2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games | General Discussion

[Cody Webster]

It's primetime over in South Korea, so there are plenty of events taking place, but NBC is not currently showing a live event .So annoying

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

It's primetime over in South Korea, so there are plenty of events taking place, but NBC is not currently showing a live event .So annoying

NBC is total ass.

 

[Cloned]

Actually the scheduling so far has been annoying overall. And I don't mean the TV scheduling. Even in Korean time, they basically have 4 or 5 events packed into the morning, a huge break mid-day and then 4-5 events crammed into prime time.

 

[saskriders]

Question for the Europeans, @Eisen and @Filppula (I think you are European??) I have seen you two in particular post a lot. Are most of the sports at the winter olympics (you have posted a lot in Biathlon and Cross Country in particular) reported about enough in the sports media that even if one doesn't follow the sport they would know a bit about it, and who some of the best athletes in the sport are? I find that in Canada the only sports at the Winter Olympics that we here regularly hear about even when the olympics are not on are hockey (typically just mens too) and curling (not mixed doubles). Even some of the sports where Canadians win a lot of medals such as short track or freestyle skiing it is pretty uncommon to read about them in the news when the olympics are not happening (and if you do hear something it would almost certainly be from someone who has won multiple Olympic medals). I have only been to the UK for about a month, and I vaguely remember eurosport or some channel like that talking about a lot more sports during their highlight show than TSN or Sportsnet would (pretty much just hockey, football, baseball, basketball, big games in the MLS Premier or Champions leagues, tennis and golf majors, and curling for us).

 

[Eisen]

Question for the Europeans, @Eisen and @Filppula (I think you are European??) I have seen you two in particular post a lot. Are most of the sports at the winter olympics (you have posted a lot in Biathlon and Cross Country in particular) reported about enough in the sports media that even if one doesn't follow the sport they would know a bit about it, and who some of the best athletes in the sport are? I find that in Canada the only sports at the Winter Olympics that we here regularly hear about even when the olympics are not on are hockey (typically just mens too) and curling (not mixed doubles). Even some of the sports where Canadians win a lot of medals such as short track or freestyle skiing it is pretty uncommon to read about them in the news when the olympics are not happening (and if you do hear something it would almost certainly be from someone who has won multiple Olympic medals). I have only been to the UK for about a month, and I vaguely remember eurosport or some channel like that talking about a lot more sports during their highlight show than TSN or Sportsnet would (pretty much just hockey, football, baseball, basketball, big games in the MLS Premier or Champions leagues, tennis and golf majors, and curling for us).

In Germany, you can easily follow the Alpine Skiing, biathlon, Nordic Combined, Ski Jumping and Cross Country, to a lesser degree Bob, Luge, Speed Skating (not Short Track) and Figure Skating. In the winter, state television (ARD and ZDF, two programs everyone can get) have long week ends showing these sports for hours a day. There are of course people who wouldn`t know a Biathlon star athlete because they don`t watch. But they are in the news and can be seen. I work night shift only, so it`s easy for me to follow.
Lately, they started showing some Ice Hockey matches on a sports channel, too.

 

[Jon Riley]

In "my" three countries, Switzerland, Italy and Norway* you get plenty of coverage for alpine and cross country skiing. Less on biathlon, not much on ski jump, almost nothing of short track/speed skating.
In Italy figure skating is huge, luge used to, when Armin Zoeggler was pretty much winning all the time.
*Norway is a special case, cross country ski, biathlon, alpine and ski jump gets thrown at you 24/7 12 months a year. The obsession level of this country for winter sports (in which Norwegians have a shot at winning) is astonishing.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

Actually the scheduling so far has been annoying overall. And I don't mean the TV scheduling. Even in Korean time, they basically have 4 or 5 events packed into the morning, a huge break mid-day and then 4-5 events crammed into prime time.

It's interesting you bring this up. What, exactly, is the reason for it?

This scheduling makes it impossible to catch so much in the pacific timezone. A lot of stuff doesn't start till 2 or 3 am and if you wake up at 6 or 7 it's already over.

Absolutely horrible.

 

[Cloned]

It's interesting you bring this up. What, exactly, is the reason for it?

This scheduling makes it impossible to catch so much in the pacific timezone. A lot of stuff doesn't start till 2 or 3 am and if you wake up at 6 or 7 it's already over.

Absolutely horrible.

My guess is they tried their best to satisfy both Korean Time and EST (the biggest viewing audiences likely).

 

[Preds Partisan]

There was an article last year about scheduling events around local ticket sales and Asian TV. I assume that's why things seem kind of out of sorts.

 

[MMC]

I'm getting lost in all the events. Never know what to have on.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

My guess is they tried their best to satisfy both Korean Time and EST (the biggest viewing audiences likely).

Ah yeah, that makes sense.

We got spoiled with the Rio Olympics in 2016. Even London and Sochi weren't bad and you could catch most of the important stuff live. Tokyo and Beijing next... how exciting.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

It's been really scattered. Like even during the times when events are supposed to be on....it just feels like nothing is happening lol.

 

[Cloned]

It's been really scattered. Like even during the times when events are supposed to be on....it just feels like nothing is happening lol.

Might just be me being old and misremembering, but I don't think previous Olympics were scheduled so "lightly" in the first few days. It's going to be f***ing packed in the second week.

