Screw you, NBC. (Or thank you for not letting me watch the Olympics)

[chasely]

So, as many sports fans know, there are various ways that you can watch live events online. ESPN is pretty good at letting you watch live events on their website, as long as you subscribe to one of many cable services. I was able to watch the Euros all online this year, and it was awesome.

I was getting all excited to watch the USWNT (soccer) play today on NBC online, and watch the Olympics online in general. Come to find out, in order to use NBC's LiveExtra service which allows you to watch the Olympics online, you need to have a cable subscription that gets you BOTH CNBC and MSNBC.

I cancelled my extended cable subscription a long time ago (I get local channels only through my cable). So I guess I'm out of luck. Sorry NBC, you won't be able to add me to your viewers for add revenue. They give me the option to upgrade my account in order to get access. No thank you.

I really don't understand why they do this. Surely getting rid of cable is becoming more popular, this just means they are alienating more and more potential viewers and forcing them to not watch the events they want or view the material through illegal means.

I wouldn't be so perturbed if I knew this before today, but all the press releases I heard said something to the effect of "NBC will be putting all its Olympic content online" which gently ignores the fact that there are boxes to check off before you can view this content.

Anyway, hope that others enjoy the Olympics. I'm going to find alternate means to watch the content I want. Again, screw you NBC.

[Horsedog]

That sucks, man! Same thing happened to me this year with March Madness. Last year, I could stream the whole thing but when Turner Broadcasting took it over they made it available only in the U.S. F'ers. Anyway, at least one Canadian broadcaster is doing live streaming, but I'm not sure if you'd be able to watch in the U.S.

CTV has a stream here - http://www.ctvolympics.ca/videos/index.html

And even if you can, the broadcast is gonna showcase Canadian atheletes more than U.S....at least it's an option to check out, though!

[msuroo]

I really don't understand why they do this. Surely getting rid of cable is becoming more popular...

I think you answered your own question right there...

Obviously it sucks that everything isn't on the internet free for everybody, but remember that NBC is a profit seeking enterprise. Comcast (which owns NBC) sure has a vested interest in getting as many people as possible signed up for cable packages that include CNBC and MSNBC, don't you think?

[chasely]

I think you answered your own question right there...

Obviously it sucks that everything isn't on the internet free for everybody, but remember that NBC is a profit seeking enterprise. Comcast (which owns NBC) sure has a vested interest in getting as many people as possible signed up for cable packages that include CNBC and MSNBC, don't you think?

Very true. Though they do get add advertising through my viewing of their online service.

I think that they need to find multiple income streams for large events like the Olympics. For example, I would be willing to shell out money in order to get subscription to watch the games online.

Obviously what they're banking on is taking advantage of people that don't have the subscription required to watch the games online ordering the services, then not having these people cancel that subscription once the games are over.

I seem some similarities between CDs and cable TV. Both were very popular and profitable for the companies involved, but new technology is coming along and offering consumers alternatives. The large companies that were so profitable with the old methods are very slow to adapt to the new technologies and desires of their consumers.

[chasely]

For those in a similar predicament, I'm watching the things I can't watch online at firstrowsports.eu

If there are better options out there, let me know.

[Jkaylor]

I cheated the system. I used my parents cable password to stream off NBC's website. Woo! Sports Im so excited

[Rivanariko]

I borrowed my brother's girlfriend's password. I called about 10 people before I found someone who still had a tv subscription. I think that's pretty telling as far as the future of cable goes.

[Rivanariko]

I would like to add that I also would have been happy to pay for a subscription just to watch the games online if it meant I didn't have to sign up for a full cable package. I have no need to for television in my life, but I really wanted to watch the Grand Prix dressage now instead of in a few months when it comes out on DVD.

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

Using my parent's cable info so I can stream the fencing. Even so I had trouble getting in yesterday morning when I woke up 2 hours early to catch the what I could before going to work - probably more the fault of sleep deprivation than NBC. Not that it kept me from being grumpy until I got my fencing fix after work.

I wonder if they still get payed for advertisements that get blocked.... I keep adblock plus (or whatever it's called) pretty up to date and that's surprisingly good at blocking ads on pandora, youtube, etc.