Editorial: NBC's Olympics and the steely grip of old media

Owners and stakeholders of Big Media have thick skins. So the persistent trending of #NBCFail, and the riotous reading that the tweet stream provides, is probably bouncing right off their leathery hides. For one thing, the complaints were surely foreseen. They are largely the same criticisms NBC withstood in previous Olympics -- over-curating, ill-placed commercials, tape delays, scandalously inane commentary, and a generally inferior Olympics presentation compared to other countries. The unspoken shrugging answer, of course, is financial. The lessons learned from that answer say things about how slowly institutional power inches into the future, the impatience of the digital class, brand ecosystem as a preeminent business battleground, and the ideology breakdown of the International Olympic Committee.

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Editorial: NBC's Olympics and the steely grip of old media originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.