NBC’s Games Face Isn’t All Smiles

Ask Claire Allens how the Americans are doing at the Sydney Summer Games and she’ll rattle off the results of the latest heats, offer an updated medal count and even speculate on what Marion Jones might wear as she continues her run for gold.

Since the Olympics began in Australia, Allens has barely left her screen--her computer screen, that is.

“I need to know, and I need to know now,” said the Long Beach computer analyst, whose job allows her to keep close tabs on it all. “I just hop on the Internet and find out.” There’s no time to wait for NBC.

The network continues to scramble to reach Allens and others who are going elsewhere for their Olympic news--or simply ignoring the Games.

NBC paid nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars for Olympic broadcasting exclusivity, yet critics say the network has chosen to:

* Dull the excitement by tape-delaying every last minute, thereby treating it less like the Olympic Games, and more like a rerun of “Daddio.”

* Place itself dead last in the ever-demanding 24-hour news cycle, behind nearly every newspaper, Web site and radio station in the world.

* Disappoint advertisers by promising far better ratings than it could deliver, leading at least one--Nike--to consider asking for compensation.

* Offer disjointed coverage where layers of misconceptions have bordered on deception, where Bob Costas, the capable host, pretends not to know the results of events that many viewers already know. Example: The network aired a Visa commercial Tuesday night that congratulated U.S. pole vaulter Stacy Dragila for winning the gold medal. About an hour later, amid much drama, NBC finally showed her event.

The results have been reflected in the ratings.

The network’s 12th night of coverage from Sydney on Tuesday drew the worst rating for Summer Games competition in at least 16 years: NBC drew a 12.4 rating, far below the 17.5 to 18.5 predicted.

In the end, critics say, the network undermined its own product, 400-and-some hours of self-immolation in the name of making its own investment back, ignoring what some might consider its moral obligation to the public and to the Games to provide timely, accurate coverage.

That’s what Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has done. But, like NBC, the CBC is experiencing sagging ratings, and blames the time difference Down Under. Of course, that’s not stopping them from running 15 hours of live Sydney coverage each day, and an additional three hours of live in-studio coverage.

“The strategy for any Olympics for us is that we consider it not only a major Games, we consider it major news coverage,” and that means doing it live, said Nancy Lee, executive director of CBC Sports. “It’s just what our viewers expect. . . . It’s what we think the viewers deserve. If that 100-meter race is run, you’d better have that.”

Couldn’t NBC have offered live coverage, and still run its prerecorded features and glitzy packages--and repeated its showcase events--in prime time? Is NBC’s arrogance to blame? Has the network snuffed the buzz?

Nike is considering taking the highly unusual step of asking for some of its $15-million investment back. While NBC offered to rerun its sponsors’ commercials to make up for the ratings, Nike fears the repetition of its two Olympic-themed ads would bore viewers.

“We’re definitely disappointed,” said Nike spokesman Scott Reames, who said Nike and NBC were discussing compensation options. “We’re also disappointed that there seems to be a lack of really strong interest in the Games themselves.”

To be sure, plenty of people are watching the Olympics.

An estimated 64 million people tuned in Sunday for at least part of the nightly show, drawing a 16.1 rating. That figure is 10% higher than for the previous Sunday’s coverage, and 19% higher than Saturday’s, but still short of projections.

The Games also have been a surprise hit for the “Today” show. NBC’s two-hour morning show averaged 6.7 million viewers during five days from Sydney last week, making it the fourth most-watched week in the program’s 49-year history. “Today’s” best three weeks came in early 1998 when the Monica Lewinsky story broke.

Many viewers think NBC is doing just fine, although nearly all offer pointed remarks on how the network could do better.

“I’ve heard the criticism, but I think they’re doing a pretty good job,” said Tim Thrash, a freight train conductor. But he also said the network coverage has been uneven, spending too much time on sports like rowing and giving short shrift to other events.

“It’s been marvelous, watching all the different athletes from the different countries and all their achievements, I love the feature stories,” said Elaine Davis, a Long Beach homemaker. However, she complained about too many commercials and said she’d watch more if the coverage started and ended earlier.

Others say NBC is unfairly bearing the brunt of the criticism.

“I’m not in the business of praising my competitors, but the fact is that the ratings are not NBC’s fault,” said Neal Pilson, a TV and sports consultant and former president of CBS sports.

