just put the Olympics on

It makes the fact that it's referred to as live or on demand seem kind of ironic. :)

I couldn't agree more.. However these may be upfront issues. Once a user has decided they want to use the service, these may become moot (just as how people put up with commercials because they've decided they want to watch the programming).

However the poor information design of the site can't be overlooked.  My take on this:
http://www.tripleconfluence.com/2008/08/25/nbc-olympics-web-coverage-ignoring-customers-leads-to-failed-business/

Kudos to NBC for _trying_ to make video available via the web.  It must cost a fortune to obtain all that video, and I personally was looking forward to seeing some of the more obscure sports that aren't shown in primetime.  And you can't really blame them for trying to recoup those costs - how else are they going to pay the videographers, editors, web site programmers, etc .

However, I was disappointed.  The main problem as I see it is that the video quality is 1998 rather than 2008.  I have tried viewing from a cable modem at home, a T1 at work, and wifi at a hotel - all with the same buffering… ... ... ... ... and then jerky - almost still photo quality "video."  Compare to youtube - where although it's a little grainy sometimes - at least it is truly video.

Listen up NBC:
1 - Make it easy to use (don't require the ridiculous "proof" that your user is a viewer of your local affiliate).
2 - Make it work at least 99% of the time.
3 - Viewers will watch the commercials (we've put up with that on TV for 50 years).

Yes. And Craig Hummer and Heather Olson need to SHUT-UP during synchronized swimming. The same goes for events that have a music element. Such poor taste NBC.

I just got into this issue, not having too much time to watch the olympics because of work i wanted to see highlights on youtube and realized something is wrong here. Soon i found out NBC's got the rights to it. Whatever side you take i dont really care all i know is that i used to watch the olympic games with my family and it used to be a big thing but not anymore. It's a world event and it cant really be seen on American TV. In Europe it's probably on 24/7. Fact is there is no "olympic spirit" in the US. I dont hear people talk about it on the street or work, and NBC is adding to this alienation of Americans from the rest of the world. Does everything have to be a money vehicle? Where does the market stop?? NBC paid for the exclusive right to cover the event, how is that even possible…

I think that NBC has robots conducting the interviews of the athletes after the events.  The woman who interviewed the young diver in tears was horrendous.  Does she have any feelings whatsoever?  And the close ups of the losing athletes trying to explain how they feel after losing a chance of a lifetime-  pathetic!

I am so P off with NBC, they don't even air the events last three night were re runs, and all they showed was gymastics… I wanted to watch the 200 m race and can't even see it and the funny thing is when you got to the wesite it's just a bunch of picture. You can't even see a video.

I just hope next four years some other TV company deside to show the real game in real time. After all this is a real world.

Living in Florida, USA the only sports worth watching for me are the Olimpics. Wich i've been following for 40 yrs. but only been able to catch maybe 2 or 3 games of my fav. sports thanks to this ridiculous broadcasting aimed to people who couldn't care less about thrue sport.

Can someone make that biased female narrator in the diving event shut up?

how long is NBCs stranglehold on the olympics anyway ?
Their programmers feel like congress…completely clueless.
they're complacent and i havent seen any creative statistics during events. the most innovative thing has been the green world record line in swimming.  if they were smart they'd have "OC" ... Olympic Center, where the previous days events were highlighted, every night, for an hour in prime time, like espn's sport center.

i havent seen 1 from the most popular sport in the world, mens soccer, and the semi finals are tomorrow. yet, beach volleyball is on so much i think im shitting sand.

NBC COVERAGE SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why would they block Canadians from watching?  Are they trying to start a war here now too between friends?

Oh, I'm also enjoying how NBC only posts the times of the events for the East Coast and lets us West Coast americans watch the events after they've already occured and been enjoyed by those on the East Coast. Thanks NBC.

Yeah, this is pretty rediculous. The event I most wanted to watch, Keirin, came on while I was still sleeping, despite TVguide telling me that it wouldn't be on until later. Annoyed at this, I decided to check out the video of the race online. Well that didn't happen. NBC apparently thought that the video wasn't going to be watched enough to be loaded online, since a Brit won. I found out that the video was up on BBC and Yahoo's website, but since I'm from the US, NBC territory, I was denied access to the videos, as I am only allowed to watch these videos through NBC. Overall, I am less than thrill with this totalitarian means of watching the olympics. This IS supposed to be a sports even for everyone of every country, but I am denied the right to watch the events I want to? Bullshit.

