There is nothing like seeing the spontaneity and drama that unfolds during the live telecast of a sporting event, like the NCAA tournament or the World Series. Tape-delayed broadcasts seem like such a waste of air time. With the Internet making news available almost immediately, why would anyone tune into tape-delayed sports events when they can get the results online? Most sporting events should be broadcast live as it happens, even if it means showing them in the middle of the night.
The World Figure Skating Championships, which wrapped up this weekend in Tokyo, is a case in point. While the NCAA tournament was being shown live on CBS, the figure skating championships were tape-delayed and shown on ESPN in the same time slot as the tournament games. Because of the 14-hour time difference between Tokyo and Chicago, the results of the skating competition were posted on the Web. In fact, the pairs’ and men’s events were already concluded before ESPN even showed any of the competition.
ESPN handled the Australian Open in January differently. The men’s final between Roger Federer and Fernando Gonzalez was broadcast live at 3 a.m. Chicago time, then replayed at noon later the same day. Would more fans have tuned in to see the free skate programs if they were broadcast live from Tokyo, even at 4 a.m.? The network could still rebroadcast the events in primetime.
What do you think? Would you watch a live sporting event on TV if it was broadcast in the wee hours of the morning?
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