NBC’s Olympic Failure As A Breaking Point

Any Americans that paid even remote attention to the recent 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver would know that NBC royally screwed up.  Skipping events, giving only selected highlights, delaying coverage until primetime, annoying commentators/voiceovers, a lack of Internet coverage – these are just some of the problems that plagued their television coverage, upsetting average citizens and Congressmen alike.  This is the moment of revolution.

NBC has held the rights to broadcasting the Olympics within the United States for some time, but 2012 may be their last – various other networks have expressed interest in bidding with the IOC.  In what will undoubtedly become a highly politicized event, these other networks may have a shot at properly handling the broadcast of the Games on television, without ruining the experience for their viewers.

Despite having investments in properties like Hulu, NBC chose to restrict the television coverage and put only the least interesting moments on their website, entirely ignoring the sociotechnological differences between 2010 and 2008.  Two years ago, at the Summer Games, some of this behavior was acceptable, since online video had not yet reached the mainstream popularity it has today, and most Americans simply didn’t know any better.  This has, however, changed, and NBC will inevitably pay for their mistakes.

The age of Hulu, Twitter, Facebook, Netflix, and YouTube has forever changed the way media is consumed, especially for popular events – any unwanted delay, “added value”, or other consumer-unfriendly action is met with cries of foul.  NBC’s reasoning for these actions is something along the lines of “we help filter out what viewers don’t want”, but they no longer have the right to make such a decision, especially since the majority of their actions are singularly profit-oriented.

More importantly, NBC is being considered for acquisition by Comcast, which would entirely change the rules by which media corporations operate, especially television networks and ISPs.  One of the major concerns with such a merger is that Comcast, known for its disregard for both customers and federal regulation, would use NBC as a tool to generate higher profits at the expense of customers and competitors – such as blocking web-access to Hulu in favor of Comcast-owned video properties, or charging special rates for non-NBC television content delivery.  This concern has just been vindicated.

If a company is charged with the delivery of momentous events to a great mass of people, it should feel obligated to do so in the most accessible manner possible, even if that includes slightly less profits – NBC has failed to follow this common sense logic.  In most retail or consumer-oriented businesses, the customer is always right, or at least considered to be valuable, and they are treated accordingly – NBC has also failed to live by this simple business koan.  It’s high time that another network, preferably one that is digitally savvy and not run by the idiot named Jeff Zucker, is given broadcasting rights to the Olympics.

The smart money, especially those with political savvy, is betting on 2012 as NBC’s last Olympic hurrah.

Kyle can be found on his blog, on Facebook, via email, or on Twitter.