So I wanted to watch live a potentially fabulous event tonight, Michael Phelps winning a record number of gold medals in one Olympic Games….. I'm not even American but I do love to watch the Olympics.  However, there is one little problem, I happen to live on the West Coast of the USA, which according to NBC executives means that we are 'second class people'.  Do I get to watch the event live even though I pay hellish monthly fees for cable?  Hell no, I have to wait an additional 3 hours to see the event, and during the delayed telecast there is this really really annoying logo saying 'LIVE' in the corner of the screen, which is plainly NBC false advertising.  I can't even watch it live online on the NBC website!  NBC - you need to get serious about showing LIVE sport.  Can you imagine the uproar is they decided to delay the telecasting of the Superbowl by 3 hours, so why is the Olympics any different.  Oh, I forgot, the almightly buck runs America!  Now I know why so many people around here are buying Canadian satellite dishes!!!!  NBC - wake up to the reality of LIVE sport that the rest of the world gets to watch.

I'm sorry, but I just wanted to watch live gymnastics tonight, and there wasn't any.  I'm so pissed off, the TV is off (again) and will remain so for the rest of our lives (as it usually is) I hate Big Brother in the USA, we are more controlled than any other citizens in the world.  The only difference is that we are controlled by corperate america rather than a government.  Wait, they are our government…  Can't you people smell the propaganda?  I've never experienced such a mind controlled populace since Hitler.

This is why piracy exists. I do not recognize NBC's claim that they are the exclusive provider of this cultural event, simply because of some arbitrary license.

Guys and girls, you all need to calm down!
The Olympics is the highest showcase of athletic talent and perserverance. To look down on the "cheesy" and "emotional" segments they do about athletes is to disparage the amazing journey some of the athletes undertook to reach the games.
NBC is trying to get the highest amount of people to watch the games; so they switch around from sport to sport. Although there are some who want to watch the Greco-Roman qualifiers, or the Fencing Semi's, or the 2nd rotation of the Male Gymnastics, or even a Russian Family in the U.S. who wants to watch Russia compete in gymnastics, regardless of how poor they do, not EVERYBODY wants to watch these events. NBC is trying to maximize their viewers by switching from sport to sport, venue to venue to capture the most wanted events. I would say, though, that I am getting really sick of Synchronized Diving and Beach Volleyball.
To accomidate wrestling, fencing, gymnastic, and Russian fans in the U.S. and to make more money, NBC put the Olympics on the internet. The site is a bit overwhelming, but after a bit you get a bit used to it.
Find the schedule, find the time of what you want to watch, if you cant get to a computer, a T.V., don't have TiVo, or an internet enabled cell, then you may be a little out of luck.
And lay off Bob Costas. . .the man looks like a puppy dog

The website is about a 5 out of 10.  Many of the links do not work, or are programed incorrectly.  They started out showing a lot of the video feed of the events, but that has dropped off.  I guess they are not making enough money from all the sponsorship….that was sarcasm for those of you who do not recognize it.
If they want exclusive rights, they should be showing us the games.  Otherwise, let somebody else step up to the plate.

This is so frustrating… I'm from Australia but live in the US.  I surely don't expect NBC to show the results of Australian athletes either on the television or their website.  So imagine my surprise and pure frustration when I could not view the videos on the official Olympic website of the Australian broadcaster…. even that's been BLOCKED!!!
Give me a break NBC… this is ridiculous!!!!

this is terrible. i know compete and train with many of the fencers on the canadian team that is in beijing, and CBC RAI and NBC have blocked their coverage regionally. but even when one uses loopholes (proxy servers) and gets in. the stupid live coverage doesent even work. this really pisses me off because for the first time they actually air my sport, i cant even watch it when im _ _ _ _ _ _g abroad!

I'll tell you what angers me about NBC's coverage; they are only showing portions of some of the major events without showing them live on-line.  The most popular events are NOT streaming live online so you have to catch them on TV, but then they only show a part of them.  My favorite event is gymnastics.  I've been waiting for the men's team finals but they aren't showing all of it!  They keep cutting away to swimming and other events, as a result we missed the entire second rotation and have only seen a bit of the American and Chinese teams,  without seeing any of the other teams at all!  This is infuriating, if you aren't going to stream popular events like this online then you should be broadcasting the ENTIRE event on TV.  If you can't broadcast the entire event on TV, then let us watch it online!

