Going Long and Well Past America’s Bedtime

Well, NBC’s coverage of the Olympics from Communist China went well past the midnight ET sign off time tonight, ending at 12:49 a.m. Tuesday. Coverage of the men’s gymnastics team competition had a surprising development with Team USA actually leading the competition for bit, but then holding on for a bronze medal. If you’re wondering, China won the gold with Japan leaping past the US for the silver.

But that’s not the point. The point is that with live competition, NBC went late with its coverage, hearkening back to 1996 in Atlanta when the network in its policy of “plausibly live” would go late even if gymnastics, diving or swimming had been taped earlier in the day. I can remember NBC deciding to go live with a silly interview with President and Mrs. Clinton that went on forever, not finishing until 12:20 a.m. while affiliates across the country were screaming to get their local news out on time.

I can already predict what Phil Mushnick of the New York Post will write on Friday. He’ll complain about NBC running late while paying millions of dollars to the International Olympic Committee. He’ll blister NBC for controlling the start times of swimming, gymnastics and beach volleyball so they all can be aired live in the East. He’ll also write that young children won’t have the chance to watch the events because they’re on so late and mention that NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol is ruining the youth of America or something to that extent.

While Tuesday night’s program ran long in the East and Midwest, does it also mean the same thing for the Mountain and Pacific time zones? To resolve this, NBC really should do a service for the Western half of the country and run the Games live. Stories from Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver and Portland all complain that they’re getting shafted because of the delay and it’s time to give the people what they want.

Yes, we in the East and Midwest should get the “LIVE” graphic but it’s not fair to have that up in the West when most of those viewing probably know the results ahead of time. Perhaps the policy will change in 2010 when the Winter Olympics are broadcast from Vancouver, but knowing NBC, it will delay the games out West, while obliterating its midnight sign off time in the East.