For Rio

[Wellspotted]

I think that during the Beijing Olympics some of us COTHers discussed trying to get NBC to show more equestrian competitions during the next Olympics (the ones that are now just about to end).

I wonder what happened to that idea? I wonder if the USET, USEF, USDF, et al., could have any influence on NBC. Maybe NBC is like NPR–they show only what the people who give them money want to see.

I don’t know. I just know that I just watched a “look back” montage of clips from these Olympics and they showed just one equestrian pair. They were from the British team, and I was glad to see them. But it’s like NBC has some sort of mission to basically ignore the fact that equestrians and their horses are members of Olympic teams of many countries.

I just wish there were something we could do to change that.

I never see commercials for Dover, SmartPack, Kerrits, or any other “horsey” companies on TV, so maybe they aren’t interested in buying commercial time during the Olympic Games. Maybe they can’t afford to compete with Coca-Cola and Budweiser (and I didn’t see any Clydesdales in any of the Bud commercials during these Games).

I know that money talks. But I do not like the way the Olympics has become so much about money. And it has. It’s pretty obvious.

Well, a lot of horse people have money. A lot of horse people drink beer, and Cokes, and eat at McD’s, and maybe we could have more influence than we think, regardless of how much money we have (or don’t have).

I just think that if we reallly want to see equestrian events in the Olympics, not just on cable/satellite channels you have to pay for, or Internet feeds you have to subscribe to, or DVDs you have to order after the Games, we are really going to have to organize and figure out some way to get our voices heard. I think we are going to have to find ways to get more interest in our sports, more people participating, and then get them to speak with us.

A friend mentioned to me the other day that more than 4 years ago there was talk of reining becoming an Olympic sport soon.

It isn’t yet.

I think if we are going to get our teams watched and known, we are going to have to do some teamwork.

There. Gauntlet thrown. Anyone game?

[betonbill]

I think that NBC showed quite a bit of the equestrian Olympics, and that is not referring to the internet feeds, which were great. I think they showed quite a lot of all three venues on their NBC Sports channel and some on MSNBC.

Of course, for those who don’t have those channels at all, just like the olden days. I remember waiting during the LA Olympics for just a squib of CC–and forget dressage. Show jumping, yes, usually the last round of the jumping on the final day.

One thing they could do is offer a pay as you go internet feed for those who don’t or won’t have the TV channels.

Other than that, I was pleased with their overall coverage–and I’m exhausted from trying to watch every second of it live.

[skykingismybaby1]

I agree that there was more coverage than I could ever possibly watch I was also impressed with the camera work. In previous olympics I think the camera work always focused on the horses head, not only did I get to see what I wanted to see it was in many cases artistic and interesting. Bravo NBC…

[MsM]

Is there a particular e-mail address at NBC for Olympic feedback?

[Madeline]

I’m tired of the griping. In a country where equestrian sports are a small player, and (God Forbid) beach volleyball is very popular as a spectator sport, you can’t expect NBC to devote a lot of time to our sport. If, as Wellspotted points out, horse people have money to spend, why not pony up for an upgraded cable or satellite subscription for a month? With that, i watched every event horse XC and showjumpng, and all the straight SJ.
I could have watched dressage, but, unlike most, I don’t think it’s pretty to watch, and it doesn’t look like the horses are having any fun.

If you’re reading this, I know you have computers. If you’re complaining about not enough coverage, you must have TV. So go ahead and upgrade your TV for a month every 4 years. Or make friends with someone who has service.

[Velvet]

I’ve got it! We need the beer guzzling crowd to start watching. We need to change the rules in the US and make the women ride in bikinis and the men wear speedos! :lol:

[belambi]

just out of interest, Can you get Fox sports there?..or is that just Australia specific?. They devoted a channel entirely to equestrian and modern Pentathlon and one could see every minute if you wanted. Because of the time difference, they showed everything live as it was happening, then during the following day replayed the previous days (GMT) action. We are not really near a major town,so dont have cable and we were able to use the kids xbox 360 to avail of this… total cost was $19 for the month…was seriously cheaper that flying to UK and sitting at the back of some stand!!

