http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/ Engadget HD Comments for ESPN to bid on 2014, 2016 Olympics -- promises no West Coast tape delay http://hd.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://hd.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/Aug 20th 2008 10:14AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/Aug 20th 2008 10:24AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/Aug 20th 2008 10:25AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/Aug 20th 2008 10:44AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/Aug 20th 2008 11:12AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/Aug 20th 2008 10:47AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/Aug 20th 2008 11:33AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00E6D91739F934A35755C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

The only silver lining is that if NBC wins the rights to air the Olympics in 2016 it will probably cause enough demand that people will download/stream the content directly to their televisions and bypass NBC altogether. Of course, I think that this will probably be fairly viable (internet streaming to TV with wireless N or its successor) in 4 years, too, when NBC is almost assuredly going to botch the coverage entirely. 8PM on the East Coast is 1AM in London, so there will be no live anything in 4 years.]]>Aug 21st 2008 3:48PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/
And don't worry, they would definitely use ABCHD for their prime-time coverage because that's where the top advertising dollars would be.

But as bpeck said, the all-sports networks would mean 24-hour Olympics coverage on many channels instead of breaking away for newscasts and other programming. Plus, they could have an all-highlights channel on ESPN News.

One concern that could arise is how ESPN would cover other sports. Would the NBA get the shaft because they're all Olympics? That'd be fine with me, but the NBA might cry foul. Also, would SportsCenter ruin the results of an event they're gonna show on tape later that day?

Also, ESPN's promise to not tape delay anything could be a problem. When it's 8 p.m. in New York, it's 4 a.m. in Sochi, Russia, the site of the 2014 Games.

By the way, here's a look at the ABC family of networks:

ABC (HD)
ESPN (HD)
ESPN2 (HD)
ESPN News (HD)
ABC Family (HD)
ESPN Classic
ESPNU
ESPN Deportes

]]>Aug 20th 2008 11:37AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/
No more cutting half an hour off of games featuring teams that end up in the Gold Medal game.

I could live with that.

Note that NBC also floated two temporary HD channels to deal with Basketball and Soccer, so you can expect that ABC might do the same.]]>Aug 20th 2008 11:49AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/
+1 for Richard.]]>Aug 20th 2008 12:05PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/Aug 20th 2008 12:17PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/Aug 20th 2008 2:25PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution
]]>Aug 20th 2008 2:51PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/
ESPN is a pay for TV channel. The Olympics should predominantly be on an OTA, free channel.]]>Aug 20th 2008 1:54PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/
ABC will be the predominant channel for broadcast.]]>Aug 20th 2008 2:08PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/Aug 20th 2008 5:18PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/Aug 20th 2008 5:21PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/
Anyway, way to go, ESPN! screw NBC!]]>Aug 20th 2008 5:49PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/
Lets also say they still do coverage of NASCAR, NFL, and Poker, little league world series, etc....

What will they do with the regular sports coverage during the time of these Olympics????

Will they get shoved off the air for Olympics coverage???

NBC is doing 1300 hours plus of TV coverage this time for the 2008 Summer games and Rio is in the USA Time zone so everything will be live. ESPN and ESPN are going to have to air loads of olympics coverage, right???

And one more thing. Even with the time zone difference, NBC is doing whopping ratings.]]>Aug 20th 2008 6:16PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/
That should say ESPN and ESPN2.]]>Aug 21st 2008 8:37AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/http://hd.engadget.com/2008/08/20/espn-to-bid-on-2014-2016-olympics-promises-no-west-coast-tap/
I haven't been as upset with the tape delays, but then I'm EDT. I can see where the PDT folks would really complain, since it's delayed from delayed. What I really get annoyed with is NBC's 'Americans and Favorites' coverage. There might as well be noone else competing if an American is in the event. The women's gymnastics team competition may have been the total lowlight of this type of coverage. I think they showed all of 3 or 4 other routines besides Americans and Chinese. They spent so much time just staring at faces of Americans and Chinese gymnasts, that they could have been showing other people actually DOING something.

I know we're in America, and I root for Team USA. But give the other people some credit. Show their efforts. And for goodness sake, get rid of the total homer commentators. It's really getting embarrassing.

I'd rather see ESPN get it just for those reasons.
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