Other networks have more forward-thinking approaches than NBC. CBS has had tremendous success monetizing the at-work online watching of the March Madness college basketball tournament, much of which happens while people are in the office at their desks. Disney and ESPN are on record saying if they got the Olympics rights in the future they would be “committed to live.” Maybe the U.S. rights to an Olympics broadcast could be split up between multiple entities so they are more economically feasible and more open to pockets of innovation.

By the way, that hockey game, the first one that NBC tore down its online paywall for? It was the single most-watched live video event of the games, with nearly 500,000 live streams.