[horsepoor]

I was happy with the online coverage, as it was exceptional… Great camera work and every moment covered, not just “highlights.” I watched a little of the TV coverage on MSNBC and thought they showed more equestrian than I would have expected, and I really don’t care if they do more on TV…if I can access the online coverage that is so complete, that is plenty for me. I especially liked being able to easily access it when I wanted to, not having to figure out, okay, where in this 7 hours of coverage on te tv will I find the equestrian, and having to make sure my DVR caught the right show, etc.

Of course, with Rio 4 years down the road, who knows what technological advances will have occurred by then and how we’ll be watching. Pretty amazing how things have changed!

[Horse_with_No_Name]

belambi, the coverage here in New Zealand was fabulous as well. Our pay tv provider (Sky which I think is owned (partially?) by Murdoch’s outfit) had eight channels for the games and pretty much showed everything live with replays the following day. I’m not sure what free to air coverage was like.

I think our monthly sub for the sports channels is around $26, so yeah - heaps cheaper than flying to the UK !

[axl]

Well, I was pretty unhappy. I missed nearly everything. I have been unable to get the replays to work on the website, although I have a perfectly valid subscription. I was working during the live internet feed. The few things I recorded cut off before the end of the event, after I recorded about 6 hours worth of coverage that I had to fast forward through looking for horses.

I saw less of this Olympics than any I remember, and the on demand is awful as well. No cross country AT ALL, a few 3 minute clips of the winning show jumping rides plus Rafalca and Ravel, no Freestyle. They do have the entire SJ final EXCEPT for the silver jump off. Piss poor, in my opinion.

[Rhiannonjk]

I feel like what was available on MSNBC was great. I DVRed it everyday, and didn’t get through most of what was aired. They even have the three top Musical freestyles (obnoxiously edited) available On Demand now, along with some of the other top rides.

[findeight]

I thought there was more then in the past and, except for the outright disdain from the main announcers in the studio, the commmentary was mostly better then usual. In the closing montage last night there were plenty of horses in all 3 disciplines shown.

I did have some trouble finding things at the expected time but, at least in the case of the SJ Individual Finals on NBC, the jump off was still going on shortly before it was schedualed to air so it kicked back a few hours…and they showed a solid 45 minutes including an exciting jump off on easily available broadcast NBC flagship stations.

I didn’t have any luck with the online broadcasts…it would not believe I am a subscriber, the program was “unavailable” or I was someplace with too weak a signal.

I DVRd extensively so they know I wanted to see. But I never did find any Dressage even tho it was listed…after Rafalca anyway.

Fox Sports in the USA is something different then Fox Sports in Australia. NBC had sole rights to broadcast Olympic coverage in the USA. SKY is generally unavailable via cable service here and hard to get even on a dish without additional purchase if at all.

But, still, I think we got alot more then I expected.

[joiedevie99]

I thought the coverage was great. The full coverage available for free online was outstanding- lots of camera angles, etc. The TV coverage was also far more thorough than ever before. My only issue was that it wasn’t always shown during the block when the TV Guide thing said it was going to be. I fixed that by setting the DVR for the entire day.

[Worstalteryet]

[QUOTE=axl;6495796]
Well, I was pretty unhappy. I missed nearly everything. I have been unable to get the replays to work on the website, although I have a perfectly valid subscription. I was working during the live internet feed. The few things I recorded cut off before the end of the event, after I recorded about 6 hours worth of coverage that I had to fast forward through looking for horses.

I saw less of this Olympics than any I remember, and the on demand is awful as well. No cross country AT ALL, a few 3 minute clips of the winning show jumping rides plus Rafalca and Ravel, no Freestyle. They do have the entire SJ final EXCEPT for the silver jump off. Piss poor, in my opinion.[/QUOTE]

The complete final round, jump off and the medal ceremony was shown on the main NBC channel. That’s more than expected.

[findeight]

No exactly the WHOLE round…the earlier rounds from those that got in with…something less then clear first rounds… were left off. They showed second rounds from some 1st round 4 faulters. They showed all the rounds from the single time faulters and, of course, the clears within the time allowed.

Not sure that was a bad thing either, sitting thru 15 or 20 mistake filled trips is not that entertaining. MST was clear on the fact that nobody could move up, only the leaders could move down…and that added pressure and excitment to the last few rounds and that jump off for Silver.

Can’t remember any time I could watch 45 minutes of that level of Jumping at 2PM EDT on a flagship broadcast network.

Don’t know about anybody else but I about came out of my chair when the very last rider in the very last Jump Off had that very last fence of the games down.

Pretty good.