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Should SOMEBODY Tell The Idiots At NBC Universal That The Olympics Are NOT Live

JeeperOne

Banned
'Twas watchin' the replay of the Men's Gold Medal Hockey game earlier tonight & couldn't help being annoyed at the LIVE bug next to the NBC Peacock & Olympic logos in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

Makes me wonder just WHO is running master control on Universal Sports. Moreover, is ANYONE manning the master control post at that network or is it merely automated? Or (Since it's a digital subchannel of NBC affiliates) does Comcast/NBC expect affiliates to run master control for them?

Thoughts?

Otherwise, I thought the coverage was great (Although admittedly it's hard seeing Al Michaels as a studio host as he called the infamous "Miracle On Ice" game in Lake Placid, NY in 1980 while with ABC).

Cheers :D
 
Well it originally aired live, so the live bug was probably just recorded in when they taped the coverage to replay on US. I don't think that it's a big deal, I mean it's pretty clear that the Olympics are over.
 
BG is probably right, it could have been recorded on to the master tape that way. Maybe NBC didn't record a clean feed without bugs, which is a higher possibility than Master running the incorrect bug. It could also be, that NBC did record a clean feed, but it wasn't available before air time (for whatever reason,) and the only available recording was with the live bug in.

Blaming Master right away? That's cold..., but that's television.
 
On that same token, was the game tape-delayed for the western time zones? If so, was it also "live" (in name only)? In fact, were any genuinely-live events in the east passed off as "live", yet tape-delayed, in the west?
 
The bug shouldn't say LIVE if it's not live. It is as simple as that. To do so is very unprofessional and makes NBC look amateurish. Sure, the games are over and we all know it - thus it's even more obvious to all that the bug shouldn't say LIVE.
 
MarcB said:
Theres no way to remove it unless they put another color (not transparent) logo over it.

That is most certainly not true.

The graphics are added on in master control, but the raw feed is recorded sans graphics. Pretty much always. Ever watch the reruns of talk shows on Fox News (just as an easy example) - you know, when O'Reilly is shown at 8 PT/11 ET? They always leave off the word "live" above the Fox box. Because they can and should.

You are probably confused because you see news clips from other stations where the graphics are left on. Content providers started doing this (leaving their bugs on) so that they actually get some credit for the "scoop" - and perhaps could do a little marketing.

That's quite different than replaying your own feed to be shown at a later scheduled time. NBC is absolutely capable of not sticking the word "live" on a recorded hockey game. Someone was lazy, incompetent, or both.
 
azumanga said:
On that same token, was the game tape-delayed for the western time zones? If so, was it also "live" (in name only)? In fact, were any genuinely-live events in the east passed off as "live", yet tape-delayed, in the west?

The Gold Medal hockey game was the only Olympic event broadcast on NBC live from coast to coast. Every other event in Vancouver was "Live on tape" 3 hours later for the Pacific Time Zone. The cable properties that NBC/Uni ran Olympic coverage on (USA, MSNBC, CNBC) were bona-fide "Live" for the West.

NBC really dropped the ball with this continued archaic tactic especially when the games were being held in same time zone as the West coast. We are very used to sporting events on the East coast being on a little earlier for us and we are more than capable of adjusting accordingly. I was spoiled outcomes on just about every event NBC packaged for primetime airing hours. I ended up not watching simply because I knew the results. It would be like watching a movie where your friend has all ready went into full detail of what happened before you even set foot in the theater.

I know New York City and the East coast is considered God's True Zone but don't treat the viewers in the #2 market as idiots and pass off tape delay as "Well, if you haven't been spoilered the results it's new to you." It's insulting to the audience especially in the age of instant access to information.
 
The local NBC affiliate may be the culprit. They are taping for rebroadcast (with NBC's blessing). They don't have the time or the care to remove the bug.
 
Perhaps they could have done what CBS did during the old tape-delayed NBA games, just put "RECORDED EARLIER" up once in a while.
 
Re: Should SOMEBODY Tell The Idiots At NBC Universal That The Olympics Are NOT L

BRNout said:
To do so is very unprofessional and makes NBC look amateurish.

Judging by their bonehead moves as of late, NBC is far worse than amateurish. How dare you compliment them in such a manner! ;)
 
jal41 said:
The local NBC affiliate may be the culprit. They are taping for rebroadcast (with NBC's blessing). They don't have the time or the care to remove the bug.
The local affiliates don't have any control over what goes out over Universal Sports. That is all NBC.

Cheers :D
 
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