After attempting to watch things on NBCOlympics.com a few times, I'm coming to the conclusion that it might be designed to fail. At first I was impressed by the quality of the Silverlight-powered images. But once you get beyond that, it's just not a good viewing experience for a couple of reasons.

—Scheduling: After trying several times, I haven't been able to find a good, usable schedule of what's online when. I'm sure it's all there in some form or another, but it's not easy to compile.

—Viewing: This is the real problem. Without extensive camerawork and commentary it's pretty hard to follow most sports. I understand the lack of resources. For the number of hours they're covering online and on TV, you can't have multiple cameras and announcers for every event. But the one shot, sans-context doesn't work for many sports. It'd probably work fine for stuff like basketball or Swimming—stuff that won't be shown online live. The more obscure sports need some more production.

So far the best thing about the site is that they put up the full replay of the amazing swim event. I've watched it five times already and I hope they keep it up for a long time. It's here btw: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0811_hd_swb_hl_l0194

Once something has been shown live, there's really no good reason not to put that clip online, as far as I can tell.

I guess my point is that as impressive as this production is—and it is an unparallelled undertaking—the internet isn't a match for TV.

As for everything else, I think NBC has done a fine job. The tape delay stuff is a bit annoying, but that's the breaks when the Olympics is on the other side of the globe. Next time it's in a closer timezone, that problem will go away.

And I don't have a problem with the NBC focusing on and rooting for the Americans. I've no doubt they do the same in other countries. Why wouldn't they?

STACI D -  Got it on Tivo, its right after the Romanians doing the balance beam, 2nd vault I believe.  Another instance is when an American is halfway thru a routine (vault?) NBC spoils it by saying, "look how good she does this" just before it happens. 

It's like NBC structured their coverage for old geezers - "watch what happens next, papa, she's going to mess up".  Only about 3% of their coverage is of other countries, if you exclude China. There are constant commercial interruptions, and they are long interruptions.  The announcers won't shut up, so we can't enjoy what's going on anyway.  I have not seen a single event live except for on the internet.  I don't need to see Costas sitting on a couch interviewing people, or more backstories - I want to see INTERNATIONAL competition, not just the USA athletes.

I've been waiting years for this and to see how NBC has screwed it up is a huge letdown - and now a message from our sponsors…

I just wanted to watch that kid swim…...NBC kept saying, a few more hours, a few more hours! Good grief, I went to ESPN and got the results, and put a tape in and went to bed. I'm on the West coast. Micheal Phelps swam (Not live) at midnight. For crying out loud, I have to work the next day!

I suppose there is and in 2010 the Olympics are in Vancouver/Whistler so there will be great expectations.  We always want our atheletes to win however because we are not a powerhouse, we are more realistic I guess.  Overall the CBC is still very good at being more about the event and the sportsmanship than the local entry.  I must say that all I watch on CBC is sports which they do very well however the rest of their programming is not for me.  We get our US programming via cable from the nearest big US city to the south of where we are (in my case Spokane Wash). If one has a satellite dish which I do then you can choose either an eastern or western feed as well as the HD versions of each.  Most Canadians get the bulk of their TV from one of the US networks with the exception of local news etc.  Canadian regulators still won't allow us to have HBO yet, not sure why!

Will see what happens in 2010, I'm sure there is no way to match the opening ceremonies!

Randy—Do you feel like there's a difference in CBC coverage between the summer games and winter, when expectations are much higher for Canada?

After 2 days it is very frustrating trying to figure out what is live and what is taped, in Canada we have the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting System) that does a much better job than NBC at being impartial about the event or the atheletes.  They (CBC) focus on all the countries and not just rah rah for the home team.  We also did see the opening ceremonies live.  When I switch to NBC I find they really only seem to focus on the US atheletes in the various events.  Makes you want to root for the others.  I guess here in Canada we don't expect a lot of medals so there is much more attention given to the achievements of all participants.

A few quick notes ... Teresa—However upset you are by NBC's coverage, I'm sure you're not suggesting that the victims in that attack deserved it.

Patrick—Are you on the West Coast? It was live in the East and Central ... I forgot I was on intentional personal tape delay so missed it in real time by a few minutes but saw the time of the news bulletins so know it was on track. It was amazingly exciting, especially because the NBC folks expected the French to win. If you're on pacific, I feel your pain.

Markus—NBC made no secret of the decision to show many of the events taped in prime time. Only events with the "Live" logo are live ... I saw much of the gymnastics coverage and didn't feel like I knew what was coming—unless you could tell by the moves, which was the case some of the time, but maybe I missed the incident you saw.