 

[Filppula]

Question for the Europeans, @Eisen and @Filppula (I think you are European??) I have seen you two in particular post a lot. Are most of the sports at the winter olympics (you have posted a lot in Biathlon and Cross Country in particular) reported about enough in the sports media that even if one doesn't follow the sport they would know a bit about it, and who some of the best athletes in the sport are? I find that in Canada the only sports at the Winter Olympics that we here regularly hear about even when the olympics are not on are hockey (typically just mens too) and curling (not mixed doubles). Even some of the sports where Canadians win a lot of medals such as short track or freestyle skiing it is pretty uncommon to read about them in the news when the olympics are not happening (and if you do hear something it would almost certainly be from someone who has won multiple Olympic medals). I have only been to the UK for about a month, and I vaguely remember eurosport or some channel like that talking about a lot more sports during their highlight show than TSN or Sportsnet would (pretty much just hockey, football, baseball, basketball, big games in the MLS Premier or Champions leagues, tennis and golf majors, and curling for us).

I’m actually not European, although I think it must be in my blood somewhere?! I’m actually Australian believe it or not but I just love winter sports, and I think it started the year before the Vancouver Olympics. It was when Eurosport started airing on pay television and I was instantly hooked on biathlon, cross country and alpine skiing in particular. I recorded all the events and quickly developed a real passion for it. It’s really random and my friends can’t believe it, but I just have such an appreciation for the athleticism, dedication and skill of these athletes. A few years ago I went to Europe for a holiday in winter but unfortunately missed the chance to attend any events, a missed opportunity. It’s certainly one of my goals.

 

[saskriders]

The Olympic broadcasters need to add a "too come" graphic. In a lot of events they keep talking about how you need to be in the top x to qualify, but won't mention how many people are left to come. If you know how many are left you can use quick mental math to know who has clinched advancing. Even if it is a medal round you can figure out if the athletes in 1st or 2nd clinched a medal.

 

[Keepler]

South Korea is carrying Winter Olympics very well. So far, the things turned out to be pretty watchable all over the world.

Way to go, peace promoter.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

South Korea is carrying Winter Olympics very well. So far, the things turned out to be pretty watchable all over the world.

Way to go, peace promoter.

Biggest issue I've had with these games is that it seems like the times are not great. And I don't mean just cause I'm in NA. It seems like theres events clustered early in the morning (so like 6-9 here in central time zone in NA) and more at night (4-7am here in central time zone). I don't have a big problem with them scheduling popular events in prime time in Korea, but the lack of events from late morning to early evening in Korea is super annoying, IMO. It creates lots of dead air in NA time zones from 9pm-4am but I can't imagine the dead air time in Asia or Europe plays much better. It just feels like events should have been more evenly spread out over the games, IMO.

 

[Tryblot]

I've been watching replays of the Olympics on the CBC website but is there anyway to turn off the 'breaking news'? I was just spoiled about an event I planned on watching and I don't want that to happen again.

 

[BMOK33]

Actually the scheduling so far has been annoying overall. And I don't mean the TV scheduling. Even in Korean time, they basically have 4 or 5 events packed into the morning, a huge break mid-day and then 4-5 events crammed into prime time.

It’s pretty much what NBC wants due to money. Notice in the summer games in Rio how all the swimming events were 7-10pm local. In Beijing they were all 8-11am local. Basically any event that’s considered big in the states is scheduled so that it’s aired in prime time in the US. The same goes with figure skating. The skiing events that the US is likely to medal in are also a bit earlier. Notice that last nights event was late because the US wasnt anticipated to medal. They put a ton of work into researching how well they think the country will do in the events when the scheduling is put together. The only event that gets high viewership in the states that NBC has been unsuccessful getting into slots they want is gymnastics in the summer games and I’m not sure why that’s been the case. I think because it has too many delays in real time for it to be logical to show it live.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

I've given up trying to catch almost everything live.

Though I am seeing 2 or 3 midnight-ish viewings of Black Panther over the next week so maybe I'll manage to stay up after those and be able to actually see something in real time.

 

[BMOK33]

Attendance is really bad again. It not as horrid as Rio but it’s definitely bad. Most attendance generally comes from the home nation. I’m not sure what South Korea’s economic situation is at the moment but I’m guessing it’s not great because that was why Rio had such awful attendance.

 

[BrockBesnar]

I've been watching replays of the Olympics on the CBC website but is there anyway to turn off the 'breaking news'? I was just spoiled about an event I planned on watching and I don't want that to happen again.

What I do is just click on the actual events on there Video Overview | CBC Olympics | PyeongChang 2018 and don't look below at highlights section (that spoils a bunch). I think I saw a popup breaking news spoiler once yesterday but havent seen it today so maybe it doesnt come on screen again after closing it.

 

[Eisen]

Attendance is really bad again. It not as horrid as Rio but it’s definitely bad. Most attendance generally comes from the home nation. I’m not sure what South Korea’s economic situation is at the moment but I’m guessing it’s not great because that was why Rio had such awful attendance.

It`s got nothing to do with economics. It`s darned cold and windy and it`s a work day and the sports at the moment are of little interest generally in Korea. Short track was well visited, apparently.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Actually the scheduling so far has been annoying overall. And I don't mean the TV scheduling. Even in Korean time, they basically have 4 or 5 events packed into the morning, a huge break mid-day and then 4-5 events crammed into prime time.

yeah i'm not a big fan.

 

[Cody Webster]

More shitty scheduling. Nothing on now but figure skating and a women's hockey game. Waiting until 2am to show the US men's curling match from a hour ago.