While the London Olympics being held in London this year has its own share of attraction for sport lovers and non-sport-lovers as well, there has been the added interest in the 3D broadcasting of the event for world viewers. NBC has been the prime mover for this broadcast and they have had their share of distraught viewers who complained about the delayed broadcasting that NBC was resorting to just to keep their prime time open for advertisers.

The hype on 3D and the Olympics when it was being discussed had NBC partnering Panasonic for capturing the events live and broadcasting in 3D the world over. That however did not occur much for NBC kept more to 2D than 3D in its shooting the events and broadcasting the same. The reasons why NBC did not broadcast in 3D is being speculated upon and some of them that appears logical are as follows. Most users in the US as yet do not have 3D capable TV sets. NBC may have thought that its viewership may get affected if they kept all to 3D format. NBC also may have considered the viewers in the US as not very knowledgeable about 3D and its difference with 2D. They at NBC may have considered that the viewers without 3D capable sets would think NBC channels are not at all watchable due the 3D medium of broadcast. These are considered to be the possible reasons why NBC delayed their broadcast by one full day.

There were however other TV service providers who did come up with live coverage and broadcast of the Olympics events. There was TV OSN from the Middle East and North Africa that had dedicated some channels for Olympics event coverage and that too in 3D only. From Australia there was Nine Network that also did have some live coverage and broadcast of the events. Other TV or cable TV operators that had some 3D content of the Olympics broadcast live were DirecTV, Comcast, Time/ Warner and Cablevision.

All in all, the 3D broadcast of the Olympics event can be summed up to be 12 hours per day. The entire Olympics event on ground is a much longer duration one. So it is not the comparison of the covered time and the actual event time that is of importance. What is important is that how much 3D format has been accepted by the people and added attraction of the Olympics which in itself is a mammoth event.

NBC has displayed lack of appreciation and thinking so far as the third dimension and their viewership rating go. That viewers feel a negative effect towards NBC is evident from the criticism that has flown for the way Olympics event has been aired by NBC. Possibly NBC would read the viewers signal in its correct format and not the way they have read the 3D format.

Sovan Mandal (694 Posts)

Sovan Mandal is the senior tablet and tech corespondent for goodereader.com and 3D Specialist. He brings a international approach to news that is not just applicable to the North American market, but also Asia, India, Europe and others. Sovy brings his own writing flavor to the website and is interested in Science Fiction, Technology and Writing. Any questions, send an email