To add to it, I tried watching Phelps swim the 4X 100 last night LIVE, but when the time came it was not permitted. NBC wanted to run it on the TV for a wider audience, but they ran it two hours too late. By the time we could watch it on TV, the race was over and the results were posted online.

After 2 days, I'm so disgusted by NBC and the games themselves.  The NBC commentators are rude in their anti China remarks.  They diminish the abilities of non American athletes.  The men's indoor volleyball was a pathetic example of the sport with no one trying to volley, just showing how well they can spike the ball, the constant breaks and the group hugs and even a couple of attempts at cheating.  The coverage of the women's indoor volleyball was so slanted.  They seemed to think if they kept talking them up, they'd manage a come back. I'm so fed up with these people that I've started rooting for other countries.  Many of our athletes and the commentators are just an embarassment to me.  I don't care what issues they have with the Chinese.  It's their country.  They can run it however they want.  It's unfair to judge the people by their government.  Would you want to be judged by what people think of our politicians?  Are the commentators judging the Russia athletes based on the current situation in Georgia?  The Chinese are our hosts and the Americans visiting their country need to behave better.  I'm starting to think the so-called crazed, knife wielding Chinese man from a few days ago wasn't so crazed, but actually offended by the rude behavior of the Americans.

Well, now I know that more than the opening ceremonies were taped.  I'm watching the women's Chinese gymnastic qualifiers, Xiaing Yuyuang is starting her run for the vault and the NBC guy is talking about how she is about to totally screw up!  Which she then magically did.  Not only can we not watch it live, but NBC has to spoil the events for us!

Then American Nastia Luikin on the balance beam has a great run and NBC cuts to commercial before her score is shown!

Add to that the fact that I've never seen so many commercials in my life, nor ever been so disgusted with Bob Costas" voice…I say boycott the entire network until ABC has the Olympics again…The only thing they have that I like is The Office, and I'll buy the DVD set so I never have to watch this skinflint network again!

I am so disappointed with Bob Costas.  I want to watch the Olympics…I want to see athletes in action,  I want to be amazed and entertained.  I am tired to being hammered by political campaigns and the surplus of journalistic talking heads.  And there I sit watching Costas batter the President over China's human rights.  Give me a break….it's sports at its best.  I am so totally maxed out by the press, their selection of what we the public should know and their slants…be that liberal or conservative.  They talk and talk and talk, trying to trip up someone to say something that they can scrutinize and criticize with more talk, talk, talk.  What a wasteland!!

I think it would have been valuable had NBC offered an "ad free" live feed of every event to users for a subscription fee, and ideally one where they could select what language they wanted the commentary in.  People would have gotten access to the content and with no ads.

I agree completely that someone is just being money-hungry. I don't subscribe to any television service because I refuse to pay someone $50 a month for commercial and profanity infested programming when I can pay $50 (or less) for DVD boxsets of the few programs I like with no commercials. Because of this, NBC says that I either need to lie about my cable provider or not watch the Olympics at all.

What bothers me, though, is that the IOC seems to care more about money from big broadcasting contracts than making sure that everyone in the world has access to the events. It is a supreme irony that the olympics, which are supposed to bring the world together, are actually only for those who pay large sums of money to some broadcaster so they can pay the IOC even larger amounts of money for the rights to show the material. If these games are supposed to be for the entire world, why exclude anyone (be it because of where they live, what services they do or do not buy, or what kind of software they run)? Obviously, the IOC doesn't care about what NBC is doing to their games, just so long as their check arrives…

I am very bothered by the idea of any entity, cooperate or governmental, drawing boundaries and exclusion zones around the internet.  The internet should be free and open to all content, news and entertainment, regardless of political boundaries.  In this way the consumer can choose who has the best content, not the content provider or the portal custodian.

And regarding the Olympic opening ceremony, I would prefer to have watched it while it was happening, live.  All arguments for free flow of information aside, why didn't NBC just show it twice?  Couldn’t they have figured out a way to profit from it?

More poignantly, I regret that Chinese living and working in the USA were unable to watch their country make history as it happened.  Their disappointment must have been tremendous as they tried frantically to find some outlet to the ceremony unfolding on the other side of the world only to have it taken away time and time again. 

