Hashtag failure
It’s time to retire the hashtag #NBCFail.
Some valid points were raised about the network’s coverage of the London Olympics, when the hashtag first appeared. And it’s understandable that some viewers were frustrated when the network tape-delayed its coverage of the Sochi opening ceremonies.
But while NBC makes a convenient target, the criticism arises from a relatively small number of viewers who are making a lot of noise on social media.
NBC has done t his Olympic thing a few times before. No doubt they and their advertisers pay close attention to the ratings results. So let’s not second-guess their business model and assume that because a few diehard (and apparently idle) Americans want to watch wall-to-wall luge coverage at noon on a Tuesday that means the network’s coverage is a complete disaster.
Here in Canada, we’ve been all too willing to assume our coverage is superior, thanks in part to media reports that reinforce NBC’s failings and compare it to Canadian coverage. One article this week cited “at least one desperate household” in the U.S. that had broken down and purchased a Canadian IP address to circumvent NBC.
It turns out one half of the couple from the “at least one desperate household” was born in Canada. So not exactly an accurate sample of American behaviour.
But the story plays into our smug assertion that the world needs more Canada, that Americans crave our health-care system and our public broadcaster. Unfortunately, it also contradicts our standard indignant complaint that none of them knows where Canada is located, much less that we actually have the Internet in the Great White North. Didn’t we only recently legalize the stapler, according to Rick Mercer’s Talking to Americans?
We shouldn’t be surprised that Canadian television provides more coverage of winter sports than a network that has to serve viewers in California, Arizona, Texas and Florida.
We need to move on with our self-conscious obsession with our southern neighbours. Canada appears to be on the verge of a second straight dominant performance at the Winter Olympic Games. This is new territory for us, so some adjustment is inevitable. But we need to learn that when you actually win, you no longer need to search for moral victories to feel superior and selfsatisfied.