The Olympics (In General)

[Cadence]

I think the recurrent explanation is that we have a bunch of people trying to "get into" streaming, so they can get all those sweet, sweet Netflix profits, and then they learn ... it's not that easy.

Sure, you can make a streaming platform that works, and is successful, and scales to an immense number of users, and has a workable interface, and you can use on a variety of platforms. Heck, Disney+ just launched one.

But it's hard. It requires a lot of investment of time and money. And even when you do that, it's not always great. Heck, I love HBO Max for the content, and they had a lot of prior experience (because of HBO), but ... it's still la cruddy, buggy interface compared to Netflix.

Every increasing losses from Peacock (lost $560 million in Q4 last year).

Comcast Beats Q4 Earnings: NBCU Revenue Rises 25.6% as Peacock Tops 24 Million Monthly Active U.S. Accounts

Comcast reported its fourth-quarter 2021 earnings Thursday, beating Wall Street's expectations on both revenue and earnings.

variety.com

 

[Thunderfoot]

So when NBC started launching network after network and they started 'delegating' Olympic duties to their child channels; the writing was on the wall. They have this idea of 100% coverage but spread like a shotgun blast. Then they launch Peacock, and I apologize for the mental visuals, but it was like taking Ex-lax for diarrhea.

I made the decision to enjoy the Games in spite of the network, not because of it. I'm not admonishing anyone to do the same or for not trying or whatever else, but that is my take.

Beijing did get snow, but like many places, the amount this year is...low. After prepping the hills for the Alpine events they had to postpone many events multiple times due to snow and wind. Of course the brown could also be the pollution, but.... yeah.

@Snarf Zagyg It's nice to know there are others that share my love of some of the ''fringe'' events (at least as far as most North Americans are concerned). I think it was telling that the cross-country skiing marathon (50K) had to be cut in half (well to 30K anyways) due to temperatures and wind. So the cold was there, just not the snow. Also a fan of curling.

 

[éxypnos]

The last REALLY good Summer and Winter Olympics was '76. It's been all downhill since then.

 

[Maxperson]

I normally watch quite a bit of the Olympics and enjoy both summer and winter, with winter edging out summer by a small margin. This year I skipped it entirely. I refused to watch it due to the host country being who it was.

 

[Thunderfoot]

The last REALLY good Summer and Winter Olympics was '76. It's been all downhill since then.

Now hold up... 80 Winter in Lake Placid was epic. One might even say...miraculous. lol

 

[éxypnos]

Now hold up... 80 Winter in Lake Placid was epic. One might even say...miraculous. lol

Yes, but I was referring to a combo of both Summer/Winter games. If just looking at Winter games then 1980 would be a top contender for #1.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Yes, but I was referring to a combo of both Summer/Winter games. If just looking at Winter games then 1980 would be a top contender for #1.

Aaaaahhhh, yeah those '80 Summer games were a bit of a wash. And '84 was fun, but only because of all the free McDonald's food. lol

 

[éxypnos]

Aaaaahhhh, yeah those '80 Summer games were a bit of a wash. And '84 was fun, but only because of all the free McDonald's food. lol

OMG! I remember that now (McDonalds scratch offs.)

 

[GreyLord]

I don't think that it's irreparably damaged, but this year was, by far, the worst I remember.

For me, the Winter Olympics has always had a special place in my heart- probably ever since Lillehammer. It's fun, it's fast, and I usually enjoy it more than the Summer games. While I've never been into the ice skating drama, I love the various skiing events (both downhill and cross-county) and the sled events, and there will always be a special place in my heart for biathlon ... probably because of the Apple II winter games!

But this year was the perfect storm of suck. Everything that I normally can keep out was far to front and center. But while you listed them, I thought I'd go into a little more detail as to why I, a person who normally watches as much as possible, just couldn't-

1. China and politicization. That's really a big part of it. No one can say, with a straight face, that the Olympics aren't politicized (1936? or the dueling boycotts of '80 and '84?). But it's been a long time since it's been so in-your-face. I'm not going to go into the details, because it's not appropriate on this board, but from the opening ceremony on everything was sour.

2. Snow. The first even I tried to watch was a Nordic (cross-country) ski event. Every ... single .... time ... the camera panned out, all I saw was brown everywhere. I know that the Olympics have become these sprawling big deals, but couldn't we just try and have the Winter Olympics in places already known for winter sports and ... snow?

3. Time change. This happens, and it can't be helped. But it certainly doesn't improve the experience.

4. Friggin' Peacock. I can't even. NBC is still trying to make fetch happen. And the experience of NBC continuing to leverage their Olympics rights to their various platforms is miserable. In all honesty, they seem to have finally got the process almost working the last time through the NBC Olympics app, and then they blow everything up this time around. The few times I thought to myself that I did want to watch something ... I gave up after a while.


In the end, the Winter Olympics was always the smaller, fun Olympics. That was the charm. Somehow, this has been the most charmless Olympics ever.

I actually get Peacock to work...most of the time, but they want me to pay $5 to see Olympics for 2 weeks and even after paying that, I'll still get ads...so...no.

You'd imagine that just with ads they could make revenue from people who would watch it...but they want their cake and to eat it to (make you to PAY to watch ads).

I'd actually have watched a bit of the Olympics, if it hadn't been behind a paywall just so you could watch 50% olympics, 50% ads.

 

[Thunderfoot]

I actually get Peacock to work...most of the time, but they want me to pay $5 to see Olympics for 2 weeks and even after paying that, I'll still get ads...so...no.

You'd imagine that just with ads they could make revenue from people who would watch it...but they want their cake and to eat it to (make you to PAY to watch ads).

I'd actually have watched a bit of the Olympics, if it hadn't been behind a paywall just so you could watch 50% olympics, 50% ads.

See, I was afraid of that. It appears that NBC is circling the drain and trying to grab the tile.