NBCUniversal aired the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympics in Sochi, Russia last night. But, if you don’t have access to its cable station NBCSN, you had no way of seeing it.
NBC will air one hour of highlights today at 1 pm. And, in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine just days after the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics, those highlights are bound to show Ukraine registering the only protest of note by having just one of its Paralympians march under its flag during the parade of nations.
More to the point, though, if you’re channel surfing today looking for coverage of the events, you’re going to be disappointed. Because NBCUniversal is providing only 52 hours of coverage of the Paralympics, and it will air most of that only on NBCSN between 1-6 am EST.
By glaring contrast, NBCUniversal boasted about its record-setting 1,539 hours of coverage of the Sochi Olympics, which it aired all day long on it many stations, namely, NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, MSNBC, and USA Network, as well as online at nbcolympics.com.
It will be heavily criticized for this discrepancy – with many accusing NBCUniversal of discrimination against people with disabilities. I am mindful, though, that it weathered similar criticisms for similar discrepancy in its coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics vs. Paralympics in London, England.
I defended NBCUniversal back then in “In Defense of NBC’s Olympics vs. Paralympics Coverage,” September 14, 2012. That defense is equally topical and relevant in this case; therefore, here’s an excerpt.
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I have no idea how much NBC paid for the exclusive rights. But it’s an indication of the level of interest NBC banked on that it contracted to provide 3,500 hours of Olympic coverage, but only 6 hours of Paralympic coverage.
Unsurprisingly, people are criticizing the network for this limited Paralympics coverage, almost as much as they were criticizing it for broadcasting the Olympics on tape delay. What’s more, much of the criticism in this case is laced with accusations about discriminating against people with disabilities. Even I joined friends in venting reflexive, high-minded outrage.
Upon reflection, however, I believe criticisms in both cases are as unfair as they are uninformed. For I suspect exhaustive market research indicated that interest would be such that broadcasting any more than 6 hours would be a waste of capital resources.
I can personally attest that NBC made the right decision in both cases. Because I was so eager to know the results of premier events at the Olympics that I went out of my way to find them online. Moreover, my interest was such that, just as NBC calculated, knowing the results did nothing to diminish my interest in seeing its tape-delay broadcasts.
By instructive contrast, I’m ashamed to admit that the only time I became interested in anything related to the Paralympics was when the poster boy for these Games, Oscar Pistorius, suffered a surprising upset in the men’s 200m. And this was only because Pistorius received so much media attention during the Olympics for being the first double amputee to participate.
Indeed, the greater is my shame that nothing but schadenfreude stoked my interest in actually seeing him humbled. …
At any rate, I’m not sure what it says about me that I was so interested in watching 3,500 hours of the Olympics, but so uninterested in watching just 6 hours of the Paralympics, let alone searching the Internet for timely results.
I have family members with disabilities. Therefore, I fully appreciate that the last thing Paralympians want is for their performances to evoke sympathy or, even worse, pity. Except that, as admirable and life affirming as their performances might be, a confluence of sympathy and pity is all I feel when I see people with disabilities competing in sporting events. …
I would bet my life savings that 99 percent of you who tuned in to the Olympics did so to watch Michael Phelps and/or Usain Bolt compete. On the other hand, I challenge you to name a single Paralympian (who is not a relative or friend) who you wanted to watch compete.
Not to mention that people who rave about the performance of athletes with disabilities always come across like annoying parents raving about the first baby steps of their children. Which is why much of the celebration of the Paralympic Games strikes me as patronizing, disingenuous, and even a little guilt-ridden.
I don’t know if this constitutes discrimination on my part. What I do know, however, is that hundreds of millions of people feel as I do. Which is why nobody should criticize NBC for making the undeniably sound business decision to provide such limited coverage of the Paralympics.
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That said, it’s worth noting that the 52 hours of coverage NBCUniversal is providing of these Winter Paralympics constitutes a significant increase over the 6 hours it provided of the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
All the same, given that there’s no Pistorius-like Paralympian compelling my interest at these Games, I won’t be tuning in to any of those 52 hours. Ironically, it still speaks volumes that NBCUniversal will probably provide more coverage of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial now underway in South Africa than it’s providing of the Paralympics now underway in Russia.
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