I was discussing this with an amigo on a run yesterday. It seems that the chief difference is that Reavis and Trautwig were going on as if they were doing a televised broadcast for NBC, rather than a webcast. All of the trivial prattle they were churning out might be what is called for (by producers) to engage a more general audience, but a webcast has a more specific target -- only those who are (much) more than marginally interested would be bothering to watch, it is not as if channel-surfers would happen upon it and check it out. That seemingly should be one of the positives of webcasting, that the product (including the commentary) can be better attuned to an intent audience that does not need so much dumbing-down and over-explanation and just plain inane observations. It could be a more focussed product, catering more closely to the preferences of the core audience. It could be that they were acting on the instructions of their producers or perhaps the producers did not really care and let them do what they wanted since those who are interested in watching the race itself are not likely to let some gasbag commentary lead them to stop watching. Perhaps there could be some kind of live audio up-link that someone could arrange to have some volunteer commentary from better sources and muting the video while watching the women's OT. Any word on a possible women's OT webcast?
