#NBCfail continues - NBC said that they cut a segment of Olympics opening ceremonies - the memorial tribute to save time, but their international coverage showed that they simply replaced it with another portion of the show - that was two minutes longer. In other words, it would have been quicker to show the memorial (which the choreographer for the segment said it was - as per Reuters and which NBC denied was a memorial) than to cut it out and put in another, longer segment:

NBC’s still denying the excised “Abide With Me” performance was about terror victims:

But it wasn’t meant to be a tribute. It was disappointing to see that misconception spread.

Oh, yes the “misconception” that spread due to Reuters reporting it after a press conference with the choreographer. I can see how people might be confused.

But by far the most ludicrous claim by NBC is that cutting the segment was necessary in order to fit the broadcast into a set time schedule. As you can see above, NBC would have saved time if they’d simply aired the segment as it happened—two minutes and 14 seconds, to be precise. On the live broadcast, 7:14 elapses from the end of David Beckham appearing on a speedboat to the start of the parade of nations. NBC’s broadcast took 9:28 to get from Becks to the same point.

For sure, a good six minutes of that 9:28 was commercials (the other three and a half minutes were a Ryan Seacrest interview of Michael Phelps). Obviously we don’t begrudge NBC showing commercials—they are a business, after all—but given that NBC’s claim all along has been that their editing was “tailored for an American audience,” why not run the ads during random nations’ parade? Or, perhaps, during the portions of the ceremony where French was spoken? That would still be shitty, but it would at least be consistent with their alleged editorial viewpoint. It’s not like Meredith Vieira was providing insightful commentary to the parade anyway.

I totally get why people are so frustrated with NBC coverage of the Olympics. They time shift everyone’s viewing - failing to show stuff live when they have the opportunity to do so, which was especially true on the first weekend - but ran bumps ahead of the actual events, spilling the beans on who won what anyways.

Getting the action live online may sound okay in principal, but not everyone has that kind of access, or knows how to get the feed to avoid NBC strictures.