Wyandotte Cable Keeps Majority of Olympics Coverage off the Air

If you're a fan of the Olympics and subscribe to Wyandotte Cable, you're probably not too pleased with the amount of coverage you've been able to watch.

And you're not alone.

Melanie McCoy, general manager of , which oversees the city's cable operations, said a number of people have called to complain about the lack of TV coverage being offered.

At issue is the amount of money the city would have had to pay for the rights to broadcast the Olympics in its entirety.

NBC airs the bulk of the most popular events on their local station, but also provides hours of secondary coverage on their affiliate stations, including MSNBC, CNBC and BRAVO.

In order to carry the secondary coverage on all of the stations, McCoy said, it would have cost an additional $90,000.

"We made a decision four years ago when we signed the NBC contract, because it was really expensive to get the secondary coverage, we said no, we’re not going to have the secondary coverage," she said. "It was a huge amount, so we decided at the time we weren’t going to do it."

In past years, McCoy said, a lot of the Olympics coverage was shown exclusively on the local station, making the issue not as bad.

"We knew it was going to be secondary coverage and we weren’t going to be able to get it this year, but we thought that’s OK because the bulk was on the primary coverage," she said. "But they’re doing a whole lot of secondary coverage, so it looks like we should be doing that, too."

After hearing from several upset customers, McCoy said, she expects that the city's cable company will purchase secondary coverage during the next contract with NBC, which is up for a renewal this year.

"We have had a couple comments over the years here and there, but nothing compared to this year," she said. "The contract is up before the next Olympics, so we’re going to look at that. By the next Olympics, we should be OK."

A number of Wyandotte Patch readers sounded off on the issue online and through email.

Julie Lapinski said the fault lies with NBC and other cable providers, such as Comcast and WOW!, should refuse to pay the increased fees.

"It makes me crazy that NBC charges extra like that," she said. "All the other cable providers need to step up and just say no."

Susan Flores said she blames the city's cable company 100 percent.

"Wyandotte made a huge error by not paying the licencing fee for the satellite NBC stations," she said. "How else are kids going to be fascinated in the ancient games? Have we come to this? We missed so many events; track and field, basketball, boxing, archery. No other company within a 50 mile radius has been cheated out of the magnificence of the games."

Paul Showalter said he misses the extra TV coverage, but has found a way to still view some of it.

"On one of my old analog TVs, I am getting the Canadian CTV feed for a little variety," he said. "Fuzzy, like the old days, but a signal nonetheless."

McCoy said the issue will be discussed at today's Municipal Service Commission meeting, which takes place at 5:30 p.m. on the second floor of . The meeting is open to the public.