MSNBC runs live all day, based off the eastern feed.
The Ed Show, Hardball, Countdown, Maddow, same time for everybody. This is how most news channels work, really, with repeats later on in the night. And that seems to work fine.
But the Olympics get a tape delay.
On a live network.
The Olympics that are happening right now in Vancouver will not be seen by west coast residents until 3 hours after the events are over on the network that runs everything else live.
What the fuck? Is this a secret plan to keep The Ed Show off of the west coast? Does LA not deserve Dylan Ratigan? The only effect of this delay is that shows which wouldn’t be pre-empted suddenly are, but only for half the country. If they kept to one feed, they’d be able to break in for news and events as needed, and they’d certainly not have to worry about repeating coverage to make up for the separation.
But to hell with that. Tape delay it. Show it live on the east coast, delayed on the west, they decided, for a reason absolutely nobody can figure out.
I’m starting to think NBC just wants to go bankrupt and get it over with, I really am. They’ve got a decent Thursday block, Chuck, Heroes, and Saturday Night Live. The rest of the time is a big festival of “No thanks.” Unless you’re the one person excited for The Marriage Ref or Who Do You Think You Are, then I guess NBC’s doing well.
Maybe NBC is just trying the Bush theory of promotion. You know, Michael Brown fucks up FEMA, gets a Medal of Freedom. Harriet Miers fires US attorneys out of political motivation and calls Bush “the most brilliant man she has ever met”, she gets sent up for a Supreme Court nomination. Jay Leno bombs on primetime but says how great NBC’s programming and sponsors are, gets sent to the Tonight Show.
2 comments ↓
It probably has something to do with primetime advertising revenue versus non-primetime ad revenue. All decisions are guided by a quest for quarterly profits, didn’t you know?
True, but there’s also the case to be made that viewers were lost with this. How many people heard the results early and said “Oh, well no reason to bother”? Granted there’s also the overall poor coverage (more human interest pieces than American Idol auditions), a fairly poor overall showing with a lot of curling and not much else, etc.
Not to talk shit about curling, mind, but it seems to have gotten the most uninterrupted time by far.
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