With 15,000 journalists, many of the TV variety, descending one city, technical difficulties will arise.
NBC has had its share. During Brian Williams’ 1pmET hour on MSNBC, Contessa Brewer had to take over coverage from New York. Williams came back a few minutes later explaining, “We lost our audio from Denver. So many satellites trucks and cables competing for so little space from here.” He then continued a segment with NBC’s Luke Russert.
Also, Saturday’s Nightly News was knocked off the air for a few minutes because of a power hit. Williams acknowledged the problem, after NBC’s Lester Holt reported Olympics news live from Beijing for several minutes.
In addition, insiders tell us Williams was caught in a longer-than-expected security line. “As of 12:35pm, MSNBC was scrambling because Brian Williams wasn’t able to get through,” a tipster writes. He made it on time for the broadcast.