Much has been made of the 18-hour time difference between Los Angeles and Australia, and the absence of live events. But there are a host of other culprits, he said. There’s the Internet, and a poor U.S. showing in gymnastics--a sport that typically lures in female viewers and helps build momentum for the rest of the Games.

NBC is also competing with everything from Al Gore and George W. Bush to the end of another baseball season and the NFL, he said. And there are few underdogs to cheer on. Marion Jones may be gaining status as a household name, but the question isn’t if she’ll win gold, but how many.

Perhaps the blame belongs to the International Olympic Committee, which decided to stage the “summer” Olympics in the fall, Pilson said.

“That decision failed to take into consideration the dramatic way in which Americans’ lifestyles change from August to early September,” he said. “Parents who might let their kids stay up until 11 p.m. on a summer night are not going to do that on a school night. They’re not going to do that themselves.”

It’s this pull of everyday life that has deterred Erica Busta, a Los Angeles-area title company employee.

“I’m helping friends plan weddings, I just don’t have time,” she said. “I usually watch the gymnastics, but this time around, [the Americans] did so badly. I didn’t bother.”

One NBC executive, bruised by the criticism, said it was to be expected.

“It’s practically an Olympic sport to criticize the Olympic coverage,” said the executive, who did not want to be identified by name as engaging in that other popular sport, bashing the media. “The media has an absolute fascination with attacking the Olympic coverage. They did it during Atlanta, and that drew the biggest ratings ever.”

NBC spokeswoman Cameron Blanchard said the network’s polls show 80% of the public reaction to be positive and that it would not change its coverage.

She pointed to poor ratings in the U.S. border states that have access to Canadian television as evidence that even if the Olympics were carried live people would wait to watch the nightly highlights.

“Overwhelmingly,” she claimed, “they are watching NBC.”

Not enough for Nike’s taste. And while the ratings ultimately will be NBC’s Sydney legacy, advertisers might not be so eager in the future.

“We are a sports and fitness company. We want American consumers to be interested in and following sports like the Olympics,” Reames said. “If they’re not watching, that’s not a good sign. . . . The fact they’re not delivering viewers is also very much of a financial concern for us.”

The agreement between Nike and NBC was further complicated when NBC pulled a Nike ad that young viewers found frightening. It depicted a masked, chainsaw-wielding villain chasing a young woman--distance runner Suzy Favor Hamilton--through the woods.

“We want [commercial] time down the line or we want money back,” Reames said.

Everyone, it seems, wants something different from the coverage.

A random sampling from a Costa Mesa sports bar: More equestrian coverage. Fewer talking heads. More synchronized diving. Less “stupid” stuff, like synchronized diving. Stick with one event, start to finish. Mrs. Jones, 24/7.

In short, it’s a programmer’s nightmare. And not just because of a time difference that means today is tomorrow.

During Misty Hyman’s 200-meter butterfly race against Australian favorite Susie O’Neill, for example, an announcer criticized Hyman for going out too quickly, as she did during an earlier race. Many viewers, however, already knew that Hyman finished with a gold medal--and an Olympic and American record.

It’s victorious moments like that that critics say has been lacking.

“There have been a lot more features and discussion and profiles rather than actual competition,” Reames said. “It seems like there’s one or two gymnastics runs and then we’ll get four minutes of commercials and then three profiles, then we’re back to see a couple people swim. There’s not a whole lot of continuity.”

NBC also seems to be jinxed with bad luck. Criticized for not airing the U.S. women’s undefeated softball team, the network weighed in just in time for Japan to break the Americans’ 112-game winning streak in extra innings.

“Everyone already knew that the U.S. lost and I turn on the tube and it’s the softball. Why not just show the highlights of that and get on to something live?” Thrash said.

Some fans don’t mind the tape delays and are using the “early” results as a viewing guide. Allens, for example, learned that swimming rivals Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson tied for the bronze and tuned in to watch the pair forced to share the podium.

Seven of the top 10 viewing markets are also on the West Coast--where the time difference is the greatest--further deflating the argument that people aren’t interested in taped delays, NBC’s Blanchard said.

“People are still coming to the TV in droves,” Blanchard said. “Sunday, there were 158 million people watching in the U.S. The concept that people are not watching is just wrong.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.