Mark Lazarus, the chairman of the NBC Sports division of US network NBC, has defended the broadcaster’s decision to show delayed coverage of some London 2012 Olympic Games events during primetime on NBC, rather than live.
According to the SportsBusiness Daily website, NBC Sports decided before the start of the Games to delay NBC network coverage of the finals of the swimming, gymnastics, diving, beach volleyball and track and field athletics until primetime, with NBC Sports’ online platforms providing live streams of the events.
“I think what we’ve proven is that the American viewing public likes the way we tell the story and wants to gather in front of the television with their friends and family – even if they have the ability to watch it live either on television or digitally,” Lazarus told the website. “I inherently trust that decision is the right one and that people want to see these events.”
Lazarus, who said he was aware of criticism of the strategy on social media websites, added: “As programmers, we are charged to manage the business, and this is a business. It’s not everyone’s inalienable right to get whatever they want. We are charged with making smart decisions for our company, for our shareholders and to present the product the way we believe is best.”
The report said that 943,000 streams were opened by viewers during NBC Sports’ online coverage of the 400m individual medley men’s swimming race, which was won by American Ryan Lochte on Saturday. NBC’s delayed network coverage of the race on Saturday evening attracted 44.75 million viewers.