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Community Corner

Tape Delayed Opening Cermonies Draws Complaints From Americans

The Associated Press reported Friday that NBC was criticized for failing to stream the opening ceremonies online.


While the rest of the world was watching the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympic Games, Americans were left in the dark.

The Associated Press reported Friday that NBC was criticized for failing to stream the opening ceremonies online.

NBC Universal announced it would stream live every athletic competition from this year's games but had never intended to show the opening and closing ceremonies except on tape delay.

Viewers on the west coast were not allowed to watch the ceremonies until long after the day ended in London.

AP quoted NBC Sports spokesman Christopher McCloskey as saying the ceremonies "are complex entertainment spectacles that do not translate well online because they require context, which our award-winning production team will provide for the large prime-time audiences that gather together to watch them."

Twitter was aflutter with complaints regarding the situation and provided links for the BBC live broadcast of the event.

Piers Morgan, a popular host on CNN, tweeted details about the ceremony, including this tweet: "Laughable that America is yet to start watching the Olympic ceremony on TV. Seriously."

In 2008, NBC also waited to broadcast the opening ceremonies in Beijing amid complaints, although the buzz from China helped create a television audience of 34.9 million people, the largest opening ceremony audience in 12 years.

 

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