I had a similar experience during April 2001 when I was in China and a U.S. Navy EP-3 had to emergency land on Hainan Island.  I was only able to receive news from the Chinese perspective because all opposing views either posted on the internet or broadcast were blocked.  That time it was the Chinese government censoring the flow of information.  I didn't appreciate the censorship then and I certainly don't like it here in my own country.

My bottom line is leave the internet open to all and let the consumer chose the content they prefer to view at the time they prefer to view it.

I am dumbfounded that the Olympics is not carried live in the US.  In communicating with others abroad, I am ashamed to reveal that I had yet to watch the opening ceremony.  Are you kidding me!?  The 'greatest country on earth' and a simple matter of being able to participate in a live world event i.e. AS IT IS HAPPENING, is not accorded to Americans.  Instead, like some third world country which could not afford to obtain a live feed, we await the 'recorded event'. 

To compound the insult, the "Today" show team transmits from Beijing as the ceremony is unfolding, but yet carry on with their inane chatter about Chinese food and customs, like some travel channel segment. 

What an absolute joke!!

Even if you agree NBC should be allowed to restrict online access, it has to be the dumbest thing I ever heard not to post the entire opening ceremony.  At least the creative portion at the beginning.  The only thing up is the lighting part at the end.  The parade is a little dull but the first part was just awesome.  You'd think that video would be a major destination.

I agree the announcers should have shut up more.  The imagery and sound could hold up on its own.

While NBC's coverage of the Olympics is bad there is still someone worse - CBS.  The coverage for the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano was absolutely atrocious thanks to CBS.  Nobody wonders why it's ratings set a new low.  Tonight's coverage of the Opening Ceremonies wasn't too bad - in reality it was the Olympic Sponsor Commercials interspersed with a few minutes of the actual Ceremonies.  My one suggestions - somebody really needs to tell Bob Costas to keep his mouth shut.  No one cares about how his wife supports one team while Bob roots for the U.S. or the vague musical jokes (South Pacific and West Side Story).  Tell me the facts, tell me what is going on and then shut the **** up.  I will definitely look for the DVD of the Ceremonies in the near future but I won't the NBC version.  I know I have a long time for wait for NBC's Olympic contract to expire (after 2012 unfortunately) but maybe ABC will then be able to provide us with better coverage.  They surely cannot do worse than NBC.

I really dont like the way NBC is running this whole thing.. I mean, this is a brand new opportunity to let the whole world participate in watching the olympics, while they are happening or on-demand, that is what the internet has allowed for..

Also, my local NBC station had a power outage during the opening ceremony so I decide to look online and… blam, "a third party has requested for this video to be remoced"!!! So I check NBC.com, approx. 12 hours after the ceremonies and no video is posted..

I really like the set-up for the NBC site but they really dropped the ball on the "On-Demand" part and Silverlight doesnt allow full-screen-width viewing. I mean those two are like the biggest boneses of online viewing but NBC is so Ad-whored it makes me not even care to watch the smaller events now.

I say ABC Sports (ESPN) should just buy the damn contract, NBC doesnt deserve it, selfish morons!

Would someone tell Bob Costas a little about Chinese history.  He just said: "This is the most important night in moden Chinese history."

How about:

1. July 7, 1937 - Japan invades China (with whom they had been fighting since 1932).  Over 20 million Chinese people were killed before WWII ended.

2. August 9, 1945 - WWII ends.

3. December 29, 1883 - Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-Tung) born.

Why is there a political comment attached to every description of the
amazing opening of the Olympics ?
  We look like the sourpuss at a fun party…..

I'm frustrated that the NBC website won't seem to let me watch any videos because I don't subscribe to any cable or digital television service.  What's that about?

Nevermind online; from what I was reading, NBC chose not to live-broadcast the opening ceremony on *TV*! Aired the Today programme instead? I gather the big idea there is to keep the views for the primetime recorded broadcast (?). Durrr.

That's a tragedy as this opening ceremony was the most beautiful, impressive spectacle. BBC showed the whole four hours, online and off. Excellent commentary from the British anchors, one of whom speaks Chinese. Beat that.

Olympics is the biggest sporting event and brings people from all parts of the world together to share, compete, excel and celebrate sporting achievements. It's a great dissappointment that Olympics is not telecast LIVE in the US. Besides, coverage from NBC is also limited, if not somewhat parochial. It's really a SHAME that in this country, one gets to watch WAR LIVE but NO LIVE COVERAGE of OLYMPICS. I hope this criticism is taken in the proper spirit because US is indeed a a great country when there's a humanitarian need anywhere in the world.

