NBC Olympics reminder: it's a pay-for-play game

Those who want the opportunity to watch every single minute of every single Summer Olympics event in London via any one of the multiple NBC outlets would do well to remember that it's not a free launch--in price or convenience.

"If you want to see all of it, you'll need to pay for cable TV," Peter Kafka reminds in All Things Digital. "You'll also need to prove to NBC that you pay for cable TV (or telco TV, or satellite TV.)"

And therein lies the rub--and the pain--of the concept. The burden of proof is on the person who wants to watch, so it's up to the subscriber to deliver an account number and start up another online account and password.

Kafka, looking for a way around this hassle, came up with a method that may or may not be to everyone's (or anyone's) liking: "Route verification/authentication from a third party service that just about everyone uses, like Facebook, and use that service's credential as a login."

It's an idea that sits well with Facebook, which has been chatting it up for several years, "but the Comcasts and Verizons of the world have yet to buy in," he conceded.

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