Olympic Dispatch #1 Paris 2024

           My favorite time of every two years has finally arrived; summer, winter, Paris, Tokyo, Salt Lake, rugby, skiing, biathlon, water polo, gymnastics, figure skating, Nordic combine, curling, cycling…I do not care what it is I will watch these champions compete. I will cheer wildly in my house, I will check scores in public, I will wear ALL my various Olympic gear for the duration of the games. This year is, thankfully, easier on me as a viewer. A five-hour time difference is nothing compared to the last 3 Olympics taking place in China, Japan, and South Korea respectively, and I moved directly from waking up for the Tour De France to the Olympics without much gap so my experience has been largely uninterrupted.

I completely got rid of cable about a year ago, I purchased an HD antenna so I can access local broadcast television, and I have various apps that serve as my main television and movie viewing platforms. I have been, unimpressed, in recent years by NBC’s coverage, and of the overall partnership in play. None of this is due to hosts, or technicians (though the audio mix on the TDF has been problematic the last two years), and certainly not due to the world class athletes. It always has to do with the way various executives choose to build their coverage plan. This Peacock experience (though we are only on day 2) has been better than the last, when the streamer was new and still getting its Olympic footing, but there is still a gap between what sports viewers and Olympic fanatics want to see, and what is on the screen. This morning I was watching women’s mountain bike racing,Pauline Prevot of France raised her arms in triumph and the edge of her front wheel hit the finish line, instead of watching her entire bicycle and body cross the line, and her ( I assume tearful embrace with her supporters) I got to watch a Visa commercial for 30 seconds. I know ads support media, but how is this the time?! Let the footage breath for 30 seconds, Prevot finished about 3 minutes ahead of American Hayley Batten, so why not show us the champion’s entire body crossing the line, insert a smaller box with the following riders while we can watch Prevot celebrate and THEN go to an ad before rejoining programming. I’m sure this will get cleaned up for primetime, but sports are meant to be viewed live! Sports are one of the very few reasons many people still even have regular television- and as sports markets create more and more blackouts for local teams, folk are getting FED UP. Another piece of this that grinds my gears has been, and this blame is more about the organizers of the games, why was men’s rugby OVER (except the medal games)before the opening ceremonies?! I understand rugby 7s pool play can take a bit, and I understand that the fields are multi-purpose and there’s a lot of events and not a lot of time, but rugby is a pretty popular global sport, it is rarely on TV but a lot of people really enjoy it, at least give us the semi-finals after the opening ceremonies. NBC did air the prelim games on Peacock, I was able to watch some, but there was little to no advertising and that blame falls on both the Olympic Committee (so few people realize the games start before the games start) AND the broadcast partners for not doing a better job of making it public.

           In yet another round of “AI no one asked for and no one wants” NBC is also using an AI version of Al Michaels voice will be creating a personalized “Daily Olympic Recap” on Peacock. Apparently, NBC thinks this is great, and I seem to be the only person I know who is mad about this. After last summer, and the actor and writer strikes and so much of it having to do with AI being used for art and replacing people’s jobs (a reminder that we want AI to make our grocery lists and find coupons, I do not want it to draw me as a space monkey, or write a poem.) I am shocked that more people aren’t up in arms about this, including Fran Drescher, WGA East, and Al Michaels himself! Just one more job that kids dream of having that may not be long for this world, because some executive thinks it’s a good, "cost saving" idea.

           I am hopeful, that the Paralympics, beginning Aug 28^th,  get the coverage they deserve this year. They are typically woefully underrepresented for viewers and that won’t change unless we demand that change, these athletes are no less impressive than your favorite Olympic stars, in fact some of them are far more impressive. It seems as though NBC is investing in coverage this year, so let’s hope it does right by Team USA and the world. To paraphrase Paralympic high jumper, Ezra Fetch, speaking at the Team USA media summit earlier this year: you can change the world simply by paying attention to these sports and athletes. He’s right and he better get that Gold.

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