Did anyone notice that NBC treats Golf with the utmost respect.  I bring this up because of the poor way in which NBC delivers grand slam tennis.  In the case of Golf's US Open, I am sad to say that  NBC did a very good job.  (1) NBC showed live golf, (2) worked in partnership w/ ESPN so that both networks aired live action at all times, (3) pre-empted other programming to expand its coverage, (4) aired LIVE in all time zones, and (5) cut away from The Today Show.

These are all attributes that NBC would never do for tennis and will become increasingly irritating when we get to the second week of Wimbledon. That is when NBC expands its coverage in the US.   In comparison to how well golf is treated by NBC, please note that (1) NBC rarely shows LIVE tennis and the programming is most often pre-packaged.  (2) They do not work in concert w/ ESPN.  Instead NBC dictates who can show what when, as such ESPN is not always able to show live action as the match in question may belong to NBC, so we get replays on ESPN while the marquee match of the day is going on, only to see taped delay action once NBC takes over.  This would be like NBC telling ESPN that they could not show or speak about Tiger Woods & Phil Mickelson during their coverage window as those names belong solely to NBC.  Which NBC would then show to everyone on tape delay and after the fact.  Well, that is what happens to tennis.  (3) I cannot recall when NBC rearranged its schedule to show more tennis.  I am sure it has happened once or twice but not very often.  (4) NBC never shows live tennis outside of the eastern time zone.  The rest of us get tape delay, all the time.  What makes this worse is that ESPN's second coverage window of the day gets blacked out in the West!!! (5) NBC never pre-empts The Today show for tennis, which is the biggest cause of its broadcast problems.  If they would pre-empt The Today Show then everyone gets live tennis.  They do it for golf, but never ever for tennis.

Well, now we know that NBC does not broadcast everything poorly, just TENNIS.

 

 

 

 

 

I think it's easier to make a good golf broadcast than tennis. Unfortunately, the networks don't seem to be able to switch back and forth between matches (and probably wouldn't want to do too much of it) the was golf broadcasts can swing you from each player taking their shots. I don't even like golf much and I got sucked in by the constant flow of action (is that really a word used for golf?) b/c there's really no downtime in between shots.

You have to watch more than one point or so in a tennis match to get a feeling for a match. You can't switch around nearly as much as you can in golf.

NBC's coverage is always horrible. We will only see taped matches and only matches featuring Venus, Serena, and maybe Andy Roddick. If Federer makes the finals we will see him by default. The NBC brass thinks that American fans will meekly accept their bogus taped broadcast. The NBC brass thinks that American viewers will not watch a foreign player. They have a sneering condescending attitude. GE, the parent company is in terrible shape and NBC is losing viewers faster than the Titanic sank. The sooner we can get NBC out of tennis the better.

 

Redhead is right. Golf ont v is easier to broadcast than tennis. For my tastes, I still cannot fathom why the sporting public, and the genarl public  think golf as a sport is more interesting than tennis.  Money is the main reason. 

 

Ratings are the main factor why NBC will stick with golf and make extraordinary efforts to cooperate with ESPN for a golf broadcast.

 

But as far as NBC and tennis, as well know, NBC = No Body Cares about tennis network. Their days of tennis and Wimbledon being a cornerstone of their sporting lineup is longover.  It's frustrating for knowledgeable hardcore tennis fans, since NBC hijacks the rights, and prefers to serve up stale, overbaked and overdone American leftovers year after year. 

 

What would be great is if everyone boycotted the NBC broadcasts and watched matches online. If their ratings tanked, perhaps they would see the light and drop tennis.

 

I *still* find it terribly frustrating and ironic that ESPN can show live tennis at all the majors from the opening serve in the first round. But once NBC gets their claws into their timeslot, which is usually the semis and finals, then we get tape delayed matches. It's just not acceptable. I feel like if NBC isn't willing to pre-empt their precious Today show or soap operas, don't bother with tennis. ESPN and TC do a  fine job. 

 

And someone please tell me NBC is dropping their nightly 15 minute Wimbledon wrap up show!  It's insulting they count that 1.5 or 2 hours from the nighttime updates as part of their total broadcasting hours. They show a few nanoseconds of tennis, mixed in with mindless chatter and fluff fill time from McEnroe and Carillo.  That truly is part of NBC's dumbing it down efforts. Back in the day, before cable, I couldn't wait for those nightly updates, because it provided the only opportunity, other than the rare glimpse from the news sports segments, to see any tennis before the semis or finals. But those nightly update shows are so unnecessary these days. (I can't believe they get any ratings to justify the air time costs for it!)  And can you believe they bump back the Tonight show by 15 minutes for the update show!  I imagine they always get complaints about that. Maybe I'll join in this year, and vehemently complain about pre-empting the Tonight show, to send a message to NBC!

 

NBC's broadcast has nothing but talking heads sitting in a studio. You get five minutes of talking heads spouting cliches ("take it one match at a time") and then six or seven minutes of commercials and promos for NBC shows and then a few minutes, if that, of Venus and Serena. They used to show Andre Agassi but since he retired it is back to Venus and Serena only. NBC is just a total waste of time.