Good Business, Bad Quality: How Nbc Is Both Right and Wrong on the Olympics
Critical Response Assignment 1
Alan N Hinduja
University of Dallas: Graduate School of Management
\ In the NPR blog post titled “Good Business, Bad Quality: How NBC is both Right and Wrong on the Olympics” Linda Holmes argues that NBC’s Coverage of the Olympics in London “stinks”(Holmes, 2012). She claims that NBC, the only American network airing the Olympics in London has compromised the quality of its coverage for business reasons by airing tape-delayed coverage and not showing enough live events. She rebuts an article by Will Leitch, which spoke about Twitter users complaining about NBC’s focus on American athletes and late-night coverage of the Olympics to avoid conflicts with Prime-Time television. She argues that even though Twitter users do not make up a large percentage of viewers they do raise valid concerns, which are probably shared with many non-vocal disappointed viewers.(Holmes, 2012). She describes the audience disappointment in knowing the outcome of races before they have the opportunity to watch them on air “It’s the sense that you have been deprived of participation in something big that you could have shared with a lot of people in a lot of countries.”(Holmes, 2012). She admits that all the “bellyaching” critique that NBC received is yet to show any loss of viewership hence they see no business reason to change the method of delivery. Holmes fails to convince readers to blame NBC for poor coverage. She cites no particular critics, no NBC authorities, no polls and no opinions other than her own. What she believes to be an NBC problem is actually the change in viewership habits. Viewers can still watch events in real-time on NBC “Gold Zone” on demand and event by event. She says,“ Its allowed me to watch a bunch of stuff I otherwise would not have seen-judo, table tennis, badminton, whitewater canoe, trap shooting, archery”(Holmes, 2012). The writers constant referral to NBC’s profits throughout the article indicate to readers that she
Alan N Hinduja
University of Dallas: Graduate School of Management
\ In the NPR blog post titled “Good Business, Bad Quality: How NBC is both Right and Wrong on the Olympics” Linda Holmes argues that NBC’s Coverage of the Olympics in London “stinks”(Holmes, 2012). She claims that NBC, the only American network airing the Olympics in London has compromised the quality of its coverage for business reasons by airing tape-delayed coverage and not showing enough live events. She rebuts an article by Will Leitch, which spoke about Twitter users complaining about NBC’s focus on American athletes and late-night coverage of the Olympics to avoid conflicts with Prime-Time television. She argues that even though Twitter users do not make up a large percentage of viewers they do raise valid concerns, which are probably shared with many non-vocal disappointed viewers.(Holmes, 2012). She describes the audience disappointment in knowing the outcome of races before they have the opportunity to watch them on air “It’s the sense that you have been deprived of participation in something big that you could have shared with a lot of people in a lot of countries.”(Holmes, 2012). She admits that all the “bellyaching” critique that NBC received is yet to show any loss of viewership hence they see no business reason to change the method of delivery. Holmes fails to convince readers to blame NBC for poor coverage. She cites no particular critics, no NBC authorities, no polls and no opinions other than her own. What she believes to be an NBC problem is actually the change in viewership habits. Viewers can still watch events in real-time on NBC “Gold Zone” on demand and event by event. She says,“ Its allowed me to watch a bunch of stuff I otherwise would not have seen-judo, table tennis, badminton, whitewater canoe, trap shooting, archery”(Holmes, 2012). The writers constant referral to NBC’s profits throughout the article indicate to readers that she
References: Holmes, L. (2012, August 6). Good business,bad quality: How NBC is both right and wrong on the olympics [Blog post]. Retrieved from Monkey See website: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/ 2012/08/06/158198998/good-business-bad-quality-how-nbc-is- both-right-and-wrong-on-the-olympics