There are plenty of people out there who have discovered the world of high definition television, and are looking forward to the Olympics in HD. As an early adopter I was not only watching the Olympics in HD years ago, but even taping them — I still have the tape of the opening ceremony from 2 years ago in Salt Lake City, it was fantastic entertainment.
Well, here’s a wake up call for those of us expecting an HD extravaganza:
Those who have invested the most to see NBC’s coverage of the Olympics will get the least — and they’ll be watching most of it a day late.
It’s a sort of high-definition Olympics, an alternative Olympic universe for the small but growing high-definition-TV-viewing population. The underlying notion: People who get HD will enjoy watching it so much they won’t care if the event took place 24 hours ago or if the broadcast has little in common with the big show on NBC.
That’s probably an accurate call, although it’s hard to imagine anyone being thrilled about 27 straight hours of repeats of the opening ceremony.
During the Olympics, NBC HD will take the place of the network’s usually simultaneous digital channel. The network touts it as a 24-hour channel with 399 hours of high-definition programming; it’s actually about 135 hours of original programming from six venues shown most days on an eight-hour loop.
… No one is satisfied with the amount of programming or the way it’s being produced. NBC spokeswoman Cameron Blanchard said the host committee’s last-minute decision to provide high definition was the main factor. “We would like to do much more but can’t this time around,” Blanchard explained, adding that NBC plans to provide the main feed in high definition for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
