Streaming Gold

As you read this, a large number of eyeballs have shifted away from Washington and Kyiv and Gaza to Paris and this year's Olympics. And that's hardly surprising. Even if only for two weeks, the world is hungry for a peaceful competition where there are rules and respect, easily determined winners and losers, and a simple narrative to follow.  Admittedly the Lebanon CT Country Fair this weekend and its Horseshoe Tournament checks many of the same boxes, but they don't have baguettes. 

That has led to an uncountable number of stories about every aspect of the Games. There has been much written about the opening ceremonies (first ever outside a stadium, the athletes floating down the Seine on barges), new events (breakdancing and head-to-head kayak racing) and the various well-known scenic venues for competition sites (equestrian at Versailles, beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower and Tennis at Rolland-Garos). My favorite side story is that since the surf is not up enough on the Seine, the surfers will be on the other side of the world from Paris, hanging ten in Teahupo'o, a village on the southeastern coast of Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Probably the most relevant point to know about the games is that they are as much (or perhaps even more so) a television show. In 2014 NBCUniversal ponied up $7.8 billion for the US broadcast rights until 2032. Recouping that gargantuan investment means milking every last drop of possible interest out of the Games. That means saturating every NBCU broadcast outlet (NBC, USA, E!, CNBC and the GOLF channel) with as much programming as they can take. On top of that, their money losing Peacock streaming service ($639 million in the first quarter of this year alone) is sucking up every drip and drab it can to make it the center of the five-ring universe. If you sign on you will be able to stream every sport including all 329 medal events, as well as full-event replays, all NBC programming. curated video clips, virtual channels and exclusive original programming. There will be 5000 hours of live coverage available at a click, including the ability to stream 4 events simultaneously. And if your home screen isn't big enough, you can go to an AMC theater to watch select live daytime events. (Sorry, you missed your chance to watch the open ceremonies live in an IMAX theatre on Friday night.) In other words, if it runs, jumps, swims or tumbles in Paris, Comcast wants you to be to be able to watch it.

Access is one thing; making it entertaining is another. As always NBC will do everything it can to make live sports unlive, to slow it down and milk and/or create drama where none exists. To "help" with that they have enlisted multiple entertainers (many NBC on-air personalities) whose connection to sports is tenuous at best. Snoop Dogg will be part of the primetime coverage bringing his "shizzle" to Paris, while coverage on Peacock will feature "Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson." And such well-known TV names as Jimmy Fallon, Kelly Clarkson, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb will all play major on-air rolls, each bringing their lack of sports expertise to the events.

Of course you can't have an event like this without the tech of the moment playing a roll as well. If you sign up for Peacock, they have put together a sort of ChapGPT for video highlights, wherein you can ask for a personalized and customized video playlist of your favorite events. But it's not just the edited footage that you wind up with. Overlaid on top will be a one-of-a-kind AI generated play-by-play narration using a high-quality digital re-creation of Emmy award winning sportscaster Al Michaels' voice, trained using his past appearances on NBC, and matching his signature expertise and elocution: "Do you believe in beach volleyball miracles????!!!!" 

Every Olympics brings more: more events, more pageantry, more coverage. What's happening in Paris is a step up from what took place in Tokyo in 2021, but will likely pale in comparison to what will be offered in Milan (2026), Los Angeles (2028), the French Alps (2030) and Brisbane (2032). After that the contract will be up for grabs. So don't be surprised if the (not yet awarded) Apple, Amazon or Google Games take it even further: "Alexa, order me up some Gold!"

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Marc Wollin of Bedford will probably watch some of the events. His column appears weekly via email and online http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/ and https://marcwollin.substack.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.