Swimming News
Discuss (16 comments)June 23, 2008
NBC says all Olympic, and US Olympic Trials content belongs to them. According to the media regulations, all material collected at Trials must be removed from websites by August 7th. So now they not only have the rights to the races, they also have the rights to the swimmers and coaches themselves. How far will this go? What do you think? The NCAA has the right idea. Making the NCAA Championship Swim Meet more of a festival is the kind of thing our sport needs. What do the major sports like football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and NASCAR have in common? A party like atmosphere. Lezak tuning up for trials with a 48.3 French 400 Free Relay tears it up at the Paris open. 48.8, 48.0, 48.4, 47.2! Upload an Olympic Trials Preview video, earn a floswimming shirt Quick while the swimmers are distracted with Trials, let's take away all their rights! (Link) Nike says their athletes can wear any suit (Link) Lazlo Cseh makes the 400 IM Olympic race a little more interesting. (4:07:96) The New Floswimming. Make your suggestions: (Link)
It really all boils down to money. NBC does not want anyone making money off of their broadcast. So since they have the Olympic contract they decide who gets to share, and as you see after 8/7, the terrible twos come out and no one gets to share. Unfortunetly NBC does not care for the Flowswimming/Coaching ideals of sharing information.
As far as the non-race footage, to NBC, everything is part of the event as a whole. I will liken it to the Masters. If you remember tiger woods shot with the Nike emblem. Nike had to buy that footage AS WELL AS the interview from CBS to use it for an ad. That is the best analogy I can think of where it included game/post game footage from the same event.
I hope that makes some sense. If not please feel free to email me!
I have no problem with covering the races, but why the stranglehold on non-race stuff? Why can't interviews be OK? There are swimming-competent journalists who can interview better than the talking heads the network has (no offense, Ambrose, you're good, it's others that make me gag). Can you shed some light on that angle for us since you have some inside knowledge? I don't see much difference between an interview which is transcribed from a live person-to-person conversation, and the taped interview itself. But I'm not the sharpest crayon on the box, so a little help if you don't mind. Appreciate it. Really.
People may not like it but the Olympics is a big business and this in NBC's last Summer Olympics. NBC'c view is that they are protecting their investment.
I hope that this sheds some light on the matter. I am all for sharing swimming videos and this is by far my favorite site but big brother is big brother and he does not want to share!
Gee, this is amazing! I could have sworn that the history books said that Stalin and Brezhnev were dead. And Mao. But it is a deal for a China event...
If WMG and NBC, et al, are going to hamstring the great work done in bringing interviews through ESTABLISHED ATHLETE AND COACH RELATIONSHIPS by the likes of Rutemiller and associates at Swimming World and their professional colleagues, it just stinks. Coverage of the racing, fine, no problem. Let the big money and control guys (WMG, NBC) and their ilk get the first interviews with the athletes and coaches, but after that let the "little people" (sorry, Brent, lol) have a shot. Unless it's really, REALLY important to not only BE the 800-pound gorilla, but act like a jackass, too. This would -hurt- them and their investment? Not hardly, pilgrim.
"I Want It All" - Queen