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NBC TELLS EUROPE, ‘SHOVE IT’
An NBC piece on last year’s goodwill tour by Karen Hughes:
Best known for her behind-the-scenes work as President Bush’s former message master and adviser, Karen Hughes stepped out in a new role this week — taking on the tall task of improving America’s image abroad.
That task may become even more difficult ... thanks to NBC itself, as Time’s Sydney-based Rory Callinan reports:
NBC wants some major events at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing rescheduled so they’ll air in prime time in the U.S. ...
NBC has asked the International Olympic Committee to take the extraordinary step of scheduling the swimming finals in the morning in Beijing — which, since the city is 12 hours ahead of East Coast time, would position them ideally for a live U.S. broadcast.
This unilateral act of US arrogance—NBC wants other events shifted to mornings, too—would deny European and Asian viewers a chance to watch those events in normal viewing hours. You’d think NBC would be more sensitive to perceptions of US meddling in foreign affairs, no? I mean, it’s not as though NBC is unaware of certain views abroad:
America tells Europe, ‘Shove it’
I heard her interviewed by some dickwit on the BBC last week. He was rude, arrogant, and over-assertive about everything that was wrong with America. Most of what he said was utter crap, while she came across as somebody willing to try, but facing a really uphill battle with entrenched negativism from mainstream propagandist BBC media. There was no recognition from him of anything positive about the USA.
After that, I would have quite happily told the BBC, and Europe, to shove it.I’m completely confused as to why NBC would want show the Olympics live. If it were live, it would be much harder for them to make the Olympics entirely uninteresting to watch. That is their goal isn’t it? No?? Well they have succeeded marvelously!
Posted by Not My Problem on 2006 06 17 at 06:55 AM • permalinkI don’t care what time they schedule Olympic events, I still won’t watch the godawful boring thing.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 06 17 at 07:42 AM • permalinkBig Brother is watching you…
You see George Orwell, had the correct idea, but “Big Brother”, is not a singular person or government, that is the totalitarian. “Big Brother” IS THE World Wide Media, dictating to the masses what ‘they’ want, when ‘they’ want, how ‘they’ want. Masses be damned.
Big Brother is watching you. In this case, it is NBC. Here ____, ____, ____ fill in your own alphabetical Big Brother.
They hardly show any of the competition, anyway. All it is is a bunch of ‘getting to know you’ minidocumentaries; I really don’t care about the little villages that the nepalese swim team comes from.
Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2006 06 17 at 08:47 AM • permalinkAmerica tells Europe, ‘Shove it’
Not that I care about the Olympics/NBC kerfuffle, mind you, but most days I think that this is a noble sentiment.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 06 17 at 09:41 AM • permalinkBesides which, the last time that I watched the Olympics was…...heck, I don’t remember! Although I have some vague recollections of the costumes the ice skating ladies wore, for some odd reason.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 06 17 at 09:43 AM • permalinkNBC probably asks for a lot of things. Question is, has IOC said yes?
Posted by arrowhead ripper on 2006 06 17 at 09:49 AM • permalinkTo our US friends & readers…. make sure you tell NBC of your couldn’t-care-less status.
Here in Oz we (on the whole) DO care about the swimming in particular. The ONLY time we usually get these events in our prime time (or even in our waking hours) is when we hold the bloody Olympics, so it would be nice to be able to watch live AND not pay for the priviledge.
Anyway, holding finals in the morning is just plain dumb athletically…. but then we saw some NBC dumb-ness in Sydney in 20000, so I guess its par for the course.
Posted by Stop Continental Drift! on 2006 06 17 at 09:55 AM • permalinkSCD-in the 20000 Sydney Olympics how did the mutant swimmers with the dolphin flippers do?
Also, I have been on the waiting list to use the Tardis for several months now (got a trip to go drinking and skirt-chasing with Rasputin planned), but I don’t remember seeing your name on the list ahead of me-what gives?
I quit watching the Olympics when it became obvious that the broadcasters didn’t care about the competition. About 95% of the screen time was relegated to playing “It’s A Small World, Isn’t It?” and “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing”. Multi-culti BS.
They can’t even seem to re-run the exciting stuff. I thought that was one of the major advantages of instant replay and taping, but maybe it’s just me.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2006 06 17 at 10:44 AM • permalinkpetronius — China has grasped one element of the capitalist system perfectly. If NBC was stupid enough to pay a billion plus without stipulating in advance what it expected for the money, China is happy to take the cash…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 06 17 at 10:57 AM • permalinkLast time I was interested in Olympic swimming was when Mark Spitz went for 7 medals. I don’t even know the names of any US Olympians, except the skaters. Sometimes. Usually that Asian chick who never actually wins. Whatsername.
I’d probably watch if the Olympics became more traditional, and all the men competed in the nude.
I could give a shit about America’s “image problem” abroad, who has to compete when in the Olympics or who gets to watch such competition live and who doesn’t. There.
That said, the money NBC pays for its broadcast rights is something like 40% of the IOC’s total budget, so I think it’s entitled to call a few shots.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 06 17 at 01:51 PM • permalinkUshie — But where do the men tie the ribbon for rhythmic gymnastics?
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 06 17 at 02:17 PM • permalinkI’ve never understood why the US broadcasters are allowing themselves to be gouged for these rights by the IOC. I’ve googled around and apparently the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) has paid about 600 million € for the 2006/2008 rights, which is about half what NBC has apparently paid for the same package.
And that even though (from my anecdotal observation of US-based Athens 2004 broadcasts) they’re making much less use of their broadcasting rights than most European stations do. Taking the 2002 Salt Lake City games, here in Germany we got something like 16 hours coverage a day throughout the Games…broadcast start around 2pm CET for an hour or two of pre-coverage for the day, then live competition till 1am or so, followed by a couple hours of highlights, then the medal ceremony at 3am, followed by more highlights till 6 in the morning. Off to regular programming, and then at 2pm lather, rinse, repeat.
I haven’t read the comments yet because then I’d get distracted and forget what I wanted to say, so if this has been said earlier, sorry.. I’ll try to do better, later.
1. NBC is not America. NBC is not controlled by the US gov. Nor even much liked by many in the US.
2. NBC generally represents those within the US that feel the US deserves to be chopped up and give off to various other nations…cause someone in college told em so.
3. So those of the newly conquered states referred to as the EU, it wasn’t the US that told you to go indulge in close proximiting yourselves, it was that portion of US citizens that pander constantly to what ever idiocy tends to dribble from your diseased maw. (you and your refering to nasty eurolanders).If you don’t like what the NBC is asking then just say no. Try it. It’s easy, we do it to them all the time.
The rest of us ain’t saying “shove it”. Nope, no way, no how, no sir. We’re gleefully awaiting the TV coverage of the great jihad as it wanders up and down your streets. You stupid, whining, inbred, capitulist, craven, cowardly, backstabbing idiots.I imagine NBC is paying so much for the broadcast rights (compared to Europe) due to competition between the US networks for those rights.
This isn’t really anyone’s fault - just the domestic market.
That said, the Olympics should not be re-arranged to suit the preferences of any TV-market over another. If its in Asia, then those longitudes will get the best viewing times. Likewise, if its held in Europe, or the Americas.
If NBC is worried over value-for-money, it should have factored these considerations when it made its bidding. If it ‘overbidded’ then that is basically NBC’s problem to live with.
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All these time differences are due to the metric system, is the US view.