Thursday, March 20, 2008

There Are No Waiting Lines On the Internet – March 20, 2008

I recently opted to participate in the office pool for the NCAA basketball championship, commonly known as March Madness. Anyhoo, we started a group pool using the CBS bracket making tool, which is pretty cool. I don’t follow college basketball at all, and the tool allowed you to pick teams at random while providing helpful hints on what team most people voted on to win. My strategy was to choose what everyone else chose. We’ll see how that works out. I’ve got UCLA to win the whole thing!

This morning I went to check out my bracket again, and I noticed that CBS also provided a link on the site to watch live video of the games. Naturally, I clicked on the link so I could be bedazzled by the power of the Internet. Unfortunately, instead of being directed straight to the game, I was put in some sort of waiting line. Here’s the screenshot:

….uhhhhh….CBS…..uhhhh….THERE ARE NO LINES ON THE INTERNET!!!! How can CBS possibly convince me that I have to sit around and wait to see live video. I realize it’s probably some lame attempt to simulate actually going to a game, but I don’t think any sports fan’s favorite memories of a sporting event are about waiting in line outside a stadium. Granted it only took about 30 seconds until I got to watch the video, but that’s 30 seconds too long. What’s next, having to go through a security screening or selling $10 beers?

3 comments:

Sosia said...

Yay, UCLA!

So, how long do you think it will be before other sites start making people wait in lines to visit their sites? kidding.

Anonymous said...

I think it's actually a way for them to manage server traffic during the games. Granted more servers would have been a better solution but dealing with an actual problem I thought it was a pretty classy way to do it. Better than...sorry can't connect you or try back again later...

Reid said...

Ben, I totally understand the tech reasons behind why there is a "waiting line", however, I feel that in this day in age it shouldn't be an issue. CBS can afford to buy more servers.

It is the responsibility of CBS to make sure this service is flawless. As more and more people make the shift from watching TV via cable to the Internet, it's important that the major broadcast stations are ready to handle the traffic.