• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 1, 2012

Complain about NBC and the Olympics all you want -- then look at the bottom line.

Tape delays have again been a big issue for consumers. Seems like this issue is an additional sport of the games. But "seems" is the important word: We now have more social media areas in which to vent.

More than 90% of Americans can watch the London Olympics for free, in real time – although sometimes without any commentary on the action. These consumers just need an Internet connection. (Doesn't everyone have one, my snooty self asks.) There is widespread penetration of desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones. 

So the early rounds of women's power lifting didn't run on NBC TV? Didn’t you want to get up at 2 a.m. (PT) to watch them online -- or do you blame Olympic organizers for the scheduling?

For decades, U.S. consumers have complained about Olympic tape delays. But these days, the whinings are at all-time levels. We all know the summer can be an acrid place for original TV, and this is something that nationalistic sports cheering can rectify.

People seem to be complaining about what they see on NBC itself, as if that is the only place to watch the games, as if watching some action on MSNBC, NBC Sports Network or CNBC will mean you need to take a shower afterwards.

Weirdly, many viewers were pissed about the “leaks” from the opening ceremonies -- that the Queen would jettison out of plane in a James Bond sketch, that Paul McCartney would sing "Hey Jude." that Rowan Atkinson would play one note on the piano for the entire performance of "Chariots of Fire."

NBC has figured out that using the Internet to stream all events live would solve the problem. No matter. Some critics have criticized NBC for continuing to air the "least objectionable sports programming on the NBC network." Hey, I too want to see pistol-shooting and whitewater kayaking in prime time.

But do you think major advertisers are concerned bout the ongoing complaints? No, social interaction of any kind means caring and engagement. Bring it on.

TV executives continue to tell us that consumers "want to watch when they want and on the device they want."What! It's not on the NBC network? What! It's on a cable network --  MSNBC, Telemundo, Bravo or NBC Sports Network?

Still, how real is all this moaning? Not very. Through their first three days, these London Summer Olympics had grabbed big viewing records.

So score one for whatever team you like: Internet social media words don't meet real-life actions.