverage just ruined the Olympics because they don't "get it." I grew up in a different country--not the US, China or Russia. We typically hope to get a half dozen medals and a gold would be a Big Deal. As a result, if you turn on the TV, you get random coverage of any of the hundreds of individual competitions. Modern pentathlon! The one w…

The best Olympic coverage I’ve seen was the NBC HD broadcast of the 2002 Salt Lake City winter games. HD was still pretty new in the US. They didn’t have many HD cameras and they didn’t have an HD workflow integrated with the SD broadcast, so it was completely separate from the “overcoming adversity USA athlete” coverage. For example, they set up the HD cameras and trailer at the ski jumping venue. They showed ski ju…

So much this! It was amazing. I remember just hooking up an antenna to get the broadcast and just keeping my TV tuned to the Olympics.

Unfortunately, the networks have gotten "smarter". I can watch things in 4k this year, but it's the traditional coverage, so it's crap content with 4k and HDR. :(

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#143

Post by mint2 »

goodguyamericun wrote: post #130
mint2 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of those comparisons make any sense. No one thinks like that even in a hyperbolic sense. The final one really takes the cake, simultaneously repeating the right wing propaganda that Black Lives Matter protests were are all riots when less than 5% had any violence, and also implying countries that don’t allow protests about equality are a better place, and specifically a country known to abuse minorities.

[flagged]

What world does what I described mean daily riots?. I can tell you. It’s a world where facts do not matter, only confirmation bias and propaganda matters. It’s a world populated by an authoritarian’s ideally groomed enablers. No wonder your post used so much vehement language, living in such a bubble.

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#144

Post by emkoemko »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #103
emkoemko wrote: post #39

No idea how China got to host the Olympics.

It's one of the largest countries on Earth, the one that is probably seeing the most growth and winter sports' practice in the world, and it's neither in Europe or North America and has the means to organize such global event. So it seems like a very good choice and the development of winter sports in the country was even mentioned by the IOC President during the opening ceremony.

your comment reads like propaganda when you don't even mention the many problems ....

i think we shouldn't support countries with horrible human rights ? its basically legitimizing their genocide,force labour, organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, threatening to invade Taiwan etc...

this is going to kill the Olympics, no one i know is watching it because of the issues.

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#145

Post by anonomousename »

pfraze wrote: post #97
jasode wrote: post #36

>When I was a kid, we use to look forward to the Olympics. It was a big deal. The whole family would gather around the TV to watch the events live regardless of timezone. [...] Nowadays, [...] No one cares. Heck, some people don’t even know that the Olympics are even happening. It seems like the macro trend of network television spectacle events is on the decline and probably due to the internet. The decline in ratin…

I think this is it, and I think all of these events need to be making deals with 1 or more streaming service to get major front page features. Network TV is holding onto them like a life-raft, and it’s causing both to drown. Tastes haven’t changed that much; audiences just aren’t seeing the events in their ecosystems.

Peacock (NBC’s service) is aggressively pushing Olympics coverage. I saw my roommate watching the Olympics, which he said was the first time he’d done since moving out of his parents.

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#147

Post by mytailorisrich »

emkoemko wrote: post #144
mytailorisrich wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's one of the largest countries on Earth, the one that is probably seeing the most growth and winter sports' practice in the world, and it's neither in Europe or North America and has the means to organize such global event. So it seems like a very good choice and the development of winter sports in the country was even mentioned by the IOC President during the opening ceremony.

your comment reads like propaganda when you don't even mention the many problems .... i think we shouldn't support countries with horrible human rights ? its basically legitimizing their genocide,force labour, organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, threatening to invade Taiwan etc... this is going to kill the Olympics, no one i know is watching it because of the issues.

It's tiring to be accused of propaganda simply for not repeating the things you do blindly whenever China is mentioned, but rather stating factual points.

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#148

Post by emkoemko »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #147
emkoemko wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

your comment reads like propaganda when you don't even mention the many problems .... i think we shouldn't support countries with horrible human rights ? its basically legitimizing their genocide,force labour, organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, threatening to invade Taiwan etc... this is going to kill the Olympics, no one i know is watching it because of the issues.

It's tiring to be accused of propaganda simply for not repeating the things you do blindly whenever China is mentioned, but rather stating factual points.

umm after years of accusations and the CCP hiding the camps they finally admitted to them existing but they call them "education camps" come on now... your saying we should trust their word? and ignore all the people who suffered ? reminds me of Nazi Germany and how they played these games as if the camps where there for a good reason, CCP even mimics them with their fake media invitations but refuses to let anyone see one at random.

When you ignore all these facts and spew CCP propaganda i will call it what it is propaganda

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#149

Post by abenga »

jerich wrote: post #100
el_nahual wrote: post #40

I don't know where you live, but my experience is that in the US, the network coverage just ruined the Olympics because they don't "get it." I grew up in a different country--not the US, China or Russia. We typically hope to get a half dozen medals and a gold would be a Big Deal. As a result, if you turn on the TV, you get random coverage of any of the hundreds of individual competitions. Modern pentathlon! The one w…

The best Olympic coverage I’ve seen was the NBC HD broadcast of the 2002 Salt Lake City winter games. HD was still pretty new in the US. They didn’t have many HD cameras and they didn’t have an HD workflow integrated with the SD broadcast, so it was completely separate from the “overcoming adversity USA athlete” coverage. For example, they set up the HD cameras and trailer at the ski jumping venue. They showed ski ju…

The best coverage I've experienced was the 2012 London Summer Olympics on Youtube. Continuous multiple live streams, could select any event going on to watch it live. I don't think there were ads in the stream (don't remember though).

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#150

Post by banku_brougham »

fatnoah wrote: post #141
el_nahual wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem is that US audiences only want to watch American competitors I think there's a [citation needed] here. This is what people think is true, but I'd argue is wrong--as evidenced by a collapse in viewership! People want entertainment that is fun and emotional, and the US coverage isn't providing that, perhaps because they are constrained by thinking that US audiences only care about US athletes.

I agree, I want to watch the Olympics, and not Figure Skating. I know events are basically happening all the time, but for some reason I can only watch a couple events from 8pm - 11pm my time. Of that block, 50% is devoted to commercials or random "interest" stories where I learn about one of the athlete's sick horses. When I actually can see an event, I'm forced to endure the "insightful commentary".

i deeply agree with this
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