"It Programs the Olympics Not as a Sporting Event or Even a News Event But as a Soft-Focus Entertainment Event"

"Shortly before the games launched on August 5, John Miller, the NBC Olympics chief marketing officer, offered an explanation for why so many Olympic events—and particularly the opening ceremony—are aired on a tape delay, even for those who live on the East Coast, only an hour off the time in Rio (to say nothing of the West Coast, which gets everything on a tape delay).

"Jonathan Tannenwald of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the following comment:

"'The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans. More women watch the games than men, and for the women, they're less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It's sort of like the ultimate reality show and mini-series wrapped into one.'"

Todd VanDerWerff at Vox explains why NBC's television coverage of the Olympics is so horrible.