As a site that covers streaming and entertainment, we’re well-aware that one of the biggest ratings gold mines is typically the Olympics. That may be starkly incorrect in the upcoming months, however. We’ve already covered that NBC has a serious viewership problem on the near-horizon:
As a result NBC’s gambit with the exclusive rights to the Olympics broadcasts is likely going to blow up in their face. Already articles are being written about how they’ll fail with viewership. Absent from the discussion is clarity that these companies are getting what they deserve for cuddling with communist dictators. Instead, it’s a “confluence of many negative factors”… which is business jargon for “the chickens are coming home to roost.”
Things for NBC are getting much, much worse. Since the article we posted just two days ago, the Chinese Communist Party has put out a notice for Olympic athletes that should they do anything that makes the regime look bad, they’re in serious danger of being jailed. From John Sexton at Hot Air:
China said it may punish athletes whose words and actions go against Chinese laws at next month’s Beijing Winter Olympics, as human rights activists warned participants against speaking out on sensitive issues to ensure their safety during the Games.
“Any expression that is in line with the Olympic spirit, I’m sure will be protected. Any behaviour or speeches that are against the Olympic spirit, and especially against Chinese laws and regulations are also subjected to certain punishment,” Yang Shu, the deputy director general of the international relations department of the Beijing organising committee, said on Wednesday.
We’ve already heard that American athletes are being told to leave their electronic devices at home and avoid using any Chinese apps while in the Middle Kingdom. The reason: authorities believe the CCP is determined to spy on athletes during their stay. Can we say that it might be a good idea to not pick China again in the near future?
Oh, but it gets worse somehow…
https://twitter.com/JoostBroekers/status/1483020377206964225
The COVID situation in China, which they say is totally a non-issue, is so bad that NBC is now pulling their announcers and will not send them to the games. That means that any commentary for the Olympics will have to be fed to New York, then commentated on by NBC employees there, and finally disseminated to the world. Can you say the “no COVID in China” narrative is busted? I only wish our own media hadn’t perpetrated it and thereby fooled impressionable youth that China was doing a better job than the democratic republic that is America. But they had to get rid of Cheetos dust, right? Here’s a clue for the imbeciles that boosted the propaganda of Beijing: lying hurts us all, so stop it.
Per the Associated Press:
“Something significant has changed virtually every day for the last three months, forcing us to adjust our plan numerous times. And I expect that to continue as well as the challenge of doing the Olympics,” said Molly Solomon, the head of NBC’s Olympics production unit.
“With COVID’s changing conditions and China’s zero-tolerance policy, it’s just added a layer of complexity to all of this, so we need to make sure we can provide the same quality experience to the American viewers. That’s why we are split between the two cities.”
I suppose it is a bit risky to send your reporters and commentators to China at a time when they’re flying drones through cities telling their citizens to stay inside except to take a COVID test. Unlike in other countries, if you disobey those orders, there’s a good chance you’ll just disappear. Well, maybe not so different than some countries given that the west has followed China in many ways during this pandemic. Still, the lies are done from Beijing, as companies are now forced to admit they’re too scared to even send their employees there. For all the crowing by American sports leagues about the horrors of the United States, it’s funny that now, leagues like the NHL won’t even send their players to China out of fear for what will happen.
If you’re curious how much NBC is dreading their ratings, consider that they’re dropping Nielson and going with some never-heard-of ratings startup to try to game the system (my opinion there). See, Nielson adding a new way of counting people watching television at restaurants and bars to try to bolster ratings just wasn’t enough for NBC, so they’re going fishing for bigger numbers. Gotta do whatever you can to keep your stockholders semi-happy.
But there’s no hiding this stinker. And this is a pile of Beijing manure that the big companies can all go lay in. It’s two years of lies and propaganda for a murderous dictatorship that got them there.
Another poignant article, Pro. If it’s available to you and to any others reading who want more info on what has recently been going on in CCP China, the network NTD has been covering it well. The horrors done to the people over there by the CCP Government…just unbelievable in today’s world. And there’s a particularly shocking one of the CCP thugs going into a woman’s apartment and killing her dog for fears it may have had COVID (no test or proof). It was caught on her home video camera. Viewer beware.