Even though there are skeptics, like John Malone of Liberty Media and DirecTV, that think NBC's large push for online coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games this summer won't be worth the overall costs, NBC is determined to continue to roll out new features even as the games near.
In partnership with Wave systems' Wavexpress, a provider of broadband media technology and services, NBC Universal will be able to offer viewers the option of watching the games on the go. Through Wavexpress' TVTonic IPTV service, users can essentially set up a TiVo-like service that will automatically download content which can be watched at a later time. Viewers indicate their preferences for the sports events channels they'd like to see (this is categorized on a sport-by-sport basis), and TVTonic will sync with NBC's video clips as they become available, and then downloaded.
The largest benefit of this TVTonic integration is the hands-off approach that viewers can take advantage of, in that the content they've shown interest in is automatically updated and can be viewed offline. Such delivery options encourage more people to view the content, as it removes time restraints as well as the need to go back and search through any on-demand replay content that NBC will make available. This feature also presents additional advertising potential for NBC and marketers that are taking advantage of the Olympics' large and worldwide crowd.