The reaction and critique of NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics, from the perspective of hockey fans, has been downright ugly so far. The network, and their 'family of networks' such as CNBC, MSNBC, and USA, have struggled to provide consistency and accuracy of coverage for puck heads. Many thought the zenith of anger towards the Peacock Network would have been reached last Sunday with the network's decision not to televise the Team USA versus Canada showdown on broadcast network, opting instead of televise it on MSNBC.
But when outrage spread like wildfire about Wednesday's lack of live coverage in the western half of the country for the Team USA quarterfinal match against Switzerland, shown three hours later on tape-delay, NBC realized that for the safety of their employees and affiliates, they needed to change that policy moving forward.
So today, American hockey fans across the country will get to see the semifinal game versus Finland live at 3PM Eastern and 12 Noon Pacific on the main over-the-air broadcast network of NBC. No word yet on whether they will still, as currently scheduled, show the gold medal game Sunday on tape delay if the United States is participating in it though.
To find out more, go to this website: http://www.mahalo.com/olympic-hockey-2010
By the way, anyone saying that "...if you are old enough to remember that the famous 'Miracle on Ice' game was also showed on tape delay by ABC, then you have no right to complain about it here..." is not understanding at all how different the times were with no prevelance of cable/satellite television, no sports radio, no internet, virtually no way for people to know the outcome. And it just wouldn't happen this way today.
Oh, and if you are an NHL fan disappointed that NBC is doing you this way, why are you surprised? Remember that it was just last year that NBC forced the NHL to play the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals on consecutive weekend days in June because they did not Game Two, which would aired on a Monday night, to go into overtime and delay the first broadcast of Conan O'Brien in his new role as host of the Tonight Show. If NBC only knew then what they know now about how that late night arrangement would work itself out...
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