When the Olympics opening ceremony began last week, Erik Thauvin did what many tech-savvy sports fans would do after learning about the tape delay: search for a live stream of the event.
Live feeds on the Web were getting shut down left and right, so it took some finagling on his part. Eventually Thauvin, 44, a programmer in Everett, Wash., found an illegal stream with sub-par video quality and hundreds of "nightmarish" pop-up ads. "It wasn’t even worth spending time on it," he noted. It proved to be so much of a headache that he eventually relented, waiting until primetime to watch NBC’s rendition of the event.
Officially, NBC has defended its decision by saying such "complex entertainment spectacles" do not "translate well online because they require context." But it's worth noting that consolidating viewership into primetime also means higher Nielsen ratings, which ultimately translates into more ad dollars — much needed to recoup some of the $1.3 billion U.S. the network shelled out to broadcast the Games. NBC delivered with the kickoff, with 40.7 million viewers, a 17% spike from the Beijing opening ceremonies four years prior, and averaging 35.8 million the first three days.
Even though the network is streaming every sporting and medal event live on its website and its NBC Olympics Live Extra app, many people aren't satisfied. For one thing, only cable and satellite subscribers can access the service, and more are cutting the cord than ever. A Nielsen report , for example, found 1.6 million people in the fourth quarter of 2011 had recently said goodbye to their cable service.
Fans have also complained that the opening and closing ceremonies aren't available as live streams, and that the web video feed has been marred by technical glitches and other annoyances. These issues have sent people like Tara Jenson, 37, scrambling for other ways to watch live. Jenson, a Linux system administrator in Minneapolis, set up two virtual private networks (VPN) to bypass NBC's broadcast, one on her home media server and the other on her iPad, tethered to a 4G hotspot, so she can watch at work. Her preferred coverage? The BBC, which is notably devoid of "NBC’s dumb commentary," she said.
While the BBC’s terms of service for its streaming player don’t mention viewing from outside the U.K., it refers users to its frequently asked questions for more information. There, the network clearly lays out that its broadcasting rights extend only to the U.K. Olympic content for both its iPlayer and streaming app are geo-blocked, so viewers outside the U.K. can’t watch its live feeds.
Jenson’s VPN masks the location of her computer and iPad, making it appear as if she were logging online from outside the U.S., so her clever workaround lets her watch the BBC’s coverage.
In Olympics priors, "I just coped with knowing I have to wait until whenever," Jenson said. "This year just really felt different. Are you kidding me? It's 2012. I can find out from Twitter immediately who's winning."
Given the sensitive nature of VPNs, most of these services have clauses in their terms of service spelling out that users should not use their VPNs in violation of local, state, national or international law. But given their various privacy policies, policing these networks is another story. Some providers note they don’t monitor, collect, analyze or store information outside of basic details, such as users’ IP address, Internet Service Provider and data usage. In contrast, it’s much easier for the International Olympic Committee, which patrols against piracy, to shut down errant YouTube or Ustream videos.
There are no official numbers on how many Americans are using VPNs to watch Olympics coverage. But the impact of these workarounds appears to be small. NBC, which in recent years has lagged in ratings, has been trouncing the competitors in primetime, with averages besting the rest of the networks (Univision, Fox, CBS, ABC, Telemundo and CW) combined.
