Post #646439 by TikiHardBop on Wed, Aug 1, 2012 10:11 AM

It became the "USA Olympics" when NBC paid $1.2 billion for the broadcast rights. This means that NBC needs to maximize ratings for every second of coverage. Put simply, Americans are more interested in watching American athletes over other countries.

Another issue is just the vast amount of events to cover. If may have seemed like they covered everything back then, but that was a physical impossibility. They may have been less "USA-focused", but trust me, there were vast amounts of the Olympics not even mentioned. NBC is advertising streaming coverage of every minute of every event online or through various pay-per-view options that vary with the different cable providers. They have been having some server issues, but I hear that things are getting better each day.

And put yourself in NBC's shoes. Suppose you decide to show the exciting China-Lithuania men's handball qualifier rather than an American woman win her second straight gold in skeet shooting. Now you look like you're anti-American. Trust me between showing USA medal-winning efforts and the "money sports" like gymnastics and track (and of course, the up close and personal athlete profiles and the gazillion commercials), there really isn't much free time to play around with.

Not a huge fan of the Olympics myself, but from what little I've been able to see on TVs in bars and restaurants, it appears that some of the "lesser" NBC channels are definitely covering athletes and teams from all over the world; it's just the main NBC during prime time that is in full "USA-mode".