NBC has united the world…in scorn, contempt, and mockery of its gaffe-plagued, stone-age Olympics coverage. Cutting the tribute to the 7/7 London Islamic terror victims from the network’s opening ceremonies coverage was just the tip of the iceberg. Yesterday, the #NBCFail hashtag erupted worldwide and showed no signs of let-up. Ridiculous tape delays, news/programming spoilers, arrogant tweets from former NPR executive-turned-NBC chief digital officer Vivian Schiller, geographic errors, and streaming woes have earned the peacock network global social media mockery.
#NBCFail — the hashtag you cannot ignore http://t.co/RlOU4YKe via @morettiphd
— Anthony Moretti (@morettiphd) July 29, 2012
OMG. NBC is airing an *encore* presentation of the Olympics. Seriously??? It's not like they don't have anything live to air… #nbcfail
— Erik C. Thauvin (@ethauvin) July 29, 2012
https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/229367115776393216
It's one thing for NBC to tape the big events for primetime, but for them to announce the results ON NBC before they air is lunacy. #NBCfail
— Will Devlin (@wdevlin) July 28, 2012
https://twitter.com/hugoschwyzer/status/229253069492334594
RT @NBC We interrupt our tape-delayed Olympics to bring you breaking news: Michael Jackson has died. #NBCFail
— Gerry Duggan (@GerryDuggan) July 29, 2012
https://twitter.com/GingeFC/status/229390454314127360
In this age of social media, @nytimes posts tomorrow’s stories today but @NBC broadcasts today’s Olympic events tomorrow! #NBCfail
— Matt Eastwood (@matteastwood) July 29, 2012
Context: NBC’s ideal viewer is someone who doesn’t get sports text alerts, doesn’t appointment stream or get on Twitter.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) July 28, 2012
NBC's ideal viewer still lives in 1987. RT @darrenrovell NBC’s ideal viewer is someone who doesn’t get sports text alerts or get on Twitter.
— Not Bill Walton (@NotBillWalton) July 28, 2012
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NBC have just arrived in Vienna to cover the 2000 Sydney Olympics #NBCfail #Olympics
— No thank you, I've just had a bunch of grapes (@no_bunch) July 29, 2012
Up next: LIVE coverage of #TeamUSA men's gold medal hockey from Lake Placid! #NBCfail
— Kimberlee Carter (@TheDopeyOne) July 29, 2012
@NBCOlympics still thinks it's 1980, and everyone avoided their TVs so as to not hear the US-USSR hockey score. #NBCfail
— Dave from NoVA (@RunnerDaveVA) July 29, 2012
https://twitter.com/MiaFarrow/status/229391244684578816
I want to retweet just about every tweet from the #NBCfail hash tag. But that would be as obnoxious as their Olympic coverage.
— Tara Martin Is Hiatusing (@tarawriter) July 29, 2012
And yes, there’s even a new parody account: @NBCLiveFail!
https://twitter.com/NBCLiveFail/status/229400929848414208
https://twitter.com/NBCLiveFail/status/229461865451880448
https://twitter.com/NBCLiveFail/status/229459434554929152
just read that someone saw the swimming results on pinterest hours before NBC aired them lol Pinterest? THAT is bad! #NBCFail @NBCLiveFail
— Christina Ferrante (@rememberthe1) July 29, 2012
https://twitter.com/NBCLiveFail/status/229459665006759936
https://twitter.com/NBCLiveFail/status/229454827401383936
What’s NBC’s response so far? NBC digital operations chief Vivian Schiller is showing the same tone-deaf arrogance that led to her resignation at NPR after being caught trashing conservatives on tape. Get her a gold medal for poor sportsmanship:
https://twitter.com/VivianSchiller/status/229382360368562176
Schiller also re-tweeted approvingly NBC “senior community manager” Anthony Quintano’s excuse-making:
mmmm nobody is complaining that Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps just spoiled audiences with their tweets.
— anthonyquintano (@AnthonyQuintano) July 28, 2012
But Twitter users weren’t buying the self-serving CYA:
@AnthonyQuintano if I cared about spoiler tweets I wouldn't be on twitter, honestly can't believe y'all didn't air most hyped match-up LIVE.
— ??☔️Molly ☮❤??️? (@CSSRMolly) July 28, 2012
And the medal for totally not getting that we no longer live in the 20th century goes to…NBC! @VivianSchiller @jonathanwald @brianstelter
— Jenny K (@jennygadget) July 29, 2012
@VivianSchiller @jonathanwald @brianstelter maybe you should fix your "live streaming" app before you get too cocky.
— Xay (@xayide) July 29, 2012
https://twitter.com/johnjaywoo2/status/229496035951669248
Heckuva job, Viv:
…the streaming of events online has gotten just as much #NBCfail action as the tape delay.According to Yahoo! Sports, slow-buffering feeds and freezing/dropping video were among the main complaints from viewers who tried to watch Saturday’s events live online.
And the hits keep on coming. The “real reporters” at NBC can’t tell Australia from Austria:
Screenshot of http://t.co/0HlwlhA9 description of Australia. Which appears to actually be about Austria. #nbcfail http://t.co/KlQY7sLo
— Laura Seay (@texasinafrica) July 29, 2012
“Located in central Europe, bordered to the north by Germany and the Czech Republic, to the west by Switzerland…”
@texasinafrica Do I dare even glance at their African country capsules to fact-check? #nbcolympicsfail
— Christopher Argyris (@chrisargyris) July 29, 2012
NBC sure want to make it easier for us Aussies to get to Europe…
Austria/Australia – 24 hrs later still incorrect!http://t.co/bL4HOB5g— Gareth W (@WatsonWork) July 29, 2012
Some viewers wonder if special NBC social media correspondent Ryan Seacrest will get around to covering his network’s Olympic disaster:
Maybe if there were enough disappointed Americans using the hashtag #NBCfail Ryan Seacrest can report on it during his lame social media bit
— Darryl Smart (@DarrylSmart1) July 29, 2012
Can we get Ryan Seacrest to talk about #nbcfail trending on the Olympics tomorrow night? RT to make it happen.
— Erik Deckers (@edeckers) July 29, 2012
Watching the proud peacock crumble has become an even more entertaining sport than the Olympic competition itself. Ouch:
Reading Americans complain about NBC's Olympic coverage is better than watching the games themselves. #nbcfail #NBCShambles #Olympics
— dr giuliana ???? (@gulzm) July 29, 2012
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