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Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

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Re: Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

#161

Post by jazzyjackson »

bananapub wrote: post #144
WhyNotHugo wrote: post #125

Given that the event is in Japan, I'm curious why someone would hire a US-based service to stream it rather than just a Japanese based one. Actually, I'm surprised the Olympics themselves don't have a direct subscription for streaming the entire event where people can sign up and stream it. I'm under the impression that the event is designed for the PHYSICAL audience first, and streaming it is kind of a poorly though…

? because the IOC prints money every four years by selling geo-restricted rights in every country in the world.

I was curious just how much money they printed and found a very nicely put together pdf [0] (page 27 Olympic Broadcasting Revenue Generation) that puts it at 2 or 3 billion USD income for the summer games, and confirms that 72% of Olympic Committee revenue is broadcasting rights. For a global event, getting 50 cents per person seems like a pretty good target, but it’s a shame that a lot of people are unable to watch a lot of the sport since broadcasters pick and choose what to show. I’m sure there’s alternative revenue streams if they got creative but the doc also points out these are long term, stable partnerships where everybody’s happy (except apparently the spectators !)

[0] https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/Olympi...

Re: Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

#162

Post by tedajax »

lake_vincent wrote: post #154
jressey wrote: post #127

I love to talk shit on huge broadcasters but using their app for the olympics has been amazing. I just watched 2 days of replays from their app, all with minimal or no commentary, and all with few commercials (like 1/30 minutes). Not only do you get replays for literally every event, but they don't even spoil them with the final scores or results. Edit: It looks like I failed to mention that cable is required so that…

Agreed - just log into app via cable provider and voila, Olympic paradise.

And if you don't have cable?

Re: Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

#163

Post by lotsofpulp »

totalZero wrote: post #155
lotsofpulp wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Requiring the purchase of an unrelated product for no reason other than padding subscriber numbers for NBC’s benefit qualifies as “making it difficult”.

Several of the tv stations broadcasting the olympics are on cable (eg USA). I understand the desire to watch for free, but cable is certainly not an unrelated product here. If you have a raspberry pi you can probably set up a vpn at a house with cable and watch it that way. For my provider I think they simply match the IP to the ISP (the login was automatic).

Cable is unrelated if you have access to broadband internet and the digital video signals are being transmitted via the internet.

Cable is only related if you own a cable company and want to continue making money for being an unnecessary middleman.

Re: Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

#164

Post by cbsks »

The Peacock app from NBC is terrible for a different reason. It has a page for each sport, but the first thing it lists is highlight clips named things like "See 's win in all angles!". Please don't show me spoilers before you give me the opportunity to watch the event!!

Re: Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

#165

Post by goshx »

The way they cut the transmission live to display commercials, including the live comments and replays, is infuriating. Seeing the same ad over and over and over again while trying to pay attention to the action makes me mad at the company advertising and it's not even their fault.

Re: Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

#166

Post by jessaustin »

js2 wrote: post #105
criddell wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't the NBC Sports app give you pretty much what you are asking for?

No. There is literally no way to pay for an ad-free experience from NBC. The best you can do is subscribe to Fubo or YouTube TV and record everything using their cloud DVR feature, then forward through the ads. But some events aren't on any of NBC's channels and can only be found at nbcolympics.com (which is the same as what's in the NBC Sports app) which feels like about 50% ad content. To be clear: you have to pay…

I suspect one could delete the ads shown on NBC Sports app with a pi-hole, but it hasn't seemed important enough to try.

Re: Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

#167

Post by bdz »

criddell wrote: post #148
bdz wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least Eurosport does that in Europe, I paid €12.49 for an annual pass so it's valid for this Olympics and the winter too in February. And you can watch rewatch every single event https://www.eurosportplayer.com/olympics

Is it ad-free? If so, that's a great deal.

Yes it is! If you choose to watch the TV channels (there are two) then they show previous highlights when ad breaks are up. Otherwise all events are available on their own and you can just choose whatever you want to watch.

Re: Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

#168

Post by cscharenberg »

D13Fd wrote: post #52
jessaustin wrote: post #36

TFA is not well-informed. Maybe the NBC people should have better marketing, but the Olympics coverage is not terrible. If you have a basic cable or satellite package, you can sign into this app: https://channelstore.roku.com/search/nbc+sports Presumably some of the lesser TV appliances also have a similar app. If you don't subscribe to a basic pay TV package, maybe you could do a trial subscription to Hulu or someth…

In my view, if a tech-savvy person putting significant effort in still can't find a way to view the coverage, even if they have a subscription, NBC is doing a poor job.

Indeed. I installed half a dozen apps on my Ipad to figure out which one actually was the correct one.

Re: Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

#169

Post by egberts »

UncleMeat wrote: post #149
echelon wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm miffed that paulg publicly posts criticisms of the CCP, yet it's gotten my account flagged on HN for posting the same things about a half dozen times. Sometimes just questions about what people think the long term outcome will be. The desire is to keep this type of conversation off of HN (flamewar and politics), and admittedly sometimes my tone descends to that level, but it's frustrating that I have kept my mout…

I'd wager that the "complaining about downvotes generates downvotes" effect is a bigger cause at this point.

We have a phrase for that: “Streisand Effect”.

Re: Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

#170

Post by gricardo99 »

Brendinooo wrote: post #152
totalZero wrote: post #132

If you have cable TV, you can watch everything at nbcolympics.com/schedule so it’s actually quite accessible. I believe you can watch 30 minutes of content without signing in using your cable account. Also, the author is wrong. NBC broadcast the opening ceremonies at 7am [0]. The author must have seen a rebroadcast. [0] https://sports.nbcsports.com/2021/07/23/when-do-the-tokyo-ol...

Came here to say this. They showed it live at 7 AM, on broadcast. No accounts or payment required. I know some people have issues getting a signal over the air (live in an apartment, too far from source), but usually when I talk to people about broadcast they just have some weird hangup about buying a $10 antenna and connecting it to their television.

   they just have some weird hangup about buying a $10 antenna and connecting it to their television.
I think this hang up could be the installation. Where I live you need to mount the antenna at least on an exterior wall, if not the roof to get a clear signal. Then you have to run coax to your TV, through walls, perhaps multiple locations or you can only watch broadcast on that one TV. It’s easily hours of work, including trip to the hardware store, and having the tools. Still worth the one time effort from some, but the barrier is a lot higher than a one time $10 expense.
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