NBC will air the 2000 Olympics from Sydney entirely in
"a taped format," according to Ann Killion of the SAN JOSE
MERCURY NEWS, who writes that NBC "will effectively turn
must-see TV into musty TV. A stale event." Killion: "For
this, you can blame me. Why me? Because I'm a woman. I'm
the targeted demographic of the Olympic telecast. ... And
apparently we won't care if we're robbed of the ultimate
Olympic moment: watching as someone wins a gold medal.
Excuse me if I fail to understand how NBC ... became an
expert on the female gender." Killion explains, "All I know
is that I'm like most women. I listen to the radio in my
car. I log on to the Internet regularly. .... I'm going to
know who won an important event by the time the NBC evening
telecast rolls around. And instead of parking in front of
the TV to watch an event whose outcome I already know, I
will probably use that time to do the laundry. ... What NBC
is failing to realize is that humans ... are interested in
real-time drama. That's the beauty of sports. ... NBC
failed to learn anything from CBS's woeful coverage of the
Nagano Olympics ... when papers such as the Mercury News
were beating the network with results." Killion concludes:
"NBC is proud that it didn't manipulate event schedules for
its benefit, but why? The largest rights holder of the
Games could make some subtle changes to help bring some
events live. ... But even events that could be aired live
won't be. Because, to NBC, the Olympics isn't sports. It's
programming. ... And the thrill of the Olympics hasn't been
to watch history in the taping, but in the making. Even
women can appreciate that" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 5/23).
