Not my Oxygen channel. :no: Must depend on which provider I guess.
…Oxygen is doing a great job of showing the horse stuff for a US station, imho…
From what I understand, what we’re seeing is actually taped by BBC. Too bad they won’t leave in the BBC commentary instead of using those motor-mouths in New York. They must be paid by the word.
I don’t know what’s being aired on television, as I don’t subscribe, but holy crapola they’ve made a lot available on the web. I watched three hours of cross-country and two hours of show jumping today, and there’s still a ton more.
I’m pretty delighted. 
I have to admit that I am pretty happy with what I have seen as far a coverage. I have watched bright and early every AM on the internet and then I get Oxygen and have been TiVo-ing and it’s fine.
It’s stinks as far as prime time coverage goes but lets face it, MOST people don’t know a thing about equestrian events. Most people don’t care to watch 2 hours of 8 minute dressage tests that basically look the same to the average person. And the TV camera’s don’t do the Grand Prix jumps justice in hight.
Compared to the last Olympics, I will take this coverage for sure!!! :yes:
I don’t really see what the problem is. Of course we as equestrians want to watch our sport on TV. But equestrian is definitely not the only sport that gets little to no airtime. I’m sure all those athletes would love to see their sports on TV too, but NBC has to market what’s the most popular. Plus, you can watch stuff live online which is pretty cool, and if you miss it, you can watch the entire thing in its 3-4 hour entirety so I really don’t see what the problem is.
I am thankful for the live feed and for what minimal coverage they are providing. It is insulting to hear that equestrian events are considered a joke -Seeing as most of those folks won’t get within a foot of a horse because they are too scared. I am an avid badminton player and watcher, so I get teased about both of my events. I always try to point out that Badminton is the second most played sport in the world (behind soccer), it’s big everywhere but in the US, and also like to point out that the horsebackriding is the only sport in the world in which men and women compete on equal ground, against each other individually. Then I offer to let them ride my Friesian or Oldenberg mares (after showing a picture bc they are quite sturdy looking girls) and they shut up.
[QUOTE=jkt1026;3449085]
and also like to point out that the horsebackriding is the only sport in the world in which men and women compete on equal ground. [/QUOTE]
sailing too
[QUOTE=jkt1026;3449085]
and also like to point out that the horsebackriding is the only sport in the world in which men and women compete on equal ground.
:)[/QUOTE]
doubles badminton
doubles tennis
:yes:
Against each other individually I should have added - Sorry about that!
My boss and I were talking about the TV coverage (i.e. staying up late to watch swimming and gymnastics).
He mentioned his wife was miffed at NBC for all the beach volleyball coverage, then she asked where all the equestrian coverage was. These are no horse people, mind you, not even animal people. She, and their two girls, just wanted to watch the “pretty horses”.
I just told him to check the internet. Lots of video replays and some live if you catch it right. 
To the OP - please relay to your NBC friend that NBC News is the laughing stock of the news world. Then thank him for farming out the Olympic equestrian coverage to a broadcasting company that appreciates the sport and its fans, and add double thanks for putting the video feed on the internet. :yes:
What did NBC farm out? NBC isn’t filming anything at the Olympic, except for maybe interviews. That’s always been the case.
There seems to be a prevalent belief around here that networks from around the world all send their own crews to film each sport. They don’t. Just think of how completely impractical that would be, 50 to 100 different crews with 4 or 5 cameras a piece at each venue. They might send a few reporters and a couple of guys to film the reporters doing interviews and on site reports, but all the sports footage is filmed in house by a company hired by the Olympic people, who then sell it to the highest bidder in each individual country.
Everyone around the world is watching the same footage.
I was in Switzerland this past week and have to tell you I was jealous of the great coverage of the equestrian events. They were on live (in the afternoon) and they showed tons of rides. I felt like I was at Rolex watching the huge screens with ride after ride. I was in heaven - it would have only been better if I spoke French!
Coverage was completely different for other sports as well. Lots of handball (which I guess is very popular) and fencing. We were all talking about sports we never see and were amazed they were part of the Olympics, as they never are shown here.
This year is much better than ever before but I agree it could be so much better. Even if they only added the verbal commentary to the live feed.
Well then just call me a dumb a**. :rolleyes:
Geez. It’s a figure of speech. Honey, I am not stupid enough to think that 50 nations are filming their own versions of the Olympics. I am in the US and my coverage is supposed to be from NBC, and they sure as hell aren’t showing it on my TV. I don’t get the Oxygen channel despite having 150 cable channels. The live internet coverage I am getting does not even have an American commentator even though it is being shown on NBC - an American broadcasting company.
