Beijing Oympic Games 2008: A Deceptive Display of Smoke & Mirrors

The 2008 Beijing Games are the most expensive Summer Olympics in history and NBC is enjoying record ratings. They ought to after paying nearly $900 million for the broadcasting rights. So, yes, the Summer Games seem to be a smash success. But in the era of live-blogging and webcasting, not even Chinese censorship can prevent the world’s audience from seeing behind the smoke and mirrors of both Beijing and NBC.

Weeks before the Opening Ceremony, details of Beijing’s 7 years of preparation were revealed. Steps taken to ready the country for the world’s stage included etiquette guidebooks for 4 million of the city's households as well as a ban on spitting in public. I was particularly moved by a Beijing resident’s account of how the city’s atmosphere eerily transformed in the weeks leading up to the Opening Ceremony. Facades were hung over scaffolding and cab drivers now wear (temporary, I assume) uniforms.

Shortly after Friday’s Opening Ceremony, it was revealed that fireworks in the shape of footprints were actually computer graphics for TV viewers and a 9-year-old Chinese girl who performed was actually lip synching because the girl chosen to sing wasn’t deemed “cute” enough to perform on camera.

Adding to frustration is the fact coverage on NBC’s networks is delayed and NBCOlympics.com coverage of live events exists but minimally. It seems NBC is too busy combing the Internet for any video content that is not its own.

With an almost unreasonable amount of coverage – 3,600 hours – far surpassing the combined coverage for every televised Summer Olympics in American history (2,562 hours since 1960), it's unfair that fans are being cheated out of live coverage. If content is distributed over 7 NBC properties – NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Universal HD, Oxygen, USA, and Telemundo in addition to NBCOlympics.com – couldn’t NBC have dedicated just one network to live coverage? Sure, the time zone difference makes watching live events difficult for most people but die-hard fans of the Games are clamoring for it. Especially frustrated are those that hear about scores from friends abroad who have the luxury of watching the live games.

The Opening Ceremony aired on a 12-hour delay on the east coast and a 15 hour delay on the west coast. Video clips were not available until the day after and it’s worth reiterating they were clips, not the ceremony in its entirety. Bloggers and commenters alike are charging NBC with fraud for embargoing special events for primetime. The strategy is self-serving and ensures that ratings are high. Realizing this, fans of the Games are annoyed that the network has put its own needs before its core audience’s.