I'm a fan of Olympic competition. I think it's amazing what the athletes are able to accomplish. They spend their whole lives training and struggling to become the best in the world. All for a chance to hear their national anthem played before the world and then return to their home country to crowds of people celebrating their success. It's all pretty amazing.
However I'm finding the American coverage of the winter events currently going on in Vancouver to be painful. It really sickens me the extent to which the games have fallen under corporate control. Now I'm not sure who's at fault so I guess I have to hold all parties accountable (NBC, IOC, etc)
NBC has the broadcasting rights for the Olympics. Now their first fault is airing the games with a 3 hours delay here in Washington state. We're just over 100 miles from where they're happening and have to wait for unnecessary delays because NBC has decided that they're only going to air events when most people will watch them. Now this wouldn't bother me so much if they were providing more complete coverage, however you'll be hard pressed to see anyone who isn't an American, Canadian or poised for a medal compete. The bias is infuriating.
I also don't understand why they are concerned about who my home cable provider is in order to watch live video over the internet. Their site is covered in advertising so why should it matter that I don't subscribe to Comcast Digital Cable. I have Comcast internet but apparently that's not enough.
There is one thing that the IOC could do to change this. Before Beijing 2008 we were able to watch the CBC broadcasts of the Olympics, but not any more. I think that in order to make as much coverage available as possible there should be no restrictions on which outlets you can watch the coverage regardless of your location.
Now I'm just ranting. I'll spare you anymore. Needless to say there are going to be some angry letters sent out.
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