So as far as I am concerned, they have farmed out equestrian coverage. :sigh:
Well I have to say so far I’ve been very happy w/ equestrian coverage over at Oxygen channel, today I watched I think 8 or 9 riders on NBC- when it came on I think they were on the 50th or so rider - only one clean round until McLain Ward entered. Anyway at first it was horse, then 6 commercials, then horse, 6 more commercials. I normally think Melanie Smith Taylor does a good job but geeze Louise if I heard one more “This is the tricky part of the course”…
[QUOTE=gottagrey;3451648]
I normally think Melanie Smith Taylor does a good job but geeze Louise if I heard one more “This is the tricky part of the course”…[/QUOTE]
LOL - I was laughing so hard when I read this!!! No Joke, she is starting to drive me nuts, just saying the same thing over and over again. I almost want to mute the TV, but then I can’t hear the horses which I love.
I don’t think letters to the network will do very much
I’ve said it before. Look at the sports that get the primetime coverage - swimming, diving, track, gymnastics, beach volleyball, triathlon. What do they all have in common? The people doing them are mostly under 25, aren’t wearing very much, and what they do wear is skin-tight. You think the networks are going to show a 40-year-old equestrian who is covered up from head to toe? Ain’t happening, at least not as long as we have middle-aged men making the programming decisions (my apologies to any middle-aged man who reads this). The only sport worse than equestrian to them is fencing, where even the faces are covered. In fact, the US won all 3 medals in one of the fencing events, and I sure didn’t see it on primetime TV.
[QUOTE=Sukey1971;3452269]
I’ve said it before. Look at the sports that get the primetime coverage - swimming, diving, track, gymnastics, beach volleyball, triathlon. What do they all have in common? The people doing them are mostly under 25, aren’t wearing very much, and what they do wear is skin-tight. You think the networks are going to show a 40-year-old equestrian who is covered up from head to toe? Ain’t happening, at least not as long as we have middle-aged men making the programming decisions (my apologies to any middle-aged man who reads this). The only sport worse than equestrian to them is fencing, where even the faces are covered. In fact, the US won all 3 medals in one of the fencing events, and I sure didn’t see it on primetime TV.[/QUOTE]
NBC has been talking quite a bit about Dora Torres - 41? somewhere near there.
The US Beach Volleyball team - Branagh is 29 and Youngs is 39. Most of the other countries are at least mid-twenties if not older, though Youngs is the oldest. The 18 year old on the Chinese team was mentioned as being the youngest and how unusual that is.
What do all these sports really have in common? They are popular, the programmers feel that the US citizens can get behind them, understand them, etc.
Basketball is currently being shown a lot - where does it fit into the ‘young and tight clothing’ model everyone seems to be touting.
Equestrian sports, Fencing, Judo, all sports that are not as popular in the US. Gymnastics is very traditionally a part of prime time Olympics. Sure, it helps that the people in the sports are fit and able to wear outfits that show off this fitness, but to put it just to that is to miss the other factors that effect when Equestrian sports are shown - namely popularity and ease of understanding the rules.
[I normally think Melanie Smith Taylor does a good job but geeze Louise if I heard one more “This is the tricky part of the course”…[/QUOTE]
LOL. Or if she says one more time that the jump cups are very shallow. Even hubby can repeat everything she is saying and is getting tired of the whole commentary. Why could she not give a little back ground on horse and rider or something else??? :no:
Canadian coverage
CBC BOLD is covering every ride at the equestrian venue. We’ve had sensational coverage, with every horse being covered. It’s been almost overkill (although I still taped it in case I missed someone) This channel also carries (as a matter of course) the FEI Samsung jumping, venues like Spruce Meadows, and other major equestrian events that are not necessarily based in Canada.
I like that the Canadian coverage is also showing all the athletes, and not just those from Canada.
So, I’ve got hours of tape, for those of you who have missed stuf:winkgrin:
Congrats on your Gold medal showjumping round – but of course I’m really sad that Canada only had 3 horses… It was a great competition, and both gold and silver were well deserved and could have as easily been switched around. It was wonderful to see North America up at the top!
I think the ads might have to do with your connection and download speeds more than zip codes or anything like that. I’ve had a single ad in all of my hours of live streaming (I’ve watched everything so far except for this morning’s rides) and the only ad I ever got was when my boyfriend was downloading a big file. I got the buffering message a lot of people complain about and then one ad. Then I yelled at the bf and he queued his download for later in the day and everything was fine.
Does anyone have an email address to send comments and thanks to NBC for providing the live streaming to us? Every time I’m on the web site I look for a “Send us a comment link” but haven’t found one yet. I also click on their ads at least once while I’m watching to help pay the bills while they are dragging the arena or something and I encourage everyone else to do that too :yes:
