[Rio 2016 Olympic Media Update]

Interesting with the multiple personalities. Both of you always drop a "remember" in there. But I digress..

NBC learned some hard lessons in Seoul, their first large-scale Olympics. Their coverage was roundly criticized, mostly for their primetime coverage while relied too much on going live for the sake of going live. Instead of going to a split screen, they should have saved something on tape. Granted, that's also been criticized, but it's still a better option.

To answer your question though.. yes, the experience in Seoul probably did lead NBC to think about using other outlets for Olympic coverage. That plus financial concerns led to the Triplecast. We know how that turned out. The Triplecast scared NBC away from cable coverage for Atlanta. Not having cable coverage in Atlanta probably helped lead to having cable coverage from Sydney. Remember that coverage from Barcelona in primetime was all on tape. Never would have been an option to do a split screen. Come Atlanta, NBC had invented the "plausibly live" concept. The idea of using a double box is beyond ridiculous and that NBC did it in the first place shows how out of touch they were back then.

i have to agree with you about NBC's experience in Seoul.

yes, doing a split screen isn't such a good idea. NBC was wrong to do that with the story they had(Louganis, going for his first gold medal and also having hit his head in the earlier round). for NBC to use a split screen to cover a early round basketball game wasn't a good idea. you would think that NBC would have stayed with diving and at least provide inserts of the basketball game when needed. Also, some of the major stars like Janet Evans, Matt Biondi and Carl Lewis were having their events in late night rather than prime time and that didn't help(but the time zone was a major factor too in having those events in late night.) NBC's strategy has worked for the most part since Seoul, but when you have a live Olympics(like this one is going to be and Salt Lake and Vancouver and Beijing were) that can be thrown out the window sometimes.

[Rio 2016 Olympic Media Update]

i just can't imagine NBC having to use a split screen if the Dream Team is in a close game(and let's say tied or trailing by one or two points late) while of the major swimming stars like Franklin or Ledecky is going for a gold medal. remember what i mentioned earlier..during the 88 games in Seoul NBC tried to show the U.S Canada basketball game in 88 and Greg Louganis going for a gold medal after he hit his head in the diving finals at the same time and they used a double box to show both. That didn't go over well with viewers. So with NBCSN and USA(and all the other channels) they have a lot more flexibility than they did in Seoul.

[Rio 2016 Olympic Media Update]

Yes. Because they have all those hours to program. NBC proper perhaps has gotten easier because it's only limited to a smaller handful of sports. But still, for the cable nets, there are plenty of decisions to be made, especially as we get into the 2nd week and we get to the elimination rounds of the team sports.

Remember, ABC didn't have a cable partner back then. So Roone Aldridge had to make some tough calls sometimes. NBC had the problem of the US Soviet basketball semifinal at the same time as track and field and also the story of Greg Louganis going for a gold medal at the same time as the U.S.-Canada basketball game during Seoul in 88. so having a cable partner sometimes can be a good thing sometimes. imagine if the US is playing a close game with a possibility of being eliminated on the line at the same as lets say Missy Franklin or Katie Ledecky going for a gold medal in swimming and NBC didn't have a cable partner? this is where having NBCSN or USA Network is a good thing for NBC as well as the viewers. NBC can show the swimming while NBCSN or USA can show the basketball game in its entirety I wonder if the the experience in Seoul(and Atlanta too) caused NBC to think about having multiple cable outlets during the Olympics? it helps that they have NBCSN these days(and USA and all the other cable outlets).

[PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Media Updates]

By my count, it's the 3rd time the network covering the Super Bowl also has that year's Winter Olympics..

ABC, Super Bowl XXII -> Calgary 1988

CBS, Super Bowl XXVI -> Albertville 1992

NBC, Super Bowl LII -> PC 2018

Ironically enough, the 2018 Super Bowl is in the same city as 1992: Minneapolis

The previous 2 instances had almost 2 weeks between the game and the start of the Olympics. It's a week shorter for NBC and a much longer trip. Interesting to note that CBS actually switched places with NBC to get the 1992 Super Bowl so they could use it to promote the Olympics. I had wondered if NBC would actually consider a switch OUT of that Super Bowl, but that's too perfect of an opportunity to have those 2 events so close together, even if it means that they need some of those people to essentially be in 2 places at once and for Bob Costas (among others) to head to Korea with a relatively short turn-around before the Opening Ceremony. It'll be a challenge to say the least.

yeah i remember that Frank Gifford and Al Michaels went to Calgary as soon as the Super Bowl was over so Costas could do the same..

[Past Olympics Media Coverage]

i was thinking while there was bias in 84 the worst offenders were Cathy Rigby-McCoy and maybe Russ Hellickson--but i i don't think Donna De Varona was like that during swimming in fact there are a few clips i have one where the referee in wrestling called a fall against the Non-American when clearly it was not and Russ Hellickson jumped in over Curt Gowdy's call-the other one was where the Romanian gymnast stumbled i think and Rigby got excited because it was a big break for Mary Lou Retton but those were two examples