NBC's Olympic Task
"As a resident of the U.S. who is relying on NBC and its rather large group of affiliates to see the Games," said John Becker, posting on Japan Today's website, "it didn't matter to me that the opening ceremonies were shown only on tape delay. I was at work while the ceremony was actually happening, as were most Americans. But I can understand why those who would have been able to watch were upset. I'd rather see something live if the opportunity exists."
Some viewers settled for watching opening ceremony content in "almost live" on YouTube, although NBC's lawyers were successful in using Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) "takedown" notices against the YouTube videos as possible copyright violations.
"It’s a business decision," an NBC spokesman said. "It protects our affiliates, our advertisers, and shows it to the largest number of viewers possible."
Not every computer owner with a high-speed connection is able to view the video that NBCOlympics.com is providing (Mac owners with older PowerPC machines, for instance, can't watch the Silverlight-based video streams), and NBC isn't providing coverage of all events. For those people, as well as viewers who want the content live, a groundswell of sites listing alternative links has arisen.
"In many cases, your best bet for watching Olympics coverage will indeed be at NBCOlympics.com," stated a posting on Silicon Alley Insider, "which has excellent video quality and is showing a couple thousand hours worth of events…NBC isn't picking up every event. And it is specifically keeping some glamour sports—like beach volleyball, swimming and gymnastics—on its TV channels. If you want to watch those online, you'll need to try out the links listed below."
Links provided weren't being broadcast from anywhere within the United States, and the origins of these links were legitimate streams that broadcasters in other countries had rights to broadcast.
Viewers reported success in viewing Spanish or German live video streams during the opening ceremonies, but the uncertainty as to how far NBC will go to keep U.S. viewers from watching anything other than its own traditional and online coverage is stirring up continued controversy on a topic we began covering several weeks ago. Chinese CCTV's insistence that domestic Chinese broadcasters needed to obtain a streaming license from CCTV to broadcast the feed within China seemed isolated at the time.
NBC's move—and the fact NBC chooses not to cover all events—makes the most recent events both a bit more pertinent and a bit more nebulous. In a nod to the power that online video holds during this Olympics—in some cases more than four times the number of video feeds as were viewed during the Athens Olympics four years ago, according to NBC—an NBC spokesperson noted that it has asked the IOC to enforce geographical restrictions on websites from other countries that are showing live video streams.
"We take copyright law very seriously," the NBC spokesperson said, "and we’re actively working with the IOC to ensure the takedown of infringing Olympic content on the internet."
Ironically, some viewers have reported being able to view content directly from CCTV's website, as CCTV is starring in three roles in these Olympics: It is the official domestic traditional broadcaster in China, the official domestic Chinese streaming portal, and the provider of the official Olympic broadcast feed for many, many broadcasters across the world, including NBC for some events.