NBC 5UCKS!!

The opening ceremonies are on, I have friends who work across the world that are watching it LIVE and chatting with me about it and I have to tell them that it will be on LATER TODAY!  You've got to me effing kidding me!!  They will show hours or idiotic feel good stories on our athletes, but the OPENING CEREMONIES are recorded?  So what if most people are at work - just show the damn thing.

I can't wait till after 2012 till when they are done and someone with a better idea of what the Olympics is all about (a world event where we like to watch the best of the best - not just our country men and women. 

Thank you, Numbskull Broadcasting Corp!

And then, there is that portion of the population that chooses NOT to run Microsoft software, and is therefore unable to watch the Olympics online. If I wish to watch on my computer, I'll have to install a pirate copy of Windblows in a virtual machine on my Linux system.

Welcom to NBC, the Nazi Broadcasting Company.
Where you see what we want you to see when we want you to see it.
Come guys, let's get the live feed on the internet!

I just watched a sample video via the NBC Site. I had to install the Silverlight plugin (which turned out to be a pretty darn good video player) but already I am suffering with the tinkly music and soft focus baby pictures sliding across the screen Ken Burns style while the narrator (inevitably) intones, "Little Tammy Whiplash was born without a head, but that didn't stop her from dreaming of being on the Olympic swim team…."

Just show the damn athletic even, and if I ASK to see the history of the athlete staring with his humble beginnings as a mud farmer in Stanistan, by all means, let me click on it and watch until I'm blubbering like a schoolgirl. Hell you can even toss a commercial or two next to the content. Or better yet, pause this and play the commercial. Or wrap it in a commercial with a preroll/postroll. Just spare me the heartwarming tales of tragedy and triumph.

As a Chinese American not able to go to Beijing to watch the opening ceremony, I am upset, just like many Chinese Americans and oversea Chinese are, that NBC will not be broadcasting the Olympics live, and without interruption. It is obvious to many people, not just the Chinese, that the Olympic games in Beijing has deep political and social significance to both the Chinese and Chinese internationals all over the world. In America alone, the Chinese population is significant, and the NBC viewers watching the opening ceremony will be composed of a large amount of Chinese people. I find it hard to comprehend that NBC cannot broadcast the Olympics live without interruption in the morning and then show the tailored version at night.

well, with the time difference, i don't expect to be able to watch much at work (i'm in LA). i think that's the only reason i don't find this ridiculous.

obviously, nbc learned a bit from the us open and how popular watching sports at work is. i don't see how this could come as a loss - last time i checked, you can advertise online.

Live doesn't matter to me - I don't even know what the time difference is and I don't want to worry about remember the schedules. However, I'm looking forward to being able to access lower profile sports (that interest me) like judo and freestyle wrestling that get very little or random, hard to find air-time.

JackH
This is U.S. rights only..each country's rights holder restricts online video coverage to within the country.

Is this US only or worldwide? Is there _no_ european or asian website allowed to show any Olympics material online?!?!

for me the actual experience of watching television is so noxious that there is no event anywhere that will make me even own one, let alone turn one on

I can see why NBC goes this way with their broadcast. They pay a fortune for the exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympics, and I guess they just wanna make sure they get as much back from it as possible.

I think the real issue here is we are obviously past the point where exclusive corporate broadcasting deals like this should even be issued. How about for the 2010 olympics, all events are broadcast live online without any exclusive coverage. Anyone who wants to come in and broadcast, like NBC, CBS, Fox, etc is more then allowed to do so. The Olympics is supposed to be this worldwide unity of sport event, but it seems more to me like a restrictive corporate shilling…

I'm not planning to watch any of the Olympics anyway (there is only so much high diving someone can take) but I'd love to see Olympic coverage move more toward a "for the people" model, where anyone can do whatever coverage they want…

I'd definitely be more interested in it if it went that way…

I think I'm with Steve or I'm really missing something here. NBC's cost to do this is absolutely staggering, and the online community should not be complaining about any reasonable commercialism.  NBC is very likely to *lose* money on the online stuff, so your expectation seems way out of line here.  I doubt they'll invoke many delays in showing these as the value decreases very dramatically with time.

I am not asking them to provide embed codes or free video sharing. Just let me watch the damn games live, without any interruptions…what if i am not near a TV (meaning at work?)

You have ridiculous expectations. This is completely reasonable.